Who did, in fact, let the dogs out?

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?

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

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. "

I'm the type of person who finds humor in irony

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!

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!

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"

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.

I read this book, about baseball or bread or something. I can never remember that sort of thing, if you want to know the truth.

If you really want to hear about it, I guess I'll just tell you. I'm not just gonna shoot the bull here, for chrissakes. It's kind of a crumby story, I think. She was kind of a funny old girl. I wouldn't exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out though. I just liked the way she looked, that's all. She had this thing, she'd look at you and smile. It was almost corny. But not quite too corny. It really killed me. It was like I was sure I'd go around with her. You'd like her, you really would.

That's the thing about girls, sometimes they're just so phony. Real queens, you know. Almost makes you feel sorry.

That's another thing about girls, you know. Sometimes they make you feel real sexy. But then it's so phony, you can't stand it.

Then some mac will come along and just get her for chrissakes. A real prince. Helluva thing to do, really. Kind of makes you sore.

You see these guys and their girls and they're just a bunch of phonies. You know, they're good guys, but you give them a girl and it's all about trying to give them the time. Really. It kills me.

You probably thought I think it's a big deal. Of course. It drives me crazy, though.

I'd like to do something about it, but I'm just a yellow guy. I try not to let people know, but you know what I'd do? I'd probably go up to the guy and say "what do you think you're doing?" He'd probably say, calmly "Nothing wrong." And then I'd just stand there for about 100 hours until I just left. That's how it'd go, it really would. It's kinda weird.

I'd tend to think of these things I'd do if I had a girl. It'd never work out in real life, really wouldn't. It'd be stuff like in the movies. Stupid stuff, the movies. I really can't stand 'em. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me. They're too phony. Really are.

It's a racket, this life stuff. Really. Sometimes I wanna just jump out the window too. I really would if there was someone there to cover me up. I wouldn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks to look at me while I was all gory. Of course I really wouldn't do that, I'm too much of a yellow guy.

Well I'd love to say good-by to you, I really would. But I hate good-bys. They're just so phony.

(Disclaimer: If you've never read anything by J.D. Salinger, kindly disregard the content of this post.)

And one day, you'll wake up next to a girl saying "Did you sleep well?" So goes the magical girlfriend.

From a conversation with Tom Mackey. We somehow ended up at a bowling alley in Fort, neither of us planning to meet up there. And we got on the topic of this magical girlfriend just showing up next to you one morning. Not even sure how. Tom's a good guy.

Today was kind of interesting. It started pretty late, considering I got to sleep in until about ten. Which was nice. Evan and I shoveled for a while, which is never fun, but it didn't take too long. We soon headed to Madison to help Lucas set up his drum set, and Phil was there too. That was kind of wild. I was standing there, with Phil playing guitar, and Lucas and Evan setting up the drums, doing nothing. I think I was pretty useless. Oh well. We went to the mall so they could eat lunch, and then hit up a music store.

Evan was wanting to try some cymbals to see which ones he would buy. Because he needs new cymbals I guess. So while he was talking to the drum guy, Phil and I kind of walked around and looked at guitars.

It's sort of strange being a bassist in a music store, because I can't tell the difference in sound from one to another. Although, I was thinking about getting an electric guitar and just spending a lot of time getting really good at it, but I don't have enough cash laying around to do so. I guess it's still fun to look around at the music store. I kind of wanted to try playing a Les Paul, and they did have quite a few of them, but I kept getting sidetracked. Oh well.

After Evan tried out cymbals, we dropped Lucas and Phil off at Lucas's and headed out to Jefferson to go to the "Baritone Party". When we got there, they were watching a movie, so Evan and I sort of grabbed some soda and caught the end of it. When the movie was over, we sat in the living room and talked.

It was kind of like Evan and I were the flint and steel, and everyone else was the wood. Evan and I started talking about something, and everyone would be laughing, but when we stopped talking, it was silence. I didn't want to be rude, but it started out as a "conversation with an audience". Luckily, the ice broke as the night went on, and everyone started to enjoy eachother's company. At least I think everyone did. I enjoyed it at least.

We went to Shopko, and bowling, but not in that order. Bowling was cool, and I did a lot better than usual. Scott and I went back and forth the whole game, and I was down 17 pins with one frame left for me to go, and Scott done. I hit 7 pins on my first roll, and I needed to pick up the spare to have a shot. I got the last 3 pins, and I needed another 7 to tie. I dropped 9 pins on my last roll, almost picking up a strike, and I won by 2. It was pretty exciting.

Our party of 6 went to Shopko, and almost stole a fake cardboard TV used to display furniture. We decided it would be too big though. It would have been really funny.

We went back, watched the Olympics, made fun of Bob Costas, and went home. It was super cold. Truly. Supposedly the wind chill was like -24. It pretty much felt like it.

"When you got down at the bottom of the hill, what were you thinking? OH MY GOSH!!"

Jesus is our Anchorage of Hope

That was the t-shirt slogan for Crown of Glory - Anchorage, Alaska, my group's hypothetical chruch in religion class. We had to come up with witnessing opportunities and fund-raisers, and somehow most of our plans revolved around Elliott Kasprzak. Haha - I love Pastor Clark.

Over a month has gone by since my last post, including Christmas and New Year's, and I still can't think of much to write about. It's kind of like I've lost all my memory capabilities. Certain things stay on my mind for far longer than they should, but then I'll try to remember something that happened mere days ago, and I can't. If someone asked me for any one thing from this past Friday, I seriously am not sure I could think of one.

Although I do remember a little about Thursday. Hard to forget something like this. A little background - Our undefeated, 3rd-ranked boys basketball team had a home game against the single-loss, conference undefeated Marshall Cardinals, ranked 4th in D3. School pride was running high, and our plan was for a "white-out" in which all the Lakeside fans wore white to, I don't know, intimidate the other team or something.

(As it turned out, the white-out wasn't so well planned, because everyone was wearing jeans, so it looked like a mass of white and different shades of blue. I laughed at them)

I had pep-band before this game (and during half-time), and it was pretty exciting. The energy was high, and I would be playing "Dance, Dance" before my largest crowd yet. I even brought out a chair to jump around on. I came out in style with my $2.00 thrift-shop outdated Patriots Drew Bledsoe jersey, and we started playing. Eventually, we hit the National Anthem, and directly after, they started naming the Marshall players. The band thought it to be perfectly convenient to put away their stands and instruments. To do this, they had to cut inches away from me, considering I was set up so close to Evan on the drums. I figured it to be fine at first, but the Marshall player intros were winding down, and I had to play for ours, directly following. I was planning a cool jump off the chair to coincide perfectly with the music, but lo, the band members kept squeezing past me, and I had not room to execute the jump. Even after we started playing, people were bumping into me, and I messed up a lot. On such an easy song too.

I was really pissed. All these people inconsiderately knocking into me, while I was playing so loud and alone that everyone in the gym could hear easily when I messed up.

I cooled off a bit thanks to Evan and the good sir Jordan Hanke, and we headed back out for halftime pep band. That was pretty uneventful, so afterwards I took my bass and case and left the gym.

Now, because this was such a major event, the locker area was locked off, and I had, consequently, nowhere to put my bass. I entered the atrium (the snack bar/cafeteria area outside the gym, for those of you that don't attend Lakeside). I was a bit frustrated by the fact that I had nowhere to put my stuff, so I kind of dropped it on the floor by all the coats, and went to sit down with some of my friends. Right as I was dropping my stuff, some janitor came by, saw what I was doing, and essentially said "get out" and gave me the old "thumb pointing behind the head" gesture.

I could not believe it. I was putting my stuff where there were coats everywhere, and this guy just decides to toss me out of the game because of it. I suppose I can understand the high security because the tension of the rivarly was so high, but this was a pretty harmless deed.

But what could I do? I know I could have easily argued with the guy, but I just kind of said "alright", picked up my stuff, and left without incident.

I was fuming mad. Most of you have probably never seen me so mad. I've probably never seen me so mad. But rather than going off on someone who didn't deserve the brunt of my frustration (which unfortunately, I've done too often), I just got Evan and he took us home.

Of course, I didn't leave without placing my anger on the team. I put a curse on Lakeside, that we wouldn't win the World Series in the next 100 years (haha). And I guess it worked, because not only did we not win the World Series, we lost the game too.

On a serious note though, I'm not sure if I'm going to be coming back to pep band again, at least for a while. It was just too frustrating, and I don't need a catalyst for anger.

And to conclude the story, I did what I usually do to cool myself down - I played mindless video games and listened to music (in this incidence, it was college football - a practice as Kansas State against Morgan State, and Something Corporate's "Leaving Through the Window") and I have to say it worked pretty well.

Which takes us here. Meaning that I don't know how to end it. Oh, I think I should say something about all the Camp things I've been doing. The New Year's thing was pretty fun (even if I felt sick for pretty much the entire weekend...wow, so much dew), and so, of course, was the youth service at St. Mark's (Can't wait for the next one), and the staff party, which was really fun. Truly. I wish we could have more of them.

And here's a positive note to end on - Seattle's going to the Super Bowl. If you don't know why that makes me happy, I'm sure I could list them for you sometime. I like making lists.

...Sometimes.

And they set off, 26 fortnights later.

I don't know. I guess I wanted a title that said "Hey, I'm a different age now," but not so blatant as "it's my birthday lol!!!11!one"

So yes, I guess I'm 15 now. This seems like kind of a useless birthday, because there's really no difference between being 13, 14, or 15. It's not some kind of milestone, like 16, or 18 or something. Just another year down.

But I don't feel fifteen. I don't feel fourteen. I don't feel sixteen. I'm not sure what I am. I see people my age that I don't know, and they seem really young to me, mentally at least, but I see people older than me, and they seem that...older, I guess. At least a lot of them. So how old do I feel? You'd have to make up a number I think. Like...tenty-sevight. Yes. I feel tenty-sevight years old.

Oh well, at least school's done for the semester.

"Dude. You just slept through Constantine" "I Figured as such"

That just happened. Today was weird.

I'd been laying under my desk listening to windows media's randomization of my Something Corporate (/a little Jack's Mannequin) collection for a long time, and I guess I dozed off toward the end of Space and woke up right after Constantine. Bleh. I'm such a teenager.

Today, I think, was in fact weird. I finished that crazy book last night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was pretty good, I suppose I'd recommend it. It was for that "outside reading" stuff we've got going. It's kind of sad to me that I only read when I have to, I used to read all the time, and you know, I still enjoy it...I guess it just never crosses my mind.

I find that my thought process is extremely different at night. I think of the most irrational things when I'm tired, and come up with these great ideas that, when I wake up in the morning, realize are completely horrible and have many holes in them. I also get bolder at night and have less regard toward having normal or coherent thoughts. That's why I think it's a danger to blog at night, yet I still do it. Sad.

Hey! You! Why are you even reading this blog? I'm generally just rambling along. You should probably read Evan's blog instead. He usually writes, you know, information...with relevance. Sometimes I'm in there too. Interesting stuff.

My eyes hurt. Contacts are stupid crap and I hate them. I only feel like a normal person when I wear glasses. In fact, I can't think of a single advantage of contacts. I've not gotten a single compliment on "a new look" from the ladytypes, but only, in fact one compliment from one of my unneccessarily belligerent campers that I considered to be fully backhanded. He kept saying how I needed to get a tan. I kept thinking in my head how much I would have liked to have been working in the kitchen at that point.

I guess that makes me a pretty bad junior staff, or maybe just that I admitted it. I kind of always wondered if teachers and counselors generally have kids that they just can't stand. They probably do, but at least they never let on.

So, wait, where was I? Wow, I'm so bad at blogging. Seriously. Maybe I'm just tired. I did in fact just wake up, really.

Oh, right, we were on contacts at this point. I could have saved myself some trouble by scrolling up. Yes, I hate contacts. In fact, I'm nearly certain that since I first got contacts, people have started liking me less. Granted, that probably has nothing to do with contacts, and more to do with my disregard for social skills as of late.

It's like I don't have any ettiquette anymore. I avoid people that I consider my friends, just to avoid awkward conversations. I never used to have awkward conversations, but now I just can't ever come up with anything to say. It's like I'm more of a freshman than ever before, looking at the ground and stuff. In fact, I'll even pretend to check my watch only to find I'm not wearing one, and grumble about how I need a watch. Just to break the silence.

Maybe I've been putting too much pressure on myself to keep conversations going...Maybe the people I talk to need to take some initiative and talk.

I don't know. But those of you I can talk to without mass amounts of effort, I applaud you much. Very much indeed. So let's have a party.

I've also seen a major decline in my MSN usage. This is probably a good thing. You know, it's really a big waste of time anyway. I don't believe I've started an MSN conversation in ages. If I talk to people on it, it's because they talk first.

Sometimes I'm afraid to be the one to talk first. Perhaps these people don't really like me...perhaps we'll say five things and the conversation will come to a screeching halt.

Wow, I never realized how much I truly think too much about things. Completely overanalyzing the dumbest things. I'll let Matty T. take you away.

I was thinking, over thinking
Cause there's just too many scenarios
To analyze, look in my eyes
Cause you're my dream - please come true
I was thinking, over thinking
About exactly how i'm not exactly him
I'll break my heart in two
More times than you could ever do
Cause you're my dream - please come true

One Year Anniversary Sale!

One full year of Flight 109. That's right, I've been posting things on this site that people occasionally glance at for a full year.

Hate to get all sappy and wistful, etc..., but things have changed a lot since then. On the day of my first post, I was still a 13-year-old, quickly learning the differences between being in grade school and being in high school.

Wow, things seem so different now. I feel like I've gone through a lot of what high school and adolescence can throw at you. I feel like I've improved as a writer (immensley - my old posts suck so bad). I feel like I'm a different person.

I don't know how long to make this post, but hey, whatever comes I'll put down.

It's fascinating - back then, I was trying so hard to be accepted. I went to the lengths of playing "White Chocolate" to get people to like me. And to some degree, I acheived my early goals. By winter I was going to more parties than most people..."A-list" parties, if you will.

And I enjoyed hanging out with a lot of people, but that's because I wanted to become more popular. I was never liked too much in grade school, so I got a high on this newfound social success. "Blake Samanas, Vice President" didn't make sense to me - It was weird to think that I had finally found a place.

And sometime around then, fairly soon after, I directed my attention to more...well, specific relationships. Rather than talking to everyone, I started to find my own niche, and some people that I wanted to further develop my friendships with.

And I don't know what happened then. I stopped enjoying parties, because I discovered that I didn't fit in as well with all these people as I had previously hoped. I'd go, but I would wonder if they even wanted me there (it's hard to know what people think of you when you developed self-esteem issues from a rough grade school turn). I discovered who I liked to hang around with the most, and stopped trying to go to every party I possibly could.

So, that takes us to the last part of the year. Man, I wish I could have those months back. I turned all my attention to one subject, and all the other parts of my life suffered. Socially and academically, I faltered because of my "other focuses."

God, I wish I could just admit to everyone why I've become such a downer anymore, why I don't enjoy school like I did, but I...don't want to. Not yet.

Of course, many of you reading probably have no idea what I mean when I say I've become a downer. I think I hide that part of me because I got friends by being funny and cheerful, so a part of me worries that if I show that I've hit a rough patch in my life, I'll lose all those friends. It's shallow thinking I know, but I don't know any other way - sometimes it seems whenever I feel like talking something out with people, the subject gets changed before I can even get anything off my chest.

And I feel guilty about putting those people in such tough positions. I'm sorry everyone.

So that's why I'm taking it out on this blog post here. Kind of depressing I know, on the 1st birthday of the blog, but it's about my only outlet right now.

Oh man. I guess I just poured it out there. I didn't mean to rant for this long, but the words came so I wrote them.

I'll try to be back on here before 2005 is over, but if I don't, have a nice rest of the year, everyone.

Ohio is for Bummers

Happy Thanksgiving all. I like stuffing.

And by stuffing, I don't mean an attempted (but miserably failed) try at a humorous double meaning of a word, i.e. "stuffing my face with turkey". In fact, I didn't really eat that much this Thanksgiving. But I still like stuffing.

So, here in Ohio, quickly rising my list of states that I'd prefer if they did not exist (I'm not sure if it can ever unseat Indiana from the top spot, however), I am bored. Yes, I fully understand that every teenager says they're bored all the time. But I believe that I've reached a new high in boredom. I don't really connect with my relatives at all, and I'm feeling somewhat lonely and disconnected out here (if Evan wasn't with me out here, I'd go crazy). If you read this and care to, feel free to drop me an email. You'd find a place on my list of favorite people in the world, somewhere by Robert Sledge and that guy named Steve that's vaguely related to me. He was one cool guy. Although, if you get my hopes up and drop them by sending me a chain e-mail, you'll likely find yourself at the bottom of the list, somewhere around JC Fish and that one guy who gave me the finger for no reason in Indiana (Believe me, I hate those piece-o-craps).

I listened to Something Corporate a lot on the way here. As I passed through Rockford. (21 points to whoever recognizes that easy lyric. -34 to whoever tries to take credit for knowing them after a googling) I had this pretty cool feeling of weird euphoria, or something. I'm not sure, but I kind of was in this unbelievable state of happiness for maybe 5 minutes. But then it died. And here I am now.

What's that sound I hear faintly in the distance? It must be coherence's last dying breath. Sorry, everyone, I guess I killed it with this post.

"Doesn't W have 3 syllables?" - Issac Slade of The Fray

For a thrilling recount of the greatest night ever, read Evan's review, something of which I share every opinion upon, but can't express into words as well.