Move Along

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

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

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

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)

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:

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. "