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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I got dreadlocks fallin' all over me

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a lot to think about.

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

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

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

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

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

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

EveryBODY needs P.E.

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

1. Get a girlfriend. Ha!

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

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

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

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

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

6. Blog more often. Fail.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meet Me in St. Louis

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

Maybe I should

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hell will be forever for rent"

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

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

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

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

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

Hours pass...

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

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

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

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

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

That's a really great show.

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

Their windows fell out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I bet I have a blog post about this very occurence, or maybe Evan does, but still, it was a great moment. I enjoyed that spring of last year, as I enjoyed the spring of freshman year even more. Hopefully this spring will be even better.

After all, it's when a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

To better explain the last title...

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.