To better explain the last title...

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??

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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)

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

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"

^^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?!

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

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.