Blog Flight 109

Older'n Dirt

2012-01-19T14:47:00.003-06:00

Relationships
0. Get a girlfr-
Ha! kidding.

Experiences
1. Attend a regular season Packer game
I didn't get to achieve my goal last year of going to an NFL game, but I still want to shoot a little higher. Though I'm not always terribly obvious about it, I follow the Packers as religiously as perhaps anyone I know. I just haven't gotten the chance to get to Lambeau to see a real game. I'm hoping that in 2012, with a somewhat favorable schedule of home games against non-marquee teams (Tennessee, Jacksonville, Arizona), I can finally try to network a ticket-holder connection that I've never had, or at least get to a lower-hype game via the resale market. This resolution doesn't preclude me from making it to an away game (road games against the miserable/nearby Rams and Colts are strong possibilities), though getting to the Frozen Tundra is preferred.

2. Drive in two more states in which I have not previously driven
Third straight year for this old resolution theme, but I like that it pushes me a bit more every year. The window of my life where I can freely travel (cheaply) by road without consequence is coming to a close at some point. Most of the states near Wisconsin have been driven in by me, although options with moderate proximity include Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska. You know, the best states.

3. Visit Tampa again
I haven't been back for a while, and I just don't shut up about it either! My love for the city might just be due to some positive associations, but let me have it. Some people have "up north" or "Europe" or "Disneyland" (barf), but this is my idyllic escape. I don't know if I'll ever live there again, but after my years at UW I can't imaging flying back into TPA without my heart being warmed (and my rest of me, for that matter).

4. Go to a Tampa Bay Lightning game during the 2012-13 season
I didn't get to go to one this year because they didn't play in Chicago this season, and their one Minnesota game was on a Monday night during school. I'm at the mercy of the NHL schedulers, and I guess, looking back, I was just fortunate enough that they played in St. Paul on a Saturday last season. Hopefully they'll play the Wild on another weekend, or play at Chicago next year, or at least a more reasonably-timed Columbus or St. Louis game (both of them this year conflicted with exams). That having been said, if I achieve resolution #3, #4 is probably coming down with it. I also hope they aren't terrible again next season, but that should be their resolution, not mine. Also, if the NHL misses any games to lockout, I'm giving myself this one automatically, because screw that.

5. Go to MLC call day
I've always been intrigued by MLC's call day process. It seemed like the NFL draft (which I love), with all these young college graduates getting told where they will live for, you know, the start of their adult lives. I can imagine it would be exciting and a little nerve-wracking at the same time. With some of my friends graduating/getting calls in May, and with me no longer graduating the same weekend, this seems like a good year to do it.

Personal Improvement/Achievement
6. Get a worthwhile experiential internship
Now that I'm in a field in which I have a desire to strive toward being one of the best, I'm hoping that will show and I'll have more success when it comes to landing related work than I have in the past (related: I always laugh when I see people complaining online about having applied to 10 jobs and not hearing back...I used to apply for 10 jobs a week, at very least). Hopefully some combination of hard work, age, talent and connections will finally result in scoring some legitimate career-related work experience.

7. Run a little bit!
I've had this as a resolution, or at least something similar, here before. Now that I have a girlfriend who has a history of the dreaded "run for fun" it may be worth it to get a little better at the art of distance running. I've probably been over the fact that a large percentage of my friends always seem to be cross-country runners, and how I almost ran cross-country in high school, but maybe I can challenge myself to at least run a 10k or something.

8. Expand the range of my cooking abilities/go out to eat less
I think these could go hand in hand. I don't go out to eat ALL that often (a few times a week), but it's still more than I think I should be. I'd probably be less apt to go out to eat if I was capable of making a wider range of more satisfying food at home. Part of that has to do with having to share a kitchen with 6 other people and having limited ingredient storage, but I could be making more of an effort than I am. I'm beginning to look forward to having a place more to myself, but that can wait until I'm done with college. I'm fortunate enough just to have my own room at the moment.

9. Finish the year on track to graduate in one more semester
Hopefully I've finally nailed down what will be my final change of academic plans, as I think I'm really going to be ready to be done with college by May of 2013. However, better to have to sit and marinate in school for an extra year than to jump into the work world completely unprepared, armed with only a degree in hand. Hopefully by next year I'll be more confident in my ability to compete in the work force and I'll be looking forward to graduation rather than dreading it. There is much work to be done to get there, but I'm relishing the opportunity.

10. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions
Not counting numbers 0 or 10.

Seward's Folly

2011-12-29T18:56:00.003-06:00

Let's see, did I do better on my resolutions than I did on blogging this year (oof, happy 7 years on life-support, F109)?

Relationships
1. Create some forward motion in my love life
Got 'em! It certainly wasn't unresolved for long, as I'm now closing in on a year in my current relationship, which is far and away a personal record. I won't have much else to say about it since I have a contract with Us Weekly concerning relationship details, but I'd check TMZ for leaks if you're interested.

Experiences
2. Enjoy my first drink on my 21st birthday
Just after midnight on December 22nd, I had a Spotted Cow in the comfort of my bedroom. It had the essence of Cheerios, I thought. With a final exam looming that evening, I didn't get too buck wild until the next night, where I got taken to a classy bar to have a reasonable amount of drinks. Usually that sentence would be taken as tongue-and-cheek, but come on, it's me we're talking about here. I don't know if I'll ever get drunk.

3. Attend a regular season NFL game
Boooo. I had tentative plans set up to hit up the Dolphins at Chiefs game on November 6th, but school got in the way of the 6 dollar tickets (remember when both of those teams hadn't won yet? Only a sports addict like myself would want to watch such miserable football). Both teams ended up being exceedingly mediocre, which I guess is kind of the goal when you're hoping to score cheap tickets to see two teams you don't care about. So this dream is still on hold, but I've got plenty of life ahead of me. Someday maybe I'll finally make friends with someone who holds Packers tickets.

4. Drive in TWO states in which I have not driven before
In August, I think, I drove a good chunk of Oklahoma and in Kansas from the Oklahoma border to Kansas City in the family van while driving Evan back from Los Alamos. The drive through those states was about as interesting as it sounds.

5. Attend a hip-hop concert
The best! My lady-friend and I went to the Kanye West/Kid Cudi show at Summerfest with one of my roommates and his girlfriend. It was absolutely fantastic. I consider myself quite a Kanye fan (after being quite an ironic Kanye fan), so I'd enjoy it either way, but he's an impressive performer. I think the setlist was 30 songs or so. "Good Life" will probably always be one of my favorite songs.

Personal Improvement/Achievement
6. Fully pay off my sophomore and junior years of college
Nope, and what's more, I decided it might be fun to pay for another year of school on top of it! That decision will probably get detailed a bit more in another post sometime in January, and the machinations behind that decision are a big part of why I didn't have it in me to blog with any regularity. In short, I've totally been cheating on Flight 109. It makes me so sad to think of it that way, but it's for the best, hopefully. We'll see. To be continued.

7. Start playing some piano again
Nope, but at least I started playing bass again. That has to count for something, right?

8. Accomplish things on Fridays
I'm going to give myself this one. I did make an effort here, and my most important task of the semester (year? college career? life?) was accomplished on a Friday. Even more on that later as well.

9. Get professionally published
Not technically, but almost and kind of. And hopefully in the future. This one goes with the vagueness of resolutions 6 and 8. Stay tuned.

10. Accomplish at least six of my first nine New Year's Resolutions
Now what business did I have shooting for higher than 50 percent? That's what I hit every year! Nonetheless, despite a paltry showing in the third category, I hardly consider this to be a lost year on the self-improvement front. I'm getting there, and I find it nice to be able to end the year on an upward trend, just like I was so excited about last year. But like I said, stay tuned. This was a year of loose ends. We'll see what kind of knots they find their way into.

See ya on the other side of New Year's.

To picture my life, boy you need a higher resolution

2011-01-04T22:55:00.001-06:00

Another good resolution pun.

Relationships
1. Create some forward motion in my love life
Last year I was able to take the big step of getting my head on straight again, but the fact remains that I’ve spent a long time single. Since last year I’ve met and grown closer to a lot of compelling individuals, so it seems like at some point I’ve got to at least step up and get a date or something. I’ve had this resolution in mind since summer of last year, and I’m hoping that it won’t be unresolved for long.

Experiences
2. Enjoy my first drink on my 21st birthday
I don’t have to do all that much to achieve this resolution, other than stay the teetotaling course and have a drink on December 22nd. However it’s something I’ve been working at for quite some time, so now that I’m in the homestretch there’s no reason to stop challenging myself now.

3. Attend a regular season NFL game
Now that I’ve got tickets for my first NHL game, I’d like to consider the possibility of filling in another hole in my much-treasured sports experience spectrum. While I did get the chance to go to a Packers preseason game against the Broncos in like, seventh grade, I’d like to take the leap and go to a game that matters now. Given the difficulty of getting Packers tickets for a first-generation Wisconsinite like myself, I like the idea of traveling somewhere to watch my first regular season game. Possibilities include a Bucs game during another Tampa vacation, weekend trips for the Vikings, Lions or Bears, a road trip to a Chiefs or Rams game to culminate in even more delicious barbeque, or a Panthers game if Evan ends up in North Carolina for grad school. The possibilities are there, and with my flair for US travel, they honestly all sound appealing to me.

4. Drive in TWO states in which I have not driven before
Yes, building off of last year’s resolution, this one is obviously harder because it requires not one, but two more states, and also because by now I’ve driven in all the gimme states touching Wisconsin. Which states will this resolution force me to visit on my own time this year? Missouri? Indiana? Oklahoma (where I’m presently writing this)? Beats me, man!

5. Attend a hip-hop concert
Haha...I don’t even know what I’d do with myself once I got there, and I also am well aware that Wisconsin is pretty incapable of drawing decent acts. However, there usually ends up being a handful of mid-tier hip-hop artists who find their way to Madison for JAMZ events or whatever, so it would be fun to see what one is like for once. To this day I’m still kicking myself for not going to the T.I. show in Tampa when I had the chance, regardless of how out of place I would have been (very much so).

Personal Improvement/Achievement
6. Fully pay off my sophomore and junior years of college
I couldn’t quite get sophomore year paid off last year, but the free rent involved in the equation this year gives me the hope that I might have only my senior year left to pay for by 2012, or even that I could be (temporarily) debt-free by the start of fall semester. It’s exciting! And it means I’m so close to being done with college.

7. Start playing some piano again
I took a good 6-8 years of piano lessons (I don’t really remember, actually), but I haven’t played consistently since grade school. I don’t feel the need to get back to a regular level, but I should at least start plunking around again, relearning some of the songs I knew and maybe learning some new ones. It’s not quite natural for me anymore, but I feel like it’s a good skill to have.

8. Accomplish things on Fridays
It wouldn’t be a resolution list if there wasn’t an incredibly vague one, eh? Friday is far and away my least productive day of the week during the school year (as I suppose it is for a lot of people), in which I generally only have morning classes, come back, watch Community and The Office on Hulu, and then be a worthless heap for the rest of the day. I generally just find myself too mentally exhausted and unmotivated to do anything constructive on Fridays. Sure, I’d still like to be able to relax and watch TV and go to parties on Fridays, but surely it wouldn’t kill me to find a way to get some productive use out of the day.

9. Get professionally published
Despite the non-cohesive ramblings on this blog, I like to consider myself a decent writer from time to time. I even have one (minor) magazine credit to my name. Though my time is pretty limited, I'd like to be able to try to get back to that a little and hone those skills a bit more. Obviously I'm not referring to a scholarly journal here, but instead I could see the possibility of writing an article for Cracked or a soccer site or something else along those lines. I'd have to step it up a bit and it would definitely challenge me to improve the entertainment value of my writing, but it's always been kind of a goal of mine.

10. Accomplish at least six of my first nine New Year's Resolutions
No more counting this last one in the tally.

Oh you fancy, huh?

2010-12-31T16:34:00.002-06:00

In which I judge how I did on this year's resolutions

Relationships
1. Finish the year proud of the relationship decisions I've made.
I didn't get a girlfriend or a date or any of that, but that wasn't the goal this year. I had to sort out of a lot of other things in my life and not let other distractions get in the way of that. And I didn't, getting some confidence back and a better head on my shoulders in the process. Certainly something worth being proud of, and something to build off of for sure.

Experiences
2. Take a new pineapple picture
If you insist.

3. Attend an NHL game
All right, I know it's sort of a cop out, but I'm going to give myself half-credit on this one. No, I did not make the trek outside of Wisconsin to catch a pro hockey game in 2010, but my parents did give me tickets to the Tampa Bay Lightning-Minnesota Wild game in St. Paul for my birthday. So I at least got tickets this year, even if I won't go until April of next year. Assuming I'll get to wrap it up into an MLC trip weekend, it might be near the top of the growing list of things I'm really looking forward to next year.

4. Watch the DVD of "Hotel Rwanda" that I own
Just watched it yesterday! It's been sitting on my desk literally all year, and I always put it off assuming I'd eventually find the time. It was a good film. It was quite moving at parts, definitely pretty heavy in a lot of ways. Don Cheadle had a very impressive performance. Also, it's probably like the first time I've ever watched a movie alone.

5. Drive in a state that I haven't driven in before.
I actually bagged two new states this year, running my total up to seven. I drove in Iowa for the first time, from Des Moines to Davenport during my summer road trip, and I drove in Colorado on the drive home as we picked up Evan from New Mexico at the end of summer. Colorado especially was kind of interesting, getting to drive in a mountainous region, and also navigating our big conversion van through Denver. I really liked this resolution, since it forced me to bat around ideas of road trips, so I may very well make it a part of 2011's.

6. Celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day
It's second nature now.

Personal Improvement/Achievement
7. Get a legitimate summer internship with a legitimate company.
No dice. I didn't put in nearly the effort to get an internship this year as I had the year before, but it's a different story when you have the safety net of a job. I worked full time all summer at Target and that worked out just fine, as I got good hours (8-4:30 all week) and flexibility on my days off, something that clearly came in handy for watching world cup games and other social events.

8. Play soccer competitively
Not surprisingly, this never went down, as I was just too busy for it. I got to play a few pickup games while the weather was still warm, so hopefully I'll be able to keep that up.

9. Do something creative on a large(r than usual) scale
I didn't really get a chance to do this in 2010. Well, my friends and I continued our series of nonsense Saw parodies that started in like...2004, and "Saw IV - Rise of the Vice-BROsident" most assuredly has potential, but it was more screwing around than something on a larger than usual scale. I just don't have the motivation or time to devote to it that I used to, and I'm not the type whose creativity simply bursts at the seams if I don't have an outlet. Maybe I just used it all up on Loaded Questions answers.

10. Serve the Chapel in a capacity that I have not yet served
Yep, I've been a housefellow for a few months now, which has led to all sorts of service capacities. It's been a good experience thus far.

11. Go Running
...Not enough to be able to count it as a successful resolution. If I would just run to class, but that presents its own problems.

12. Swear less
I would say so. Darn straight. (See??)

13. Pay off my sophomore year student loans
I was unable to do so. I came awfully close, and a few decisions like going on a summer road trip probably made the difference, but that's all right. I'm barely in debt, especially when compared to most college students, and it's better to make memories like that while I still can.

14. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions (8.5 out of 14)
Yeah! And this year I didn't even need to use the loophole of the last resolution to do so!

Original Six

2010-12-12T23:28:00.006-06:00

...a bygone era which produced gems like this. My dad loved that commercial.

Well, it's that time of year again. December 12th, the day that the otherwise infrequently-updated Flight 109 gets pulled off the high shelf in the garage, dusted off, and given one or two tweaks just in time for New Year's.

I recognize that it's a bit strange to celebrate the longevity of a blog that is, for all intents and purposes, barely breathing. However, every time I think back to the lifespan of this bad boy, I can't help but get a little nostalgic about the six(!) years chronicled on this orange and blue database of all things Blake. While I don't do a very good job with the upkeep of this place, I love it too much to just let it die now. I know that I often come off as mostly even-keel and unaffected (unless Michelle Branch is playing at a party), but I'm such a sentimental guy at the heart of it...therefore I'm so thankful I've been writing here as long as I have, so I can keep looking back at all the memories, good and bad, since freshman year of high school.

So forgive my inconsistency, but here's to the sixth year of Flight 109 - with a sincere hope that I'll be writing about year number seven a year from now.

I should probably write a few things about what's been going on in my life since my crushing Iron Ned defeat on July 15th of this year. Let's see if I can summarize a few of the points for the sake of history keeping.

-August brought a weekend road trip with 3 others to St. Louis and Kansas City, resulting in a lot of soccer watching and some of the best barbecue in the country. It was so much fun...I just like to travel for the sake of traveling, but the combination of great food, great friends and new exploration has us trying to plan out our next road trip. Such a blast.

-Soon after, I moved into the chapel and began my time as a resident house fellow. I get to live here for free in exchange for several hours a week of reception, maintenance, and various other odd jobs. It's been a really good experience all told. The digs are pretty nice and I mostly get along with the 7 other guys on the job.

-School has been way busy. My economics studies are going fine, and I'm perfectly okay with sticking to this major for the remainder of my time here. However, it doesn't change the fact that I can't wait to be done with college.

-That said, I've had more to get excited about this school year than in some years past, especially last year. One of the highlights of this school year has been going to my first two Badger home football games since 1999. I had the honor of getting to attend our victory over the then-#1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as our clinching of a Rose Bowl berth. Two games in ten years, two field rushes. I like to get the bang for my buck.

I think that's pretty much it for filling things in. Obviously I glossed a whole lot of items, but what are ya gonna do, hey?

My favorite thing to do (blog-wise) around this time of year is to turn the clock back a year and compare my standing in life now to where it was back then, head-to-head.

I'm gonna go ahead and take 2010 in a landslide.

Last year's anniversary post was titled "Five Alive" and is one of the shortest posts I've ever had. I remember vividly the circumstances surrounding it. That semester was part of probably the hardest six months of my life, and it culminated in my emergency appendectomy right before finals. I managed to keep the mood fairly upbeat in that post, despite the fact that I still had fresh scars across my stomach and I hadn't eaten solid food in 2 days.

I followed up that post with a detailed recap of my appendicitis episode, which was in turn followed by a mention of the year's last sucker-punch - the passing of my grandma. But if you keep reading, you'll find that life gets better almost the moment the clock strikes midnight and 2010 begins.

2010 starts with a new set of resolutions, a trip to Tampa which qualified as my most refreshing vacation ever, some excitable posts about job searching, the Winter Olympics and an all-nighter, a spur-of-the-moment Bible study, my favorite post ever, a couple about the state of the summer, and a post talking about how much better 2010 already was than 2009.

All of that stuff, combined with the brief recap I've tossed at ya at the onset of this post, has made for a much, much better year than 2009. While I acknowledge that you had the easiest act to follow ever, ya did good, 2010. You didn't have the soaring highlights of, say, 2008, but your challenges were easier to handle than 2009's. Maybe it's because I'm a year older and wiser, maybe it's because I've learned how to temper my expectations, maybe it's because I'm listening to a really good song right now, but I think I'm always going to look back at 2010 as the year I got back on track.

That leads me to have high hopes for 2011...now that I've got my down year and my comeback year behind me, here's where I can hopefully put it all together. I've met and grown closer to a lot of new people in 2010, some of whom I really hope will play bigger roles in my life from here to come.

I've always seen myself as a hopeful person. My worst moods can get me sounding cynical and fatalist, but deep down, I've always gotten by on the hope that things will get better. Maybe that's why I feel so good about this past year as it comes to a close. A lot of my goals remain unaccomplished - I never got that internship, I've been single for over 2 years - but I am in position for some of these things now! My confidence is on its way back. 2008 had me as cocky as could be, 2009 made sure I stopped being so full of myself and humbled me in so many ways, and 2010...well, 2010 may have just helped me strike a balance. So overall, my year wasn't perfect, but I sincerely believe that, years from now, I will look back at 2010 as the year that made 2011 great. As a transition from growing pains to adulthood.

And I know that 2010 isn't over yet either...I've got 5 finals in the next week, then my birthday, Christmas and my favorite holiday - New Year's. It's a chance to make a fresh start. It's a symbol of hope.

I like New Year's so much that I actually post around then every year. I obviously won't have time to update until then, but in a couple weeks I'll be back to take a look at whether I accomplished at least half of my 2010 resolutions (It's gonna be close!) and I'll pick a bunch of new resolutions for 2011. They're gonna be good ones. Good resolutions for a good year.

Here's hopin', at least.

Iron Ned: A Running Commentary

2010-07-15T20:43:00.003-05:00

Recently, I helped engineer plans for a pasta-cooking competition between some friends. For some reason, we all thought it would be fun to bring home-made pasta dishes to a party at my friend's house, to be judged by his foodie father, whose name is Ned. Ned will name one dish the winner, and its chef will earn the vaunted "Golden Spatula" trophy, which I'm sure will be an old spatula spray-painted gold. We decided to call it "Iron Ned" (get it???) and, unlike most ideas concocted at 2 AM, we're actually going through with it.

Well, Iron Ned is tomorrow, so it's clearly time to prepare for it.

Aaaaaaand, I have basically no idea how to cook anything.

But I'm committed to doing this on my own. I am home alone, armed with nothing more than the internet, some cookbooks, and the means to go to Sentry and purchase ingredients. A year and a half ago, I made a New Year's resolution to learn how to cook passably. I obviously didn't accomplish that one, but tonight is a start. The Golden Spatula shall be mine.

Let's start this trainwreck.

--All right, time to look for recipes. I have the internet at my disposal, but I think I'll try the old-fashioned art of the cookbook to begin with. We've got a bunch in the kitchen, so let's give it a shot, huh!

--If you're in the market for a cookbook, don't purchase "Cooking for the Heart"

--This old Lakeside band cookbook has to have some gems, eh?

--Hmm, couldn't find a winner. You'll never fool me with your "moist bread stuffing," Dr. Gulczynski. Never.

--The internet offers slightly better results. Giada de Laurentiis is so flippin' cute. The fact that she is so cute makes her recipes slightly suspect, though. I mean you KNOW Paula Deen didn't get on TV for her high-school-crush good looks.

--The first Google auto-complete when you type in "Giada de Laurentiis" is "Giada de Laurentiis breast size." I hate the internet SO MUCH. A buncha creeps out there.

--All right, I've settled on "Penne with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto." Sounds doable, reasonably classy, and doesn't require a king's ransom of ingredients. I'm looking to keep the price down, ideally.

--A quick sweep of the cupboards suggests that I'm going to have to audible into "Rotini with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto." I doubt that it makes a huge difference. Welp, off to Sentry to supplement my recipe.

--I was mostly covered from our pantry, but I have returned from Sentry with sun-dried tomatoes (I would hope!) and fresh basil. Now we begin.

--Aw, shucks, the recipe called for fresh garlic, but I looked at the store and then decided that garlic powder would stand in well enough. Little did I know that our garlic powder has been expired for 2 years. I had assumed we used it more often than that. Well now what?

--In my search up and down the kitchen for a garlic replacement, I have instead located the remnants of a tub of strawberry frozen yogurt. Maybe like 5-7 teaspoons in there.

--In my sadness of being unable to find a suitable garlic replacement, I have succumbed to the temptation of frozen yogurt. Hair of the dog, it wasn't too bad.

--Dangit! MLS game of the week is on! What a distraction! Oh well, Seattle vs. DC isn't that good of a matchup anyway. Focus, Blake. Do it for Giada.

--All right, still trying to solve the garlic problem. I guess I'll check my pride and return to Sentry. I hope garlic doesn't cost too much. Ned had better love this dish.

--Zuccess! We have some minced garlic in the fridge! It'll have to do. Now let's rock.

--How about some cooking music? The new Kanye single, "Power" gets me pumped. I'll add it to the expected playlist of TI, Maino and Major Lazer. Rap cooking.

--This smells amazing. I'm distinctly Mario Batali. I could stand to gain some weight though, if that is what I aim for.

--Grating some Pecorino Romano. The recipe calls for Parmesan, but I'm not afraid to go above and beyond. My Italian roots are coming way in handy here, see. I might add that fresh basil makes a huge difference. Go big or go home, when it comes to basil.

--Of course, cooking takes way longer when you blog about it. There's a lot of waiting for the ol' water to boil though.

--Just blended my sauce. I'm pleasantly surprised. My parents are home now and I had them try a little bit. My half-Italian mother and my formerly-a-restaurant-head-chef father both liked it. On that note, if both my parents have good cooking pedigrees, why am I roughly as capable as a Sim in the kitchen? No comical fires yet though, fortunately.

--My whole grain rotini is cookin'. I'm still bumpin' some beats. Takin' the "g" off of words endin' in "ing" is SO DOPE. So is the word "dope."

--Pasta is drained, sauce is stirred in and I will finish my dish to the sound of "No Man's Land" by B.o.B. It's good pasta music.

--First taste: Oh man, this is good stuff. I wouldn't have expected it to turn out this nicely at all. The fresh basil, the Pecorino cheese and the special ingredient (hint: the special ingredient is obviously love) really made it. My parents enjoy it as well, and I'm really hoping they're not just humoring me. Trying to speak as objectively as possible, I have to say I'd eat it even if I hadn't made it.

--I'm feeling good about my chances of taking home Iron Ned's Golden Spatula. Even better, now I've got a signature pasta dish ready to go for one of those adorable guy-cooks-for-the-girl dates. Clearly that's the most important thing. Thanks, movies, for teaching me everything there is to know about relationships.

My pasta is all packed up and ready to go. Tomorrow night my potential and ability as a chef will be (casually) tested. I personally think the dish turned out well, but we'll see what it's like once someone outside of my family tries it. Either way, it was a lot of fun making it and I have to say I'd be curious to start cooking a little more. It's definitely rewarding.

I've been meaning to do a summer update post, but that'll have to wait until another day. With the World Cup over and my transition from working to housefellow-ing in sight, I'm sure I'll finally find some time to post soon. Til then, good night, readers. Good night, Giada. Good night, Moon.

UPDATE: Second place will have to do, as my dish, later titled "Romatini di Mazzoca" (One's a made up Italian word, the other a bygone Italian name in my ancestry), placed highest in the categories of lasting impression and description but fell just short. Next time...

Keep it goin' louder

2010-05-31T00:24:00.003-05:00

I don't know what it is about college, but one school year these days feels like about three.

My first year as a student at UW-Madison is finally over, and it had a whole lot of adjectives. It was hands down the most stressful, difficult, uplifting, exhausting and educational 8 months of my life to date.

I guess I've written a fair amount here about the fall semester, my first at UW, and all of its pitfalls. To recap: Calculus, my 20-hour workweeks, bout of Swine Flu, and emergency appendectomy the week before finals all came together to obliterate any dream of free time and gave me far and away the worst GPA I've ever had for any semester of my life.

A 2.95 isn't unfathomably terrible (I mean, shoot, it's basically a B), but I've always been somewhat defined by my academic achievements. In the span of 2 years, I went from (legitimately) debating whether it was worth the 55 dollars to send in my Harvard application to lying in a hospital bed trying to determine if I was more worried about missing my calc quiz or relieved that I didn't have to go.

That fall semester caused me to come to terms with a few things.
1. Having a good SAT score doesn't guarantee automatic success.
2. Trying to pay for school can't be a higher priority than school itself.
3. The rest of your life isn't decided by four years of college.

I have had a very, very hard time convincing myself of the third thing. It took a disastrous semester and a lot of reevaluation and discussion to get there.

I got to start the spring semester with my head on a bit straighter thanks to a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas break, and made a few changes. I cut my weekly work hours down from 20 to 12, took a different/more qualitative load of courses, and made a point to spend that extra time from not working as much to study and socialize at the Chapel.

And I think those changes, along with whatever other intangibles (like the emergence of a Lakeshore Dorms Bible study this semester) all came together and clicked really well. There were still a lot of incredibly hard nights (or, more accurately, mornings) of cramming, including an all-nighter and an awful lot of day-of paper writing, but I felt able to roll with the punches better. I stayed mostly healthy, the stress seemed manageable, heck, I even got to go to BW3 on Thursdays with Lakeside chaps from time to time. UW-Madison seemed a little more doable.

And doable it was. Applying myself, not spending as much time in gainful employment, and not fretting over every little thing had an incredible impact.

One example that I think summed up the semester was on a Tuesday toward the end of the semester, a day that Jordan and I had 6 free Brewer tickets from our student org. A Tuesday night baseball game is kind of a tough sell toward the end of the school year, and my schedule wasn't exactly forgiving on that date.

None the less, we thought it would be a fun diversion from the last assignment flurry before finals, so I spent the better part of Tuesday morning trying to coordinate plans and travel partners.

However, I was feeling a little burnt out that day, coming off a week of three papers, and I had a paper due Tuesday, right before we were planning on leaving. A paper that was worth 25% of the grade for the semester.

So I wrote the darn thing while texting back and forth with whoever had responded to our offer of Brewer tickets, and we left for Milwaukee after I met with my TA to hand it in. I spent 3 distracted hours writing a paper that counted for a huge part of my grade.

How is that the sign of an improved outlook on school, then? It hardly seems noble to have tossed schoolwork to the back burner in favor of a frivolous weeknight road trip, right?

But here's the thing - I felt that I had to do something like that to change my mindset. I can't allow myself to go to pieces over every little thing that goes wrong in college. So I decided to be confident enough in my abilities that I could do a good job without sacrificing my social life, without always having to say no to things.

5 of us went to the Brewer game. I cheered for the Pirates because they left a Lastings impression on me. It was the most fun I've ever had at a Brewer game, and was one of the last big things I got to do with Caleb before he shipped off.

Oh, and I got a 97 on the paper. And an A for the class.

I didn't get an A for any of my classes last semester. I got A's in three of my four classes this time around.

When the dust had settled, I had a 3.8 for the semester. That's almost a full point swing between semesters, and the feeling was beyond incredible. Good grades aren't easy to come by at Madison, so this semester of 3.8 was far and away more rewarding than probably any other semester I've had.

And I can't help but think that a lot of it comes down to mindset. I allowed myself to take school less seriously this semester and, counter-intuitively, it kept me more focused. I never hit a point of desperation, I never felt crushed by the workload, and therefore I believed that I could tackle whatever was thrown at me. It never came to the point of throwing in the towel that I teetered on the edge of all last fall.

So I've concluded that the fall semester, with its stresses and infirmities, may have served an awesome and incredible purpose to help me learn to better deal with obstacles and to stay positive, even when buried. I hope that I can keep that attitude for the rest of my time at UW, and hopefully I can have similar success for the next two years.

Things look radically different going into Fall '10 than they did going into Fall '09. I've changed my major (hopefully for the last time...) to Economics, I'm one semester away from being completely through with gen eds, and I'm moving from the...silliness, I guess...of dorm life into what I hope will be an active and enriching time as a Chapel resident housefellow.

But a lot has yet to happen between now and then. Who knows what the summer has in store for me? At this point, all I know is that I'll be working 8-4:30, 5 days a week, until late August, and that I will watch as much of the World Cup as I am able. But I haven't had an uneventful summer in some time now, so I'll just wait and see. Surprise me, summer. I'm looking forward to ya.

Semper Fidelis

2010-05-10T23:09:00.004-05:00

Sometime this morning, one of my best friends got on a plane to San Diego to begin his time in the United States Marine Corps.

Caleb and I have grown very close over the last two years...we've made some really good memories, but, just as importantly, he's been there for me for some of my biggest learning experiences. Each one of those old posts features some aspect of my life that he was either a part of or had a direct impact on. I have really valued our friendship thus far, and have him to thank for so many good times and for helping me grow as a Christian man.

Therefore, it's difficult for me to fathom a summer without him. He'll be in basic training most of the summer, and I won't get to talk to him again until, at earliest, August. It's tough for me to think about, and I can only imagine what it's like for his family or Anna.

But I know that this is something that's really important for him. I remember how much it meant to him to get into the Naval Academy, and how crushed he was when he narrowly missed the cut. He has a genuine desire to serve his country, and his chance to do so is now. I know how driven he is to succeed and I know he'll work his tail off to get the most out of it that he can.

So while it's sad for me to say goodbye to a close friend for such a long time (along with the added uncertainty that comes with the possibility of plenty more military service down the road), I'm excited for him to be able to fulfill his dream of serving in the Marine Corps.

I wish him God's blessings on his time in the Marines, God's protection if he is ever deployed in battle, and for God to give him the strength to be the best Marine he can be.

So for now, good buddy, I'll be praying for you. I'll toast ya with a Sun Drop and (discreetly) listen to Taylor Swift in your honor.

Now go off to San Diego and give 'em hell...I'll have the cigars ready when you're done.

Business as Usual

2010-04-05T23:48:00.001-05:00

I often joke about being a businessman. Whether it's seriously overdressing for my retail job or making completely bogus, off-the-cuff marketing consultations to actual companies, I have worked to build a facetious persona of faux-professionalism.

So when spring break rolled around this year and I didn't have any major travel plans, I figured what better to do than to be a businessman? After I decided on a theme for my spring break I made a point to take an accompanying photo for each of the four points of being a true businessman.

I'm ridiculous.

Business as usual.

I. Golf Outings

When I started golfing almost two years ago during the magical summer of 2008, it was mostly for the fun of it, but also partially due to my knowledge that a lot of business is done on the golf course. After the torrid pace of golfing done by my high school friends (Caleb Meyer in particular) and myself during that first summer, I slowed down a bit last summer with only about 45 holes of golf or so. However, Caleb and I decided to get an early start on the links this year (especially because he won't be able to golf anymore once he leaves for the Marines in a month), knocking out a relaxed nine holes on one of my days off. Caleb and I have probably golfed at least 10 rounds or more together over the years and it's something that I hope we can keep doing as we get older and our responsibilities take us all over the country.

I'm still a fairly miserable golfer who averages about one good drive for every nine holes, but my putting skill is marginally enough to keep our rounds vaguely competitive. Of course, I always take the entire round to explain (with tongue firmly in cheek) that my fashion sense makes up for my lack of golfing skills. To that point, I have always appreciated the unspoken dress code of golf. Even when we golf par 3s and crummy public courses, I jump at the chance to throw a sweater vest over a polo, get a matching cap and put on a pair of slacks or plaid shorts. The way I see it, if I can't be an accomplished golfer, I might as well give people the false impression that I am.

And obviously, the conversation is great. Golfing wouldn't be any fun alone. Even though we always have a full 20-30 minute car ride to and from the course, there's something about walking the fairways that makes it more special. We'll talk about girls or school or life in between mumbling curses for a wicked slice or a sand-seeking drive and it's just excellent. Tuesday's round was even better as we got to get together with a few guys afterward, sit on the patio and have a Swisher or two. A fitting end to the day for a couple of colleagues. Business as usual.

II. Business Lunches

Many a contract has been hashed out over lunch at a casual sit-down place, so Wednesday I seized the opportunity to catch up with a friend and tie it into my week of professionalism. Anna is one of the friends from high school that I really enjoy staying in touch with, and our time spent together generally takes the form of going out for lunch, thanks to our busy schedules of work and school. That strikes me as a very adult thing anyway - my parents each still have their friends they keep in touch with, but unless they're relatives or family friends, the preferred and sensible way to stay in touch is to meet for lunch hour.

For Wednesday's lunch, Anna and I got the obligatory "I'll have my people call your people" and secretary jokes out of the way to pick a time to hit the pictured restaurant and catch up a little about life over sandwiches. The restaurant was pretty decent, and the experience on the whole was quite pleasant, as our "business lunches" always are. I stayed and we talked for a while after lunch and then I had to hurry off to Madison to work a closing shift. Business as usual.

III. Tax Forms

Through all the politics and culture of the business world, the ultimate point of it for most of those involved is to put dinner on the table and a roof over the head. This of course requires a salary to be involved. And if there's a salary involved, then both Uncle Sam and Bucky Badger are going to want their cut of it.

Although I had a fast food job for 2 months in 2008, 2009 was my first year of pulling in any considerable income. There just wasn't any financial pull to work before and during my time at USF, but the transfer to UW changed everything - and I have put in quite a few hours at the bullseye as a result. The work is plenty, but the income is steady. Too bad I know it's all going to sail out the window at the end of the school year. I can only imagine what it would be like to be working and not paying for college...

But while 5 months of hourly wages isn't a huge chunk of change, it still requires all the due diligence of filling out all my federal and state tax forms. Thusly, the better part of Thursday morning was spent doing data entry with a W-2 in hand. I've been working for a while, but I feel like, despite being busy work, putting a finished tax return in the mailbox kind of legitimizes the idea that I have a job. And of course pulling in a refund makes the pencil pushing seem less wearisome. Business as usual.

IV. Gainful Employment

Hopefully this picture (or at least the tone of this whole blog) properly conveys the sense of self-deprecation and irony I have about my position in life. Now and then (with increasing frequency lately) I will have a spur of the moment decision to go to work in a sweater vest, tie, and maybe a fauxhawk or something, just for the heck of it. I can't say exactly why I love doing it so much, but I guess it must be some combination of the business-mindedness I talk about and the desire to break the monotony of such a job now and then. I used to call it "Shallow Blake goes to Work" but now it's almost expected of me to class up the place on occasion. At a workplace in which going above and beyond uniform-wise means tucking in your shirt, my exploits are generally noticed by higher ups. One particular day of overdressing led to one of my supervisors starting a store-wide best dressed competition, which I narrowly won (for the dayside team at least) thanks to a purchase of white suspenders and some parted and slicked hair. Your move, Don Draper.

And of course it's all meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Of the 40 hours I put in this past week, I only spent one shift dressed as the Duke of Backstock. The rest of it was just plain work, in just plain work clothes.

And that's what it comes down to for most of the businessmen of the world, as I understand. Just plain work. Sure there are goals to achieve, and business trips to take, and donuts in the conference room, but for all the build-up of the corporate ladder and office politics, the more I learn about careers the more I figure out that a lot of it is just...work.

Putting in a 40-hour workweek is something I will probably be doing for decades to come, but it was a fascinating change of pace from the college life. At school, there is a constant pressure, with constant deadlines - your responsibility doesn't even come close to ending when you leave the lecture hall.

For that reason, the 40-hour workweek seemed positive to me. Sure, 8 hours a day, 5 times a week is quite a commitment, but once you leave work, you're done with work. What a novel idea! I'd love to be able to have the luxury of separating my work life and family life down the road.

But of course, it's not all perfect. I can imagine how it could get monotonous at times, as I'm told by those around me who have started their careers. And yes, a lot of it is just work.

But maybe my current naivete and idealism about career life after college can serve me well. Maybe I will be able to find joy in the little details that I so jubilantly add to my life here and there. My dad's philosophies about not letting work interfere with faith and family have always resonated with me and served as a model for how I want to live my life in the future - even if it means denying an opportunity or accolade to better serve my Lord or the needs of my family.

So basically, while I make a big deal out of the little nuances of professionalism that strike me as exciting or interesting, I never want my job to be any higher of a priority than it should be. Here at Madison, there is an immense pressure to fully devote one's self to a trade, to show a true dedication to a line of study which would indicate an unquenchable ambition. But I'm reluctant to jump on that wagon. I understand what it would mean to give my all, to try my best, but to completely devote myself to a trade just to get ahead, just to cash in on success and pride and status? It doesn't appeal to me anymore. I'd rather not be defined by my work so much as by what kind of person I am, what kind of Christian I am, and, God-willing, what kind of husband and father I am.

I'd still like to succeed in whatever career field I end up in. I still fully intend to work hard at my studies and job. I just don't want it to be at the cost of those other, more important things. If I have to choose, I'd rather have my career be in the background to faith and family.

I'd rather it just be business as usual.

Out of Darkness

2010-03-21T01:20:00.008-05:00

Today at work I found 50 dollars.

There it was, right on the floor by the office chairs and barstools. A ten wrapped in two twenties. No one around.

But of course, I was working.

I picked it up, and with a little thought, hunted down my manager within the store. I told her about it, they locked it up and told me that I'd get to keep it if no one claimed it within 30 days.

A little later in the day, I ran into the service desk lady, who told me that someone had come by right after I had dropped it off, not even knowing we had a lost and found, just to pick up an item on hold. While she was getting her item, she lamented aloud that she had lost some money earlier.

Of course, it was hers. The service desk lady told me that the customer told her she was "grateful" and glad that I found it.

50 dollars, each one returned to their rightful owner.

This story is pretty unremarkable. Everyone would do the right thing in that situation, right? Not to mention, I was at work. There's an added responsibility to me to keep an ethical code when I'm on the clock.

But...50 dollars is a chunk of change. 50 dollars is half of my week's wages. 50 dollars means I could skip a whole shift and not see the effect on my wallet. I came into work to cover for someone else's call-in the other night, causing me to have to stay up til 3 to finish my homework, and I didn't even make half of 50 dollars by doing so.

The point is, when you're in college, working hourly and facing debt and a bad market, 50 dollars is a lot of money.

I am not trying to make myself seem like a really good person here. It was the right thing to do, and I think basically everyone would have done the right thing in that position.

But what if I didn't always have to do the right thing? What if those years of Sunday School hadn't stuck with me? What if my parents hadn't held me to such a high standard?

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

The whole situation just seemed like an metaphor to me. What were my pros and cons for that situation? If I pocket the money I get 50 dollars. If I turn it in I get the satisfaction of having done the right thing.

If I go out and get drunk I get fun and friends and to forget about my problems. If I decline I get the satisfaction of having done the right thing.

If I have sex I get immense physical and emotional pleasure. If I don't I get the satisfaction of having done the right thing.

So when do you get to trade in the satisfaction for prizes?

As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

It seems to me that keeping the 50 is just like those things. I've certainly had my chances to do them. I've certainly been tempted to do them. Nearly everyone around me does them to great success and little consequence.

And it's all anyone talks about here. How drunk they got, who they slept with or wanted to sleep with or who wanted to sleep with them.

And I play along. Anytime something like that comes up, I coyly twist my words so that it seems like I share in the experiences, when in reality I don't and haven't. What am I doing?!

I want to fit in. I want to go to a party, play beer pong, get drunk, meet a girl and take her upstairs. I want to keep someone else's 50 dollars that I found while working. And it's as easy as just doing it. But I don't do it because I know that I shouldn't. That it would be a slap in the face to all the people who loved me enough to raise me and teach me in God's Word. A slap in the face to God.

And yet I weasel out of being bold about my desire to do what is right. I get marginalized for doing what is right, people look down on me and tell me that I'm young, I should live it up, I'm too uptight.

For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

One of my biggest problems in recent years has been my lack of confidence. At times I am passive, submissive, obedient. That's not what girls look for in guys. They prefer trouble-makers, rebels, aggressive guys. I want to find a girl, so sometimes I think about how I can become less submissive and more of a trouble-maker. Less passive and more aggressive. Less obedient and more rebellious.

But why? It's so stupid! Are any of those things ultimately good qualities? When I'm at the gates after I die, am I going to proudly announce to God that he had ought to let me in because I made trouble and rebelled with my time on Earth? It sounds lame, but if it's not desirable in the eyes of God, then why should it be desirable in the eyes of anyone? And, on that note, why does that even sound lame? It shouldn't. It isn't.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men...Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

When I've discussed my views on the Wisconsin environment with friends who don't go here, I've usually said that there are two options - you can join in the sex and drinking with everyone else, or you can sit at home and complain about it.

I've tried desperately to do neither, but I often find myself falling into the latter category. Surely there must be a third option. Surely there is something better than joining in or complaining.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

This semester, I've been participating in a small group Bible study with a handful of people from the chapel. I was torn on going in the beginning, and it admittedly started off a little bit slow, but ultimately it has been incredible. We're studying the book of 1 Peter in a very in-depth manner, and I can't say enough about it. 1 Peter is such a good book of the Bible.

As a background, 1 Peter was a letter written to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith as an encouragement to be holy and live for God even in times of suffering. It's so relevant and worthwhile for anyone whose life isn't perfect. So, it's relevant for anyone.

I would hardly consider alienation and temptation to count as suffering compared to getting killed for one's faith, but the same messages hold true - be holy and live for God.

So does living for God count as that third option from defiant sinning or complaining about it? I guess it does. I don't know how one can put "live for God" on the calendar for Friday night, but I do know that living for God doesn't entail defiant sin or idle complaint. I have yet to figure out what it means for me exactly, but if I'm not doing everything in my power to exercise that third option, my days are wasteful.

I'd really recommend reading through 1 Peter. It has given me so much perspective as I face the inner conflict of every Christian. Every italicized passage I've had in this post has been from 1 Peter and there were so many that I could have included but left out. I must have read through it 2 or 3 times tonight in bits and pieces, just because I'm so intrigued, because I have so many questions and because it has so many answers.

I have been doing a pretty good job of going to church while in college. I say my prayers every night and through the day, but over the past 2 years or so I've really been hiding from my Bible. Thank God I couldn't hide forever.

And the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

The Proverbial Sunrise

2010-03-10T08:11:00.002-06:00

I will be the first to admit that I have been well behind the curve for many of life's defining moments.

I didn't get my license until senior year of high school, I didn't start dating until college and I've still never been drunk.

However, today I have knocked off one of those things that everyone has done except me. I have finally pulled an all-nighter.

Well, I guess I haven't yet, but I am deep in the throes of one. I have only been awake 22 straight hours as of right now, but my classes don't end until 4:30, at which point I will have been awake 30 straight. Because I am obligated, assignment-wise, to go to both the first and last classes of my day.

And I'm feelin' ok right now. I originally had planned to go for a few hours of sleep, but at about 3:30 AM, still feeling productive with a lot still on the docket, I decided to call audible and go for the whole ball of yarn. The assist for the night goes to one of those huge cans of Starbucks Slurry. It's called an "Energy Coffee Drink" which admittedly makes me shudder a bit, but it didn't taste as bad as your standard Monster/Red Bull and kept me lively all night. I suppose I have finally turned to the dark side of coffee, although on the other hand I'm not sure if that stuff even counts as coffee. Either way, it's not something of which I wish to make a habit.

All told, it was really only a matter of time before I had to pull the ol' 24-in-a-row. College (especially Madison) is a lot of work, and I've gotten lucky on due date overlapping for the most part thus far, so eventually the luck had to run out.

And today was a veritable perfect storm. My to-do list contained an online quiz for Marketing, a 4 page paper, an unrelated speech, and 85 pages of reading in Journalism and 100 pages of reading about which I must lead a discussion today for Lit. Separately, not too big of a deal for any of those, but together it made for quite the Tuesday night.

Did I procrastinate somewhat? Yes. However, do you procrastinate somewhat? Yes. I'm just trying to make the best of it at the moment. Someday I will learn my lesson, potentially today if and when I hit the wall in a few hours during class. I still must give a speech today. Oh man.

I had a bunch of things to say concerning the journalism assignment itself, but that will have to wait. My efforts now must go into being able to stay awake for the next few classes.

With glowing hearts

2010-02-18T00:37:00.007-06:00

You know, when the Winter Olympics start, I always make a point to myself how much less interesting they are than the Summer Olympics. The Summer Olympics, after all, have so many delightful fringe sports like badminton and sailing...how could the far smaller competition schedule of the Winter Olympics even compete?

However, for whatever reason, I have been watching this year's Winter Olympics religiously. I've never taken the time to watch any other Olympics this much, although I do admit I've kinda kept it to two sports: hockey and curling.

Hockey is a kind of a no-brainer for me to watch. It was the first sport I ever got into when I was very little, and I'm really starting to follow and appreciate it more and more. I think any fan of soccer can appreciate hockey and vice versa. There are a lot of tactical similarities and the low scoring is definitely an acquired taste. But I'll stand by it. The euphoria from one soccer/hockey goal is completely unmatched by most touchdowns, home runs and...three pointers?

I confess that the appeal of basketball is really starting to be lost on me. Sorry Badgers. I'll probably get back into it during march madness.

Heck, right now the reason I'm up this late for blogging is that I'm watching the Czech Republic take on Slovakia in hockey. The west-coastery of Vancouver makes for some pretty late live hockey, but this has been quite a good game. Not to mention the added storyline of former countrymen. It's like if the South had won and the Confederacy was playing the Union. Czechoslovakia didn't break up all that long ago.

But the Czechs are taking it right now, 3-1. Surely it is due to Jaromir Jagr, who at 38 years old is still sorta the man. He was the best in the league when I was little. It's hard to cheer against the Czechs when they have the nostalgia points. Of course the USA is my first choice though.

The other sport, curling, is more of a surprise. Yes, a lot of people watch curling ironically, because it is admittedly pretty funny that such a non-physically demanding competition can be considered an olympic sport. However, the strategy is actually pretty interesting once you give it a chance. It's like a weird oversized game of chess on ice.

The thing that draws me to it is the makeup of the teams. The American team (which actually ended up being pretty terrible this year) is from Duluth, Minnesota, and it's made up of 4 regular joes who curl and drink beer together with their free nights. That's it. It's basically a glorified suburban bowling team, competing for medals on international TV.

And that's really appealing to me. I think it would be really fun to take up curling with some friends. I know that Madison has a curling club with leagues and tournaments, and I envision it basically being like a tighter-knit version of a bowling league. Sure, we'd be competing, but the idea is to go out with the guys and just hang out, shoot the bull. All the while rolling a stone down a sheet of ice and sweeping in front of it. We could wear flannel, and have a cigar outside afterward. It just strikes me as a great northwoods man-bonding experience.

I think I'll make my way over to the Madison Curling Club some time and figure out how feasible it is to pick up curling as a hobby. So thanks, Winter Olympics. Every time you come around, I doubt you. But you find a way to set me straight. You're a cool customer, Vancouver.

It's not too late!

2010-02-05T16:52:00.004-06:00

I am entirely incapable of accomplishing anything worthwhile once classes are done on Friday. It probably would have been good to send some resumes out today, but I had classes and a meeting and I need to write like 5 cover letters. Boo. I need to acquire some consistent motivation.

The resumes I need to send are as a result of last night's UW career fair, which was a chance for me to return to my ambitious, career-minded, tie-wearing self that I had more or less abandoned during last summer. Last summer I went from juggling corporate interviews to begging for hourly work, and the tease of the whole thing ended up being pretty demoralizing. It wasn't something I even wanted to think about until recently, and now I'm getting right back into resume mode. I'm one year older, have more experience, and go to a Big Ten school. The chance is there now.

I'm still up against it though. While I'm sure there were other people my age at the career fair, nearly everyone I encountered was graduating a lot sooner than I am. Heck, for one of my more promising leads from the fair I stood and waited behind a guy with a marketing degree and 5 years of post-college experience.

I would argue that I looked better in a sweatervest though.

When I consider my disappointment last year at not getting ultra-impressive work, it almost seems delusional. In such a tight job market, who in Madison would want to hire some 18 year old kid from the University of South Florida? But the search started off with so much promise. The part of spring break I was most excited for was a job interview on one of my first days back in Wisconsin. That interview went pretty well, but I ended up turning them down because I had two other interviews that I was more excited about. One of those interviews was my only one with the company (I was competing with college graduates), but the other one led to another interview, which they were willing to postpone until I came home from school.

The feeling was pretty good. I had made myself marketable enough to appeal to an established company from far away. My hopes were so high when I came in for the second interview, which I figured was to seal the deal. With my finest (only) suit and some tips from the parents, I had what I thought was a really good interview. The HR rep even started off by describing the job, payment, and schedule. Then the interview. Then she told me that they had filled the position and they might be interested for the fall.

Hey, thanks for bringing me in, though.

It must have been HR training week or something. It was good interview experience, I guess, but man. The feeling was deflating.

And the rest is history. I didn't get so much as a second glance from then (early May) until late July. I would have understood if no interest had ever come my way, but to be in demand early on and then have all leads go completely cold was brutal.

It was probably good for me, though. At USF, with the grades and the test scores and the scholarship perks, I was able to convince myself pretty well that I was hot stuff. The early job search success confirmed that to me, but God finds a way to bring you down a peg if you get a little too high on yourself.

And that humbling has been ongoing for a little while. Thanks to working long hours and relapsing into my diffident self (something that I had avoided for a few years), I've been the definition of a wallflower at UW.

But I've been feeling good, getting back into the groove of things. This week has seemed like a rebound from the crummy end of last year. I got to throw on a tie and a vest and promote myself as a potential employee and it felt good. I had to write a big 'ol paper for the base class of my new major and it felt good. I had a meeting with a sales subcommittee of the student org I just joined and it felt good. Feels good, man.

This is going to sound weird but...at certain points of my life, my left eyelid will twitch periodically throughout the day. I only remember it happening twice before - in the weeks leading up to high school graduation, and the first couple of weeks in Tampa. Those were both times of incredible excitement and anticipation. The months after the twitching, in both cases, were phenomenal.

Well, my left eyelid is twitching again. I noticed it at the start of this week. Now, either I'm just enjoying everything more because I feel like I should be (what a strange response to an involuntary twitch!), or the tic is a delightful little indicator. Either way, though, I'm feeling positive. There are still a lot of things I could be happier with, but I'm on my way.

I'm heading out tonight. The job search is beginning. School is going well. I've got a place to live next year. Watch out, Madison. I'm comin' back.

Keep it steady now

2010-01-11T15:22:00.004-06:00

4 times flying out of Tampa since starting school there, 4 times blogging about it in the airport.

My weekend to visit old friends and my old city has come to a close. In a word, it was phenomenal.

I concocted the idea to visit Tampa one cold fall night in my UW dorm room. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I was sitting alone in there, feeling bummed about something (who knows what, it could have been anything last semester), so I thought to myself, "why not visit my old friends in Tampa?" I found some pretty good deals online for my trip on a whim, and was all set to go on my own. I presented the idea to my parents sometime that weekend, and the prices were good enough that they suggested that the whole family go there for vacation in January.

This saved me the 150 or so dollar cost that I would have incurred flying down there on my own dime, so the idea was fairly appealing to me. I love when daydreams become reality.

I have made no secret about my continuing love for the city of Tampa. The weather is great, the bay is beautiful, the people are friendly and the girls are pretty (and not repulsed by me). During my first semester at UW, I frequently questioned my decision to return home from USF. I was actually turning a profit by going to school, getting awesome grades, living in a city I loved with a great climate. and, for part of it, dating. The reasons I came home are still in place, but those other intangibles have clearly gotten worse. UW-Madison is not cheap. My UW GPA is terrible. Madison is cold as hell...isn't, and the single college girls are, on the whole, less interesting and more superficial.

But I mean, UW's a better school? And that's ultimately what matters, I guess. I still have to convince myself that it's worth it, but I keep trying.

So fast forward however many weeks ago that this idea was born, and here I am giving the recap post.

Our trip began on Thursday the 7th with an afternoon Milwaukee to Tampa flight. We didn't do much outside of travel that day, but we did get dinner at one of my favorite Tampa restaurants. That was a theme for the trip. We ate so much and so well, it will practically take another semester of inconsistent college eating to lose the extra weight gained from all the amazing southern cooking. Oh man.

Friday was the first chance to see any friends. After switching rooms due to ants (Weird.), my parents took Evan and I to the apartment of John and Cameron. John was a high school friend of Maggie's, but I hung out with him much more than Maggie did as the school year wore on. He met his girlfriend Cameron during while Maggie and I were dating and they've now got a nice place together. They're both about 4-5 years older than I am, but I loved hanging out with them while I was at USF.

This was Evan's first time meeting them and they seemed to hit it off pretty well. I caught up with them, they served us chicken-fried steak and potatoes (I am a fan) for dinner and we went bowling. Eventually they took us back to the hotel and there ended friday's festivities.

Saturday was an absolute BLAST. After a lunch at Chick-fil-A (which might be my favorite fast food meal, and something that I had to introduce to Evan on this trip), my parents dropped Evan and I off at USF's campus. It still feels like home, ya know.

At campus I got to see Kelli and Jenna, who are both RAs now and one of my old roommates, Drew. They're all still high-quality folks.

We had made designs to go to a women's basketball game (which is something I had only done once while attending USF, but no other sports had home games that weekend) that night, so we met up with John and Cameron who took us from campus to James' apartment.

James was one of my 3 roommates and was probably the one I spent the most time with. I liked all of my roommates but James and I had sports fandom in common. He, John and I established a soccer fan culture at USF that I hope continues once we leave, and the three of us were always sure to never miss a USF football game, screaming in the stands at home or screaming at John's TV away. And after Maggie and I broke up, smoking cigars behind the dorm with James did something to keep me sane.

The funny thing about that last part is that Maggie and James are dating now. I'm a fan of this, as they're both good people and it's that much easier to stay in touch with each of them if they're dating. I can't help but chuckle a bit at it though. Don't read anything into that, it just...strikes me I guess.

Maggie was over at James' place when we got there, so Evan got to meet her for the first time. Pleasantries were exchanged and they grilled some pregame burgers. It was good to see Maggie again, and nice to see her more as an old friend and not as much as an ex-girlfriend.

After dinner we went to the game. My old USF ID (which also got us 10% discounts at a few restaurants on the trip) got me into the game for free, and Evan got in free as a guest of the group of us students. Free sporting events for students is a sweet deal.

Because a lot of the student body hadn't returned to campus yet (classes started monday), and because USF students are less than enthusiastic about basketball (both women's and men's), there was hardly anyone there. As a result, we basically got to control the cheers of the student section.

John pretty much already does his share of cheer management at most USF sporting events, considering he was recently distinguished for having attended the most sporting events of ANY student last semester, which, if continued through the rest of the year, will be rewarded with on-field passes to our game against the Florida Gators next year. Which would be incredible.

As we watched our team get disassembled by #25-ranked Georgetown pretty much right out of the gate, we got to at least have fun with the cheering. We stood in the front row of the student section and it was pretty clear that whatever we yelled would be heard by everyone on the court. It's hilarious to get reactions to the things you yelled from D-1 athletes during a televised game.

Evan and I were even able to bring back some of our cheers from Lakeside days, like "ole!" after 3-pointers and the progression of "We want a basket!" into things that kind of rhyme with it, like "Paper or plastic!" and "Monks are monastic!" However, unlike Lakeside, the other USF fans appreciated the off-the-wall cheering. You'd be amazed the at the dirty looks that you could get from supporting your team in high school. I guess we disrupted their texting or something.

We got on TV and the arena screen quite a few times too. The game was only televised in the state of Florida, but we could see from the press monitor that the camera was relying on us for crowd shots. Celebrity USF fans, I tell ya, and Evan never even went to school there.

Sometime early in the game, an arena promotions guy was milling around, looking for people to participate in one of those halftime on-court entertainment games. My aforementioned friend Kelli suggested that Evan and I volunteer, and we got picked to do it. Basically, the game we did on the court consisted of us starting at half-court, taking a layup, and racing back to half-court with the slowest person getting eliminated. The prize was a 25-dollar iTunes giftcard (and adulation, of course).

Given that Evan and I were 2 of the 4 people chosen for the game, odds of a Samanas victory were pretty good. Evan and I made our first two rounds of layups with ease and the other two players were cut, leaving it to an all-Samanas final round (which is pretty legit, because we can just share the music). During the final round, the Bulls mascot did me a solid by harassing Evan's path to the basket, and I came away the victor of the night. Talk about sibling rivalry coming to a boil. I was originally just worried about not tripping or airballing a layup (is that possible?).

Oh, and I caught a shirt too. I just have to get as much free stuff from USF as possible, I guess.

Evan and I made further fools of ourselves by loudly complimenting the shoes of one of the dance team members (the joke is that they all have the same shoes, see), which led to her cracking up during the routine. We added her on Facebook then, obviously.

The game ended heavily in the favor of the visiting Hoyas and we eventually bid everyone goodbye. Back to the hotel, and there ended Saturday.

Sunday was spent mostly with the family. We went to service at Northdale, the WELS church I attended weekly while I was living in Tampa. It was really good to see everyone from the church who helped me with the transition, including the family who gave me a ride to church and Bible study every Sunday. Being held accountable for going to church every week was really key for me in my first year away from home.

After church we drove the half-hour across the bay to St. Petersburg for grouper sandwiches at The Hurricane, something that we have done almost every time we've visited the area. You can't turn down fresh Florida seafood when all you can get in Wisconsin is frozen cod.

When we got back to the hotel we settled in to watch the Packers playoff game. I'm too disappointed to say much more about that one. I still love ya, Aaron Rodgers.

Once we had dinner, we were too exhausted to do a whole lot more. We watched a little TV and I fell asleep hours before I usually do.

And here we are, Monday, the last day of the trip. We did a little shopping by the airport (5 dollars for a new official Buccaneers hat? Deal!) and prepared to take off. Which is where I started this post. In the obviously completely sweet Tampa airport.

Like one of the previous "Bruised" posts, I've actually written most of this in the plane. The 893 from Tampa to Milwaukee remains a great flight. On the plane, we got to watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico right before we reached the Florida Panhandle. Breathtaking! I won't gush about it as much as I have in past posts, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

So that's where I am now. We'll probably be landing within the next half hour, and I'll have a week or so to shake off the renewed wanderlust for Tampa Bay before I start up again at UW.

My livelihood is in Madison, my family is in Lake Mills, and sometimes my heart is in Tampa. In time I'll figure out the balance of the three.

Light in the dark as I search for the resolution - 2010

2010-01-02T01:31:00.001-06:00

Relationships
1. Finish the year proud of the relationship decisions I've made.
In the past year and a half, I've over-analyzed, acted before thinking, convinced myself of things I didn't believe, given up, and just about everything in between. This isn't particularly different from last year's, but with new wording comes new progress?

Experiences
2. Take a new pineapple picture
Some would call the pineapple/'myspace mirror shot' profile picture iconic. I mean, actually probably not, but I always felt like it captured me a bit better than any other picture could. I don't really look like I did as a sophomore in high school (or even close for that matter), so it could use an update.

3. Attend an NHL game
I've been to games in the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS and several NASCAR races (in addition to 3 international soccer matches and lots of college football, basketball, hockey, and soccer), but despite being a pretty big fan of the EXTREMELY underrated National Hockey League (primarily the Tampa Bay Lightning) I've never been to a pro game. Obviously a lot of this would be chalked up to there not being a pro hockey team in Wisconsin, but that's a pretty bad excuse since I lived in an NHL market for a year. I'd like my first NHL experience to be a Lightning game, but I think I'd enjoy it either way.

(I like sports way too much for my own good. Being a Sportscenter anchor is like my dream job.)

4. Watch the DVD of "Hotel Rwanda" that I own
Because I got it for free at Target. It's probably a good movie, I'd imagine.

5. Drive in a state that I haven't driven in before.
Therefore, any state that isn't Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida or Georgia. Road trip implications! OR just a stupid day trip to Iowa and back.

6. Celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day
And hopefully get others to celebrate what is obviously a great holiday.

Personal Improvement/Achievement
7. Get a legitimate summer internship with a legitimate company.
Hopefully I'm in a much better position to get a respectable summer internship than I was last year. The biggest thing, though, is that even if I don't get the kind of resume-improving job that I want, I at least have a pretty solid job with the ol' Targs that I really wouldn't mind working all summer.

8. Play soccer competitively
I'm on the books with a local club team, but I've already had to turn down an invite to their first winter tune-up league. I'm hoping I can get to playing some tuneups with some of the guys on the team before hopefully joining up in time for the full 11v11 spring outdoor league. Intramurals eat your heart out, this is mildly legit!

How is this a resolution, you ask, if I'm already on the team? Well, the reason I haven't been able to play yet is that I've been way too busy with other stuff. Hopefully I'll have a better outlook next semester with improved classes and a diminished work schedule.

9. Do something creative on a large(r than usual) scale
Well this is generic. I do a fair amount of creative things throughout the year, but I'd like to create something for the sake of creating something. Record a new song, make a short film, write a book. None of that stuff is particularly productive, but it's refreshing. I'm not trying to write the great American novel or something, but it's an escape that I've been mostly keeping myself from.

10. Serve the Chapel in a capacity that I have not yet served
I'm a fan of the Chapel but I haven't been able to spend much time there in my first semester at Madison. I've lent a hand here and there but I'd like to get a lot more involved, whether that means being a housefellow or not.

11. Go Running
This doesn't even have to be regularly, I just haven't made an attempt at it in some time. I have a feeling that with a little training I'd be a whole lot better at it by now than I ever had been before.

12. Swear less
Ok, for serious this time.

13. Pay off my sophomore year student loans
It would be great to be just about caught up. Getting the first year free was a huge blessing.

14. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions
Because last year's last resolution was a stretch.

While I'm wide awake

2009-12-31T13:46:00.008-06:00

Here is the original for those types who turn on the director's commentary while watching DVDs.

Relationships

1. Make wise relationship decisions this year
Well, my relationship decisions for this year were as follows:

Winter and Spring in Tampa: I took myself completely off the market as I transitioned from a short but whirlwind relationship.

Summer at home: I burned a bridge and spent months trying to prevent myself from rebuilding it while busying myself with work and friends.

Fall and Winter in Madison: The bridge was rebuilt. And I was too exhausted and jaded from school and work to figure myself out enough to become someone worth dating.

So were my decisions wise or unwise? I guess it's a shade of gray. But it isn't exactly progress, is it? If I'm keeping myself accountable with these resolutions (which is the point), then I can't possibly give myself credit for this one.

2. Spend no more than a month in "No Man's Land"
A month? I don't know if I could say that I spent a day in No Man's Land this year. Which has its positives and negatives, really. All told an improvement though, I'd say.

3. Find myself a good MLC marriage track girl
I only spent a couple days this year visiting MLC, and I definitely did not spend those days actively searching for a wife. That's ok. This resolution is facetious, but I still maintain that I'm almost infinitely more likely to find someone there that I'm on the same page with than I am at UW.

Experiences

4. Half-facetious resolution that was lost on the cutting room floor.
Wasn't accomplished, wasn't attempted, wasn't serious, and didn't belong in the "Relationships" section before. Ha.

5. Go to at least one MLS game
(September 26)
I went to my first MLS game with my roommate and his girlfriend, as we watched Chicago tie Toronto 2-2 in a thriller. We had such a good time that we went down twice more (for playoff games), even appearing on Sportsillustrated.com as a result. Jordan and Heidi got season tickets for next year and I'm sure I'll join them for a number of those games. It's a passion now. Go Fire!

6. Go Clubbing
Regretfully, no. I think it's regretfully, at least. I do think that it would be an interesting experience.

7. Actually go to the beach.
(February 21)
I did, on several occasions. They were some of the many pleasant memories I have of my second semester at USF. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone in a week.

8. Remember to celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day
(April 10)
And to great fanfare! This will probably be a resolution next year too, after which it will just annually become second nature.

Personal Improvement/Achievement

9. Finish with a cumulative 3.9 GPA at USF
(~May 2)
A surprise 4.0 for the second semester ensured that I ended my time at South Florida with a 3.93 GPA. Good thing, too, because I could only dream of doing that well at Madison. It's a whole different world.

10. Learn to cook passably
I didn't really even attempt to do this. Oops.

11. Find a way to play soccer at least twice a month
(up until October)
I was doing so well with this one, but predictably it got totally derailed by the Wisconsin winter. I even had a fall/winter indoor league lined up, but I was way too busy with work to do much more than entertain that idea. However I played often during the summer and took every advantage of the Florida weather to go outside and kick around. A winless intramural season was tough, but then again I was one of like 3 people on that team that had even played soccer before.

12. Keep the Lord in my life
Although I fret about the other things on this list so much, at least I've still got the most important one.

13. Work and find enjoyment in it
I started working at the ol' Targs in July and it's been way more enjoyable than my first (fast food) job. Sure, it's not always a blast to stock tampons or fold clothes for hours on end, but I have definitely found enjoyment in a lot of it. Particularly when Shallow Blake goes to work.

14. Swear less
What is it about living on campus that makes it so easy to swear? Oh, probably that everyone around you does so constantly. Even so, I'm always careful about who can or can't hear it...mostly it's done in the confines of my dorm room. Knowing that anyone and everyone can see what you do on the internet, I maintain the "Al Michaels Standard of Verbal Decency" while I do my social networking.

15. Get a scholarship
I thought about giving myself this one, considering that I do have a fairly substantial corporate scholarship at the moment. However, I mentioned at the start of the year that I wanted to get a scholarship in addition to that one, which is not something that I accomplished or even tried to do. I guess there were just other pressing needs over the end of the summer.

So I accomplished 7 out of 15. That's just under half...

16. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions (8 of 16)
...until now. I'll be back tomorrow.

Well.

2009-12-30T17:22:00.002-06:00

I'm not really even sure what to say right now. For the third time in the last 4 years, a relative of mine has passed away during the week of New Year's. This time it was my Grandma Marie, who was technically a step-grandmother (having married my maternal grandfather after his wife passed in the 60s), but was always treated as my Grandma growing up. I don't have much eulogizing to do on here, as I've almost just become kind of numb to the whole situation anymore. I'm more saddened and prayerful for my Grandpa, who despite his own constant health problems now has to face the death of his wife for the second time.

I was in the middle of my New Year's Resolution post, but I mean, that can wait.

I don't know. This time of year and these last six months have really been something.

Digressions

2009-12-16T00:51:00.018-06:00

If included every digression I wanted to while blogging, each post would probably be about twice as long, and make about one tenth of the sense. Still, I tend to take mental note of what pops into my mind like those Vh1 music videos of the late 90s (You know...? I'm thinking of something real, right?).

Here are just a few I encountered, vaguely categorized.

Concerning Pokemon and the phenomenon of PPPDecember
- Any time a fad gets too popular on Facebook, I see it as my opportunity, nay my DUTY to be a smartass about it (I get it from my parents, I think). However, I'm not that opposed to Pokemon Profile Pic December, as I have fond memories of Pokemon just like everyone else. Even so, I couldn't just join in. Therefore, my roommate and I agreed to start with "Obscure and Worthless Pokemon Trainer Card December" and work our way toward a pretty amusing coordinated profile picture war later this month. Way to go me for way over-analyzing facebook fads.

- I enjoy the amateur psychoanalysis based on what pokemon one selects as their profile picture. Don't pretend it doesn't happen.

- Perhaps it's due to my upbringing as a conservative Lutheran, but I refuse to warm up the idea of any pokemon beyond #151. Even Mew is kind of a stretch... I stopped paying attention to the series well before they released the, like, 500 more pokemon or whatever that there are today. I never saw what was wrong with the 150 we had.

- If you don't pick Squirtle out of the 3 choices at Professor Oak's laboratory, you are probably a terrorist.

- If I were to play by the rules and pick a pokemon profile picture, I would probably go with Tangela. A bundle of vines with huge eyes in tennis shoes? How did Pikachu get to be face of the series over you?!

Concerning Pandora
- Pandora is something I held off using for quite a while, but I have definitely started to see the benefits the more I use it.

- What if there was a Pandora for dating? You just enter in a person that you like a lot of the qualities of, and it shows you several similar options based on your preferences. I'll bet someone has made a youtube video about this or something.

- I make a lot of jokes about liking pop music, but I like it way too much for my own good. The 3 stations I rotated between tonight are probably pretty embarrassing.

- One of them was "Live your Life" by T.I. featuring Rihanna. I won't say the other two, but I'm willing to put myself out there over that song. I don't care, I really like it, you guys. It's one of about 3 rap songs I will defend my like of to the grave. The other two have already gotten mentions in blogs this year.

- The more normal Lady Gaga's music and image gets, the more I like it. Which of course means that there is an awful lot of Lady Gaga that I hate.

- At least I still listen to old Relient K?

Concerning Snow, Career Opportunities, Friendliness, and the use of the term "Sweetheart"
- I'm actually pretty sure I want to move back to Tampa after I graduate from UW-Madison. There are a lot of things about the city that I am in love with, and I just thrive a bit more in the friendly, laid-back atmosphere of the south.

- But we'll see. I've been pretty sure about a lot of things.

After my 5th blogiversary post, here's my 109th total. Epic.

2009-12-15T23:48:00.002-06:00

I've always been kind of opposed to the overuse of the term"epic," but if Al Michaels can say it during Sunday Night Football, I can too. This is also how I justify the phrase "What the hell?"

On the way out of my last economics lecture, I overheard a girl saying to someone else, "Well, then, you should blog about it!"

So I guess I will then.

I owe my general readership a more detailed explanation for the appendix and emergency surgery references sprinkled around my internet doings. I guess I'll just jump right into it...

It all started on Wednesday night, not long after my post "And We'll Say Hello" (because I'm sure everyone reading this can picture which post that is based on the title...). UW systemers would remember this as the snow day, which I was fairly lukewarm about considering that I only missed one class as a result and still had to work my 7-to-midnight shift at the ol' Targs. Regardless, I was still pretty cheery at the thought of a snow day and the night got better when I and most of my coworkers were sent home from work at 9:30 because pretty much no one braved the roads to shop.

In usual circumstances, my roommate Jordan and I go get dinner around 11 PM or later, because we both work late shifts pretty consistently. However, that night, due to the roads, all the university food places were closed early. We were both pretty hungry so we started entertaining the idea of calling for a pizza. The standard digestive anticipation (I don't really know what phrase to use for it, but I think everyone more or less knows that feeling right?) I felt in my stomach was increasing as we weighed our options of all the local delivery places.

Within a couple minutes of researching, that feeling had grown to actually be pretty uncomfortable. Eventually it didn't feel as much like hunger, but more like nausea or indigestion. At about 10:15 or so I decided I wasn't interested in ordering anything anymore, and I ate an apple and went to bed with the intention of sleeping off the increasing stomach pain.

10:30, of course, is a ridiculously early bedtime for most college students, especially for one that regularly works past midnight. I just felt that miserable. It didn't get any better, as the pain continued to increase as I tossed and turned until about 2:15 AM.

My first inkling in discomfort or sickness is to assume the very worst. However, since I know this is kind of a weakness, my actual course of action is to pretend that nothing is wrong whatsoever and try to tough it out. Since I've got that mental override pretty firmly planted in my distress gameplan, it can take quite a bit for me to overcome that and actually try to fix something that is wrong with me.

The abdominal pain, while at that point being the worst I could ever recall (I couldn't even stand up straight at its worst), would not have been enough to seek help on its own. But the chills...

I was absolutely frigid cold. It must have been a sight to see. I was laying in bed, bundled up in a comforter, sweatpants, two pairs of socks, 3 layers ending with my warmest sweatshirt, and a hat and gloves, and I was still shivering my teeth off. My roommate was in the same room writing a paper at this point in an undershirt and gym shorts...

I got out of bed and took my temperature to see if I might have a fever to go with the chills, assuming at this point that I might just have a new stomach flu virus. My suspicions were laughed at when the thermometer read "95.9".

95.9?!

Assuming that the thermometer was broken (but not really ruling anything out at this point), I took my temperature again. 96.1. Wow.

Doing what anyone who grew up on the internet would do next, I hopped on my laptop and WebMD'd the possible causes of an abnormally low temperature. After ruling out hypothermia (Why is that even on webMD? Do people really need an online diagnosis after getting pulled out of freezing lakes?), I determined that the body's reaction to an infection was roughly the only sane explanation for the ice cold temps.

At this, I vetoed my fear of being a hypochondriac (would that be hyperchondria?) and called my dad. Thankfully, he's usually up at 2:30 AM - I wasn't going to hedge my bet on university health services, given that most other university services were undermanned due to the snow.

After debating all of our options over the phone, he finally offered to come into town and bring me home, in hopes that I could get a doctor's appointment the next morning. Jordan stayed up until my dad got there in case anything happened (what a good roommate...seriously, I'm so grateful for that), and he got there at about 4. I made it home by 5 AM and passed out under quilts as the exhaustion finally overruled the pain.

In hindsight, I probably should have taken some painkillers. Huh.

I woke up after about 4 hours of sleep feeling quite a bit better. It didn't hurt too much at all and I was beginning to think that the whole thing might have just been some nightmare false alarm. I had a doctor's appointment anyway though, so I figured I'd go just for the sake of going. I drove myself to the doctor's office and after a short consult, my doctor basically said "The low temperature's a bit concerning, so we'll send you to the hospital for some lab work and a CT scan just to make sure it's not appendicitis. It probably isn't though."

The doctors in Lake Mills are notorious for ordering completely unnecessary tests for the sake of caution, so I was pretty skeptical. For instance, they've made it a habit of diagnosing everyone in my family with "heart murmurs" and ordering echocardigrams - which always end with the tech at the hospital wondering why an echo was ordered in the first place.

I figured I'd drive to the hospital (in my beloved Watertown), humor myself with the tests to justify all the class I missed, and head home after a false alarm.

I had the blood taken, I had an IV put in, and I had my CT scan. The tech running the scan started to take the IV out after the scan was over, and a nurse said "shouldn't we leave that in just in case he needs surgery?"

The tech replied, "Nah, I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

(Spoiler alert: Thanks a heap, pal)

At that point I was pretty certain I was fine. Obviously I didn't look like someone dealing with appendicitis and I didn't really feel like one either. I sat in the lobby, opened a Time magazine, and awaited my clearance to go home.

I might add now that my doctor told me that he wanted them to call him with the results so that he could tell me himself. The waiting area receptionist summoned me to an office near the reception desk and told me to pick up the handset.

I expected, "Hey Blake, this is Dr. Basarich. You're good to go."

I got, "Hey Blake, this is Dr. Basarich. You do have appendicitis, and we've already scheduled your surgery. They'll tell you what to do when you hang up."

Hooooooooooly frick.

I got a chance to call both of my parents (both of which were at least an hour away at work) and tell them about it, and then I was led into my surgery waiting room. I was for the most part still pretty calm at this point, although I was really just trying not to think about it. The anesthesiologist started some preliminary stuff as I sat in the operating bed, and then she just sat in there and talked with me for a while. For that I am forever grateful. It was about an hour before my mom got there, and I was rolled to the operating room about 5 minutes after she arrived...therefore, if not for the friendly anesthesiologist, it would have more or less been me and my thoughts (with a break for a new iv drip installation on my hand. Hey, thanks again, CT scan tech) for an hour leading up to emergency surgery.

I should send her a Christmas card, or something. She was incredibly reassuring in an otherwise fairly scary and lonesome situation.

I really wasn't all that scared for the most part. I did a lot of praying, and I kept reminding myself that this is an incredibly routine surgery that they probably do all the time. I never considered myself to be all that much in danger, but still, there were the nagging doubts.

"I'm going under, there's always a little danger with that."

"What if this is the time the routine surgery goes wrong?"

"They are cutting into my abdomen. Whoa. Hold on a second. I've had mouth surgery, but this..."

"This is emergency surgery...EMERGENCY. surgery."

Soon enough, though, I was in the O.R.

Soon enough, I was out of it.

I don't know how long the surgery took, but it's not like I would have noticed either way. I woke up completely drugged out, groggy, and in a fair amount of pain, but also thankful to be awake. The recovery from there was slow...I wasn't able to get out of bed for several hours after that, and I just about collapsed walking the 5 feet to the bathroom. All while hooked up to the IV. Blegh. No one said it would be pleasant.

My mom was with me the whole time, and Evan and my Dad came to visit for a few hours that night. I got a few calls from relatives (i.e. the Monkle) but for the most part I wasn't out spreading the news.

I watched some college hoops, #6 Syracuse vs. #11 Florida in Tampa (...sigh), and got as much sleep as is possible with abdominal wounds and nurses coming in constantly to check your vitals. The next morning I had a little bit of breakfast (I made it 23 hours without eating anything. Which isn't quite a day, but is still longer than I've ever gone without sleep) and chilled in the hospital until my 5 PM discharge. Wheelchair on the way out and everything...rollin' like a big shot.

Hospital stays aren't great, but they are what they are...the tough part is the restrictive period afterwards. It's been five and a half days since my surgery and only tonight have I eaten my first full unrestricted meal. Walking to class is tough. Shoot, walking up stairs has been tough. I'm not allowed to pick up anything of any weight for some time now, and since my job involves lifting, I have a surgeon's note saying I can't go back to Targs until January 2nd. One one hand, that sounds like a bit much to me; but on the other hand, stocking stuff all day in my current 'old man' physical state would probably be pretty disastrous.

So now I'm back at school just in time for finals (I don't have one til Thursday, so yes, I can afford to blog tonight) which have barely been of worry to me compared to my physical state.

Finals are kinda strange this semester. This semester on aggregate has been so ridiculously terrible compared to any other I've ever had that I'm probably just going to call mulligan on it and start going for that other major I wrote about on the night of the appendix attack.

I'm not sure how strongly I'm going to be able to finish this semester, but part of me feels like I have a few pretty reasonable excuses if I don't. Well, there's never a reasonable excuse to not try your best, but if ever there was a semester to just close out and forget about, it would be this one. Calculus, 20 hour work weeks, 7 school days in the last month lost to bouts of swine and appendicitis...yeah, I'm ready for a change. Maybe next semester I can actually have time for a social life, enjoy what I'm learning, and feel like I'm working toward something I actually want to do after college. A boy can dream...

So there's my appendectomy. I definitely went more in depth than I thought I would, but I've gone a whole semester with only quantitative assignments - I'm kind of yearning to write now and then. For that reason, I keep wanting to write more and more blogs (3 in one week's time is already a ridiculous pace. That probably hasn't happened here in years), but I'll hold myself back for a little while until after finals. After that, I'm going to be blogging at least twice more regardless of motivation - I've got resolution recap '09 and 2010 resolution making to take care of.

Until then, I've got some tests to take. After that, it's sweatervests, Tampa, and bowl games for a whole month. I cannot wait.

Five Alive

2009-12-12T23:59:00.002-06:00

Delicious, yet unrelated

After five years, Flight 109 is still alive and kicking...more or less at least. I've blogged semi-regularly recently, just in time for the sudden resurgence of blogging I've noticed lately.

Generally anniversary posts are reflective in nature, or at least have a fair amount of substance to them. However, given the exceptional circumstances which engulf my present situation, I'm going to leave this post as more of a memorial marker than a contemplation.

I'll probably have a reasonable post about said circumstances ready within the next few days, but for now I'm resting on my laurels. After all, this is my first time ever making a blog post without an appendix, so I'm understandably exhausted. Blog stamina is stored in the appendix, see.

So I'll just say this: thanks to everyone who has followed this humble little journal, whether it's just been for a few posts or if you can remember reading this in 2004. Thank you to anyone who has commented on a blog post, either online or in person - you have no idea how nice of a feeling that is. And thank you God, for blessing me in countless ways over the last five years which are chronicled here.

War and Peace Out.

And we'll say hello

2009-12-09T16:48:00.002-06:00

Snnnnnnnnnnnnow Day!

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is notorious for its complete unwillingness to call a snow day (like, once in the last 20 years), but for whatever reason last night's blizzard was ridiculous enough to lead to cancelled classes. Having driven in it (and having to drive in it again tonight to go to work), I can say that it is pretty bad out there but I don't think this would qualify as one of the two worst snow storms in Madison of my lifetime. Ol' Chancellor Biddy must just be the charitable type when it comes to missing school.

I didn't get out of all that much today. Today was one-class Wednesday and I still have to go to work tonight, but at least I got to sleep in, eh? Plus I suppose there's just the added excitement of learning about it the night before. It makes you feel like a kid again. I got to enjoy hearing it from some of Evan's roommates, who are all characters. It's always a good time over there when everyone is together and last night wasn't an exception. Even though the power went out for 2 hours and it was freezing in there.

We've entered the last full week of classes, and boy will I be glad to be done with this semester. This semester's workload has been fairly insane and I'm looking forward to a jam-packed winter break...3 Christmas parties (with new sweatervestery to be purchased!), a Tampa weekend, a tentative MLC trip, and maybe a Badger hockey game sprinkled in here and there. I can't believe there used to be entire weeks where I had nothing going on...

I'm so excited for break because I'm so sick of school. The class load this semester has been enough to get me to consider a few different paths in college. I'm no longer a lock to be majoring in marketing. I still want to be doing the same type of thing as a career as before, but I think I might prefer another way to get there. The alternate major I'm considering is "Journalism-Strategic Communications" which admittedly sounds a bit more convoluted than marketing, but is described simply as a "blend of the studies of Advertising and Public Relations." That's more or less what I wanted out of Marketing, so I'm going to take the entry-level course for that major next semester to determine if it is a better fit for me than Marketing.

I still fail to fully understand what the best fit for me is, but that's a big part of your first few years of college, right? My qualms with marketing were that I have no interest or skill whatsoever in accounting, finance, management, or really any business-school factor that would be included in 'Marketing' but excluded from Strat Comm. However, the rhetoric and presentation of advertising is what got me fascinated by marketing in the first place. I have a hunch that I would thrive considerably more by building up that side of my interest than trying to force myself into a path I'm not as sure of.

So I haven't switched majors yet, but I'm taking next semester to decide. I built next semester's classes specifically to knock out required gen ed credits and keep both Journalism and Business doors open. This next semester is a big one.

I thought I had it all figured out by now...but I still kind of do. I know roughly what I want to do when I'm done with school. I'm just at a fork in the road - where both roads probably lead to more or less the same place anyway.

I'm hoping that maybe the whole "have everything figured out at age 18" thing is more my own mental creation than the reality.

Although, I'm gonna be 19 soon. Better get on it. Everyone knows THAT's the age where you need to have everything figured out.

See ya again in 3 days.

INFP

2009-10-31T00:15:00.004-05:00

I generally don't put a lot (read: any) credence into personal assessment tests that can be taken online. However, since the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator predates the internet by decades, I suppose it can be taken a little more seriously than "Which Twilight Vampire named Edward are you?" and the like. Most people have heard of it, and I'd say quite a few people I know have taken it as well. It doesn't serve all that concrete of a purpose, but I took it a year or two back and it amazes me to this day how accurate it is as a personality analysis. I suppose if everyone broadcasted their Myers-Briggs results, we'd all have a better idea of how to deal with each other socially, or at least get an idea about how what we do affects those around us.

When I took my assessment (I don't actually remember where it was, but it was free, online, and took a good 30-45 minutes at least), I got the result of INFP, which is apparently "The Idealist." There's a website that has really detailed explanations of what all the results mean, and for the heck of it, I'm going to post what my result said.

The Idealist

As an INFP, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit into your personal value system. Your secondary mode is external, where you take things in primarily via your intuition.

INFPs, more than other iNtuitive Feeling types, are focused on making the world a better place for people. Their primary goal is to find out their meaning in life. What is their purpose? How can they best serve humanity in their lives? They are idealists and perfectionists, who drive themselves hard in their quest for achieving the goals they have identified for themselves

INFPs are highly intuitive about people. They rely heavily on their intuitions to guide them, and use their discoveries to constantly search for value in life. They are on a continuous mission to find the truth and meaning underlying things. Every encounter and every piece of knowledge gained gets sifted through the INFP's value system, and is evaluated to see if it has any potential to help the INFP define or refine their own path in life. The goal at the end of the path is always the same - the INFP is driven to help people and make the world a better place.

Generally thoughtful and considerate, INFPs are good listeners and put people at ease. Although they may be reserved in expressing emotion, they have a very deep well of caring and are genuinely interested in understanding people. This sincerity is sensed by others, making the INFP a valued friend and confidante. An INFP can be quite warm with people he or she knows well.

INFPs do not like conflict, and go to great lengths to avoid it. If they must face it, they will always approach it from the perspective of their feelings. In conflict situations, INFPs place little importance on who is right and who is wrong. They focus on the way that the conflict makes them feel, and indeed don't really care whether or not they're right. They don't want to feel badly. This trait sometimes makes them appear irrational and illogical in conflict situations. On the other hand, INFPs make very good mediators, and are typically good at solving other people's conflicts, because they intuitively understand people's perspectives and feelings, and genuinely want to help them.

INFPs are flexible and laid-back, until one of their values is violated. In the face of their value system being threatened, INFPs can become aggressive defenders, fighting passionately for their cause. When an INFP has adopted a project or job which they're interested in, it usually becomes a "cause" for them. Although they are not detail-oriented individuals, they will cover every possible detail with determination and vigor when working for their "cause".

When it comes to the mundane details of life maintenance, INFPs are typically completely unaware of such things. They might go for long periods without noticing a stain on the carpet, but carefully and meticulously brush a speck of dust off of their project booklet.

INFPs do not like to deal with hard facts and logic. Their focus on their feelings and the Human Condition makes it difficult for them to deal with impersonal judgment. They don't understand or believe in the validity of impersonal judgment, which makes them naturally rather ineffective at using it. Most INFPs will avoid impersonal analysis, although some have developed this ability and are able to be quite logical. Under stress, it's not uncommon for INFPs to mis-use hard logic in the heat of anger, throwing out fact after (often inaccurate) fact in an emotional outburst.

INFPs have very high standards and are perfectionists. Consequently, they are usually hard on themselves, and don't give themselves enough credit. INFPs may have problems working on a project in a group, because their standards are likely to be higher than other members' of the group. In group situations, they may have a "control" problem. The INFP needs to work on balancing their high ideals with the requirements of every day living. Without resolving this conflict, they will never be happy with themselves, and they may become confused and paralyzed about what to do with their lives.

INFPs are usually talented writers. They may be awkard and uncomfortable with expressing themselves verbally, but have a wonderful ability to define and express what they're feeling on paper. INFPs also appear frequently in social service professions, such as counselling or teaching. They are at their best in situations where they're working towards the public good, and in which they don't need to use hard logic.

INFPs who function in their well-developed sides can accomplish great and wonderful things, which they will rarely give themselves credit for. Some of the great, humanistic catalysts in the world have been INFPs.

Every paragraph of that I read, I shake my head and think how accurate it is. I suppose that's probably the case for anyone that takes one of these, but for some reason it's really fascinating to read your own. I think we as humans love when people tell us what we already know about ourselves. Reading this, I just want to tell the website that it really gets me.

But it's only a website of course. I simply find it nice that someone put so eloquently into words my answer to the conversation piece of "tell me about yourself".

Baby, you'll be famous

2009-10-29T02:14:00.003-05:00

Now I know what it's like to live for the weekend.

College life has become a bit of a grind. I still have the occasional leisure time to myself for unproductive things (like blogging), but the homework and the job are ultimately pretty pervasive to the point that little Xbox breaks and such just seem like distractions and procrastinations. All told, it's all right, I'm accomplishing a fair amount - but I really only enjoy myself when I specifically set time aside to do something that I want to do. It's about the mindset, I think. It has to be something to look forward to, and something about which I've told myself, "yes, I am taking up valuable productivity time, but I will get joy from this! Learn to accept joy!"

So I'm trying to set aside more of these times. Perhaps that's the wrong approach, and I should start being able to find joy from everything...but to do that, I have to shut off the worrying part of my brain - and I can only do that a few hours a week.

So what kind of things DO I do with worry-free time?

The most exciting for me has been Chicago Fire games. Well, technically I've only gone to one of them, but my crew and I ("my crew" is used loosely here...it's more of a random smorgasbord of 5 people) are heading down November 7th to watch Chicago take on the New England Revolution in the playoffs. The first Chicago Fire game I went to was late September of this year and I'm hooked. My love of Major League Soccer (and all things soccer, really) is well documented, so it was probably only natural that I'd love going to games. I'd go as far as to say that my first Fire game was among the 3 best days of this year (behind only my two US National team games this summer). Plus I achieved one of my New Year's resolutions by finally going to a game, and I am totally still working to accomplish those.

Something else I'm about to start doing is going to Badger Hockey games. Evan and I got season tickets this year because our dad used to take us to games at least once a month for several years while we were growing up. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of excitedly hopping in the car with dad and going to hockey games...I started going when I was 4 or 5, I think. We'd get to our seats, get hot dogs and share one of those huge stadium sodas (always a diet coke...probably why to this day I like diet coke unlike every other male I know) and watch Badger greats like Brian Rafalski and Badger not-so-great-but-still-a-cool-guys like Jake Soper.

The reminiscing was enough for Evan and I to buy season hockey tickets, although because of work I can only go to the Friday games, and even then something tends to get in the way - so I haven't been to a game yet this year. I'll probably go this Friday, although Evan probably cannot go and I'll be forced to look for someone to go with and take his ticket. So hey, anyone want to go to a hockey game Friday night? or want to buy Saturday night tickets, ever?

(The sales pitch seems irrelevant when few people read your blog).

And one of these weekends (perhaps the weekend before Thanksgiving?) I'm planning on taking off of work and heading up to MLC. I of course have a lot of friends up there (many of whom I haven't spoken to much lately, due to mutual busyness and distance) and I always love a good weekend trip to anywhere. My last trip to MLC was a lot of fun, but there were several variables involved that could be improved on for the next trip. I always enjoy trips there either way, because the kindly folk at MLC are such a breath of fresh air compared to the prototypes I run into all the time at UW (or ran into, in the case of USF).

Golly gee, I sure would love going to school there, I just don't want to be a teacher. Funny how some of my friends have the opposite sentiment. Maybe I'd eventually feel the same if I actually did go there.

But if I went to MLC, I'd be able to get that nice, family-minded WELS girl from the plan...instead of the near-vacuum of female interaction that comes with my tight schedule. But that can always change...and that's a topic for another post. Get to bed, Blake. You have an exam tomorrow.

You just might find...you get what you need

2009-10-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

Last night I got in a conversation about plans. More specifically, I was asked what my backup plan for my major would be if I for some reason didn't get into the business school here.

Without much thought, I rattled off my non-business school backups to marketing: economics, mass communication, journalism, sociology. I have thought about this before. And there is no indication that I should have any trouble getting into the business school.

This is because I plan. Too much.

One walks a fine line when mapping out the future. I know a lot of people claim to plan too much, but for every overanalyst there's a former high school party animal managing an Arby's. I prefer to err on the safe side.

All in all, it's a reasonable way to live. Having goals and backup plans just mean that you're always prepared. But it can get you into trouble.

Even though I always have a backup plan, I can get my heart set on an ideal goal. this, of course, is stupid because nothing works ideally. But boy will I work to make it happen.

And this is where I'm stuck. College to me is one elaborate connecting flight between being a kid and "following my plan". I feel like I need to have everything figured out by now...which is well and good as motivation, but puts a lot of pressure on my actions.

For instance...I don't drink because I set my mind on being morally sound and not drinking til 21. I work all the time because I need good references and experience on my resume. My key factor for transferring to Wisconsin was to seal a better chance at getting into Northwestern for grad school. So that I can get the good, steady, limitless potential job in Chicago. So that I can get on my feet and attract a nice family-minded WELS girl. So that I can work and save like a madman to get a decent house in the far northern suburbs of Chicago. So that I can raise my kids in a safe suburban environment, take them to Fire games, and send them to Shoreland Lutheran (where they'll play soccer of course!). So that they can be good, responsible, morally sound kids just like their dad tried to be. So that the Mrs. and I can retire down to Palm Harbor, Florida and join a country club with our retirement savings. So that I can show off pictures of my grandkids to my old man golf friends.

Aaaaaaand, what are the odds of that all happening?

Yet, every B I get on an assignment, every screw-up at work feels like another dent in the plan.

But it's a dent in a ridiculous plan. I can basically guarantee that 20 years from now this plan won't look a thing like what I ended up doing. It probably will look far-fetched 2 years from now for that matter. Yet I struggle to convince myself not to tie myself to my plans.

The key here is trust. My faith in God is fine overall, but my trust in his plan is constantly lacking. I feel the need to blueprint out my entire life, even when he certainly has something much better in store for me than what my restless young adult mind churns out. It just takes a lot for me to trust that.

Parts of my plan collapse all the time, so that's why I come up with backups. But the backups are just as likely to collapse as well. But that's fine. That means I'll live out a life that was picked out by someone better at planning than myself.

Which is encouraging.

The struggle is nothing but love

2009-09-16T02:11:00.004-05:00

Well, after what seemed to start out as a slow summer, I managed to fill up my summer quite a bit by the end. Because I think my favorite post ever is last summer's play-by-play, I guess I'll just do one for this summer. Fasten your seatbelts, everyone, if you have a seatbelt on your chair.

This summer had a lot more ups and downs than last year's magical summer, but I feel pretty much ready for anything where I stand now. It's a part of growing up, I suppose. Without further ado (and without Freddy Adu), I present this summer:

May
-Well, obviously I started the summer by driving home from Tampa to Lake Mills. The last "general" post of mine was written on the way back, so I never got to say much about the rest of the trip. Fortunately, not a lot happened on the rest of the trip. Driving through ATL listening to "What You Know" was easily the trip's highlight. Easily. Also, we arrived in Lake Mills just in time for the last hour of Lakeside's prom. To think, if we had left an hour later we would have had to navigate through swarms of horny, awkward teenagers just to get home. Whew.
- I had a couple slick Mr. Cool Guy business suit job interviews, which on the whole went pretty well. I didn't get any of the jobs though. Being 18 appeared to be a pretty major limiting factor. In due time.
- I got my USF grades, accomplishing a 4.0 for the semester - better than most of my high school report cards. As a result, one of my new year's resolutions was accomplished. Still keeping tabs on those.
-I found out pretty early on that this summer wasn't going to be the same carefree one I had last year when two of my friends/soccer teammates, Zach and Ryan, were killed in a car accident about two weeks after I got back. The first I saw of most of my close MLC friends after getting back was total grief. It's still sad to think about it. A lot of us grew emotionally and spiritually, and it caused some people to re-evaluate their direction in life. God got to use them to help us, and also got to welcome two new saints into heaven. Eternally speaking, a win-win. Can't wait to see you guys again.

June
- Graduation parties! Ah, man I love them. Obviously they weren't all in June, but a lot of them were. Most memorable were any that included backyard soccer (which was most of them), playing "tank points" at Kristen's, watching "The Room" at Paul's, telling the clown joke at Jordan's (a personal record 27 minutes!), getting free shirts at Jon's, crashing Paul's hot friend's graduation party, singing O-Town karaoke to Seth, establishing the 2/3 principle with Aaron at Bre's, debuting "Shallow Blake" at Sarah's and destroying my shin playing G in the G at Eric's. I'm sure there are plenty of others I'm forgetting, but I had a lot of fun at parties this year. Way to throw good ones, class of '09.
- USA vs. Honduras world cup qualifier. I think I've said enough about this one, as it merited its own long, excitable post.
- I went to Tom Mackey's house a lot, often with Caleb Meyer. Car ride dialogue shaped a big part of the summer.
- Noah's Ark! Tom, Claire, Caleb and myself got into Noah's Ark for free because we are good students. Noah's Ark is much smaller than I remember. None the less, it was fun. Demolishing a huge pot of macaroni between us while watching "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was a nice end to the day.
- 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. Not something I experienced personally, but I did get to watch it on TV. In short, my obsessed-about US soccer team beat the number 1 team in the world in a game that I recorded so that I may have it forever (ish). Watching the victory was so rewarding.
- I tried frantically all month to get a job. Of course, the same could be said for May and most of July, considering that was pretty much my goal for the summer.

July
- I took a day to drive to Fond du Lac and do something I needed to do. On the way back, I stopped at the Horicon Marsh lookout point, took a deep breath, and just felt alive as birds flew by. "There's no looking back," I thought as I drove on the narrow isthmus of Highway 49, blasting "Drunk Girl". So I haven't.
- I went up north for the first time ever, with the Phi Gimma. I loved it. My family always preferred vacationing out of state, but there are definitely some merits to a trip to Northwoods Wisconsin for tubing, fishing, scrabble, and other general manliness. I hope we do it again sometime, it was one of my favorite weekends ever.
- On my way into chapel to practice for playing music in church, I scraped the inside of their narrow garage opening with my (parents') car. The damage was severe enough to set me back the 300 dollar co-pay on the insurance, which was starting to look like quite a bit considering I couldn't get a job for the life of me. This setback, coupled with the summer-long stress of not being able to get ANY job after having such high, high hopes, made that night feel like a major low point in my life. I felt like a failure whenever I had to address the fact that I couldn't get hired anywhere, so that was about as bad as it gets for me. So lo and behold, the next day...
- The phone rang. It was West Madison Target, looking to set up an interview several weeks after I applied. The date was set for that coming Friday morning. Generally return on heavy prayer isn't so instantaneous.
- Thursday of that week, I got to go to my second US soccer game of the summer, this time a tournament semifinal - also against Honduras and also at Soldier field. We won 2-nil and I had another great time. Plus I got to aggravate a bunch of Mexico fans and had stuff thrown at me. It's like a rite of passage for a soccer fan. We got back after 1 AM that morning. My Target interview was in 9 hours.
- So I went to bed, woke up, drove there, and got myself a job. Its stature doesn't compare to the internships I was interviewing for earlier in the year, but it's a good steady job that gives me a lot of hours and honestly, pays about as well as any of those business-y jobs I could have gotten. And who knows, maybe I can shoot for a Target corporate internship next summer.

August
- Fantasy Football draft. It wasn't particularly eventful but is always fun.
- Fax's Jay Gatsby Party. I showed up late because of work, but a Gatsby Party is always a highlight of the summer.
- OK, so I didn't do a whole lot during most of August, but that's because I worked about 40 hours a week. I gotta get paid, son.
-The last week of August was the exception. In one powerhouse day, Aaron and I managed to accidentally set up a radio station marketing proposal, discover a gem of a Korean baseball video game, and play Mackey in the tremendous "All My Children" board game.
-About that marketing proposal...basically, Aaron and I wanted to tour the offices of Madison hip-hop station "93.1 JAMZ" but didn't know how to ask. So we made up that we had a marketing proposal to make so that they wouldn't throw us out. Instead of getting a station tour when we talked to the receptionist, we got an appointment for a week later to actually make a marketing consultation with the station's program director. Realizing we were in a bit over our heads, we took the time to brainstorm an actual marketing plan - a 3v3 charity summer basketball tournament called the "JAMZ Slam". Jon drafted us up a logo and we dressed sharply for our appointment...and it went perfectly. The director loved our idea, got our contact information, and now we're approaching the very, very early stages of planning. Even though the appointment came basically as a joke, this could well turn into something that serves as a serious springboard for a future marketing career I may have. It'll look pretty good on a resume that my business partner and I freelance marketing consulted a local company into planning a big event. So hopefully everything pans out with that.
- Then I moved into college. Which, hey, is where I am right now.

College is kinda silly for me, because I'm working at Target so much (20+ hours a week) that I haven't really had the time to go out and meet loads of random people and just live the college life. But I'm ok with that. I got to do that last year. I came into Madison already having a lot of close friends (including my roommate) and if I have to sacrifice meeting a bunch of bros in order to keep my student loans manageable, then I'm ok with that. Hey, at least I got Badger Hockey season tickets. So I'm doing one part of the college scene right.

That's where I am in life right now. I'm almost always either working, going to class, or doing homework and there aren't even blips on my girlfriend radar...but you know what? I'm doing great. I'm starting to figure things out a bit. I'm starting to live my own life. I'm learning from everything I do. At a glance, my status in life seems unremarkable...but I'm just enjoying the ride and waiting with bated breath to see where it takes me next.

The First Week of July

2009-07-02T19:45:00.001-05:00

Judy
Could anyone be loved anymore than I love you?
Does it hurt you too?

But Judy
I've been feeling small too long.
I love you so
but something's wrong.

I come running when you want me here
and when you want me to I disappear.
Judy.

I knew if I made it easy for you
you'd settle for me, yeah eventually.

But Judy,
I can't be myself anymore.
It's way too hard
being loved by default.

And I can't do this any longer.
The vacuum left is so much stronger
Judy.

Judy you know I'm not mad anymore
at least most of the time
but it could take a while
and I've been living just to see you smile
every once in a while.

Tears fall
but that don't mean nothing at all.
Just cause I said it first
yeah that's why it hurts ya

And Judy
I won't be your bitch anymore
and follow you around
and hold the door.

I'm not sorry if you're not sorry too
and you're not sorry until I make you.
Judy.

Give Judy My Notice - Ben Folds

What a difference a year makes.

Amarillo! Tarjeta amarilla por favor!

2009-06-08T23:08:00.009-05:00

US soccer is one of my favorite things in the world. Everyone has their own obsession that no one else fully gets (whether it be music or cars or theater or...World of Warcraft?) and this is mine. And I frankly, to this day, have little to no idea how that happened.

We aren't really a soccer family at all, and in the US, it seems like you have to be born into a soccer family to pick it up. I mean, I played soccer as a little kid and I was pretty good, but every little kid played soccer and I'm sure most of them were pretty good. But I'm sure playing soccer isn't the key, as the many opponents and teammates I've met through playing soccer have yet to produce another US soccer fanatic quite like myself.

I think it started in 2002, when the US did well in the World Cup in South Korea/Japan. I remember seeing some news story about a big upset they had, and my 11 year old self somehow decided I would get really interested. I even woke up at 4:00 AM to listen to one of their games on the radio (something I fondly recreated last year during the Olympics, albeit with a TV that time). However, after that World Cup ended, soccer faded back into a passing interest for a long time, until the next World Cup in 2006 I guess.

My return to soccer fandom (and the start of the serious fanaticism) is chronicled in the classic June 21, 2006 post I might have to start liking Yellowcard by default. In this post, a 15 year old Blake claims to have "gotten really into following soccer lately" amongst a host of other chubby, nervous drivel. The point is, my love for the team grew from that summer (which, as I noticed looking back at old posts, was momentous in a lot of ways. Perhaps this will be chronicled in another post) to the full-blown obsession it is today.

Anyway, through all of this, I had only been to one US game before, in the summer of 2007 when the love was still blooming into half of what it is today. That's what made going to the US soccer game on Saturday such a big occasion for me.

And what an occasion it was. Considering my hopes for the day were higher than probably any until the day I propose, I wanted to make sure everything would go perfectly. I assembled a superteam of the Hanke brothers, Meyer, Becca, and Paul soon after the game's location was even announced. Then I waited anxiously for the gameday in much the way I wait to use terrible similies when I write this blog.

And there it was, June 6th. We left for Chicago in the mid-afternoon to get there before the 7:00 kickoff. The car ride was fun yet uneventful ("funeventful", if you will) and we got to Soldier Field with about an hour and a half to kill. We didn't really have a taste for the gameday atmosphere until we emerged from the parking garage to see mass seas of blue-and-white clad Honduras fans.

Walking around the stadium before the game, you would never have believed that this game was in Chicago as opposed to whatever city is in Honduras. Our little pack of 6 US fans was absolutely surrounded by Hondurans the whole time we hung around museum campus. We did brave the Central American swarms to get Chicago hot dogs (celery salt FTW) before we entered Soldier Field. Everything going to plan so far, for the most part.

After we got into the stadium, we located our seats, which were a whole lot better than I had expected them to be. They were further up than the ones we had for the last US game, but I almost preferred it because you could see the whole field a lot better. It's a toss-up.

However, the location of our seats ensured we were going to be mostly surrounded by Honduras fans (which made up an estimated 75% of the almost capacity crowd), although we did manage to land in a little pocket of fellow US fans. I wasn't complaining, it's fun to go back and forth with the other team's fans a little.

It did get a little obnoxious when the Honduran majority passed this HUGE Honduras flag back and forth across the upper deck over all the fans before the game started. This happened like 6 times, but it did make for a couple interesting incidents. As a USA diehard, I refused to help pass the flag along, and even took the liberty of spitting on it a few times as it passed over my head (which is actually pretty standard international soccer fare). However, one of my particularly voracious spits came just a fraction of a second after the last part of the flag had passed over me, and hit an anonymous Honduran maybe 5 rows in front of us. He then proceeded to beat me to a bloody pulp.

Nah, he actually didn't notice. It was pretty ridiculous. One or two Hondurans around me laughed a little bit and boy was my face red. The flag did exact its revenge on me during another trip across the stands, hitting me in the face and flinging my glasses 3 rows back. Fortunately, some friendly Hondurans returned them to me unharmed. Jake suggested how bad it would have been if they had broken and rendered my eyesight useless for the whole game, which caused me to shudder and rank it as the second most horrifying "almost happened" worst-case scenario in my life. I'll only tell you the number one most horrifying worst-case scenario if you're really special. I've probably never told anyone, actually, as it is that horrifying. Moving right along...

Soon enough, the game started, and it definitely did not start well. We came out looking shaky and Honduras capitalized almost immediately, scoring 5 minutes in. Fearing a huge collapse and expecting a loss, I swore loudly many times. I'm going to exempt that moment from my new year's resolution count, due to severe emotional distress. We slowly started to put it together as the first half wore on, but I was still pretty miserable to see us losing, until right before halftime one of their defenders gifted us with a stupid handball in the box...penalty kick time.

The minute or two before Landon Donovan stepped up to take the penalty kick may have been the most intense in my life. All the passion I've been saving up for the US team came to a head as he stared down the keeper with a chance to tie the game up before halftime. He just HAD to convert that PK. If he didn't, Honduras would carry that momentum to a win, and I also would die of hypertension on the spot. The pressure kept building and building as what seemed like an eternity passed before he ran up to slam the ball goalwards. I don't have asthma but it felt like I just developed it on the spot. The air left Soldier Field and the entire crowd held their breath as Landon's cleat struck the ball.

Tie ballgame.

Just as the emotional buildup before the penalty kick was so immense, the release was equally epic. I nearly had tears of joy as I watched the small but passionate contingent of home fans jump around wildly as their team's talisman celebrated his unstoppable drive to the top of the net. That was a moment of joy and excitement unrivaled by anything I can remember in my life and served as a reminder of why I love this team so much. That was a feeling I hope I never forget.

The half ended a few minutes later and I felt confident that we would be able to get our winner in the second half. The raw emotion of Donovan's PK and ensuing celebration seemed to be enough to give our guys the swagger and momentum they needed to grab the second.

And sure enough, it came. After a frustrating number of half-chances and coulda-woulda-shouldas, it was captain Carlos Bocanegra with the gutsy diving header that was either going to end with a goal or a kick to the head. Fortunately, it was the former. 2-1 USA.

I was able to really let loose after that, after an incredibly tense first half, I was back to being jovial as I watched the crew make sure Honduras wouldn't score again. That's when some of the back and forth with the surrounding Honduran fans began, which fortunately all stayed pretty good natured. Because of my research into all things soccer, I knew a few things to say that would get the attention of the opposing fans. I got a few chuckles from the Hondurans for cheering a few ole's for the 'gringos'. Being ahead actually allowed me to have a little fun instead of giving myself coronaries over turnovers and bad crosses.

There were a couple of scary moments as Honduras desperately pressed for the equalizer, but Tim Howard and the D ultimately held strong and we made it out with a gritty 2-1 comeback victory over a tough opponent. I felt euphoria as the official finally blew his whistle after 4 long minutes of stoppage time...for I got to witness my obsession grab a determined victory and I got to feel the highs and lows as they did. The 5 who left the stadium with me may never before have seen a happier Blake and I rode that high all the way home.

A lot of people have asked me how the game was. I've mostly said "a lot of fun" but ^that^ is what I've really meant to say.

It says "hold on and take this ride"

2009-05-02T10:02:00.006-05:00

I decided a while ago that I would save my 100th post for a special occasion. I’d say this is as special as any.

I’m typing this from the family van, and there is lightning over Atlanta. Yep, I’ve left Tampa for good. It’s crazy knowing that it’s completely over although I’m sure it will fully set in once I’m home. But I’ve spent enough time on this blog covering the decision and leaving Florida…instead, I’d like to look at what I have to look forward to.

First of all, freedom. Yeah, it does seem a bit contradictory that I’d have more freedom at home than I did when I was 1500 miles away from my parents, but that’s misleading. Sure, I was able to make all my own decisions, but I definitely felt a bit trapped from time to time. Without a car the feeling could get pretty confined. I guess the best illustration of this is how I had to stock up on groceries when my parents visited (twice), because I couldn’t ever get them on my own time. Just having a car to use will make such a difference. I can do things on my own time now!

On the flipside of that is responsibility. Yep, time to get a job. I’m really resigned to it to the point of almost looking forward to working all summer, but it’s going to be a big adjustment. When I consider that last summer I did whatever I pleased and wasted many days away, it’s going to be completely new to me. I only really have applied to jobs that I wouldn’t mind doing, so it’s not going to be Culver’s bad. Just a lot of work – but I’m ready for that I think. I’ve picked up a better work ethic from a year of college.

Good times! I’m definitely anticipating some of those. Like I said, I’ll be working a lot so I won’t have nearly as much time to replicate last year’s super summer, but there’s some classy stuff on the docket. I am primarily looking forward to the US soccer game in Chicago, but I’m sure this summer has a lot more to offer too – ’09 grad parties, golfing, and hopefully an MLS game to name a few. I feel like I’m going to really savor this summer.

And here’s a paradigm shift to look forward to – upon my return to Wisconsin, I am back on the market…ladies. I don’t have anything particular in mind, but I at least feel like I’m free to have my name back out there for the first time in 8 months or so. If the previous 17 years of my life in Wisconsin are any indication, they might not exactly be all up ons, but who knows. I think maybe all I need to do are meet some new girls who don’t have any notions about me already from my less appealing days and can just take me for who I am. It worked before. I’m not too broken up either way though – my first new year’s resolution was to make wise relationship choices, and I’m actually trying to stick to those this year.

But ya know what? It’s summer! Today I did my last school assignment for 4 months. I want to take a break from worrying about how each question I answer in school affects my future. I want to stop feeling guilty for relationship decisions that weren’t even irrational. I want to stop taking everything so seriously! Yeah, I’m still going to try to get my grown-up 9 to 5 job this summer, but I’m living with my brother in an apartment downtown, I’m more responsible for myself than ever before, and I’ve got all but 40 hours a week to do everything in my power to make this summer unforgettable.

I am finally waking up

2009-03-13T13:22:00.005-05:00

Well hey, y'all. I'm sitting in Tampa International again, waiting on my flight to leave in about an hour or so. I got my Q-no's, my hat, my stubble. All systems go.

This week is going to be an adventure. I've got 2 job interviews, a trip to MLC, a Jay Gatsby party, and I've already had to turn down Wisconsin hockey tickets to boot. For not having the same spring break as most of my high school friends, I'm sure finding things to do.

The most important part of that for me is the interviewing. On Monday I'm going into Watertown to interview for a financial internship with Northwestern Mutual and on probably Tuesday or Wednesday I have a phone interview for a 40-hour office assistant job with Epic Systems in Verona. Both of these jobs have their pros and cons, but I should wait and see if I'm offered either one before I start trying to pick between the two. Either way, it's an exciting time. A lot of people are having trouble finding decent work so I feel quite blessed that I have two interviews for what seem to be really good positions, experience-wise. I hope it all works out. I need to make money for school this summer regardless, so the added bonus of gaining experience and getting a corporate foothold would be fantastic for either of these companies .

Now that I'm seriously facing the possibility of laying the foundation for my career, it's led me to examine my place in life a little bit. I think I view college as a transition period more than most. For a lot of people, college is the place to spread your wings and have fun...but I think that was more of high school for me. Nearly every decision I've made in college was one that lent itself partially to business sense. I guess it comes with the high expectations I've felt (much of which are my own) since the start of the National Merit process. It's felt like every decision I make will have some immense impact on the rest of my life, because I feel like I need to achieve great success to live up to my potential.

So the result is my slow, early transition into your standard business guy, something I don't have too much of a problem with, really...as long as I don't turn into a workaholic who puts everything else behind that. Sometimes I worry that might happen, but it's in my power to prevent that from happening. I'm just caught between being prepared for real life and growing up too fast. The key is finding a balance.

And that kind of leads into the other key point I wanted to mention with this post, about how my time in Florida is almost up. This marks the last time I'll be flying out of Tampa International to come home from USF. When I get back from spring break, I will only have 5 more weeks at USF before coming home for good. It's a lot to think about.

Tampa has been my home, for better or worse, for about 6 months now. While I'm pretty certain about my decision, it sometimes makes me wonder when I think about how fleeting my remaining time here is. The tie-in here is that a lot of my decision was based on my future. Since Wisconsin is such a better business school and since Wisconsin business graduates are so highly regarded, it made sense to me that I'd have so many more and better oppurtunities by transferring. And I stand by that decision...during my job search I was continually reminded of the preference many employers have about a school like Wisconsin over a school like USF.

However, it all comes back to that balance I mentioned earlier. I'm giving up ease of living (the scholarship), good weather, good friends, and what was a really great relationship so that I can...get a better job when I'm old? Obviously, there are many more factors in that decision, but I say this because every time I reconsider the transfer, the business factor is the one that always brings me back to picking Wisconsin.

So that's what's on my mind a lot, especially now as my plane gets ready to depart. My goal now is to make the best of whatever comes next...for that's the best I can do. See ya in Wisconsin, and next time get yourself ready for a milestone that I have taken an embarrassingly long time to accomplish.

Here have some

2009-03-07T12:44:00.004-06:00

I see via many facebook statuses that today is the WSMA day (for at least some high schools) and also the day of Lakeside's regional basketball final against Edgewood at Watertown High School.

Boy, do I miss Lakeside sometimes.

No, I don't miss being in high school. I'm perfectly okay with moving on to college and all, but it makes me remember a year ago where the Calebs and I went from WSMAs in Poynette to Watertown to watch Lakeside play the regional final against Edgewood. I think that was included in my second half of senior year/summer recap earlier in blog world, and was hands down one of the best days of high school for me. I'm not even certain why...of course it was fun and all, but it seemed special for some reason. I guess it just felt like a precursor to summer, with almost a mini-road trip with all the driving we did and a memorable Wendy’s jaunt with a number of running jokes born.

But, life goes on. Edgewood/Lakeside/Poynette WSMA day won't ever happen again, but lots else will. Stay tuned.

The power went out here a while ago. Fortunately, the network's still up and my laptop has 3 hours of battery life. So I can still be unproductive. haha.

Spring Break's a-coming and I'm pretty excited for that. There's an outside chance for a Jay Gatsby party, and all sorts of other possibilities (no to mention not being busy with school...of course). One of those possibilities, speaking of Jay Gatsby, is doing a video remake of the Great Gatsby to help Paul for his American Lit project. That would be splendid, old sport.

Also, my time in Tampa is slowly coming to a close (probably) and I'll be able to reflect on that more in a week as I sit in the Tampa airport waiting for my plane to take off. Because what better time to blog than that?

Other than next week's exposition, there's not much to hit on since the last post. The Real Salt Lake game was fun, I got to meet a few players including the dreadlocked and pictured Kyle Beckerman, who was predictably a cool guy. Also, February's over and for the first time I have officially locked down one of this year's resolutions: #7 - Actually go to the beach. I went to Clearwater Beach with Evan, James, Brittany, and Nick and it was a good time. Cold for the beach, but oh well. It's warmer than Wisconsin. One resolution down, 7 more to go to achieve #16. The soccer one is looking good at the moment, because I'm on an intramural team now. It's hard work - soccer is tough in Florida humidity.

A week later, Brittany and I went to Clearwater Beach at night to get ice cream, for the heck of it I guess. Sometimes the view at night is better than the view during the day. I had a lot of fun doing that. It's nice to get out for the sake of being out, and it's nice to see the ocean.

See y'all in a week.

If we both might be having the same imaginary conversation

2009-02-20T23:29:00.004-06:00

I just listened to Cologne by Ben Folds three times, because Steve's new blog's title inspired me to listen to Ben Folds. I didn't feel much for it when I first listened to the CD, but over time it became my favorite on the album. I still don't like Way to Normal as much as Songs for Silverman or Rockin' the Suburbs, but those two were "soundtrack of your life" type CD's for me. A lot of memories tied to those songs.

I decided that I want to get rid of that people tracker thing. It's more fun not knowing who looks at your blog after all. I feel like the North Korean government, tracking everyone's moves like that.

I enjoyed having a Romanian visit my blog. Nameless citizen of Bucharest, I just want you to know that I've always had a soft spot for your national team for some reason. I was pulling for you to make it out of the Euro 2008 group of death. I like Adrian Mutu.

I learned that most random visitors to my blog came because they searched "I got dreadlocks fallin' all over me." These lyrics to MURS' aptly named "Dreadlocks" were the title to one of my first blogs from Tampa, before I actually lived in Tampa. "Dreadlocks" is a ridiculous rap song that was used by Paul, Jordan and I to honor Lake Mills High School's dreadlocked benchwarming basketball player. A live version of it can be found here and a horrible quality version of it can be found here, in a video that was clearly made in somebody's local library.

I mean, seriously, if you're going to play an MMORPG, shouldn't you at least have internet at your house?

I guess the fate of that song and this blog are intertwined. Turns out, when you google search those lyrics (which, if you were trying to find out the name of the song, you probably would because they're repeated 7 times per refrain), that post is the 2nd result.

So, marketing departments, if you're looking to pander to the elusive MURS fan demographic, I've got plenty of ad space. Call me up. I am a consumer whore.

My family is here right now visiting, and Evan is staying in my room. He's next to me right now, in fact. And I'm not being a bad host, mind you, he's doing some sort of math homework that he has to do, so I am blogging. Today we went to the beach briefly and did some much needed shopping for some much-needed groceries (and some not-much-needed sour patch kids, but I do like the little guys), but the truly exciting events of the weekend start tomorrow.

First of all, Evan and I are going to Clearwater Beach with two friends, which will mark my first time in Tampa Bay actually going to the beach for the sake of having a day at the beach. We walked on a pier over Clearwater Beach today, and it does look pretty nice. White sand, blue waters, the whole deal, although I didn't see any shells whatsoever. I guess a nice beach is supposed to be free of them. Huh.

The evening is what really has me pumped though. A Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake, is playing USF's soccer team in a preseason exhibition match on campus for 5 dollars. Being the die-hard MLS fan that I am, this excites me quite a bit, especially considering that the nature of soccer games on campus suggests that we will have ample opportunity to meet their players. Also, two of the guys from my US soccer facebook group are coming, presenting more opportunity to meet online people in real life in a non-creepy way.

Being a soccer fan in the US is really cool. Because I take it so seriously, all these guys count as celebrities to me even though most people would have no idea who they are. That just makes it so special when I find other people who view it the same way I do, because it's so rare. And if I meet any of the players and get pictures, I'm going to go nuts and put them online, even though I know about 2 of my friends will even have heard of any of them. But it makes me feel like I'm blazing a trail. Americans will care about their country's soccer in time, it just will take years of superfans like me trying to convince everyone of how great it is. Maybe my excitement will inspire others.

Plus, Salt Lake's captain has dreadlocks, and Flight 109 has a history with those.

I just got back from the Middle East, and boy do I falafel!

2009-02-10T16:21:00.005-06:00

Seriously, though.

As I mentioned previously, I went to a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque as part of an assignment for class. It was a pretty interesting experience, so I'm posting the paper I wrote about it. It should be noted that we were told to include all our basic thoughts, feelings, and concerns, so if I come off as a nervous wreck, that's pretty much why. Enjoy.

When I signed up to take the Middle Eastern Geographic Perspectives course, I did so because of my interest in the economic opportunities in the area. I assumed that my basic familiarity of the United Arab Emirates would give me a leg up on the class and the rest would just be learning about various wars. However, the opportunity to look closely at a region whose culture is so misunderstood and distorted has been eye-opening to say the least, and the best illustrations of this have been experienced right here in Tampa.

Like many other students at USF, I was raised in a conservative Christian household. Because of this, I entered this class with a knowledge of Islam and Middle Eastern culture that had been filtered by those who possessed no personal experience of the culture. Therefore, when we were told that we had to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque as part of the class, I was excited to learn about the culture but I was also somewhat anxious of experiencing some culture shock. After all, despite my economic knowledge of the area, I knew little to nothing about the culture itself – Middle Eastern culture is not widely celebrated in my Wisconsin hometown of 5,000 white Lutherans.

To accomplish the exciting yet worrying tasks at hand, I decided to team up with two of my roommates, James and Drew, to share the experience and for support (who knew what was ahead?). Because eating out seemed considerably less threatening than going to a mosque sight unseen, we chose to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant first. We set a date in advance and researched to find the best option for authentic Middle Eastern cuisine. After about a half-hour of googling our way through Tampa’s restaurant listings, we settled on Byblos Café, a Lebanese restaurant south of downtown Tampa. We were reassured by their inviting website (Bybloscafe.com) and their story of how the owners of the restaurant came to the US after graduating high school in Lebanon seemed like a guarantee of authentic Middle Eastern food. Enlisting the help (and car) of our friend Brittany, we headed south for an educational night on the town.

When we arrived and entered the restaurant, I was impressed by the lavish décor and impeccable cleanliness (it sounds silly to assume that a Middle Eastern restaurant would be dirty just for not being Western, but none of us had eaten at one before). We were promptly seated near some sort of corporate party and a “girl’s night out” and our waitress brought out our water and flatbread.

Immediately, the flatbread was a hit. It came with a dipping oil which we found out (after asking the waitress) contained sumac. Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to scare us away (knowing of the plant called poison sumac), but we remembered sumac having been discussed earlier in class and continued to eat.

James, Drew and I wanted to make sure we ordered as authentically as possible, and also tried to vary our dishes from each other’s to broaden the experience. James ordered three types of kebab, Drew ordered the mysterious beef shawarma and I, hoping to get what would be a basic, standard Lebanese meal, opted for the decidedly vague “Chicken with Vegetables”. Our colorful, steaming plates arrived soon after, and it was time to take the plunge.

Arguably, I found my plate to be the most visually appealing of the whole table, so I had no reservations whatsoever to digging in. After all, chicken with vegetables seemed pretty straightforward, so all I had to do was hope that there wasn’t going to be some sort of repulsive Middle Eastern spice to ruin the deal.

Any fears I had were allayed with the first bite. The chicken was tender, moist, and not mysterious (always a plus with meat), and the huge vegetables and seasoning were not only unique, but far more intensely flavorful than any of the cafeteria food I’ve been solely subsisting on all school year. I have been known to be cautious about new foods, but I found myself truly enjoying the dish until I could eat no more of the more than hearty portion. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my assignment had turned into an enjoyable night out with a great meal to boot!

Reviews from the rest of the table were also generally favorable. Our experience at Byblos was comfortable and satisfying, and being forced to branch out and try something new gave me a new restaurant to list among my favorites in Tampa.

Our positive experience at Byblos gave us a little bit more confidence heading to the mosque, but it still struck us as a daunting task. I personally had a number of questions and fears leading up to the experience.

Ultimately, my greatest fear was that one of us would somehow offend whoever was at the mosque, whether it would be by dressing improperly or by being ignorant of some form of etiquette not practiced by Westerners. Additionally, I had no idea how receptive those at the mosque would be to the idea of three college kids walking around their complex looking for answers.

More internet research led us to the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area (ISTABA), located just south of campus. Once more, our friend Brittany supplied the car, but decided not to enter the mosque with us for fear of not being properly dressed (having seen many Muslim women wearing head coverings, we decided to play it safe and not risk offending anyone due to our lack of knowledge). The three of us weren’t sure how to dress, but I put on roughly what I would wear to my church – a collared shirt and khaki dress slacks – under the hopeful assumption that such wear would be acceptable in this place of worship.

When we arrived at the mosque, we were discouraged by the large fence surrounding the entire complex and the fact that there seemed to be nowhere to park (this may have been due to some nearby construction). We parked the car at a nearby gas station, and the three of us walked down to the mosque. When we arrived at what seemed to be the main gate, I was feeling more nervous than ever – a feeling that seemed to be shared by James and Drew.

Our collective anxiousness stemmed from a few things that seemed unwelcoming or intimidating to us. On top of the apparent lack of parking and the fence, there didn’t seem to be any obvious place for visitors to go, and what appeared to be some sort of main office was adorned with a sign that said “please remove your shoes before entering” – which was confusing to us, to say the least.

We stood outside the barely open gate and pondered what might become of us for a little while, until James and Drew volunteered me to enter first. Attempting to summon my bravery in a wholly disorienting and unchartered territory, I walked through the narrow opening, half expecting to set off some unseen alarm.

Once we were all inside the complex, we happened upon a reasonably friendly looking black man wearing a sweatshirt (as opposed to robes, which would have intimidated me more). I waved at him so as to prove that we weren’t just some punk kids exploring, and he came over to us and asked what we were doing there. I explained that we were students at USF taking a course on the Middle East and we came to the mosque to better understand the culture. The man turned from cautious to welcoming, and said with a smile “Well, then you came to the right place!” My instant relief was almost tangible, and suddenly the large, gated complex seemed more like a welcome center. I was certainly far more relaxed and ready for whatever came next.

The man told us he could take us to the Imam in the main office, and we all removed our shoes as we walked in. I didn’t know what an Imam was, but I felt it was a reasonable assumption that he was the Islamic equivalent to a Christian pastor.

We were ushered into the office of the Imam and I soon learned I was right. The Imam offered us a few chairs and we sat down to discuss Islam with him. The Imam fit the Islamic stereotype more than the black man did – he looked Middle Eastern, and was wearing some type of robe.
After we explained to him that we were USF students taking a class on the Middle East and just wanted to get a general idea of Islam, he gave us a detailed explanation in simple terms, asking us what we knew about it first, and building off of any ideas or (mis)conceptions we had about it.

His description was very straightforward and easy to understand, and eventually led me to conclude that Islam and Christianity are fundamentally quite similar, but are separated mainly by the Quran. After he told us the basis of Islam, I discussed with him a little bit of how my upbringing had led me to a number of incorrect preconceived notions, and how all it took to better understand Islam was simply to learn about it. Though we certainly had different ideas of faith, we seemed to share a mutual understanding that I never knew could exist between myself and a person of the Islam faith. It was astounding to see how much tension can be resolved by simply trying to understand another’s beliefs rather than condemning them and shutting them out.

I then asked how the outreach was going for ISTABA, and the Imam told us about all the services they offered to help the community while the black man went and got Qurans for us to take home. As we gratefully accepted them, the Imam joked that I could take it home as a reference and “hide it from my dad”. We laughed and thanked him and went on our way. As we walked back from the mosque to the gas station, we discussed how pleasant of an encounter it really was, despite our great fears entering.

I was so relieved to realize that our required Middle Eastern orientation went off without a hitch and actually ended up being enjoyable. My nervousness and misconceptions going into the experiences were thankfully unfounded, and I learned that the seemingly scary and intimidating culture of the Middle East may not be so scary and intimidating after all.

It looks a little different.

2009-02-02T00:08:00.002-06:00

Q: How many WELS members does it take to change a light bulb?

A: What?! Change?!?!

Well, the new layout looks a little different, but boy howdy, now that I have the power to be able to have a reasonable idea of who's reading my blog at any given time...I could not pass that up at all.

As far as things that...aren't about my new big-brother power. The Super Bowl just happened, and it was fairly exciting. No phone calls though. And now it's Groundhog Day, which has little to no significance when you live in Florida.

Not that it's that significant anywhere else, but that Bill Murray movie is kinda funny.

I plan to celebrate Groundhog Day by taking a bio exam that I didn't study much for. We have a drop test, so I'm not that worried...but even so, I think his tests will probably be easy. The information is so basic. We shall see.

And because this post is otherwise kinda worthless, I'll do the first of my monthly check-ins on the New Year's Resolutions (how I'm doing on the year-long ones, and if any of the one-time ones have been accomplished)

1. The vague girlfriend one is doing fine, because I think I have yet to make a bad relationship decision this year. I also have yet to make any relationship decision this year, but I guess that's part of the resolution anyway.

2. Doin' fine on the no-man's land.

5. The MLS schedule was released this week, and I've already got plans in place to go to Chicago vs. LA in August with Heidi. Planning is the first step toward going, so I like my chances on this one.

6. Actually, last night I went to Ybor City (Tampa's clubbing district) with a few friends, and we walked by but didn't go in any of the clubs because the prices were jacked up for Super Bowl weekend. Patience.

7. I came close to going to the beach, but instead it was a pier in St. Pete that stretched out into Tampa Bay. It was at night anyway. I am sure to get this one eventually.

9. Uh...my grades seem ok. It's hard to tell this early. Last semester, I got about a .5 swing from midterms to finals, so we'll see. If I don't get it, I wouldn't be broken up - as long as the grade was respectable.

10. No cooking has been done whatsoever. But I'm trying to stop eating dairy. That's food-related at least.

11. I guess so. Kind of a stretch, but I guess so.

12. I have yet to miss church this year, so I guess that's saying something. It helps.

13. Jobs are hard to come by in these parts. As long as I get a good summer job in Madison I'll be happy.

14. I have been making a conscious effort to stop the casual swearing.

3, 4, 8, 15, 16. Irrelevant or N/A

This will force me to update at very least once a month.

I love juice

2009-01-26T19:44:00.001-06:00

Well, school started up again. It's pretty ok so far. One part of it that I'm really excited for is intramural sports. I guess I'm part of an intramural floor hockey team started by a friend of a friend, so that's kind of just for the heck of it. What I'm really pumped for is intramural soccer...which would be my first actual soccer competition in about a year. I was already offered a position up top and my strike partner is going to be another guy who takes his soccer pretty seriously. We've also got one of my roommates, James, who played in youth leagues in Italy, at center back...so now we're ready to take on the frat teams.

I guess intramurals are taken fairly seriously here, which is good, because I really want to be competitive with soccer again. And, of course, it should help me achieve my new year's resolution to play soccer at least twice a month. It's really giving me something to look forward to.

Another thing I've thought seriously about doing in my time down here is reviving Attack Boat. I don't have a guitar though, nor do I have a piano, guitar pro, or anything else I could compose music with. However, it seems like I have enough ideas in my mind to write songs about...it's just a matter of putting it all together.

I actually did finish probably 90% of a song called "Clearwater Bleach" but I'm not very happy with it so I don't know if I'll ever finish that last 10%. I've also been working on potential covers just because I don't feel like I'm accomplishing much of anything down here, so it might be fun to revisit music. I also like Attack Boat's new picture. It's probably the least unflattering I've ever seen of myself.

And WOW. Olde English is a really funny online comedy troupe that made one of my favorite videos ever (the one about scrabble...because I find a lot of humor in tangibly awkward situations), and I found one of their sketches that...shows that they have general distaste for my blog?

Ouch. Not sure what I did to piss those guys off. Actually if you'll watch the whole sketch here
you'll find that it's merely a coincidence, and that apparently flight 109 goes to Italy?

Of course, if you watch the video, the title makes more sense. Not that I don't at least like juice, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that I love it.

So, what else has been interesting since I got back to Tampa? Well...I'm taking this class on Middle Eastern culture, and for the class we had to go to both a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque. Fortunately, two of my roommates are also in the class, so we were able to do these things in a group. It was really interesting, but I have to write a paper on it, so I probably won't describe it until I'm done with the paper. Which I guess I'll post on here after I hand it in. So there's something to look forward to, if you look forward to posts.

I finished my UW application a little while ago, and it's like high school again...I check online to see if they got everything and if they accept or not. Realistically, I should get in, because my GPA is slightly better in college than it was in high school and Wisconsin is easier on transfer admissions anyway...but I don't want to get too confident. Sometimes I think about what would happen if I didn't get in. Well, it would just mean that I'd have to stay at USF at least a semester longer.

There are often times in which I don't think that would be so bad. This is more likely to happen in the daytime, when the sun is shining and I can wear shorts in December. As I walk to class basking in the (literal) warm glow of the Florida winter, I think of how much of a blessing it is for me to be going to college and turning a profit. I think of how much fun I had at Bulls football and soccer games and how, by transferring, I'm basically giving up the responsibility-free attitude I could have had for another 3 years.

But I know I want to be back. The nights are a different story and they are often spent lonely. I have a very good group of friends, but I have to swallow my pride and admit that, as much as I'd like to grow up and be mature, I wasn't ready at age 17 to just leave everything and everyone I loved behind while I went off and made a new life on the bay.

I've certainly addressed this numerous times in this blog alone, but that's because it's a major point of struggle. I just hope I won't ultimately regret coming back.

You know that new year's resolution last year about being happy with all my resolutions? I'm going to try to actually make good on that this year.

Light in the dark as I search for the resolution

2009-01-01T18:00:00.006-06:00

Relationships
1. Get a girlfriend/improve relationships or whatever
I am intentionally leaving this one ambiguous because...I'm not really dying to have a girlfriend right now. Nor do I want to, actually at all. I am very much sworn off of girls until at very least summer, by which time I will probably be in an apartment (/the Chapel) in Madison with a job and a future in Wisconsin. Obviously I couldn't start dating again in Florida because I'll be leaving soon, and it's not worth trying to get something ready back home for my return. But that's not to say I want to be single all year...I'm just not ready for anything for the foreseeable future. Thus, the ambiguity. I'm not sure how all of this can be translated into a goal for the year, but I will say "I wish to make wise relationship decisions this year". Which leads me to my next resolution:

2. Spend no more than a month in "No Man's Land"
This actually stems from a discussion I had after midnight, but I felt it was a really good New Year's Resolution. The 6 or so people I was talking with described No Man's Land as "that awkward close friend, almost relationship zone" which is something that I have spent way too much time in. And it's not a good thing at all. I put that I want to have less than a month, because I realize there needs to be at least a little time there before a relationship can start, but I'd personally not like to spend any time there at all. Long forays into No Man's Land just haven't brought me anything but disappointment.

3. Find myself a good MLC marriage track girl
Heh.

4. There's also another half-facetious one that was lost on the cutting room floor.

Experiences
5. Go to at least one MLS game
This was on last year's, but the summer proved to be too busy. But this year I've already got 3 travel partners in line to hop down to Bridgeview and watch the Fire, of whom I have purchased a t-shirt. And I guess have pledged my allegiance to. I never wanted to commit to a team, but it may as well be the Chicago Fire. They are the closest to me right now, and being that Chicago is in my (tentative) long-term plans, they probably will be the closest team to me for some time yet.

6. Go Clubbing
I am in the right place, Tampa is a major clubbing hot spot. I want to go this summer with some high school friends too, but whether there is a club scene in Madison remains to be seen. I guess there's Milwaukee too, but I kind of hate Milwaukee.

7. Actually go to the beach.
Even though Tampa Bay is home to some of America's best beaches, I haven't been to any since I've been going to USF. Hopefully, I'll have a little more time to see some of the nicer parts of the area.

8. Remember to celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day

Personal Improvement/Achievement
9. Finish with a cumulative 3.9 GPA at USF
Which would require me to get four A's and one A-

10. Learn to cook passably
I would consider it a necessary step toward independence and well-roundedness.

11. Find a way to play soccer at least twice a month
I truly love it. The Sun Prairie foreign men league was pretty great last summer, maybe I can pick that up again this year. It would be great for staying (er...getting) in shape, and I think I'm just happier when I get to play regularly.

12. Keep the Lord in my life
I wanted a spiritual goal, but I couldn't pinpoint anything specific. Just as well. Spirituality isn't by nature a very specific thing.

13. Work and find enjoyment in it
I would like to be employed for second semester and the summer because I'm going to need to pay for college now, not to mention I could use the experience. The only other job I ever had, at Culver's, I truly despised. So, hopefully I can find a job I will enjoy (not food service) and will pay well so I can smoothly transition back home, financially speaking.

14. Swear less
Especially at Mario Party.

15. Get a scholarship
All the scholarship application trouble I saved by going to USF, I will get to experience this year as I try to find a way to pay for Wisconsin. I've got one external scholarship already, but the more the merrier. It's going to be a rude awakening to see all the money I saved this year evaporate in one semester.

16. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions
Because I didn't last year.

Monkey See...

2008-12-27T14:05:00.008-06:00

Well, I guess it's about that time to recap the ol' New Year's resolutions before coming up with some new ones.

Last year...last year was not exceptional as resolutions went. Not only did I only come up with 5, I didn't do a particularly good job of accomplishing them, on the whole. And let's see how...

1. I will attempt to make and keep friends in all facets.
Well, how about that. In a bad year for resolution success, I accomplished this old classic. I managed to not only keep my closest friendships from high school, but I also seriously strengthened a few of them, despite the distance. Additionally, I call this one a classic because it was a vague rewording of the usual "Get a Girlfriend" resolution, and I accomplished that one too. I'm disappointed with myself for how I went about some of it, but at least I proved to myself that there isn't some secret agreement to not date me that was signed by all girls ever. Apparently only Wisconsin girls signed said agreement.

2. Be happy with all my decisions.
This sums up how I did with that one. It took me less than one semester to go back on my decision to go to USF, I've changed my class schedule at least 3 times since I built it, and I can't even pick a favorite MLS team. This year, I have changed my mind like a girl changes clothes, to put it in radio-pop terms.

3. Learn to appreciate mornings.
I have...gained a better understanding of the benefits of waking up early. I have not successfully put it into practice. I still stay up late and sleep late. But I guess I do appreciate mornings, just not enough to wake up in time for them.

4. Go to an MLS game.
I straight up failed this one...but I should be able to take care of it next year. I already bought my Chicago Fire shirt, so I guess that's who I'll be cheering for. They're the only team I could feasibly go see anyway.

5. Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar.
Yeah, for all intents and purposes. While golfing.

So that's...what, 2 for 5? That's not great, but hey, I should have more resolutions for next year. I've already got a few thought up, but I'll come up with a few more in time for New Year's. Perhaps one of my resolutions should be to accomplish at least half of my resolutions.

Just one more plane ride and it's done

2008-12-12T12:44:00.003-06:00

...at least for the rest of this year

4 years of Flight 109...wow. How fitting that it is celebrated on a day which I spend at both of my homes, flying from Tampa back home to Wisconsin. An awful lot has happened in the 4 years since I started this blog because blogging was more popular back then. Back in the pre-facebook era.

I just went back and looked at my only other anniversary post, which was on the 1-year Flight 109 anniversary. For whatever reason, other than that year and the first, December has served as an absolute graveyard for Flight 109 posts, not even being touched in the other years of the ol' 109. But I guess that changes today.

Wow, was the 1-year anniversary post depressing. I mean seriously...cheer up, former me. Back then, I thought my social problems were SUCH a big deal and everyone needed to cheer me up. How wrong I was on all the things I thought...truth was, I just was missing out on the important stuff. Looking back, I had an enormous net of friend support...maybe not quite as good as now, but even then when I was feeling sorry for myself for not having a niche, there were an awful lot of people who really cared for me and showed it. Thanks, guys.

And the thing that got me so down in the first place? A girl. Of course. I have no explanation whatsoever for what got me so enamored with my locker buddy. We were pretty good friends, sure, but I talk to her now (rarely) and I feel nothing in particular. But for whatever reason, hoo boy, I had my heart set on her and myself completely convinced that she was the only person for me. I feel pretty dumb now for thinking that, but now at least I can just look back and laugh. And I often do, seeing that the person I hated most in that overdramatic drama is now my best friend.

But, man, up till then I had never felt that way about anyone, so it effectively dominated my sophomore year...which I look back on and that makes me mad at myself, but all's well that ends well, right? I did a lot of growing.

And that was when Eisenhower began to be established too...good stuff. Katie was the basis of more than a couple Eisenhower songs...well, actually, just a couple, but one was Seattle, so it's a pretty big deal. So it's funny that while that song continues to live on and defines my very status as a musician, I no longer have even a semblance of a feeling for the subject (not to mention that I moved to the East Coast, but not Virginia...and I really didn't leave to escape any pain. But I will remain in Wisconsin, after all. "Fort Atkinson life?" haha. Gotta admit though, I still think the Pacific/Atlantic blue eyes bit was kinda clever.). But the point is that Eisenhower, even by way of the emo song that every high schooler is required to write at some point (Homecoming), was a big, big help during an otherwise worthless year.

I want to digress a bit to talk about some of Eisenhower's songs. There's literally like...1 Eisenhower song that remains even half-relevant to anyone in the band. There are a total of, let's see...I had to go back and calculate this...6 or 7 girls who can claim full or partial inspiration to an Eisenhower song (yeah, because I'm sure they're gonna put that on their resumes...). And only about 2 of them are still close to any of us. And they’re in the same song.

All that goes to show is that we all progress and grow a lot, which was more or less what I had been getting at with this entire anniversary (blogiversary?) post.

I love how in that one-year anniversary post I comment on how much I had changed over the past year. While I’m sure I did, it doesn’t seem like it looking back. At least not compared to now – then I was 13 going on 14 and didn’t understand a thing about life, social and otherwise. Now I’m 10 days from 18…and I still don’t really understand anything about life, but at least I realize that now.

I’ve done and experienced a lot since then. I started a band, I got a job, I got a drivers license, I graduated high school, I lived on my own for 4 months, and I experienced my first relationship in its entirety. Now I’m frighteningly close to being an adult (in age and in responsibility), something that seems so far away from where I was when I started Flight 109. But 4 years is a long time, and I’m thankful they went the way they did. Life in Wisconsin got good enough to come back for…and to have that at any stage in your life is something to be thankful for. I’m still in limbo in a lot of ways, but I have somewhere to come home to. And coming home I am.

And that’s an entirely literal statement. I’m actually on the plane right now. I think we just flew over Atlanta…or some other big city with a large domed stadium that is between Tampa and Milwaukee but closer to Tampa. Being that ATL fits those parameters and most other cities don’t, that’s probably what it was.

The airport experience was once again rocking. Nice work, Tampa International. And I didn’t hear the Brooklyn accent lady this time, but the questionable fellow who talks about “beautiful children” was at it again. I guess that’s proof that it wasn’t a joke and that he’s just sort of creepy. The Tampa airport is now synonymous to blogging for me. A lot of this was written in terminal A.

I love having the window seat. The views are so amazing (and distracting, for that matter). For instance, we were flying over completely clear skies the entire time, but now that we’re in…probably southern Tennessee, there’s impenetrable cloud cover as far as the eye can see in every direction. How that could be the case when the rest of the Southeast was sunny is beyond me. And clouds look so much cooler from up here too, especially when the sun is setting, which is another advantage of this great Tampa to Milwaukee flight – it runs once a day at 3:32, which is perfect timing for the sun to be setting during the flight. So beautiful. There’s a warm orange glow over seemingly endless miles of puffy cotton...sometimes I just love flying. And I very rarely hate it. It completely tires me out, but I find the experience enjoyable. It’s a chance to listen to my music, maybe get some rest, enjoy some great views, and hey, I don’t mind a Sprite and some crummy little airplane pretzels now and then. Of course, the flights back home are always better…so I guess a lot depends on the context too.

And boy, am I ready to be home. The last couple of weeks have been a grind. That really long paper was the bane of my existence for the week I was writing it. In hindsight, of course I could have not put it off to one week, but I’m reasonably proud of myself for doing it over the course of a week instead of waiting for the last night or something. I’m not so sure I could write 15 pages in a night, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could do 8 in one night, seeing that the longest paper I had done until that point was 5 pages.

The moon just came up over the horizon, and it’s huge and orange and I think full. So cool. I’m like a little kid with how much I am astounded by airplane rides. But I digest.

If the paper had been about something really interesting, I probably would have liked it more, but at least the sources were plentiful. I mean, I wouldn’t even want to read a 15 page paper on the 2008 election…much less write one. And if I was getting a good grade in that class, it wouldn’t have caused me so much anxiety. While C’s get degrees, B’s don’t get you into really good grad schools, so I was hoping this paper could bring me up from my between a B and B+ range. And I still don’t know. That professor likes to torture his students by waiting until the very last minute to post grades. And by giving them 15 page papers, for that matter.

The moon is big, bright and round now on my right, and the sun is in its closing stages and creating brilliant colors on my left. This is so picturesque. I want to make it my desktop, but I don’t have a camera…plus it’s panoramic and can’t be done justice by photos anyway. You’re all so jealous. Come fly with me sometime.

But while I was hating my life over my 3.4-ish at midterms, I managed to pull myself up to a somewhat more respectable 3.7 range, by my estimation. We’ll see once I get all my final grades, but I feel a lot better about that second number. And I’d like to add that I always hated grade perfectionists in high school, so I feel ridiculous now, but for some reason, paying lots of money to go to school for two more years is a very important goal for me, and that’s a lot easier to do the better the grades you have. I don’t know how bad those grades will matter once I transfer, but if nothing else, it proves to me that I’m starting to develop a work ethic that matches my potential. There were a lot of nights that I really dug deep, and I’m proud of myself for that. I was such a screw-off in high school. I realize that most people were, but I’m glad that I proved to myself that I am capable of actually working hard. I’m going to need that in the years to come.

But as for now, I am a college student flying home to take a break. I will fill my cup and live it up and catch up with friends. There is a time and place to worry about all those things in the future, but I am not an adult just yet. I’ve got a solid base, I’ve got a bright future, and for the first time in months, I have 3 weeks to go to holiday reunion bashes and just enjoy myself without worry. I’m so excited.

I've got my things, I'm good to go

2008-11-26T12:33:00.007-06:00

Flight 893 to Milwaukee with a stopover in my mind. And thankfully, not a stopover somewhere tangible. Like Denver.

It's the day before Thanksgiving, and the airport was supposed to be busy. Instead, I got through it quicker than any other time flying, probably because Tampa International is the most rocking airport of all time. There are no lines anywhere, everything is brand new and clean, the internet is free, and I can plug in my laptop all over the place.

Of course, I didn't expect the Tampa airport to be this rocking, so I got here 2 and a half hours early. So I blog.

I've seen some funny stuff already at this airport. It's like every airport worker feels like goofing off today. The guy who checked my ID looked at it, then me, and said really loud "YEP THAT'S YOU!" and then laughed a little. And then he did it for the guy behind me too. And some of the P.A. announcements have been funny. One of the ladies has a Brooklyn accent and said in like 100 different ways that rows 15-25 were boarding.

"15-25 are now boarding, that's rows 15-25. Row 15 through Row 25. That's 15 all the way to 25. Rows 15-25 are all boarding now. Rows 15-25 for JFK. Thank you."

And then there was this really weird one where this guy announced that parents with children could board some flight early. And he said something like "if you have precious children, you can board now. And bring those beautiful children on down." I don't know if he was trying to sound like a pedophile to be funny or just always sounds like a pedophile. Either way, strange things are afoot at TPA. I love airports.

I really do. I love seeing people coming in or going out from all these varied places in the US. I'm kind of a US geography person too, so hearing all these cities coming and going and seeing the people that came from there or are heading there...it's terribly interesting to me.

I'm rocking my designated airport weary traveler look at the moment. I am unshaven and approaching burly lumberjack status. I've got my backpack and old jeans and my Air Force long sleeve on, because I imagine airport people like travelers who support the military. I am also wearing my Tampa Bay Rays hat, which is continuing its fading to gray.

I bought that hat based on a visualization I had of wearing a hat while I fly on my own (because it's easier to be confident with a hat on, I guess?). Tampa Bay, so to not look like a tourist. So today, it serves its purpose. But wow. This hat has quickly become almost moccasin-esque with all the events in my life it's been present for. Since I bought this hat in June, I think I've learned and grown more in these 5 months than any other period of my life. I guess independence does that for you.

Hopefully this hat lasts a while and I don't have to write a funeral post for it anytime in the near future. I never really wore a hat too often before this (except for post-8th grade/pre-freshman year) but it seems to be working out pretty well. I shower at night, so I often need it to cover my bedhead anyway.

And it represents Tampa Bay, which is an area I have truly grown to like and probably always will, regardless of where I end up. If I don't live here, I could definitely see myself becoming one of the thousands of old people who come down here for winters/to die. Or at least I'd like to vacation down here with my family. I have also adopted their baseball team (which I was going to do even if they didn't win all those games/make it to the World Series. I refuse to be accused of fair-weathered fandom), which has to be a sign that, despite my yearning for Wisconsin, there's something I like about this place.

Yep, from Summerfest, Mustard Fest and countless rounds of golf to moving South and my first kiss, this hat has already been through a lot, and I'd like to think it's just getting started.

In 3 or 4 hours time, I will land in the snow of Milwaukee, and I'm more excited than I can even let on. It's only for a few days, and I probably won't see everyone that I want to, but I am coming home and I can't wait.

Tom Schoenfeld smothered by hundreds of puppies: A maverick change we can believe in.

2008-11-04T18:08:00.006-06:00

With 0% of precincts reporting, I am calling the election coverage dumb.
Although I saw this picture and laughed for a week.
superpoop.com

There are a few people in the floor lounge watching the post-election coverage intently, biting their nails each time a state gets called after about 100 votes have come in. I don't know when CNN will learn about this. Anyone remember "Dewey Defeats Truman"?

Regrettably, I am forced to watch at least a major chunk of the coverage because of my election class, because I'm taking a quiz tomorrow in which I have to remember each of the 50 states and how they voted in this election. I think it's for extra credit, but still. It's college, I could use it.

Being 17, there were a handful of things I could do to help influence the election without voting. We had to support a candidate for our election class, and I supported McCain (devil's advocate, ya know?). I also encouraged my girlfriend to vote when she didn't feel like it, and I got a free McCain-Palin shirt. I also tried to get real informed and attended Joe Biden's speech at USF.

I pretty much did everything I could to be informed, involved, and in touch. And boy howdy, am I glad it will be over.

The election class has been interesting and a real eye-opener, but what I really hate about politics is how everyone thinks they're just so freakin' smart. I don't know how much more I can elaborate on that, but I've seen so many know-it-alls who really want everyone to know how much they know about politics. Oof. Basically, it's good to be involved, but don't be closed-minded and aggressive about it. I look forward to the days when the plaza in front of Cooper Hall stops being a loud, obnoxious political thinktank and returns to just quietly smelling like Subway.

And to think, once I considered being a poli-sci major.

Well, enough political garbage. Y'all've heard enough of it. Bet Y'all'ven't been hit with double or even TRIPLE contractions though. More some other day.

We have great potato salad

2008-09-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have a big 'ol paper to write for tomorrow, but I wanted to blog update more often, so I'm going to dig up an old draft that never made it to the blog. Not sure why this one never got published, but it's over a year old and chock-full of memories. I think I'll comment throughout. This will be much faster than writing an actual blog and I can get back to my comparison of McCain and Obama's convention speeches. Womp Wommmmmp. I guess I could post that once it's graded, but it'll probably be mad boring. But I digest. Without further ado (and also without Freddy Adu), I give to you...an old unfinished post from June 20th, 2007.

Whoa!

Camp Phillip is crazy.

I recently spent a week and a half up there, and it was quite the experience.

First of all was junior staff training week, which I never can do justice to on a blog. I'm not actually sure I've ever tried to do justice to it, because the majority (or totality, possibly) of my readership was there for it. [On this note, does anyone non-Becca read this anymore? I guess Bethy and Paul read the last one, but...blogging seems to have gone the way of myspace and the dinosaur, I suppose. Oh well, I will work to keep blogging alive.] So I'll say this - C'mere, Sonny.

That isn't actually a reference to anything that happened during training week [Rather, one of the funniest things Kyle Fax has ever said], but there were a lot of fun things that happened, a few highlights, in no particular order

- PM/PM [technically "A.E.P.M" but who likes that name?] after campfire on Wednesday
- Doing our campfire (The sheer enjoyability of working with my group, getting some laughs etc..[and of course, cheating to make sure we all ended up in the same group. So clique-y. But our campfire rocked, so it's okay. "I'm ruined!!"])
- Playing "Bubba ball" with Andrew Lehman, many females, and Pablo the random hispanic boy (I'm pretty sure that was his name, at least the Pablo part)
- Finally having Elliott Kasprzak as a counselor in his last year at Camp

And obviously there are more, those are just four that were on the top of my head. Overall, a fun week as always.

Next after training week was Family Fest (A.K.A. "WELS stock" - actually a pretty good name for it). I didn't really know what to expect for family fest, because I had never been to one before. The only reason I was staying was because I was unexpectedly [of course I was unexpectedly scheduled...is anyone expectedly scheduled for Jr. Staff duty? Put it together, Blake of 15 months ago.] scheduled for pee wees the next week, so it was far easier to just stick around.

Family fest ended up being, through all the activities and attractions, mostly kitchen work. Just as well though, the kitchen has its moments. It all counts as volunteer hours for scholarships, eh? I did get to end up seeing a lot of people I probably would not have seen this summer otherwise, including but not limited to: My host family from Manitowoc day camp, Dan Brunner and Dave Moldenhauer and this girl that came with them who I didn't know but everyone else seemed to for some reason [this was Hannah Brunner. Looking back, I feel dumb for not knowing that at the time], Adam Carruthers (yes!)[Evan told me that during SALT training, Matthew was talking about campfire planning and how when taking camper suggestions for games like Fortunately/Unfortunately, stuff like "Adam Carruthers!" should not be picked, because not everyone would get it. He actually used that example, which I find hilarious, because I think I started the Adam Carruthers at campfire thing.], and Ben Stein, who is getting married.

But essentially, family fest just meant that I was more tired for the half-week of exhaustion also known as pee wees.

For those who don't know (which I doubt is anyone), pee wees is a camp that runs a good portion of the day (but not 24/7) for kids in grades K-2. I'm not sure how much I have to say about the actually counseling portion of the week, because as long as you can imagine me trying to corral 7 very different 6-year-olds during each activity, you have a pretty good idea of how it was [Might I add, this will make me a totally awesome dad. I hope. I would like to be a good dad some day...and also a good uncle, because how sweet are family gatherings going to be when my family convenes with Uncle Evan and his? I'm already looking forward to it.].

But because of the ages of the kids, they're only with us for the day, and they're with their parents for the evening, so we get a lot of time to hang out with our fellow pee wee staff. This week, though, because of the far greater number of female junior staff as compared to the numbers of males, the ratio of junior staff was 7 girls to me.

So that was a little different. If I was going to hang out with anyone, it was going to be with girls (most of them younger than me too, only one of the seven had done Jr. Staff before - a couple of them were campers during the most recent week I junior staffed [I remember looking at the sheet of volunteers and not seeing any names I recognized and then asking Sarah Thurs to volunteer so there would be someone else I knew working pee wees with me. And she obliged, how nice of her. But I actually made pretty good friends with a bunch of the newbie group, which included the likes of Clare Sievert, et al. And now Caleb Schmiege is friends with Clare, and not even directly because of me. Small WELS world.]). Luckily they were a neat bunch, but I was in on more "girl talk" than I think I've ever been in my entire life up to that point. We even had a soul-pouring out reflections, that involved crying.

Well, I wasn't crying, but still. It gives you an idea.

It was fun though, they were a really neat bunch of girls. It was just a totally new experience to me.

So I guess this is why this draft never found its way onto the blog...because I couldn't come up with an ending. I also chuckled at the title when I opened this, because I believe it's from a long-forgotten series of texts and phone conversation(s?) with a certain disgruntled Badger Girl's State attendee (not Allison) and myself. Not sure what else I can comment on in that post that I didn't already cover throughout. But let me just say this: C'mere, Sonny.

I'm a bear, etcetera

2008-09-07T18:57:00.005-05:00

- Mike Birbiglia.

So, my life is a vacation with classes.

I live in Tampa, which is more or less a vacation capital for yankees like myself. It's incredible, I'm 30 minutes from Clearwater Beach (widely considered one of the best in the US, and even t-shirt material for Hollister), and I still hear some of my classmates complain about how campus isn't close enough to the beach for their tastes. Might I add, it was 93 degrees today, it will be 93 degrees tomorrow...and it has been over 90 for almost every day I've been here. Come wintertime, it will usually be in the mid-70s to 80s.

Some of you would kill for this. Just a little bit. (just a little bit, you would).

It's pretty ok. I'm also getting a little tan (in relative terms, at least). But life-wise, college has been solid. It's kind of a let-down from my amazing summer, but anything would have been, because my summer was amazing.

But I've met great people. Most of my nights are booked with social activity and there's almost always a group to study with in the dorm lobby. Also, we watch a lot of movies, leading to my 3-day streak of watching a Rachel McAdams movie.

Most people have celebrity crushes, or at least fictional character crushes (I'm looking at you, Edward Cullen. Stop enchanting our teenage girls and go back to vampire-land. I'm gonna carry around my F. Scott short stories anthology and throw it at the next person I see reading "Breaking Dawn"). It's something I've never really given a lot of thought to for myself, but I guess if I had to pick a celebrity crush it would be Rachel McAdams. Partially because I think she's hilarious in Mean Girls, and I like her character in Wedding Crashers. And, well, I think she is pretty, which is why people usually pick Keira Knightley or Jessica Alba. But Rachel McAdams seems pretty chill and like she'd be fun to hang out with. She also attended the MLS all-star game - bonus points!

Although I did dislike her character in the Notebook - that girl was pretty needy. But I have faith that it was just Rachel working her acting magic.

But like I said, it's not like I gave much thought to it. But I never really had an answer to that question of favorite actress, so there ya go. But I digress.

I should be blogging about how school is, moreso, but I don't know what more there is to say. Classes are fine. I already got a blurb out there on how my friends are. My roommate is cool. The food is satisfactory.

It's just kind of surprising to me that this huge change in my life is hardly registering in my mind. I guess I've always been comfortable with changes.

Well, I shouldn't say it's HARDLY registering in my mind, because I often think about home and how great it would be to see all the people back there that I had come to love. But I'm hardly homesick, it just makes me really look forward to Thanksgiving weekend (when I hope everyone is free to get together for a while). But I'm not really lonely here, I just occasionally find my mind wandering back home. Stuck between Drunk Girl and Hurricane, I say. But I'm not too concerned by it. Life is pretty good.

One thing about Tampa life that I feel I should mention is the church I go to. There's only one WELS church in the area, and I have an arrangement with a very nice couple to pick me up and drive me there every Sunday. They also have invited me back to their home for lunch a few times and are doing everything in their power to make me feel comfortable.

Very un-WELS, don'tcha think?

I kid. Sort of. The church itself is very small, and the pastor's a younger guy who seems very excited to serve his Savior. It's so cool to me, that even down here in unfamiliar territory, I can go to church on Sunday and still sing the same 300-year-old German hymns I would back home. It's comforting, in a strange way. You take that stuff for granted when you live next to Lakeside.

Another cool thing, that I already told a bunch o' the MLC kids, is that I got to talking with one of my best friends I've met here so far about faith and church and etcetera, and to make a long story short, I invited her to church and she's going to come with me. We were going to go to church together this morning, but my alarm didn't go off and I overslept. I basically wanted to die, but the pickup couple that I stood up accepted my apology and next week is on. All is well again at Northdale Lutheran.

So, yeah, Tampa is cool. That's pretty much why I'm down here. Because it seems cool. Haha. There's much more to it than that. But I've found that a surprising amount of what I do is an attempt to make myself look "cooler".

I wear a baseball cap
I wear aviator sunglasses
I go to school in Tampa

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and admit it now, much of my decision to come down here was because it seemed cool. Yes, it was financially responsible. Yes, I am going to college for free. Yes, I am creating a business network in a major metropolitan area. But an embarassingly large amount of my decision, in hindsight, was because I thought it would make me totally cool.

Which really doesn't invalidate the decision. It changes the way I look at it, but I don't know if I can say that there was a better decision, based on career opportunities and financial management, available.

But there is much more to life than career opportunities and financial management. Whether those other intangibles will prove to be better or worse down here remains to be seen. That's when I can decide whether this was a good decision or not. It is much too early, of course.

But at least I'll be cool.

Maybe someday on the blog I'll talk about the main events that eliminated the college contenders one by one, because I think it's fascinating looking back. But I want to do it in style, with pictures and graphs and music, or something. It would be kind of a big project. I doubt anyone is THIS interested in my life and my little future-planning struggles, but if I feel creative it's something I'd like to do. All I know is that "I'll follow the Sun" by the Beatles would figure importantly in such a presentation. Get it? Florida? Sun? Sunshine State?

Plus the Beatles are just good, so...

Also, I'd use "Seattle" (because I love myself, of course...) and "Driving South" by the Early November. Not sure what else there would be. Also not sure why I'm hypothesizing what songs I'll use for my likely never to be finished project. Maybe I'll have to do some big powerpoint project for Public Speaking or Computers in Business. If I do that, I'll be sure to show it to all "y'all" at home. See, I live in the South now. Gonna go grab some Chick-Fil-A. Drink an iced tea. Drawl. Ya know.

But that's about all I have to say about that. The paper, take us away.

And she drifts so far away...

2008-08-19T18:35:00.001-05:00

Right now, I can't get "Hurricane" by Something Corporate out of my head, because I'm bunkered down in this hotel room in Tampa because of tropical storm Fay, which they say will become a hurricane. It's crazy. I haven't even formally started living in Tampa, and mother nature is already all like "ROAR GO BACK TO WISCONSIN PASTY ONE". Congratulations, lucky reader(s) of Flight 109, you will be treated to hurricane commentary by me, someone who has not ever been close to one. With my descriptions, you'll feel like you're in the hotel room with me, watching the storm out the window and fringe olympic sports on the TV.

Of course a blog about only a tropical storm (better known by their scientific name, "hurricane wannabes") would be awfully drab, so I'll do a REAL blog, and just highlight real-time Fay updates.

6:40 - There's complete cloud cover, and there has been for most of the day. It's been raining on and off, and right now, it isn't raining. Many area businesses are closed, and some beachfront hotels have evacuated. I'm basically expecting the storm of the century here, but right now, it barely even looks threatening.

Well, I’m only hours away from moving into my dorm room, my home for the next three months. And let me say, it is scary and feels kinda lonely. I’m conflicted on that part, because I realize that lots of people are moving into dorms just like I am, but I also know that if they get truly homesick or lonely, most of them are just a few hours or less from home, or at least have some friends from home nearby (I’m looking at you, MLC kids). But this is the decision I made, and I really have no reason to feel sorry for myself there. I’m going to school in Florida for free. It could be so much worse. I just worry myself.

6:55 - I went out onto the hotel room's balcony. I felt something of a pressure change, but that's about all there is to speak of. Birds are still just hanging out, planes are still taking off, and a guy just walked by. Not a hurricane-hardy master of disaster, but just an honest, no-fooling guy, completely unfazed by the harsh weather (or lack thereof).

One of the parts that has actually really affected the fact that I feel this way is that I’ve never enjoyed being home as much as I have this summer. I’ve gotten really close to some friends, and as I suggested in the last post, the stuff I’ve been doing this summer has made it the best of my life. When I decided on USF, it’s not as if my friendships were bad or my life wasn’t fun, but I didn’t view it as something worth missing out on this opportunity for. My experience this summer has kind of changed that point of view.

7:22 - My attention from blogging, the hurricane, and fringe olympic sports has been diverted by the start of the Rays game. B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett, and Nathan's favorite, Gabe Gross just saved a few runs with some brilliant defense. I'm liking my new hometown team, but they're losing now, unfortunately. I'd feel worse about this digression if Fay was doing anything whatsoever.

But still, there are things to look forward to at USF. Some of the people I’ve met seem cool. “Cute orientation girl” actually has me pretty excited about moving in, at least in that respect. There are new people to meet. This I understand. The thing that worries me the most is that I never really have that safety valve of surrounding myself with loved ones regardless of how bad it gets. That’s just something I’ll have to get over. God is there.

8:09 - I took a break from blogging for some dinner. The amount of nothingness that the storm is doing here is mind-numbing. Don't play like this, Fay. You can't just threaten to throw your hurricane parts all up over everyone (and make people evacuate their vacation sites) and then not do anything. Those vacationers must be peeved.

My other main concern is over the quality of school. I’m sure USF is a decent school in its own right (if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have picked it), but my other main option was Wisconsin, which is a GREAT school (and closer to home, but that’s already been addressed). The downside is that it isn’t free…but the price difference might be worth it, who knows. Wisconsin is a school that I grew up envisioning myself at, and would be a very good school to graduate from.

8:43 - It's dark outside, but that can be mostly attributed to the sun going down. The winds have picked up quite a bit, but they aren't even beginning approach any category. Cars still driving, planes still flying.

The way I look at it now, I’m thinking that a transfer to Wisconsin somewhere along the line is a distinct possibility, and perhaps even probable. I realize I haven’t even started at USF, but part of me feels like life was too good to give up in Wisconsin (for more reasons than just friends) and I’d like to “come home” sooner rather than later. Who knows, maybe I’ll take to life in Tampa like I took to their baseball team (if I get nothing else out of this, I at least have a baseball team to root for…Rays with a big comeback win tonight! What a distraction).

STORM OVER - At least I think so... no rain, barely any wind...nothing at all to speak of. I guess I still don't know what to expect of a true hurricane. Unless THAT was a hurricane. Then I'm pumped.

Well, the most important thing that you, the reader, can take from this is send me things in the mail. Wait, what?

That's not very life changing advice from me, but I'll give you my mailing address (probably in a Facebook note, which will be a first for me) as soon as I can find it, and I'd love to get mail. For sure.

That was kind of a needy end to the post, but I had to throw it out there. Because if you feel generous, creative, or like becoming my hero, that would be the way to do it. Thanks in advance.

And then, so long from Tampa. Look forward to my first post from my new home.

I will now listen to nothing but Ben Folds for this post

2008-07-17T22:15:00.005-05:00

...and I would advise the reader to do the same.

Facebook - the greatest known nemesis to blogging.

Since that fateful night of October 25, 2006, when Becca, Danielle Pett, and Ellie Baum christened my facebook with its first ever comments (don't worry, I had to go back and check...), Flight 109 has played a heavily under-appreciated second fiddle to the internet's biggest timesuck.

So tonight, facebook, I will bite my thumb at you. I need to blog for the first time in 6 months (and for only the 3rd time in the past year). I'm overdue like a...book, I guess.

Haha, I just looked back at the post with that title, and in the beginning, I apologize for having not posted in a month. Amusing.

Anyway, now that the requisite apology for failure to post in a timely manner is out of the way...now to the meat and potatoes of this blog post.

See...therein lies the problem. I don't have any meat and potatoes to post.

But when did I ever, really? As John Pauer once mused on his blog, what are blogs for, outside of telling the world whether or not your mom packed a cookie in your lunch for school?

I probably butchered that quote, and took it way out of context, but I can't go back and look at his blog and double-check, because it's sadly lost forever in cyberspace. I enjoyed his blog.

But there have been some things on my mind lately, and there certainly have been a lot of happenings this summer that have been blogworthy.

I'll start by saying that this has probably been the best summer I've ever had. Or, alternately, the best six months ever (being that my last post was about six months ago). So much has happened between then and now. I'll give a quick summary, and if you, collective loyal Flight 109 reader, were there for that memory, perhaps I can elicit a smile.

(although I said I was biting my thumb at facebook, I admit I used my wall's history to remind myself of some of these more obscure references. I nearly forgot some great ones, and when I saw them again, it put me in a pretty good mood. A begrudging thank you, semi-enemy Facebook. You win again.)

January
- I made the decision to not apply for Camp Phillip SALT staff (despite Tyler Shinnick's constant urging). I'm sure it would have been fun and a great experience, but right now I'm glad I didn't. I will seriously consider it for next year, but what with moving away, I think the time I've had at home this summer has been really important. Like I said, I've really enjoyed it.
- I became backup kicker for the Fort Tokyo French Toes. 2 people at most will get this, but one of them will laugh if he ever reads this.
- I, filled with some bitterness toward the Lakeside soccer program, and some of my closest friends banded together to form the powerful indoor soccer team "Royal Westminster FC". We only won once (by forfeit), but we had by far the best jerseys, and I think the most fun, of anyone in that league.
- We celebrated snow day after beautiful snow day by going to Ming's to ruin our digestive tracts by way of Chinese food and watch old pre-CGI Disney movies. Pocahontas, surely you appreciate being watched by a bunch of male high-schoolers (and Nancy).

February
- I watched part of the Super Bowl, and talked on the phone for half of it.
- I found out that I qualified for a full scholarship to USF, where I am going next year, but cautiously. More on that caution later. I'm in for the long haul here.
- Arizona State University bought me a delicious steak. Thanks guys. I'm not going to go to your college, but I suppose I'll cheer for you in sports now.
- I went to a Bon Jovi concert with Kyle Fax and Paul, almost spontaneously. Bon Jovi may be cheesy, but "It's My Life" is a great song. There's no getting around it. The middle aged women in front of us surely agree. Although I think they preferred "Bed of Roses".
- Along with Paul and Jordan, I became part of the biggest JV girls basketball fan group Lakeside has ever seen. I had none ulterior motives.

March
- I got my first ever job, working backline (fryers and bun prep...classy) at Culver's in Johnson Creek.
- I hated my first ever job.
- I enjoyed one of my favorite days of high school ever, the day that we had WSMA solo-ensemble in Poynette. When we were done, the Calebs and I got outta Dodge, went to Wendy's, shared perhaps the funniest car ride I've experienced ("here have some!" and Jackson Pollock's, er...smoothies), went to the Lakeside basketball game, and then hit up Sydnie's for some party.

April
- Jaclyn got mad at me online for no particular reason. I am not the only person this has happened to.
- I went Irish dancing. I rish you could have been there. ha! ha!
- I celebrated Stabby the Green Pepper day. The day went so well (probably entirely uninfluenced by Stabby, but stranger things have happened) that I will almost certainly celebrate next year on April 10th. I haven't deleted that text message.
- Evan and I started the Craftsman F-up series of racing. I won the first race. No one needs to know about what happened in the subsequent races.
- I secretly began to listen to Z104 in the car. Not much a secret NOW is it?
- I won Get on Da Mic, because of my superior knowledge of the song Rubber Band Man. I DO have a 45 in my other hand, thank you for asking.
- I went to WLA's prom with Becca. I had a great time. The dancing was decidedly non-Lakeside, but that isn't really why I enjoyed it.

May
- I went to Lakeside's prom with Becca. I had an okay time. The dancing was decidedly Lakeside, but as I alluded to before, the style of dancing doesn't really change how much I enjoy a dance.
- Sometime around here, Caleb Meyer and I became even better friends (despite the mock hating of each other's guts during the mock trial. You are an evil, evil man, Mr. Doering). Not sure why it came at this point, but it's something that has made this summer really fun.
- I quit my first ever job.
- I graduated high school. This is probably the only thing that will appear noteworthy from this summer looking back 20 years from now, but it seemed quite insignificant while it was happening. Through all the festivities, it seemed like mostly just a rush to get to the next grad party.

June
- Meyer and I set off on our long-awaited trip to Fond du Lac for Becca's and Hannah Sugars' grad parties. Again, probably one of the best weekends of my life. Caleb racing to the mall and driving aimlessly afterwards, "sleeping in the car", and hitting Christmas Kringle before we left...I had such a great time. It surely will be done again.
- I went to Jay Gatsby's fabulous pool party. Went nuts over a soccer game, played closet Mario Party, rid Caleb Schmiege's basement of flood, and bid Tom Mackey and Caleb a fond farewell before they left for Washington. I miss Tom.
- Tornadoes almost killed me...if funnel clouds over your house could kill.
- Steve Pelischek and I Fort Atkinson Youth Center'd with Sy, which mainly consisted of filling sand bags for flood relief. It was actually pretty fun.
- Pablo "El Ocho" Garcia Ingles scored a hat trick to lead West Ham to its first ever Champions League berth. Ecstatic yelling ensued.
- Not sure if it was June, but some time around here I started playing Sun Prairie pickup soccer with a bunch of people, including Sergio, the incredible foreign old guy. Sergio inspires me.
- I had my graduation party, and celebrated by not eating any of my graduation cake. I had some crazy good assists in barefoot backyard soccer, before we got kicked off for being downwind. According to several completely made up sources, my party was "rappin'"
- I made a lyrical reference to my own song "Seattle" because I thought it was fitting. Caleb Meyer did not pick up on it.
- I went to Tampa, Florida for mandatory college orientation. My roommate was pretty sweet, but unfortunately he won't be my full-time roommate. I began to have second thoughts. More on this later, as previously mentioned.
- Fax, Schmiege, and I went to Milwaukee to pick Meyer up from the airport. Contrary to popular belief, we did not buy any Webkinz. We don't really even know what they are. We also learned in the airport museum all about a man whose name is too easy to make fun of.

July (of the dearest sort)
- The Class Prophecy was finally posted on Youtube. I was pleased.
- Instead of watching fireworks, I celebrated July 4th in the company of my friends at Less than Jake's Summerfest concert. It was eventful to the last drop.
- I went to Racine Day camp for a day with Heidi, Bethy, Corrine, and Monica, whom I hadn't really met before. It got me to start considering doing camp next summer.
- I sat down and committed myself to writing a new blog post, which has taken me well over two hours. Good thing I don't have homework or something.

It's 12:34 and 56 seconds right...now. This fills me with second of joy.

I think that's a more than sufficient recap of the past, just instead of doing it in small doses, I went for the gusto. I suppose I'm only hurting myself by doing that, because it only gives you a few comments for all this information. And bloggers love getting comments. It's like...citrus twist tic tacs to us (or to me, at least). The most gallant blog commenters could possibly have a field day on such an action-filled post, but at this point, I'm not even certain I still have a readership.

I almost included a sentence at the end of that paragraph suggesting ways for people who have not read my blog before to find my blog, but then I realized that if they were reading that sentence, they would have found the blog. I must be tired.

I promised earlier that I would elaborate on my thoughts/concerns about college (or the future in general, whatever), but I think I've done enough blogging for tonight. Once I reach a completely un-pre-determined quota of people having read this post, I will deliver the aforementioned college report. Until then, take us away, the paper.

The Unfair Trade and the Increasing Probability of a New Life in the South

2008-01-04T21:22:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s been 4 days since my last post, and before that it had been 6 months. So consider me as inconsistent as Old Faithful…isn’t.

Anyway, it’s been a pretty crazy 8 days, as I’ve been home for about 2 of them, and I’ve been everywhere from Wautoma to Tampa to here in Columbus, Ohio. I suppose that would do well as a segue to the first part of the two-part title that hovers a few lines above this very sentence.

So, to explain the unfair trade, and also why I am in Columbus, Ohio…

The last day of the Camp New Years retreat, I got a call from my mom asking how soon we would be home. I thought it was altogether a little bit strange that she would be calling so early about us coming home, but I didn’t ask about it or think too much of it. Then we dropped off Heidi, Kath, and Ashley, and got home to hear the news.

It turned out that for the second year in a row, one of our relatives had passed away while Evan and I were at the New Years retreat.

This time it was our Aunt Donna, on the other side of the family than the Grandmother whose death inspired the post “I put the ‘I’ in ‘I hate Indiana…etc’”, and this time it was unexpected.

Not to reveal an exceptional amount of personal information, but she was alone at the time of her death and we found out afterwards that she had recently taken herself off of Anti-Depressants without a doctor’s recommendation. This, obviously, can cause someone’s mind to work against them, so that makes her death all the more difficult to work through.

So that would explain why I was not able to go to Mike and Amber’s wedding and why I am currently in Ohio’s largest city. I refer to it as the “unfair trade” because at face value, I’m trading a celebration of two lives and a new beginning with friends for a somber tribute that comes with a funeral of a loved one. It’s far more important to go to my Aunt’s funeral but this weekend went from a happy one to a very sad one in what seemed like a moment. Thusly, the unfair trade.

I’m never sure how to take a death. I never feel like I’ve suffered through a very serious one, even though I’ve lived through the deaths of an aunt, an uncle, and a grandmother all at an age where I could fully grasp what was happening (I think I was 11 for the earliest).

Perhaps we’ve just never been as close to our relatives as we could have been, maybe because we are the outcasts in Wisconsin and everyone else is in Indiana or Ohio.

Aunt Donna was one of my favorite relatives, but I still didn’t know her too well. I’ll miss her, but I’m more so sad for my other family members, especially my mom, what with having lost her sister. I know this death came in one of the cloudiest of fashions, but I also know that God will work it out for the good, and I hope it can help bring my extended family a little closer together.

Now would be a good time to change gears. For those of you following along at home, there were, in fact, two parts to the title, so the second part would hopefully be a little cheerier. In it, I make reference to a “New Life in the South.”

This, of course, is an even further reference to the most recent post, in which I stated that I was fairly likely to post about the events of a campus tour for the University of South Florida. Well here goes.

First of all, even though we were in Florida on the shores on the Gulf of Mexico, Old Man Winter refused to stop hassling us and we had got to experience the one of the 3 days for Florida winter – temperatures resting at about 40. Anyway, once we braved the weather (which had everyone down there freaking out, but was “long sleeve weather” for us), we headed to campus to just walk around. We didn’t expect anything more than that, what with the school on break, but we got considerably more that we bargained for.

When we got there, we found out that we could get a residence hall tour, which was fairly nice, and we got to marvel at how new everything was – nothing built before 1956, and many built 3 years ago.

Once we went through that, we decided to stop off at the scholarship office to get some questions answered, considering the scholarship was the only thing that got me considering USF in the first place. We entered the building and got a surprisingly warm welcome.

We talked to someone that looked important, and I guess she was the right person to talk to. Once I introduced myself and explained that I was a Merit Scholar, and she noted that Evan and my dad were wearing Wisconsin sweatshirts, she got all excited.

“We were just talking about you!” she exclaimed as she ushered us into her office. Turns out that they had been speculating, that very day, about the status of a Merit Scholar from Wisconsin, apparently the only one they had ever had and one of two Wisconsin students they had applying from the class of ’08.

I might add, at this point, that one of my gripes with UW-Madison was that their whole admissions process seemed kind of cold and impersonal, and I feared, to, an extent, that USF, a larger college, would be similar. Obviously, though, the fact that they were thrilled to talk to me and get me pumped about their college, allayed that fear and caused a pretty big paradigm shift.

The nice scholarship lady, and her friend, the other nice scholarship lady, then answered all our questions, and tried to arrange an impromptu formal welcome for us. They contacted the Dean of the Honors College, who was on vacation, and got me into his office to talk with the Associate Dean of the Honors College. The associate dean then told me about USF honors (which I would very likely be a part of), which included absolute first priority housing, first priority class selection, all on top of the full tuition, room, board, laptop, and semester abroad (and free pro hockey tickets [and I love hockey…go Tampa Bay Lightning] !) already offered to me if I were to go to this college, which is in a climate averaging highs of 70-80 most of the time.

All of this, in addition to another tour of the beautiful campus given by other nice scholarship lady, was enough to get me a step away from pledging all allegiance to the University of South Florida. I commented to Evan that South Florida made UW look like a “mean old lady” and it’s safe to say that, as of right now, I love how the future looks if I go the Tampa Bay way.

Yes, there are cons – leaving friends behind, 3 hour plane rides, but right now the pros outweigh them and I think it’s the best way for me to grow in a lot of ways. Here’s to the hope that it will all work out and I can properly fulfill New Years Resolution #2.

So it’s been, as I said before, a wild couple of days, and I could use a break…too bad it’s all fast-paced for the foreseeable future. But we’ll try a toast once more – here’s to less tragedy and more excitement in 2008.

So you were born
and that was a good day
Someday you'll die
and that is a shame
But somewhere in the between
is a life of which we all dream
and nothing and no one will ever take that away
- "Somewhere in the Between - Streetlight Manifesto"

I got dreadlocks fallin' all over me

2008-01-01T20:54:00.001-06:00

Well, here's the new year, so it seems fitting to make a new blog post. I think (I'm not sure about this) that this is the longest blog drought in the history of the ol' Flight 109 (all 3 years of it!). Basically, this site has been pretty worthless, because a lot has happened between July and now. Or has it?

So I'm not really going to try to catch up, but I think it's fair to try to cut my losses and push forward for this new year. Although, to keep a little connection to last year, I may as well conclude the last few New Years Resolutions of 07 and close with a few for next year. As I recall, here were the ones still hanging.

-Get a girlfriend: There's always next year!
-The soccer one: I didn't technically accomplish either goal, but I would hardly call it a failure. I wasn't captain, but that allowed me to have more fun and focus more on self-improvement. Also, I wasn't top 3 in goals, but I was 4th on the team in goals and I was in 3rd until the last game of the season. I also had the top scoring percentage for shots taken, so I was really happy with how the season went.
-Get a job: Not yet, but I do have a pending Walgreen's application, so we'll see what happens with that. I suppose I could live with that sort of job.
-Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar: I put this one off for too long, and couldn't achieve it at the end of the year due to a full day of travel. How unfortunate, I'll bet it would have tasted really good.

And speaking of this full day of travel on New Years Eve, an explanation of my current surroundings would probably be in order. The family flew to Florida yesterday so I am blogging from Evan's laptop in a Tampa hotel room.

We decided to go to Tampa on vacation for a couple of reasons. For one, the Badgers just had their bowl game at the wonderful Raymond James stadium. Unfortunately, they lost, but it was still a cool experience, just to go to an NFL stadium and see a bowl game.

Ultimately, though, the real driving force of the trip was the fact that I am considering the University of South Florida, which is in Tampa, as a legitimate option. We will be touring the campus tomorrow, and maybe I'll post later with thoughts on that.

It's interesting (to me, at least) that I would be considering South Florida so late in the college decision process. It seems like a pretty crazy, out there college choice, but it has held up this long as a realistic possibility. There's something to be said for staying around and going to Madison, but maybe I would enjoy a drastic change. If not, there's always such a thing as transferring. Who knows, right now it's at about 50/50.

What experiences do I have to gain from going?
What relationships do I get to keep by staying?

It's a lot to think about.

How about some new resolutions then...
1. Girlfriend? If I go to USF, that might be the least of my relationship worries. So I will attempt to make and keep friends in all facets, and if a girlfriend happens, sweet.

2. Be happy with all my decisions. I've got a lot of them to make (not just college), and there is a certain amount of worry that comes with each one that I will make the wrong one. I should know by now that no matter how the decision seems to be going, it will work out for the good, so once I make up my mind, I will try to be satisfied with it.

3. Learn to appreciate mornings. I hate getting up early, or really getting up at any time before I would naturally wake up. To be more productive, it would probably help if I could, if not get up fairly early, be ready for the day when I do wake up.

4. Go to an MLS game. I've always sort of planned to go to a pro soccer game, but it never happened. In addition, I'd like to go see the US national team play again, but that would be pending on if they are playing nearby for any of their games.

5. Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar. I've got another 366 days to net this one.

I suppose that will be all for now, I'm sure I'll have more goals for the year, but at least I've got something to start with. Here's to a great 2008.

EveryBODY needs P.E.

2007-07-13T22:34:00.001-05:00

There's way too much to cover since the last time I posted, but I will eventually. But tonight I am tired, so because we are more than halfway through the year, I will check in on how I'm doing on my ten new year's resolutions.

1. Get a girlfriend. Ha!

2. Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar. Not yet, but this one's pretty easy to accomplish. I think I will save it for a memorable moment.

2b. Get a pet turtle in college. Simply impossible.

3. Write some songs that don't suck. I semi-accomplished this in a manner I didn't expect. It was not for Eisenhower, but actually it came in the form of the Pet Song, which campers from New London to Wautoma to Racine have enjoyed. I'm not certain that it doesn't suck, but at least some people like it.

4. Get a "720 on my ACT". I'm through with the ACT, so I'd say this goal is virtually accomplished, all hyperbole aside.

5. Not get last on the team in every cross country meet this year. I'm not doing cross country anymore, so I'll change this to an "or" goal. my goal is to be captain or to be one of the top 3 goal-scorers on the team.

6. Blog more often. Fail.

7. Become absolutely dominant at scrabble. I've only lost to two people this year, and I beat those two people as often as they beat me, but I haven't been playing much scrabble lately.

8. Get a Job. I'll wait until after camp.

9. Sleep. I'm at camp a lot, this is virtually impossible, although I did go to bed at 9:30 last night.

10. Have ten new year's resolutions. What a bogus resolution...at least it's guaranteed.

So, four of my resolutions (numbers 3, 4, 7, 10) have been accomplished (or basically accomplished), and two (numbers 2 and 8) are essentially a cinch as soon as I put in the very minor effort. 6 and 9, if we're counting history of the entire year, are basically lost for good, leaving 1 and 5 as the only unsure ones.

The first goal is basically always unsure, and always a new year's resolution, so now 5 is the one I will focus on. Sounds like fun.

We'll see what happens when I make the resolution year-in-review post.

Meet Me in St. Louis

2007-05-24T23:01:00.000-05:00

I will be in St. Louis all weekend for a cousin's wedding. Basically, this is like every other pre-trip post, for those of you who have read those before. Alright-y then.

Maybe I should

2007-05-13T22:42:00.000-05:00

...become entirely anti-social and spend the extra time training for soccer, because I like soccer so much, but I am not good at it. If I was good at it, I would like it even more. And what's the point of being social?

This is the caffeine talking. I am done with caffeine. It makes me flighty and irritable. What good is that?

I am now posting about pro...May Banquet. I had a good time at prom, which is such news to me, because every other time I've had at prom (or any other Lakeside dance for that matter) has ranged from OK to bad. This one had several things going for it. Eisenhower got to perform for a while, and that is always something that I am fond of. I also went with Becca, who made the trip down for it, which I am happy for. It was enjoyable, although I tended to worry if she was having a good time, or feeling awkward not knowing anyone, but she was pretty reassuring. I worry about things like that. All in all, it was really great. Hooray for an actually good dance.

I got my ACT scores back today, and now I am considering the options of Pastor track at MLC or something else at a big college. Before the scores, I was pretty close to being set on MLC, but now that they are back, I have been pretty encouraged (mostly by my parents) to seek out other options too. It comes down to what I really want to do. I'm just worried that whichever I pick, I'll at some point wonder what could have been if I picked the other. If I go pastor track, then will I one day wish I had chosen to go to Madison and get a great job and be rich and live in a big house with my family? If I go the other way, will I wake up every day feeling unfulfilled and hating how worthless my job seems to something with an eternal impact such as the ministry? Do I even know what I'm good at?

Before this ACT thing, I heard people talking about how hard their college search and planning for their future has been, and I laughed to myself, because I was able to take it mostly in stride. I thought I had it pretty well figured out. Now I realize that it is a little harder that it seemed. It's like someone is telling me that I need to have my life planned out by next year. I can only pray, because if it were just me making this decision, I would be pretty well screwed. I guess I have to just realize that whatever happens, it will work out for the best. We will see.

I guess school ends soon. Ya know? I have one week that is sort of a joke of a week, with a lot of crazy schedules that translate roughly into "less school" and then exams the next week. Then it's over. Then I only have one more year left in this high school thing. I suppose I have to grow up, then. Learn responsibility, start liking coffee, invest in mutual funds, etc... I absolutely must make the most out of this last year and these two summers I will have, because my other high school years seem kind of wasted, but this is kind of the last chance to be at this age I suppose.

Everyone goes through this; I am so cliche. It will fall into place. I have to repeat that to myself. If God himself be for me, I may a host defy.

How do you make a post about prom when the majority of your readership spent the whole thing with you anyway?

2007-05-09T19:03:00.000-05:00

I haven't actually figured out an answer to that yet.

"Hell will be forever for rent"

2007-04-25T20:49:00.000-05:00

Oh, the evangelist Billy Sunday, you had high hopes for prohibition, but they did not turn out the way you had hoped. I really love reading about prohibition and the 20's in general. I do it every time history is boring. I must have read the chapter entitled "Life in the Roaring Twenties" five or so times over by now. These "I am" speeches we have to give, where we dress up a person, and give an autobiographical speech as them, they were scheduled as such that I miss being able to do someone from the 1920's by a few years. So I can't be Billy Sunday and preach against the evils of alcohol, and I can't be Al Capone and explain how my career as a "Furniture Broker" got me where I am today. It's all right, history still interests me, but the roaring twenties, those are just really fascinating to me.

Tonight is the night before our first play performance. We've been working on "Cheaper by the Dozen" since about February I believe, and it's been a pretty good time. Most of the people in the cast were already my friends before we started working on it, with the exception of the two freshmen, who I like a lot now. I guess there is hope for that class after all. This will be a weekend of craziness, 4 performances in 3 days. And after that, well, prom.

I'm planning on actually enjoying prom this year. What a novel idea. I'm really looking forward to it. That's all for now. I'm sure I'll discuss it more afterwards.

This past weekend was the talent show, which Becca and Bethy came down for. Thanks, you two. It really does mean a lot. I feel kind of bad, because they had to ride all that way down to see us play for like 3 minutes, and I don't think we even played that well. Granted, a musician is his own harshest critic, but it's been better. Oops, I digress. Anyway, thanks. You definitely hold the distance record for coming to see us play.

Aside from that, I just felt I should make a post and all. I should learn more songs on acoustic, requests anyone? Not that more that 2 or 3 people even read this, but we need stuff for prom. Until then, stay safe, stay sober, and enjoy whatever weather we have. It's all good.

Hours pass...

2007-04-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

Today I had a snow day, it was alright. We went to Ming's, and Ming's was a pretty good time. As usual. Then we went to Meyer's and watched That 70's Show, which is less funny the more I watch it. It's just not a very funny show, and it has an obnoxious laugh track. I got excited, because while we were flipping through channels, we caught part of a Dutch-British soccer game between PSV Eindhoven (Which reminds me...try the Google maps directions from Madison, WI to Eindhoven, Netherlands...it's amusing how they have you get there) and Liverpool. It turned out that it was a replay of a a game anyway, but still. I didn't know the outcome.

I just googled it, and Liverpool won 1-0. That's not too shocking. Liverpool is a good team, and actually is now owned by Americans, just like Manchester United and Aston Villa, and possibly Arsenal in the future. Their next game in the championship cup is against Chelsea, who are basically the Yankees of British soccer, along with Manchester United. Go Liverpool, I suppose. Peter Crouch is a great striker (and like 6'7''), but he's British and has stereotype-confirmingly bad teeth. He also does the robot after he scores goals. What a guy.

According to this result, however, that wasn't a replay of the game, or at most a couple hours later than the actual game. I wish we would have watched it.

I've determined soccer for me is like bands for Evan. I think this was determined while I was talking to Evan about this. The comparison is that Evan looks up bands he likes and finds out way more about them than anyone would need to know, and is really interested by it. I do the same thing with soccer...and the similarity is that when we tell people, they are totally disinterested. I guess we aren't up on interesting topics, but to each their own. I'd be a smash hit in England.

Jake Hanke is the only person who shares a remotely similar interest in the topic. I talk to him about "futbol" when we get the chance, I guess he's going to be an assistant coach on the team too? He also has Scrubs seasons on DVD. Score!

That's a really great show.

Hey! I don't have any idea what I even blog about! What did I blog about before? Was my life filled with some sort of drama that I am completely devoid of now? I think I just let everything roll off my back a lot more than I used to. It's kind of a good thing I suppose, because if you never get your hopes too high, they never fall too far. But they also never get to be high, which is bland and uninteresting, just like the good old Blake Samanas blog. Better nothing happen than bad things happen I guess. It all evens out. Life won't bore me out of my mind for long, will it?

Their windows fell out

2007-03-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

I'm too far behind to cover relient K. My opinions about it would be stock, so refer to Evan's and Becca's blog for more about that. I do this so often, but Evan goes into such detail that I feel it uneccessary to repeat it all. This blog is a hyena, feeding merely off the scraps of others' kills.

Tonight I went outside to take in nature a little. Today was positively gorgeous weather-wise, and the evening was even more pleasant.

I decided to go behind the house to the golf course and just lay there. It was pretty quiet, just frogs to hear.

Granted, the golf course is a wide expanse of grass, and thanks to hills it's pretty secluded, but it's not quite perfect, as Highway 89 runs right behind it. None the less, it was a great night to go outside.

I laid there in the grass and stared into the sky. It makes one feel so deep. It was a little cloudy tonight, so I couldn't see the stars too well. But the clouds made the moon look so nice. There was a halo, a perfect circle of light emanating from the moon. The occasional jet passed through, making a silver, quickly vanishing chord before leaving the halo as it was. It was really neat, and I just kind of laid there and watched it for a long while.

It's one of my favorite things to do, to go out back toward the fairway and just watch the sky in (relative) peace. Evan and I did it a few times, one time I specifically remember was when we went back there during the beginning of a thunderstorm.

There was simply a lot of lightning, but no thunder or precipitation yet. It was warm with a breeze. It was about a year back, because I remember it being pretty close to prom. Evan and I went back there to watch the sky, in awe of the lightning. It was so amazing to have the panoramic view of all the lightning, so much better than watching from a window.

We laid there, partially in silence, but bringing up discussion now and then. Soon enough, unfortunately, the thunder began to roll in, and our dad called for us to come in. We were a little put out at first, but it made more sense to us when it started to hail about 5 minutes after we came in.

I bet I have a blog post about this very occurence, or maybe Evan does, but still, it was a great moment. I enjoyed that spring of last year, as I enjoyed the spring of freshman year even more. Hopefully this spring will be even better.

After all, it's when a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

To better explain the last title...

2007-03-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

It's from this song by the band "Socratic". They are musically really good, and I like to listen to them, but their lyrics are so bad that it almost ruins them. They have this one song called "Tear a Gash", and I really like it, except that it has the worst lyrics on the entire album. It's going pretty good for a while, but the the refrain comes, and all semblences of rhyming are destroyed.

I'm leaving, but before I go, I have just 2 demands
When you look in mirrors, realize how gorgeous you are
Tear a gash in your wedding dress, those bells could have rang for us
I have kids with you in my mind.

I suppose the lead singer is distraught over this woman he liked and the fact that she is getting married, but he spends the entire second verse going into detail about how he explains to his made up kids that they are made up, and the whole thing seems disturbing. The lines at the end of that verse:

I have a confession for you, my son
This woman I obsess about, she doesn't exist
The world you live in is fake, I made the whole thing up

So not only do these lyrics not flow, they are disturbing too. I don't like them one bit. They are strange. It's really a shame, because the song is so good.

Anyway, Socratic aside, this week is going to be nuts.

I have a major forensics meet tomorrow, all the way in the vast metropolitan city of Berlin, Wisconsin, which in reality is about the size of Lake Mills, except about 2 hours away. I will be home late, but I'm feeling pretty good about our chances of going to state. I've never gone to state in anything before.

Then, on tuesday, there will be play practice, and then the WSMA music competition, which I have kind of been dreading. Jazz band does not sound good, and my failure to nail the bass music is probably part of that. Brass choir is okay, but not great. And it goes until 9, and that is not a plus...two late nights in a row.

And then, on Wednesday, I believe I will be going to a Madison math meet. Even though that's traveling, I do really enjoy math meets, so I think it would be worth it. I like the idea of competing against the smartest around. It's not like we'll beat them, but I like the fact that we get closer every time.

And now, now is when I realize I fit the nerd bill so well. Forensics, drama, band, and math team. But they're all fun. Well, maybe not band so much.

"I have kids with you in my mind"? What??

2007-03-02T23:18:00.000-06:00

Hey, a new month, so that means a new post. I'm such a bum.

What's goin' on? I am curious. There are many things I would like to know. Including "what's goin' on". Where am I going with this?

It started with me trying to remember the goings-on that I could report in this blog, but I can't actually think of anything notable. I believe this is defined as a rut. There are, however, several things to look forward to in March. In fact, I'm really excited just thinking about them. Let's see.

Tuesday, March 6 - A trip with 7 other guys and one fantastic religion teacher to the WELS Seminary. I'll consider my options more there, and, if nothing else, go to Mequon with some of my best friends.

Saturday, March 17 - St. Patty's day. Actually I'm not sure why it's notable, but it's not a holiday I have a major problem with, except for all the people who pretend to be Irish on it. I'm not Irish, but if you want everything to be green for a day, go wild. I did, however, celebrate St. Patty's on Valentine's day, so maybe I should just switch them.

March 18-24 - This week is Spring Break. As I recall, school gets a lot easier and more enjoyable once you get to Spring Break, plus it's a week off, I can't complain.

Sunday, March 19 - This is the day of the Relient K concert. It is also the day after Becca's birthday (it seems weird addressing you in the 3rd person, Becca, because I realize you'll read this), which I would think is some sort of incredible timing. This looks to be the highlight of an action-packed March.

Sunday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 28 - The next two soccer nights, as the US faces Ecuador and Guatemala, even briefly drawing television attention from that one basketball tournament in March. I like these meaningless games right now, because it's giving me a chance to get my friends really into soccer. And sit in a basement and yell at a TV.

So that's my March, and that's just stuff well in advance, never knowing what could come up and change everything. I can't wait. Hopefully, periodically throughout March I'll have posts talking about how great everything is. And if not, well,

There's always April.

Throw the window through the door

2007-02-04T23:16:00.000-06:00

Uh... I have another post saved as a draft that I really can't finish well, and I'm not sure why, but this is what you all get instead of that.

Life is currently uneventful. One would hope that changes. Play practice is starting soon and I'm just happy I got a part, a ton of people tried out (although most of them were girls), and some really talented people didn't get parts. I was surprised, but I'm looking forward to it, maybe it'll be a shot in the arm for what has been a pretty vanilla year so far.

Not that I dislike vanilla. I don't think it gets enough credit. But I digress.

Forensics, which I finally am trying, is also starting to get underway, although our first two meets we either couldn't attend or were cancelled (due to cold weather...what's going on?). I'm feeling pretty good about it, I think it will be fun and that we could really have a chance to nail the piece.

Speaking of nails, our guest pastor told this cool story that ended with some nails. I'd tell it, but I wouldn't do it justice, so it's not worth it at all. Again I digress.

The Super Bowl was today, but that was disappointing because of some major missed connections. I guess the game was alright, and there were at least a couple decent commercials, but I just watched the game with my parents. Oh well. At least it was the bearer of good news of a "cold day". I still have the imminent thursday soccer game to cheer me up. God bless soccer.

Why am I still awake? This post is so terrible. I really need to have a good, long conversation.

El Hoopes

2007-01-30T21:49:00.000-06:00

Okay, so maybe I won't be running cross country next school year.

But don't worry, I have a good reason.

I'm not afraid of the training, or the pressure, or anything like that - It's just that soccer happened.

For whatever reason, Lakeside has never had a soccer team. However, due to some interest, and a new soccer-loving teacher, we're getting a shot next year.

There will only be one team, and due to this being the first year of the program, it will only be a JV team. Luckily, seniors are allowed to play, so I have a shot at playing soccer in high school after all.

And there are a lot of benefits to playing soccer at Lakeside for me. The coach, also one of my favorite teachers, explained to my friend - one of the 5 or so other seniors who have expressed interest - that he's looking for some senior leadership, and would involve us in setting up the details of the program for years to come (right down to possibly designing the jerseys).

As someone who likes to be in the details (and possibly even competitive), and considering I just really enjoy soccer, this is almost impossible to pass up.

As for cross country, I'm a little disappointed that they have to be during the same season. I was looking forward to cross quite a bit, and I felt that the training and getting in shape would really be great. But I'll probably do just as much training for the upcoming soccer season, I'm certain I'll need it.

I'm already pumped for this possibility, even if it is just JV. It's the best thing available, unless I wanted to leave Lakeside, which would just be silly. There'll be tryouts though, so I've gotta stay on the top of my game.

And to think, all this for something more than 6 months away. It's just cool to think that we'll finally be able to say "Lakeside soccer".

I guess that's pretty much my excitement for now. Life gets a little busier next week, and that might not be such a bad thing. Maybe by then I'll have more to blog about than soccer.

So I'll catch you all later then.

P.S. Anyone wanna make a chicago road trip to watch the MLS? Steve I think we discussed this once.

I put the "I" in "I hate going to Indiana because usually it means one of my relatives died"

2007-01-05T22:06:00.002-06:00

Well, I was in Indiana the past few days. It was because of the death of my Grandma. She was 94, and died of, on top of everything else, kidney failure.

It's alright though, her quality of life was not good at all, so it's kind of nice that she can finally be done with the junk this world has to offer. It sounds cliche, but I'll see her again.

Aside from that, I decided to do more than one new year's resolution, perhaps inspired by others to do so (yet keeping last year's one intact). Here goes nothing.

1. Get a girlfriend. This one sounds as lame as it is, but it's a classic. Maybe next year I won't need to have it up here.

2. Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar. Basically all the Mr. Goodbars you see are mini, so I'd like to eat a full size one. They are pretty good when small, so they'd probably be just as pretty good when large. "Mr. Goodbar" is also what I plan to name my pet turtle in college.

2b. Get a pet turtle in college. Actually I can't do that this year, but I should at least document it, so that if I forget it, my dedicated blog readers can remind me. I shall also name it Mr. Goodbar, but you should know that by now.

3. Write some songs that don't suck. I have not found inspiration very much lately, and for some reason I haven't written a decent song in forever. It wasn't too hard with "Seattle" so maybe the inspiration just needs to be flowing or something.

4. Get a "720 on my ACT". Okay, 720 is not possible on an ACT (despite these words from Jason Schleef, I believe it was during the same night of Red Dawn where our incredible "Look, it's Schleef, he's god at this game" strategy took place), but I'd like to stop underachieving and sort out this pre-college junk, and hopefully find a decision that makes me happy, seeing that these decisions will be nearly made by the end of this year.

5. Not get last on the team in every cross country meet this year. This will be my first year of cross country, and for someone who was never athletic whatsoever, this is a pretty major step. My expectations aren't high, but I'd like to at least be able to compete within my team. Better step up the training.

6. Blog more often. I like to blog, I do. But I tend to go forever without a post. I'm not sure if I disappoint anyone except myself with that, but I do need to get better with it. 70 posts in about 25 months. That's like a post every 11 days, which means I must have posted way more in the past. But those posts were horrible, so I think it evens out.

7. Become absolutely dominant at scrabble. I've actually been playing scrabble a lot lately, with my friends and what not. It's surprisingly really fun. Scrabble is worth my time.

8. Get a Job. Actually, I don't want to. at all. I've got the rest of my life to work, as I've basically determined it'll be white collars and ties and offices for the rest of my life. But I could definitely use some extra funds, but I don't even have to pay for car insurance and gas and stuff. There are some definite benefits to not driving.

9. Sleep. I am tired a lot. and I like to sleep. I think this one should be a no-brainer.

10. Have ten new year's resolutions. I guess I kind of do already with the 2b, but that one doesn't even apply to this year. Ten is such a more complete number than 9, although 9 is the number of dribbles I had in my free-throw routine in grade school. Not sure how I chose that, but I actually think I might have been about a 50% all time free throw shooter, which is not awful for 6-7th grade. Maybe it is, but oh well. I had 10 points in a game once. Which is hereby in about the top 5 of sports accomplishments of my life. From 5th to 1st:

5th: I returned an interception for a touchdown while playing linebacker in 8th grade. Unfortunately, it was in practice. But it was sweet.

4th: In my first and only year of actually competitive little league, I led my team in batting average and also was the first kid that summer in the league to catch a fly ball as the catcher. Of course I was like 9, so I'm not sure how much that counts

3rd: Dropping 10 points against the Utica Christian "Uticorns" (actually I don't remember their team name, but we used this name to mock them. It didn't work too well, as we went 1-3 against them all time...before we didn't have enough boys to have a basketball team. Grade school sports sucked). I hit some free throws, jumpers, and layups, I never recorded another single double in any of the other maybe 7 games I started. I guess starting was an accomplishment in and of itself, but there were like 8 kids on the team total.

2nd: Winning the one wrestling match I ever participated in, 3-2 by merit of a slick double-leg takedown and an escape after I deferred after the first period and my opponent chose the strategically unsound position of "up". I escaped, got my takedown, and we took it to the 3rd period. I went neutral, because he wasn't doing much, and we basically both stalled my way into a stunning 1-point victory. We were the only two in the bracket, and I medalled too. It was pretty sweet.

1st: In 8th grade I played football through Lakeside's program, and each week, coaches picked 3 honorary captains for their work in the previous game. I am filled with the slightest bit of pride to say that I was once an honorary captain. The game which won me the honor was against Deerfield. They, on the opening kickoff, decided for some reason that they wanted to throw us off with an onside. They put all the kids who weren't good at offense or defense on the kick return team, so I ended up right in the front. By some chance, the kick went straight to me. It was kind of my chance to prove myself I guess? The ball went over my head, but I batted it down, turned around, and fell on it. My teammates went crazy, because I was pretty socially inept then and no one thought I'd actually come up with it. Unfortunately, we went on to lose like 45-7 (but as it turns out, that same bunch of kids we played are the varsity team in Deerfield now, and they went to the state championship game). But I was totally happy for the rest of the game, and since everyone else on the team lost so bad, I was voted an honorary captain.

Wow. I wasn't planning on writing about my sports career today, but it was kind of fun. I haven't actually thought about any of those times that much lately, so though it may not be fun to read, it was a neat walk down memory lane for me. I hope it was enjoyable.

Til then, War and Peace out.

I'm overdue like a...book, I guess

2007-01-01T22:48:00.000-06:00

I haven’t posted in a month, which is pretty dumb, because December tends to be the most eventful month for me. Well, in that case, why don’t we just get started on catching up?

Flight 109 is now celebrating its 2nd anniversary. It’s pretty monumental, I’ve been keeping up with it for a while, but I think it pales in comparison with Becca’s because this is my 70th post. And she has over 200. And she’s been at it for less time. Becca, you are a good blogger.

I don’t know what’s kept me blogging for 2 years, but I still do it (although often sporadically). Are comments gratification? I don’t know. I suppose it’s a way to keep from getting totally lost in the flood of voices and opinions. Or maybe it just gives other people something to read. I know that I like to read other people’s blogs, and I guess it’s only fair to post stuff too. Because otherwise I’d be a dreaded blog-stalker.

Boise State is winning. Hot.

I also had my 16th birthday. It feels kind of irrelevant, because it’s not like I can drive or anything. It’s a little neat though, now I don’t sound so young. I don’t think age has a lot of bearing on what people think of me anyway, so I have no reason to worry.

3 days after my birthday comes Christmas, and obviously this year was no exception. Christmas was not too bad. Evan and I maintain that when we are middle-aged and have wives and kids, we will have our own way of dealing with the Santa thing. It starts with a fellow named Big Bo and his magical buffaloes. He’s basically exactly the same as Santa, except for the whole buffaloes instead of reindeer thing.

The plan is to tell our kids about Big Bo, and how he gives them presents. We’re both doing it, so if the kids ever doubt Big Bo, I’ll tell them to “ask their uncle Evan” and vice versa. If they hear from kids at school about Santa, We’ll tell them that Santa isn’t real. Basically the strategy is to create this character and for it to be religiously passed down so that a thousand years from now, half of America will celebrate the legend of Big Bo, and they’ll make stupid movies about Big Bo and he’ll be in malls next to Santa and stuff. I see basically no way for it to fail.

Boise State is now not winning by much. Not hot.

After Christmas comes the New Year. Evan and I went up to the camp staff reunion again this year. It was pretty fun, and this year I didn't feel sick the whole weekend like last time. After we went to Shinnick's to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Before everyone got there we went to Jimmy John's. I had actually never eaten there, but I guess they have this deal where if you're a student anywhere, you can get a sub combo for 5 bucks. But you also have to sing part of a song. I was feeling "Piano Man" so I sang some of that. That's one of the most fun songs to sing along to. I also took a picture of The Bar on the avenue at The Bar on The Avenue.

We went back in time to meet a bunch of their friends from MLC, and watch the Pack. What a game. 8-8's not so bad.

Boise's tied now. Not too hot.

We stayed up late, watched National Geographic, and sent text messages. Now I know all about the ape-men that supposedly ravage Sumatra. There's so much uncharted territory in Sumatra that I bet all kinds of weird stuff live there. Bigfoot, aliens, Tupac Shakur, etc...

Boise has since been losing, but just scored on the most amazing play of the year, with 7 seconds left. Gorgeous.

We headed home and listened to the Badgers. Good game also.

I'm gonna be away in Indiana until Thursday, I guess I'll explain that with the next post. Feel free to send me an email or a text or something, it gets pretty unenjoyable down there as the days pass. The next post I have will probably also contain my New Year's Resolutions, as I've decided to make a couple of them for this year, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Until then, War and Peace out.

P.S. the Boise game will be over by the time you read this. probably.

I don't mind if you don't mind

2006-11-30T21:29:00.000-06:00

No, I would not like to switch to the new version of blogger. I think you're mean for asking. I hate when things like that change. I always get used to it, but begrudgingly.

I'm dumb. I should be writing that thing for history. I should be doing trig. One hard trig assignment comes along, and I'm suddenly too lazy to do it. I'm really lazy. It makes me angry.

That laziness. It makes me afraid of actually doing work. I'm afraid of a lot of things. I'm afraid of
- change
- commitment
- the future
- girls
- the possibility that my friends (and/or people in general) just put up with me
- screwing things up. in anything really.
- letting other people down
- and spiders

Okay, so I'm not trying to deal with the last one right now, but at least that one's a relatively valid fear. Or common, if nothing else.

Let's take change. I guess this is one that a lot of people are afraid of. It's not to say I don't like change...sometimes I do. But I always fear I'm leaving something behind I'll never get back. How irrational.

Commitment. This probably goes along with girls. I tell myself that I want a girlfriend, but truth is, in the event that I had one, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know what to do about it. Seems to me that there's a lot of pressure involved...or maybe I've been viewing extremely poor examples of relationships.

The Future. This one's so broad. It's the fear of screwing up, doing something that I can't go back and undo. Let's just say that the future freaks me out.

Girls. I'm still bad at talking to girls. Like freshman-bad. Actually I think they're better at it for the most part. And I haven't the slightest idea why. Supposedly they're just as afraid. Supposedly. I don't think I buy it.

The friends one. This probably isn't even true, and I think a good percentage of high schoolers have likely felt the same way at one point or another. I know for sure I'm not the only one. None the less, it still gets me sometimes.

Screwing things up. I like to do things right. I hate messing up, because messing up makes me feel stupid, and I hate feeling stupid. Call me a perfectionist, and I kind of am.

Letting other people down. This may very well be one of the biggest, and actually ties in with most of the others. I don't know why, but since a young age, I've always wanted to impress people. I want be liked by everyone, and I want to like them back. For as long as I can remember, I've always gone to pieces trying to right my wrongs to those I care about. There are people who always let me know when I'm letting them down, and it totally kills me. Right now, I'm going to say I'm sorry.

I guess that pretty much does it. I'm not entirely sure why I wrote that. It's probably not going to do the general readership any good, but I think I needed it. Sort of. I like to get these things out of my mind. And my blog always listens.

And I just plain don't like killing spiders.

A one way non-stop to anywhere, find anyone, do anything, forget and start again, love

2006-11-20T19:36:00.000-06:00

There's so much to blog about, which usually kills my inspiration, but I'll give it a shot.

First off, I'll start with the Reel Big Fish/Streetlight Manifesto concert. What a blast.

Reel Big Fish and Streetlight are really good bands, and their openers weren't too shabby either, but the real fun in a ska show is the jumping around, skanking, and screaming the words at the top of your lungs. I would say this was easier for me with Streetlight because I knew all the words (aside from their new songs), but I immensely enjoyed both of them. It's probably the best Wednesday night ever.

The very next morning it was two class periods at Lakeside and then off on the 7-hour bus ride to the one and only Martin Luther College for a two-night campus visit. I can honestly say it's left me with a lot to think about.

I'll start off by saying that I had a complete blast. Some of my best high school friends were on the trip, and I got to spend some quality time with a bunch of MLC students from camp. There were so many of those "this won't be funny, or even make sense a day from now" moments and a lot of much needed catching up was done. But that's not the reason for going.

I've done a lot of thinking about if MLC is the right place for me to go. I really like the idea of being around all the people there. There are so many great young Christian people surrounding you, and, as Matt Borck said "There's no fun like Lutheran fun."

I'm just not sure if being in the ministry is right for me. That's really the decision I have to make. I'm not going to MLC unless I'm sure that I want to be a pastor or teacher, because going there for any other reason and going through the motions would be plain wrong.

Thankfully, I have a lot of time to think about my decision ahead, and of course pray about it too...I guess this is growing up.

18 hours of bus riding, countless games of sheepshead and Ray Charles jokes, and a head full of thoughts later, I arrived home for the rest of the weekend. And of course not to catch up on any of the sleep I missed.

The first day back at school (the first of two, and then a field trip...) John and I established our loose off-season training regimen...so I'm pretty excited about that. Cross Country, here I come!

War and Peace out.

We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past

2006-10-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

In the caverns of tomorrow
With just our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge

So I finally listened to some Bright Eyes. I liked what I heard, but regrettably, I was so incredibly tired that I couldn't make it past about two songs off "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" before my heavy eyelids defeated my brain in a battle of endurance. It was kind of a bummer that I was so tired because I missed out on events I was planning on going to. Mang.

I played soccer today, that was pretty adjective. We actually got some 11-on-11 pickup game action going, with subs even. I scored some goals, but I think I blacked out and my sub-concious did it. I'm way too clumsy, I'm pretty sure I'd miss the ball...I already do a lot anyway. Either way, I think Lakeside is closer to getting soccer. I'd be amped.

Uh...

"Mommy? Where does dirt come from?"

This is kind of an ADD post. Maybe because I can't think of what to post. Maybe I didn't really need to post. But I kind of wanted to anyway. The Beatles are worth my time.

Uh...Not sure if I like this week. Random day off is a plus. Hardcore journalism assignments are not. Sports people being in between sports is also a plus. I need to expand my social life to include girls. I enjoy actual conversation. Good night.

I wish I was a rapper

2006-10-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

Click-clack
She workin' that back
I don't know how ta act
I'm a have a heart attack (Oh!)
Call an ambulance
Girl you ain't makin sense
Dat's a consequence
Of me 'n be 'in so intense

It's an art that's lost on me

I hate falling behind on blogs. There's always so much that needs to be reported, and then I cut my losses, because I'm too far behind to accurately report on anything that happened then.

So, uh, what is new? I guess my last post was before homecoming even? Wow. Homecoming week was pretty fun, as usual. Eisenhower tied for 3rd at the talent show, which is the best a band has done in recent years. I suppose I feel that we could have been higher, but I really can't complain. The whole point was to go up there and entertain people, winning or losing was really only secondary. There's always still that competitive part of me though...

Homecoming dance was not particularly eventful. It was kind of like all the others. I'll still always go.

The day after homecoming was hanging out with Charlie/Fray concert. That day was a lot of fun, and I really like Charlie. With any luck I'd like to see him again sometime.

October. What has happened so far? Not too much, but, really, that's not such a bad thing. October of last year blew. This one's been pretty fun, and after the next two days (likely to be stressful), there's a four-day weekend and the state cross country meet. I'm pretty excited about that, and maybe (aside from the day of state) I can actually get some sleep. Probably not though.

And, um, I still need to put the finishing touches on my "I am" speech costume, so it's best I stop putting that off. I need a bibliography. Crap!

Dancel and Metal and the search for the Keebler Elf

2006-09-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

This is a fairy tale I wrote sometime for creative writing in grade school, and I just found it while looking at old junk in the basement. I completely forgot I ever wrote it, but it's pretty hilarious to look back at, so here it is word for word.

Part I

Once upon a time, when elephants always forgot, and Michael Jackson was normal, there was a brother and sister named Dancel and Metal. Unlike their friends, they lived with a witch named Mrs. Fields in a gingerbread house in the forest. Every day they went into the enchanted forest and said hello to their friends. They passed the four little pigs - the typical ones, and their less famous brother Clarence. They passed Snow White and the six dwarves (R.I.P. Dopey) and the mansion of the Keebler Elf.
Sometimes, though, they would go to town and not even pass through the enchanted forest. Today was one of those days. They came into town, and Daisyfeather, the bakery owner, wasn't wearing his usual smile. Dancel and Metal immediately knew something was wrong. Metal inquired the proprietor's long face.
"Haven't you heard?" he snapped, "the Keebler Elf is missing!"
Dancel and Metal replied in unison, "Oh no, what will we do?"
"I dunno," quipped Daisyfeather, with a far-off look in his eyes.
"We need to find the Keebler Elf, and soon," said Dancel.

Part II

Dancel and Metal scurried back to the old gingerbread house, where Mrs. Fields was throwing out another batch of botched cookies.
"That'll be the day when I beat that dad-burned Keebler Elf at baking," she muttered to herself.
"Mrs. Fields! Mrs. Fields! The Keebler Elf was kidnapped!" yelled the kids as they entered the house.
"Oh, um....that's, uh, too bad," replied the kindly old witch, holding back a smile. Definitely quite, um, a tragedy. He'll be missed," she said, desperately trying not to chuckle.
"He's not dead yet," replied the kids matter-of-factly, "At least we don't think he is."
"So sad, seeing that he'll miss the World Cookie Championship. I guess I'll just have to beat him," she sighed in mock sadness. Dancel and Metal exchanged glances suspiciously. They decided to go out into the forest and discuss the mystery. Both of them agreed that Mrs. Fields was acting strange when the kidnapping was mentioned. They decided to go talk to Daisyfeather about it.

Part III

The tandem entered the bakery to see two other customers talking to Daisyfeather. Dancel and Metal asked the shopkeeper about the two customers.
"This is Shortbread Ned and Macaroon June. They're here for the World Cookie Championship," he answered, "They're a husband-wife team who has blown away the competition in all the regional meets. They've come here hoping to defeat the top two finishers of the last two championships - The Keebler Elf and Mrs. Fields. Speaking of Mrs. Fields, she's supposed to be here dropping off her entry for the judging. Do you kids know where she is?"
Suddenly, the couple slipped out the door. They ran into their horse and buggy and galloped away. In the light, Dancel could make out the outlines of the Keebler Elf and Mrs. Fields.
"They're the kidnappers! We need to stop them!" screamed Metal.
Dancel looked around. Suddenly, he saw Harry Potter, who was munching on some Bertie Botts Every-Flavour Beans.
"Put a spell on that carriage! We need to stop them!"
Harry pointed his wand toward the buggy and yelled, "Evil-us Carriage-us vanishium!" and the entire buggy disappeared except for Mrs. Fields and the Keebler Elf.
"How did that work?" Harry questioned, "I did the completely wrong spell!"
"Well, this is a fairly tale," replied Mrs. Fields. Everybody laughed and, of course, lived happily ever after.

Let's play "Blog Post" with the help of Laura Hall and Linda Taylor

2006-09-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

What do I even blog about ever? It seems so pointless. I like reading other people's blogs though, so I guess it'd be selfish of me to stop.

Well, this weekend I went to the cross country meet near Fond du Lac. That was pretty neat. Evan came up and watched the meet too, for the first time. I think he enjoyed it, meets are pretty cool.

I also got to visit with Becca, her friend Sara, Dave Moldenhauer ("hey! that rhymes!" "Dude! You're right!"), and Phil Hunter. This meet is always great because nearly all the area Lutheran high school attend, so I get to see a lot of camp people and such. Managing cross country is a lot of fun, aside from the whole getting up early thing. I've gotten to know so many quality people through it.

Earlier this afternoon we did the picture comic again. That's really fun to do, I ejoy scrambling to come up with stuff, and the finished product is really neat. I hope Sydnie can help out too, she had some of the first ideas. Maybe if she can drive on Mondays. I think the comic has a bright future. I'm curious to know what Charlie will think when he sees them.

Until then, War and Peace out.

There's the pitch, slow and straight, all I have to do is swing and I'm a hero

2006-09-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

Oh crap. I'm in another one of those moods. "I feel all high school so why don't I make a blog post." Well you know what, it's going to suck if I go with that.

Well, let's not put it that way. I'm definitely nowhere near as high school and emotional as many people I know. Whatever.

All right, so, about the weekend? We had a football game, so thusly, I had pep band. It was pretty fun, playing baritone's always fun, and then for a little I played 1st trumpet. I was pretty proud of myself, I'm a lot better at trumpet now than I was when I actually played trumpet. Jordy, Eric, Jon and I went to McDonalds before the game. I love those kids.

Yesterday I went to Miller Park with my parents to see Evan play the national anthem with Platteville's marching band. I guess that was sort of cool, Jake and Kelsey were there.

After that, Steve V and I completed something we had always hoped to do - go to the other's dance. I went to Fox Valley's back to school dance. It was really really fun hanging out with Steve for the fast dances. The slow dances were a little weird, because I didn't know basically anyone, but Steve realized this and hooked me up a few times. Thanks Steve.

Well, so, today was just a lazy sunday. I enjoy fantasy football. I just felt like I needed to make a post.

Good night, Pat Summerall

The popular new game show "Advertise Us"

2006-09-02T23:13:00.000-05:00

Dude, I got a cell phone. I don't really know what to do with it. I've been getting people's numbers (and taking some of Evan's contacts), but I don't really call people. At all. I'm bad at the phone.

So the other day, our classes decided on our homecoming themes. The school theme is "game shows" so we have to pick our class game show with which to base our float, mural, etc.. on. Our class held a meeting to do this, and the class advisors (two faculty members) decided to have the class officers (my friend Caleb and me) lead it. Caleb and I thought we could get this over with quick, and just end up with something like "wheel of fortune" and be done with it. Nonetheless, we took a tally of what game shows people actually wanted, and "The Price is Right" was the majority, with the remaining guys and girls split between "Legends of the Hidden Temple" and "The Newlywed Game" About 6 people chose "Wheel of Fortune"

We got news that Price is Right was taken by the senior class, so Caleb and I had an interesting predicament. We knew that if we took either "Legends of the Hidden Temple" (an old-school nickolodeon game show that I very vaguely remember) or "The Newlywed game" we'd have a completely divisive gender split. Not something we wanted. When we pitched Wheel of Fortune again (which was obviously supported by Caleb and I..as a neutral choice and easy to make a float for) about 3 people joined us.

So now we were stuck with opposing forces, a few random suggestions from the audience, and a whole lot of whining from the general public. Eventually Caleb and I convinced what was "close enough" to a majority to go for Wheel of Fortune, and chose it.

It was kind of funny though. We got a piece of paper where we could put our 1st and 2nd choices. For our first choice we put Wheel of Fortune, and Caleb got so frustrated that he put "Douchebags" down for our second choice. We had a good laugh about that one.

Other than that though? I can't complain. Homecoming will probably be really fun, my friend Danielle and I are campaigning like mad for us as junior class reps (so we get to ride in a car for the homecoming parade in street clothes, rather than march it in uniforms).

Caleb Schmiege and I also played a song he wrote in chapel. It was really cool. We didn't have much time to practice it, but it went really well. Props to The Dude Upstairs. I don't talk like that.

What else is going down...We had our first cross country meet, that went really well. And I'm also going to Fox Valley's back to school dance I believe. That will be nifty times ten.

Alright, well, it's late, and I'm listening to Anatomy of the Tongue and Cheek. What a great album.

War and Peace out.

Oh faulty lyrics

2006-08-23T20:44:00.000-05:00

I can't think of a good song. Aside from "going away to college", but that's more about girlfriends or something.

Anyway, the point here is that Evan is moving out tomorrow. That's right. And living 100 miles away. So goes college.

I'm certain Evan's life is going to change drastically...of course it will, this is a totally new and different time in his life. See, thing is, my life is going to also be changing quite a bit.

For my entire childhood, Evan's always been there. We're basically best friends and it's pretty much always been that way. I know he's talked about our relationship a little in his blog, and everything he's said, I echo. We've always told eachother everything. And if not for Evan, there's a half-decent chance I'd be kind of an anti-social loser at school (not that I'm Mr. popularity, but you get the idea).

And now? He'll be gone? I don't think I've fully thought about what that's gonna be like. I'm basically an only child from here on out...and I'm going to have to fend for myself. It makes sense that I'd have to start being more independent. And maybe more reliant on my friends for companionship. Maybe get a girlfriend?(ha!)

It's not like those things are going to make up for his absence. Man it's going to be weird. I'm not going to know how until a while from now. Well, anyway, thanks, Evan, for a great 15 years. I hope college goes well, I really do, and I'm praying for you.

Goodbye, and...I'll see you around.

I'm not gonna skirt the issue (pun intended)

2006-08-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

My bad. When I announced that I was accepting comments from non-registered users, I forgot to actually change the setting. Sorry about that, if anyone even noticed.

First day of school was today. Bummer, there goes the summer (ha! that rhymes!). The first day of school was not particularly eventful, for me at least. Although I do think I'm gonna go back to locker 4. I far prefer it.

One of the things I noticed right away (although this wasn't a big part of my day, I do feel the pull to blog about it) was the fashion trends. Not that they were a whole different from before, but now I guess I'm thinking about it differently than I used to. The fashion item? Low cut shirts. Man, those are so popular right now, probably half the girls I go to school with wear them on a fairly regular basis.

And I'm not talking about a loose shirt or something, I'm talking about clothes designed for the sole purpose of showing off ample amounts of cleavage. You know, the kind of clothing that's not so much for covering anymore, but for "look! look at this!"

So basically I don't understand this fashion trend. Are these girls making an effort to cause temptation and be lusted after? Because, well, that's about all that's being accomplished. Women are by no means objects, but it seems like this constant showing of cleavage appears to show that some people wouldn't be too upset with that label. To me it's pretty sad.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to attack girls for dressing this way. As big of a problem is the guys who lust after them. Which basically is every male teenager.

Unfortunately, I cannot exclude myself from that list. I've been guilty of lust about a million times over. I know it's wrong, and I know it's a sin. But every day, I'll catch myself looking down someone's shirt or something (Especially with it being so easy lately). I feel pretty guilty for it. I want to not do that at all, but there's a part of me known as "sinful nature" which, along with its friend "hormones" feels very differently. I think it's fair to say lust is one of the biggest temptations in my life right now. It probably goes for others too.

It's a real catch-22. The guys themselves are lusting, but the girls are creating and breeding these feelings of lust. It goes to show that no one's perfect.

So let's hit up the Bible for some guidance. Phillippians 4:8, a fairly familiar verse, states "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Simply put, it says that we have a command from God to think pure things. Can we, with our sinful nature, do this at all times? Of course not. I didn't have to tell you that. However, I think we should all make a conscious effort to keep our minds pure, no matter our environment.

Temptation is never going to leave, at least until we're in Heaven. So it's not fair to sit here and blame temptation for our sins(It may seem like I'm doing that here, but I take full responsibility for my sins, I'm just channelling frustration toward the temptation). Sometimes we can avoid temptation, but other times, we're surrounded. It doesn't seem fair. But we can keep our minds pure even then. God gave us some awesome gifts to help us - our conscience, and prayer. Our conscience obviously can tell us that we're doing wrong. Without my conscience, I would never have thought in this way. Lusting is an enjoyable thing, but I feel guilty about it. And it can make me realize that this is actually a sin.

The second tool, then, is prayer. We can pray for a few things considering sins. First, we can pray for forgiveness for these sings we have, but also, pray for the strength to resist temptation. And believe me, prayer is powerful. I never really believed it myself until I tried doing it regularly. So you can never know until you try.

I kind of feel like a hypocrite, because I've always been a proponent for this kind of clothing, for very obvious reasons. Even quite recently. But I think I kind of realized that there's way more to life than staring at cleavage. Will I continue to commit this sin? In all likelihood, yes. It's a weakness in my sinful nature. However, I'll pray that I, and any one of the many others being pressured by this sin will be able to resist temptation and live for the right reasons.

The signature Camp Phillip dedication to God is starting to become a permanent part of myself, I hope.

Sweet melody, you'll be singing in your sleep

2006-08-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

Whoa. I bought a new CD - Like Vines, by the Hush Sound. It's really really good. In my opinion. And for the record, I knew about them before they went on tour with Panic. And now they're coming to Milwaukee with Jack's Mannequin. If I can get a ride, I'd be pumped.

For a few days last week I was at Camp for Jesus Cares. For those of you that don't know, Jesus Cares is a week or half-weeklong program at Camp Phillip for developmentally disabled adults. Wow, it was so much different from anything else I've ever done. It was at some points incredibly challenging, and at others, completely fun and rewarding. Everyone was kind of assigned to certain campers, although we kind of all helped with all the campers. The camper I was around most was probably Peter.

Peter was a pretty decent guy. He'd talk your ear off, usually about beating the ladies. If there was anything Peter would want to do, it was beat the ladies. Whether it was in lawn bowling, volleyball, swimming, sheepshead, you name it, Peter wanted to beat the ladies. It was kind of funny, if he got bored or tried to wander off from the group, you could always bring him back by suggesting that we "beat the ladies". He talked a lot about playing sheepshead, so I thought he could actually, you know, play sheepshead. Turns out, definitely not. So we played Jesus Cares Sheepshead - 6 people sit around a table and put cards face up in a pile. The dealer (Aaron Schulz) determines what those cards mean ("ohhh!! the 6 of spades!!! Now you have to switch places with someone else at the table, and then say 'hunka hunka love, baby!' before each turn!!!"). It was so fun to play with the Jesus Cares campers, they thought we were actually playing a real card game. And honestly, it was fun for the counselors too.

On the last night, they had a talent show, to showcase all the talents that the Jesus Cares campers had. Some of them had to be kind of a stretch (for instance, "smiling" or "being quiet") but for Peter, we played Jesus Cares Sheepshead. it was so fun to play on stage, because we're all acting enthusiastic about a game that's quite obviously being made up on the spot. Peter managed to "win" the game on stage. haha.

After Jesus Cares was over, I got a ride home with Ryan Ziche, who I hadn't really seen in a long time. It was pretty fun. Since then, I've been home for the last half-week before school starts.

Two nights ago, Evan and I went with Anna to see Pirates 2. It was the last showing of the night, and we were 10 minutes late, so they almost didn't want to let us in, because we were the only people coming to see it, and they didn't want to start the movie late. The lady let us in anyway, I think because we were being super polite and understanding about it. Thanks, lady at the movie theater.

I kind of liked the movie, all but the ending. And a few things were not explained very well, and the organ on the ship? That was just kind of dumb. Don't worry if you haven't seen it yet, the organ plays such a small part. I'm not giving away the movie for you.

And last night, Evan and I went to Sun Prairie to play footie with Jake and Jordy as we do so often. Dave was there too, so this was just an exhibition, but crazy fun anyway. As usual. We also watched all of "The Office" season one, but I fell asleep during the second episode. Nothing against The Office, I was just really really tired. Then we hung around the Hanke household until about 1:30 ish.

Evan and I were home then, with the afternoon and evening free to us. So what did we do? Why, finish off the recording for the first full-length album of Earth, Wind, and Beatbox! Oh man, what a quality piece of recording. It should be ready to go on sale by September 1st. We haven't set a price yet, but it will probably be at around $2.00 or less. So exciting, this will be the first full-length album by either of us, even with Eisenhower's existence.

I guess that about does it. Oh, by the way, if there are even any people that read this who don't belong to blogspot, I opened comments up for you guys too. Evan is trying it out, and it seems like a pretty good idea. So just leave your name and stuff if you do in fact feel the need to comment.

Cheers.

"Hey, Muhammed, do you want a slurpie?" "No, it's against my religion/government/dead relative's morals"

2006-08-12T12:27:00.000-05:00

^^From a conversation with Becca about the most common, yet least free person in the world, Muhammed Chang. The things you learn from Trivial Pursuit.

Yesterday was definitely interesting. A little background: My dad's company was having some sort of function for customers and vendors and other mostly boring business type jobs. I was offered an opportunity to work.

So basically I got paid to put brats in buns. I can't complain at all. And I met some pretty interesting people.

First off, there was this other guy I was working with, another co-worker's son. His name was Jamus (spelling? Who knows?). He was 19 and going into college. I spent the whole day with him, part of which we were just standing there, and the other part we were hectically replacing buns, brats, cookies, napkins, plates, etc... So I kind of got a chance to know him. It was sort of awkward for a while, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy. He played guitar, and is majoring in film, and went to the same Red Hot Chili Peppers concert that I went to. We both remember the Mars Volta absolutely sucking. I guess they've gotten good now? At the concert they were pretty much booed off the stage.

I also got to meet a bunch of my dad's co-workers and associates. Although I already knew a couple. Like this one guy, Dave. He has a ponytail and I guess his actual name is pretty weird and uncommon. But he's a cool guy. And John, who was making brats all day. I suppose I could get used to the white collar schmoozing scene if it was totally necessary.

Then I got home and took a long nap. I guess that's my day. I like Timber Creek subs.

This post goes out to the ugly, long-haired genie/cowboy/whatever he was in the other one.

What the Feingold?!

2006-08-06T21:47:00.000-05:00

I don't know. I feel weird. Who is Fuzz Schnulle?

All kinds of stuff happened lately. I went on this band trip thing for a long long time. There used to be an anthology written about said trip on Evan's blog, but he deleted it because of some girl. I hope he saved it on word or something, I think it was, after all, his longest post ever.

I had day camp in Manitowoc. That was really fun. Steve and I bonded more. Steve's one of the coolest people I know. If we went to the same school I think we'd hang out a lot.

I came home for a day and played soccer. Not a good idea. I think I got pretty sick.

Wow, by the way, this is so far the worst post anyone's ever made on a blog. My mind is on full ADD mode right now, and I don't have ADD. Sometimes I think I do though. I can never focus on anything. Okay, that's not true, but it feels like it sometimes. Especially during Bible studies and stuff. I try to focus on them even. I've prayed for better focus. It just hasn't happened yet. Someday...

I've been at camp for the past week. That also was fun. I added one of my campers on myspace, bet you've never done that before. I think I friend requested Geisthardt sister 2 also. What a cool bunch, those Geisthardts are. I got a letter.

Tyler Shinnick was my counselor. What a guy. We definitely had a lot of fun this week, and I think I can say the same for our campers. I think both of us were kind of hoping we'd end up leading a cabin together, and it actually happened. And the experience was definitely not a letdown.

I got a chance to write some Melon Hut verses, and be in campfire. I think I'm getting far more confident up at camp, and I'm excited about it. I really enjoy the staff, especially this year.

After the week was over, I caught up with quite a few junior staff at Culver's...because one group came in just as the other one was leaving. Hugs were given. Potato Sauce was referred to.

I came home and Evan and I had one night to spend before he went to camp for a week to lead archery. So naturally, we spent this night in Sun Prairie playing footie with Jake and Jordy. Spain and Germany vs. Nederland and England. We really sucked this time though, although we did get to see a documentary on the only photo evidence of living giant squid. It was actually pretty interesting.

Anna and I hung out today. All the buildings around her house are pretty sweet. We went to the Frostie Freeze and got cheap and awesome ice cream. And then to Shopko to get Schleef a birthday card. And then to Goodwill to buy a super cool youth soccer jersey. I am now number 24. We went to Papa Murphy's and talked to Katie for a while. That was cool.

Okay, well this post didn't get a whole lot easier to read as it went on. Hopefully it still provides for interesting reading.

Keep it real! - Blake

I might have to start liking Yellowcard by default

2006-06-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

I'm always intimidated to make a blog post after camp, because I know I'll forget so many hugely important details about it. Well anyway, camp was super great, and I'll be going up there a lot more this summer. I've got a day camp in Manitowoc with Steve (What a sweet guy) a 6-8 grade week, and a Jesus Cares, which will probably be a huge learning experience for me.

I also had a Day camp in Fond du Lac at Becca's church, but stupid band forced me to have to cancel. It's really a bummer, but I'll just have to make the most of the weeks I can attend.

One cool but fairly secondary thing about camp was all the soccer we played. I've gotten really into following soccer lately, especially with the world cup and all, but also trying to rally support around the MLS. I scored some ridiculous number of goals, but I felt pretty bad about them, because I was basically hardcore cherry-picking and taking away other people's more deserved chances. I guess I might be too hard on myself.

I've also watched at least some of every world cup game since I got home from camp. Including the US and their sweet draw against Italia that keeps them alive. If they, however, get eliminated, I've chosen to cheer for, in this order

1. Teams from Africa
2. The Netherlands
3. South Korea
4. England

So I'm obviously getting a huge kick out the World Cup (Surprisingly, pun NOT intended). And Soccer in general. I can't wait until Milwaukee gets our MLS team. I'm going to go to a bunch of games, and it's gonna be sweet, and David Beckham is gonna play for them. Because he seriously is planning on joining the MLS once they get sick of him in Real Madrid or something.

Anyway, probably everyone reading this could care less about soccer, but it's moved into second on my list (Football is solid at the top, mainly because of fantasy football and its social aspect). So if you find yourself watching soccer sometime soon, realize you're not alone. I don't know how that helps you, but...ah...I've got nothing.

Who did, in fact, let the dogs out?

2006-05-28T00:17:00.000-05:00

I wrote this late at night, in response to a myspace comment. Maybe you'll enjoy it? It was fun, and yes, I realize that I abandoned most grammar and writing rules.

To say that the dogs were let out by one man would not only be a great overstatement, but also an outright lie. However, it is an entertaining lie, and isn't that what really matters? The answer, is no.

Anyway, once there was this man named Jonas. Perhaps you've heard of him, Weezer wrote a song about him a while back, and he also was in this book. The Giver, I believe it was called. He also invented penicillin or something totally awesome like that. Anyway, one time, Jonas was walking along this path...you know one of those paths in the forest that's sort of clear, but sometimes you're just like "Is this a path?" or "Where does this go" or "There sure are a lot of tree roots for this to be a path" or even "OMG ITS A BEAR GET TO THE TRUCK." So Jonas was walking along this path, and he met a man along the way. This man was fairly tall, not so much that you would say, "wow, look at that guy, he's really tall" But he was probably around 6'3'' and bold or charismatic people would tend to ask him if he played basketball. Well, the answer was no, he did not play basketball. It was due to the fact that he had seven toes on one foot and 3 on the other. When he told people this, many times they would ask "Why can't you just move the 2 extra toes to the foot that's missing 2 toes" and Jonas would reply sternly "You just can't, OK?!? Man, stay out of my life" And then there'd be a fairly awkward silence until someone excused themselves to go to the bathroom, and the other members of the conversations tried to keep it afloat by talking about how clean the bathroom was. Reportedly, the soap smelled pretty good too. It was like that foam stuff that probably doesn't clean your hands very well, but it feels cool, so you're generally quite happy with it. As were the members of this conversation.

Luckily, Jonas was not the type of person to ask strangers questions like "Do you play basketball?" So this considerable awkwardness was avoided, which is good because there weren't any bathrooms around, this being a path in the woods.

Unfortunately, Jonas was a strange man, so rather than greeting him with a typical "hello", he asked him how many toes he had per foot. Luckily, he averaged 5 toes per foot despite the strange placement, so the awkward conversation was again avoided. Jonas thanked the man and went on his way.

After about a minute and a half or so...I mean you can never tell around that period of time, unless you are wearing a watch, and you chose to look at it both times. Jonas did in fact have a watch, but he left it at home, and he was pretty upset about it. Because, you see, he was wearing different clothes than usual, because he was hiking. And he had said to himself "I've gotta remember to pack my watch with my hiking gear" but then he procrastinated like most other human beings would and he did, in fact, forget his watch. "It's probably even sitting on the counter" lamented Jonas to no one in particular, "although maybe I put it in my knapsack." Jonas, unfortunately, did not have a knapsack, which he had left at home, also presumably on the counter. "Darnit" Jonas thought.

As Jonas mulled his carelessness in packing over, he stopped paying attention to where he was going, and bumped right into a gorgeous woman, who also happened to be hiking this small trail.

"I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed sexily. "There's got to be sooooome way I could make up for this" she hinted.

Jonas like this idea so he said "Okay!" So excitably that he kind of sounded like a little kid.

So the lady said "let me slip into something more...comfortable" as Jonas's eyebrows raised, but then furrowed.

"What on earth is she going to change into in the middle of this forest?" He thought to himself disappointedly.

When he was done thinking, he looked up and she was wearing a business suit. She handed him a sandwich, and said "Thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!" Jonas didn't really know what to make of this, so he decided to press on and graciously decline the sandwich.
Mainly to be polite, and also because it was a tuna sandwich. He didn't really like tuna...I mean he would eat it if he was starving or something, but he was no more than a little bit hungry, and don't fish contain high levels of mercury anyway?

Jonas figured he was equally screwed either way because of his heavy diet of lobster. He realized he had packed some lobster in his knapsack, so he reached in and grabbed a lobster sandwich...? As soon as he grabbed the sandwich, he realized "hey, I thought I had left the knapsack at home...that means my watch must be...!" He glanced at his wrist excitably and in mid-sentence, but in fact, his watch was still missing. "Darnit" thought Jonas.

Jonas marched on, happily munching his lobster sandwich and humming the tune from that AT&T commercial. "All around the world...gotta something soooomething. Tell them what you heard...we're gonna make the bed today" Jonas mumbled harmoniously through the partially-digested crustacean currently at rest upon his tongue.

When he got to about the 5th cycle of singing these lines of this song, to the point where he was making up dirty lyrics to it and giggling to himself like a little schoolgirl, a strange desire to go hang gliding popped into his head.

"Maybe if I went hang gliding, I'd meet more women!" Jonas thought, although quickly realized that the only women he'd be able to talk to while hang gliding would be other hang gliding women. And if he met one through hang gliding and they bonded through hang gliding he'd have to propose to her whilst hang gliding, and what if he dropped the ring? Not to mention that they'd probably get married while hang gliding, by a hang gliding minister, and with a hang gliding wedding party, and they'd go hang gliding on their honeymoon and they'd have hang gliding children and it would just be too much for him.

Jonas was to the last bite of his sandwich, and he was really looking forward to it, because he had gotten all the crust and outer parts out of the way, to save the best for last. So as he was swarming into this bite, he realized that it was not good lobster meat, but it was a claw. "I hate when that happens!" Jonas yelled unabashedly, and in a fit of rage, threw the remainder of the sandwich a good twenty yards or so...or maybe it was twenty meters? How much is a meter anyway? It's pretty close to a yard I guess. On those metersticks they have in classrooms, there's a yard measured on the back, and it always ends up being a little bit shorter than the meter, and while it might not seem like much, I'm sure it would add up once you got that many yards. Or meters.

This stray piece of sandwich also flew directly into the nest of an unsuspecting owl, which, unfortunately, held the last 10 potential owls of this species. The nest teetered a bit, and Jonas ran to try to catch the eggs. 9 of them fell, but there was one left. Jonas yelled "Noooooooooooo!" and by chance, almost as if this story was written late at night and highly unrealistic, the egg landed squarely in Jonas's mouth, and hatched that instant. Jonas had a decision to make in his head, but he was still pretty hungry, and the remainder of his sandwich did not live up to its billing. Also, he had never eaten an endangered baby owl before, although he had eaten a full grown one. He figured, what the heck, it's probably moderately tasty. Perhaps on par with popcorn. Jonas was about to eat it, when he thought "Did I let the dogs out? I sure hope not"

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks...or even just one brick. Because that would hurt too. "I must have let the dogs out! Because I forgot my watch! Darnit!"

And that...that is the story of who let the dogs out.

Post-hardcore, or a harcore post?

2006-05-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

We played our debut show yesterday. I think it went pretty well, but it was only a 5 song set and it was pretty short. There were a few hitches, but for a first show it was great, and we got a pretty big crowd reaction on Seattle, which was cool. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of people showed...at least I definitely thought there would be more. In fact, about half the people that told me they would go for sure inexplicably missed the show. Kind of a shame, but thanks to everyone that did come, and for all the donations. That part was pretty cool, we raised about $1000 I believe.

And thanks to Dan and Becca for making the trip.

There's a chance we'll be opening for I voted for Kodos on May 20th in Oconomowoc, but it's not for sure yet. I'll announce it here if we get the OK on that.

And if not that, we might play the Jefferson County Fair Battle of the Bands, so that'd also be pretty neat. Once again, I can't be sure.

and that's about it.

Move Along

2006-04-26T21:30:00.000-05:00

I am afraid of instant messaging. Deathly afraid. I hate to start conversations with people because I screw them up by saying something not possible to respond to, and then conversations with people that would normally be quite interesting and fulfilling in real life just go to crap, leaving me to assume that the other person thinks I'm boring, and well it's just one big mess. So I'm really sorry to everyone that I don't talk to online, and also to all the people that I fail at conversing with online. Let's hang out in person instead, it's 10 times cooler.

Moving on.

Prom was on Saturday. I guess a lot of people had a sort of sucky time, but I really enjoyed it. I went dateless as usual, which actually ended up being cool. There were some girls in my group who were also going alone, so Danielle kind of stepped in as my "date". We took some pictures and slow danced a bunch, and I thought it was really sweet. Thanks, Danielle, I had a super time.

After prom I went to a HOT TUB PARTY. It was also really cool, and I like hot tubs. They're warm and bubbly and provide for a good meeting place. We also tried to watch a movie, but failed miserably. That's okay though, it was still a blast.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about May 13th. It's a benefit show for Cody Schwartz, who, for those of you who don't know, is a Lakeside student who had his leg run over. It's really cool that students are setting this up, and it's great that we're helping out, because of course the medical bills are going to be insane.

Naturally, another reason I'd be excited about it is that it's a concert with a handful of local bands. A handful that includes Eisenhower (myspace.com/eisenhowerband) and An American Tragedy (myspace.com/anamericantragedymusic). So that being our performance debut, I'm basically "stoked" as the kids would say. I'd encourage any and all readers to come. Most certainly. Tickets are $5, and it's at Lakeside's old gym/"auditorium".

Our set is pretty much ready, and I'd post it, but we've got 3 originals and 2 covers, and that's all I'll say. Because otherwise I'd be giving away too much, and that takes the fun out. But for those of you who have heard our 2 originals, we've got 1 more...that you'll have to wait to hear. It's a neat song, I think you'll like it.

And other exciting things are happening in the world of Eisenhower...like our chapel performance of Relient K's "Getting into You" which went really well considering we all practiced it together a total of once. Also, we're going on a Canada tour (seriously...kind of...more details as they come) and shooting a music video (which actually I just learned. super cool.) I guess it'd be for use in Lakeside promotional material. I'm pretty excited about that.

I have a really big blister from band practice and also jazz band tonight. It's really full of liquid, and I'm totally playing with it a bunch. I hope it doesn't pop when I'm not expecting it...because it's really full of liquid. Ya know.

What an excitable post. I probably used "cool", "awesome", "sweet" and "exciting" about 100 times. At least it means I'm in a good mood.

And life...it's more than a class project. 250,000 points to anyone who catches that obscure reference.

Perennially my least favorite day of the year

2006-04-20T21:27:00.000-05:00

I am so sick of the 4/20 jokes. You don't smoke pot, and it's not cool to pretend you do. It's even less cool if you actually do smoke weed.

Today kind of sucked a lot. I don't know why. I guess I was in sort of a bad mood for some reason.

First off, the results from the Madison area math meet came back today. I usually do really well in math meets so I guess it's a self-esteem boost or something. So I was naturally a little upset to find out that I got 3 OUT OF 30 POSSIBLE POINTS. Meaning I got one question right...an easy question I'm sure. This also meant that I was:

1. The worst Lakeside participant, even losing to every freshman in math classes below mine.
2. Better than only about 12 Madison area math meet participants (out of, I don't know, 300?), who got either 2 points or none.

And for someone who's only competitive in academic competitions, that was like getting kicked in the face. After losing the Super Bowl.

I also discovered recently (was it today or yesterday? I'm not sure) that there's now no chance of our band playing before prom. We had pitched it to the committee, but it was overruled because they want to decorate the stage to the point where we would not fit up there. That's really a bite, I think, because I assume more people would gather enjoyment from a live band than from a few lousy decorations on a stage. Also, it may well be our only chance to perform before Evan graduates, which is something I definitely thought we should accomplish. I guess there's just no way to get a show around here, which is sad, because I finally feel good enough about us that I'm sure we'd be ready to perform in a week or two.

And today was probably about the 20th day in a row that I couldn't work up the backbone to ask anyone to the prom. It's stupid, I have a bunch of excuses, and they're all stupid. I guess that means tomorrow I will. Or something. I hope I do. I never even have before. I'm stupid.

Yes, I realize that this day was probably great compared to most people's days most of the time, but I don't know, I guess it was just a bummer enough to blog about. Because what's the point of having a blog except to recap what happened in the day and how you felt about it?

Funky Monday

2006-04-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well, actually, every monday is funky with Clyde Stubblefield, the coolest musician to ever come from Madison, and direct inspiration for the new funk band "The Second Funkiest Cats in Madison".

I'll be honest, I am totally loving funk music right now for some reason. That probably makes me the biggest funk fan in Lake Mills. But one of these days, we'll head down to Madison and watch ol' Clyde and Friends be super funky. On funky monday. And then I'll pitch some funk to our jazz band. I'd really like to play "Express Yourself" by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, I guess with some more exaggerated trumpet parts or something. However, I sort of doubt there's music out there to it, and that would probably make it really hard to play for our band. But a guy can dream...

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go write a slap bass line.

The calm before the storm set it off - and the sun burned out tonight

2006-04-14T23:38:00.000-05:00

Last night was super cool. I was online, and Evan went outside, to be joined by me in a minute to throw a football around or something. I was about to get up and go out there when I heard Evan pounding on the window. He signaled me out there, and we watched some of the coolest lightning ever. We must have sat out on the golf course in awe of the stuff for 30 minutes. We talked a little, but words didn't really need to be said, it was so captivating. After we were out there for a while, the lightning started getting closer, and my dad called us in, because he figured it was a little too close for comfort. It was probably a good thing, because soon after we came in, huge hailstones started falling. Regardless, it was so great. I love rain and storms.

On a side note, we recorded our second song, and I guess it's starting to make its rounds. Pretty neat.

Have a good rest of the night everyone

When it comes to relationships (I'm the dumbest one) and I don't mean just with girls (I mean with everyone)

2006-04-06T22:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie to you. I see these people when asked about their marital status - "single and loving it!" Well, you won't see any of that from me. I'm single, and rather not loving it. I'm sure those people who say they are "single and loving it" aren't trying to convince others, they're trying to convince themselves more than anything.

Dating is a tricky subject. I'm sure no one reading this had to hear that from me. But I've been wondering...

When is the line crossed from "I have feelings for that person" to "I'm fulfilling my own needs"?

This has been a great uncertainty in my mind, and I go back and forth on it. Let's take a look at my example:

I have been single for as long as I've been alive. Which isn't saying much at all, considering I've only been alive these 15 years. So I'm definitely not saying I've got it the worst, because I know I'm nowhere near it.

But nonetheless, I, being a male teenager, would like to have a girlfriend. So I've been wondering - is it fair to date someone just to give yourself mental peace of mind? I think I see this too much, people are only in relationships for themselves, not for the other person. This is probably a huge contributor to the incredibly high divorce rate today.

So I think it's not fair to others to only try to satisfy their needs in any relationship. Granted, it's high school, and most of these relationships mean nothing. But I don't know. I guess it's just something I think of a lot.

To quote Rob Bell:

2006-04-03T21:34:00.000-05:00

Anyone that's a sophomore at Lakeside knows who Rob Bell is. For those of you who don't, he's this guy who does all these videos for use in teen studies and such. His stuff is kind of on the cutting edge..."hip" if you will, but it's really great work. I learn a lot from it every time, and my personal favorite was one where he told a story about the time he went to the mall with his son. His son wanted some little trinket from one of the kiosks in the middle of the mall, but father-of-the-year Rob knew that it would break soon after they bought it. The kid, of course, was crushed, until they went to a sporting goods store, and Rob bought his son a big kickball, which was the whole point of the trip in the first place. Obviously, the kid was a lot happier with the kickball, and got a lot more use out of it. I just thought I'd put what Rob wrote about this particular volume of the series.

"We always think we know what’s missing from our lives in order to really make us happy, don’t we? If only I had that car, or that job, or if only I could lose those 15 lbs, then I’d be happy. Really? How often do we want something only to find out that it wasn’t that great after all? Sometimes we ask God for things and if he doesn’t deliver right away, we start questioning whether God really understands or even cares. Do we really trust God? Do we trust that God is good and sees a bigger picture than we ever could? It’s easy to want what’s right in front of us, but maybe God knows what’s better for us, and sometimes we just can’t see it. "

I'm the type of person who finds humor in irony

2006-03-31T18:33:00.000-06:00

Have you ever seen some guy wearing this shirt? I always thought this was one of the more ridiculous things someone could wear. What are the odds that some girl would have worn that shirt? And if the girl was cheating with the current wearer, how likely is it that the guy would start wearing that girl's clothes? I don't know, maybe I'm just a literalist. But I was thinking, the perfect girlfriend for me would be one that would wear that shirt. To me, there's not much more satisfying than something pleasantly ironic. And the girl that would get as much of a kick out of that as I would is someone I'd like to know.

Just thought I'd put that out there. I guess if I broadcast my thoughts all the time, I'd post a lot more often. After all, what else is a blog for than to get out the stupid thoughts one has during the day?

Is her name really Ace? That is so cool!

2006-03-25T21:25:00.000-06:00

I spent the better part of today with Becca and also Evan, at Becca's sister's basketball tournament at Lakeside. It was pretty neat, I enjoy hanging out with her of course, and it was really crazy to immerse myself with the culture of grade school basketball, something I was never really a part of.

But nothing hit me like one game we all watched. There were two seventh grade teams, Madison East and Mukwonago. East was a considerably better team, and they jumped out to a 20 point lead in the first half. But their coach was a complete jerk really. Here's what happened. with 18 minutes left in the game, they just started standing there. I guess there's no shot clock in grade school basketball, so they chose to stall. And the other team was so pissed that they even considered stalling like that, that they played a zone and let them. I was kind of getting angry, it was not a pretty sight. This pompous looking group of seventh grade girls were standing there holding on to the ball, watching the other team try to not let it get to them. It was so horrible. And the coach of Madison East wouldn't even let them play. He threatened to take them out if they did anything, tried to take a shot or something. So then the whole half went on like this. 18 minutes of this staredown. With seventh grade girls for crying out loud. Makes you wonder what's happening to society.

Well I said I'd blog about it, so I did. I guess I don't know what else to say. I had a good time. We'll have to plan another get-together...through myspace. Haha. I guess the most useless site on the internet served its purpose.

Oh yeah, and it's kind of a nifty way to get your band out there too. I'm really enjoying that part of it too, even if it has made me a shameless promoter of my work.

I guess that about wraps it up for this post. I was pretty distracted throughout the whole thing, so forgive me if it's a little (a lot) confusing. Okay. it's over.....now.

Word in '98, yo!

2006-03-19T18:56:00.000-06:00

I was listening to Catch 22 today for the first time in a while, and it brought back a lot of memories of the summer, when I was really into Catch 22 and Streetlight.

And wouldn't you know? They were some really good memories. I don't actually know if the past summer was very enjoyable or not, but looking back, it seems like it was. I have all these fond memories of Sheepshead in homeroom, thinking about my chances, going to St. Louis, Fourth of July, that stupid band Lube, that cool band Hence Reverie (nice guys, really), sitting on a bus for hours on end, and listening to ska.

Ska is happy music. Even when it's not...happy. It evokes this great feeling from me, because it was the soundtrack for all these cool things that happened in my life. Maybe it even made things better. But whenever I remember something from this summer or the end of the last school year, it's warm, happy, and there's Catch 22 in the background of it. It all goes together I guess.

So thanks, Keasbey Nights - you got me through the good times.

"Fine, I'll be your umbrella"

2006-03-08T20:43:00.000-06:00

Last night's post was weird. Only a few people would probably even get it. Oh well. I liked it.

Today was kind of cool. It rained. I like the rain, it means it's at least fairly warm...and oh, I don't even know what I like about the rain, but I just love being outside while it's raining. Alone, or with someone really neat. I don't know, I just like the rain. Next time it's raining, come on outside with me. We'll hang out. Really.

Wow. That was sort of (really) incoherent. This is the kind of post you make right after you finish reading for a really long time.

Plus I felt like I had to make a post for those who hadn't read "Catcher in the Rye", considering it's no fun to read new posts if they don't make any sense.

Not that this one makes a whole lot of sense. But I guess it's fairly self-explanatory. You know.