Trip To Cleveland

As many of you know, I've been training for yet another half marathon - since the last one, actually. Well, it was yesterday, in Cleveland. We drove down on Friday with my mom's friend Juliet and wandered around on Saturday.

When we got to Cleveland, we set up in our respective hotels and then walked down to the House of Blues for dinner. Our waiter was a really cool dude, who took his time conversing with us. He approved of my Velvet Underground T-shirt, and supplied an anecdote about seeing Lou Reed in concert recently. The food was pretty good, as well. I got one of my standards, a bacon cheeseburger. After dinner we visited their store, which, despite having a cool denim jacket, held no special appeal to me.
During dinner, I had approximately five diet cokes. I visited the bathroom once or twice while we were there, but obviously didn't take care of the liquids in their entirety. My foolishness quickly became apparent while walking about the town, which seemed to close down around 7 P.M. I could find no open stores with public restrooms for me to use. I became very agitated, and was probably a pain to be around. We finally made it back to the hotel, and just in time. I was very angsty/depressive for about ten minutes after, lamenting my stupidity and complaining that "I'll never be as awesome as I could be because I'm such a stupid idiot and have such a small bladder." I stopped after my mom started crying, because she was upset to see me upset with myself.

The next day we went to the race expo, where we got lots of free goodies and listened to an inspirational speaker. After the expo, we checked out a cool submarine tour, which featured the USS Cod, a WWII sub. It was shockingly tiny, but it supposedly housed 97 men. Crazy...
Sunday was, of course, the marathon. I had a goal for my time, which was 2 hrs 10 min. My actual time, measured by the chip located in my bib, was 2:07:45. Basically, that means I rock. I ran the entire race, only stopping at a few water stations because I'm unable to drink and run at the same time. I had a great run up until about the sixth mile, and after that it was just mildly uncomfortable. The worst were the last three miles, because they were on a freeway. I saw the tenth mile marker and thought, "Great, only 30 minutes left!" After 30 minutes passed (or so it felt), the eleventh mile arrived. Yes, they were very long.

After I finished, I was able to head back to our hotel that was a block away and take a shower. My mom texted me at the twelfth mile, and I had just enough time to limp back to the finish line and take her picture. A bit after that, I got a terrible, splitting headache and was forced to head back to the hotel for a long, long nap. When I woke up and my headache was gone, we went to eat at Fat Fish Blues, a great Cajun restaurant that let us sit right next to the sweet blues band that was performing.

Today, we visited the best part of Ohio - The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. I actually got to see props from The Wall concert!! We also saw U2 3D, which was sweet. Walking around hurt (a lot), but it was worth suffering through. I also got to see cool stuff like Jim Morrison's Cub Scout uniform, and one of Kurt Cobain's custom guitars. At the gift shop, I got the CD Rust Never Sleeps, by Neil Young. I've started to really get into his music for some reason, probably because it's fun to play on guitar. I also got a sweet poster of Kurt Cobain playing guitar, which will look great in my room.

All in all, it was a really great weekend. I'm proud of myself for running the entire 13.1 miles, and I had a lot of fun doing tourist-type things. Now I have one question: when's the next one?

COS Show, And My Party

The party was great! Bobby and I played a show, I dominated at pool, and we rocked out to records and told jokes the whole night.

Obviously, the show is the main thing I want to talk about. Okkayyy, maybe it was more like us saying "Hey, we're playing a song, so shut up!" in the middle of a much larger and longer jam session. Five of the eight people there play guitar, and we were all making tons of noise and banging on the drums and what-not. Fortunately, my awesome bass amp totally overpowered everything else, so I could be star of the show whenever I wanted. Don't worry, I wasn't too much of an attention whore.

The songs we played were "Basement Song" and "I Don't Know", plus an as-of-yet unnamed acoustic song by Bobby. The first two, despite having lyrics, were sans-vocals. The third did, but they were almost impossible to hear if you didn't know they were there (Bobby sang them). "Basement Song", which Bobby wrote and I penned lyrics for, went OK-ish. We've never played it 100% perfectly, because we both seem to have slightly different mental concepts of how the rhythm should go.

"I Don't Know", which I wrote in its entirety, was a bit better. I was on guitar and Bobby was on drums, and we put on a good performance. We actually had to play it the whole way through twice, because during the first time through someone else had a guitar plugged in and they were standing right in front of their amp, causing terrible feedback towards the middle of the song. We were recording the show, otherwise I wouldn't have cared. The recording is our first "official" one, because we played the entire song through without stopping for mistakes and we were in front of real people.

The rest of the night was pretty chill. We sat around and told funny stories while listening to "Hunky Dory" by David Bowie, then a live album by the Dropkick Murphys. After all the funny stuff we could think of was exhausted, we employed George Carlin's "Class Clown" to keep us amused.

All in all, it was a great party. I had a ton of fun, and I think everyone else had a great time too. In fact - let's do it again real soon.

Daily Anecdotes

So, interesting anecdotes from my day.

My mom and I went running today, because the half marathon is in nine days. I came home from school, changed into my running shorts and crappy T-shirt, and packed clothes to put on after (because I wanted to go to Barnes & Noble). I knew my mom wanted to go pick up some new shoes, but I thought she would go to a stand-alone sporting goods shop. Turns out, she intended to go to the mall.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, somewhat panicked. I did NOT want to go into a mall full of my peers while wearing shorts that come up to the middle of my thighs and act nonchalant. However, she was very insistent. I swallowed my pride, got out of the car, and headed in. It was pretty early in the afternoon, fortunately, so there weren't too many teens yet. Still... To make matters worse, my shorts had severe static cling and were sticking to my legs, accentuating my odd-looking quadricep muscles.

I managed to make it out alive, thankfully. The run went pretty well, and my mom's new shoes worked great. I changed into my casual, not obnoxiously short clothing, and got all excited about going to B&N. Sadly...as we went down the main road, my mother observed a lack of working traffic signals. The power was out all across town, and the store was closed. We had to go out of our way to get gas for the car, but were fortunate in that our house (25 min. out of town) had power.

Although these stories seemed much more relevant in my head, they don't look it written out. Still, it's my opinion that a crappy post is better than none at all. And who knows? Perhaps you, the reader, will find relevance in my day-to-day activities.

Concert, Basement Practices, And A Birthday!

Hey hey, what's up? The concert, as well as band practice, as well as my birthday, went great. In order? Okay!

The concert was actually somewhat non-eventful. I played my two songs for jazz band perfectly, "Green Onions" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". I had intended to get video of me playing, but my mom and I forgot the camera, so no dice. My friend Nick played with me on 'Green Onions", and it was cool sounding with two basses. A guy name Jared, an amazing bassist at our school who is actually in a ''real" band with a record deal, played an amazing bass solo that just showed why he's a professional. Of course, he had thousand-dollar equipment and pedals, but still...what he played took some skill.

Band practice was very awesome. Turns out Bobby can sing! Well! He had a few new songs to show me, and one of them we worked on quite extensively. He's described it as sounding very much like Neil Young, which I agree with. I made a sweet bass line, and we recorded it a few times.

He also took a look at my new stuff, and at some lyrics I've been writing. Some of my songs have both lyrics and a guitar part, some are just guitar, and a lot of the lyrics are without music. He came up with a melody for one of my songs, Zen Stereo (mad props to the blogger I borrowed that name from!). We also just chilled and played video games while listening to George Carlin records, which was really fun. It's been a while since I've just chilled and hung out with someone, so it was nice.

Have I mentioned that today is my birthday? Well, it is! Woohoo! I didn't tell anyone, but a lot found out through that darned facebook. My mother got me a pair of old-school roller skates, but the store was out of my size so they are a bit delayed. Ah well, no matter. she also gave me a $25 discover gift card to use when we go to Cleveland for our half marathon in 2 weeks. Keeley (my girlfriend) made me 3 mix CDs and got me a bunch of really cool guitar picks. They're really nice, and very thoughtful. Joe got me a Barnes & Noble gift card, which is great considering I really need something new to read.

My grandparents got me exactly what I requested, which was a really big bass amp. It's 100 watts, and it has a bunch of effects built in (that I can't seem to get to work yet). My uncle got me a new gig bag for my bass because my old one is broken, and a pack of new strings. Those, along with my new amp, are making me sound better than ever. Seriously, the amp is intense. I can out power pretty much any guitar amp, and when I use it in our living room ant about half the max volume, the house shakes and pictures wobble threateningly. it's sweet.

So...I've talked about me; how are all of you doing? Hopefully well! See you soon, but I have to go to bed now.

Quiz Bowl Tournament And Touring With The Band

Weekend Ho! (like "Land Ho!". Ya know, pirate stuff.) I've been looking forward to the weekend for most of the week, mostly because a) the high school band has a concert on Saturday and b) Bobby is coming over on Sunday for a band practice! Woohoo!

This week has also been a bit of a downer, but things are looking up again. For a bit it looked like m girlfriend and I were going to break up, but it seems as though things have resolved themselves.

This last weekend, I went to Lansing with the Quizbowl team for the state championship. Although I'm a freshman and played JV all year, I'm getting moved up to varsity next year and they thought it would be a good idea for me to go so I could get a feel for things. Of course, it helps that my mom is a coach, and that the other freshman going and being moved up is my girlfriend.

We had a lot of Western - style antics at the hotel, but this time instead of hanging out with a bunch of band geeks, I got to hang out with a bunch of quiz geeks. Surprisingly, the two groups don't overlap much. Of course, we had to stay up until 4:30 in the morning, watching fancy hotel TV and having deep, philosophical discussions. A few of the topics were: how every character in Batman can be diagnosed with a mental illness, the various representations of good and evil in Stephen King's assorted works, and of course a discussion of various bands and their quirks.

This past Wednesday, the high school band did its yearly tour of elementary schools to put on a show for them. It was a great reason to spend the day skipping class, and we got to eat at McDonald's for lunch. I was curious as to whether any of my old teachers would recognize me; they did not.

Well...this post has been a rather quickly typed but lengthy one. I'm in a great mood, so I figured it would be a good idea to post now. I'll make sure to report back on the two musical events of this weekend!

Album Review: Pinkerton

This album is really freaking awesome! In the last few months, I've really been getting into Weezer. I especially like their earlier stuff, because it's the perfect mix of grunge and emo. Pinkerton is my favourite of their albums, and I can easily say it's my all-time favourite album. I listen to it when I run a lot, usually on longer runs.

The reason Pinkerton is my favourite is because it is just dripping with raw emotion. In the very first song, Tired of Sex, Rivers Cuomo starts out mumbling, whining, and is soon screaming to be heard over the guitars. The beat is heavy and the guitars are droning.

As the album goes on, the songs tend to have the same qualities as the first. It's basically 35 minutes of how it is to be a rockstar but still be terrible at talking to girls. He wishes for a meaningful relationship, pines after a girl he's afraid to talk to, reads us his love letters, and falls for a lesbian.

The lyrics are very poetic, with a lot of dark humour. The guitar and bass compete for the top sound, and every solo is screeching and dirty. Each song fits what's being sung about perfectly in tone and mood.

Really, how can I describe it any more? Go out and find it. Listen to it. It's my favourite, and there's a reason. Obviously, I give it five stars. Oh, and the picture of the album cover? It was labelled "Buy It!" on Google Images. Trust me, it's worth the money.

Lansing, Pt. 2

If you don't know what I'm referring to with the "Pt. 2", here's part one.

So, as mentioned in my previous post, I went to Lansing this weekend for a 5K. It's the same 5k I ran last spring break, and let me say, I've improved quite a bit. Last year my time was 34:42, this year my time was 29:11.

The really cool part is that I took third in my age group, 14 and under. I'm 14...and 11 months. The award wasn't a medal, but a steel bookmark. Honestly, it will get used more anyway. I'm just surprised I did so well. Woohoo!

Of course, while in Lansing, we also did the obligatory money-burning. We went to a cool store that we visited last year, a "vintage clothing" store. "Vintage" is a good thing to call a selective thrift store, but their stuff is sweet. They had a sweet cardigan that looked just like Kurt Cobain's on MTV Unplugged, and it had a pin on it featuring Kurt's face. I wanted a bunch of stuff there, but I was wise with my money.

We also went back to FBC, where I spent approximately 5 minutes, 4 of which were checkout. I simply walked over to the "B" section, saw Hunky Dory by David Bowie sticking out, and grabbed it. When I did, Ziggy Stardust followed it up. I've been wanting both, so I saved everyone some time and finished there. I'll be going back in 2 weeks, anyway.

My mother's friend, Anne, took us to Urban Outfitters. I was initially wary, fearing a store similar to American Eagle or something. However, I was delighted to find a ton of really cool clothes, plus some cool novelty things and books. I tried on a pair of cool corduroy skinny jeans, and they looked so awesome on me my mother had no choice but to get them. They are incredibly comfortable and soft.

The band practice I mentioned in the last post fell through, by the way. I have to have one soon, though, because I got a great new amp at the pawn shop. I'll post more about it later, but this post is already getting tedious.

...And the last sentence would be my cue to finish the post. Stay safe, internet!

The Beggining Of Spring Break!

Hey blogger community, what's up?

The weather has been freaking amazing lately. I wore flip-flops to school on Thursday, the first day of April. Normally in Michigan, I'm still trudging through snow to get to school in April. The windows are open, the AC is on in the car, it's beautiful out.

I know I emphasize the flip-flops in the previous paragraph, but they weren't just because of the wonderful weather. I hurt my foot running last Saturday, and wearing shoes hurts. It wasn't too terrible after the first day, but then I went running on it again on Monday. Come Tuesday, I was walking with a terrible limp and was very whiny.

Fortunately, my chiropractor is a miracle man and healed me. Well...not completely, but he did identify the problem and made the pain much less severe. It doesn't hurt at all when I'm barefoot, but shoes put pressure on a swollen nerve and make it sting. Therefore, flip-flops.

It's spring break! So far, it has been completely uneventful. I've gone to work both days of it, and nothing else. We're going to Frankenmuth on Monday, where we will eat chicken and ice cream. I'm trying to plan a band practice sometime this week, which will be nice because both Bobby and I have come up with some new stuff. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) my girlfriend Keeley's parents will let us go to the movies, but it's a bit unlikely because they don't seem to want to let her go on dates until she's 16.

Our mini-vacation will be going to Lansing (our lovely capital city!) to run a 5k and go record shopping. I haven't ran in a week, because of my foot, so it will be interesting. I know it will be fun, however, so it will be great.

Well, this post has flown forth quickly from my fingertips, and it seems to be done. I'll update you on the band practice, so I'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, And Other Happenings

Wow...I need to blog more. All apologies, I've been very bored, boring, and tired lately.
I do have something incredibly epic to spread the word about, however - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's a short film that started out as a web mini-series created by Joss Whedon during the writers' strike. It's a musical, and it stars the incredibly gifted Neil Patrick Harris as the title character. I can't really think of much to say about it, other than the fact that I've watched it three times in 24 hours, and I've been annoying the crap out of my friends by singing the songs from it constantly.

I finished my Anthem essay I recently wrote about. It was due at 11:59 PM on the 20th, and I hit the "submit" button at 11:49. I had the entire thing written by 11, but I wasn't happy with it, so I delayed sending it. At 11:15, I had a flash of brilliance, and set to fixing my paper at once. I added a paragraph that outlined a second thesis, and then went through what was already there to make the new stuff fit. The new, improved paper kicked the old one's butt, and I'm very happy with it. If you want to read it, here it is. The awesome last-minute paragraph is the second one, by the way.

I passed driver's ed! I went to the Secretary of State's today, to get my permit, but I didn't have all of the necessary documentation. They would have been closed by the time I went home, got the stuff, and came back, so I am license-less.

Well...The spark of writing that caused me to start writing this has passed. Even typing a closing paragraph is incredibly tough, all of a sudden...goodbye!

Netflix

Has anyone ever watched the show Freaks and Geeks? Probably not, since it only ran for 16 episodes in the 90s. Somehow my mom heard about it, and we've been watching the series on DVD for the last few weeks. It's hilarious, but I can totally understand how it got canceled. It shows two very distinct groups in high school - the burnouts, and the completely socially inept losers. Both groups seem to demand you completely immerse yourself in their lifestyles, and I don't think that has been reality to most people. Furthermore, the characters do things that are so weird it makes you uncomfortable. Example: the main "geek" character's gym teacher is forcing the class to all take showers. There's a long struggle where he tries to rebel, blah blah, eventually he takes one. The bullies in his class shove him into the hallway, naked, and lock the door. A montage of him running through busy hallways with nothing but a blue dot follows. See what I mean? Uncomfortable.

By the way, the way we're getting the DVDs is Netflix. Since we don't have satellite or cable, and movies are too expensive, it's a pretty good deal. However, I seem to end up wanting to own a lot of the movies we get. Namely, Empire Records - an epic film - and more recently (we got it yesterday) Blades of Glory. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for Will Farrell movies. He's hilarious, and I think I like every movie he's in. Plus, in Blades of Glory, he seems to be channeling Jim Morrison. Between his hair and his constant drunkenness, he reminds me a lot of Val Kilmer in The Doors.

Well, I have to go get ready to go shopping...it's a Saturday, and that means new food in the house!

Driver's Training

Wanna hear something that seems to have adults around me, especially my mother and grandparents, in a panic? Next Monday I start driver's training. After three weeks of that, I'll have my learner's permit.

Mildly frightened to being sharing the road?

A Quick Update

What has been up, bloggers? Nothing much happening over here.

We had another snow day on Friday; it was much better than the last one. My mom and I went shopping for what had to have been the first time in weeks, because it was a paycheck Friday and the previous one we had to pay the propane bill. It was a lot of fun.

The even better news: we finally got our gym membership back! My mom's coworkers organized a corporate discount, and we had been planning on it anyway. It's too nasty outside to go running, and our half marathon is approaching rapidly. I've felt rather un-athletic lately, and I've lost a bunch of muscle. We've already been there 3 times in four days.

There hasn't been much else going on. I've been playing the guitar a lot; I found out that even though it annoys my mom, turning my amp way up makes the guitar sound better. The notes seem fuller, or something along those lines.

Well...this has been a good update post. Short, succinct, and a nice reminder that I'm still around. What more could you lovely readers ask for?

Wreckess Eric Covers And The Rest Of My Weekend

Hey hey - what's up?

I got my class ring on Friday! It's pretty sweet looking. For those who don't recall, it's silver metal with a garnet stone in the middle. It's also huge and somewhat garish, which is exactly what I wanted.

I spent most of Friday night learning to play a song on guitar. It's not just any song - it's one I can sing and play! At the same time! It's "Whole Wide World", by Wreckless Eric. It's in the movie Stranger Than Fiction, in which Will Ferrell's character plays it on an acoustic guitar.

I intended to videotape myself playing it and put it up on here, but the camera seems to be out of batteries.

On Saturday, I had solo and ensembles for band. My trio group had only gotten our music the day before, so we didn't expect to get that great of a rating. However, we hadn't counted on not getting one at all; our song was not long enough, and they couldn't give us our medals. I was only doing it for my varsity letter, and now it seems like it'll take me another year.

Urggg...my mom is sleeping on the couch and snoring, loudly. I'm going to go get headphones, and tie up the post with that.

2 Years!

Guess what, everyone? Today is Boyd's World's 2-year anniversary! I knew it was soon, and when I went back in the archives to check I was delightfully surprised by coincidence. I had hoped to have my 200th post tie-in with this, but unfortunately that's still ten away.

Just as a few general updates go, it's midwinter break. We've done pretty much nothing exciting, but sometimes just being lazy is great. The heat was turned on a few hours after my whiny post last Wednesday, in case you were wondering. The people from the propane company were "waiting for us to call them back", which made no sense. It was freezing, why couldn't they take initiative?

On Thursday, my Language Arts teacher called me up to her desk during silent reading (how much do you love having that every day in advanced classes?). I had recently written an essay that was apparently good enough to get 100%, a grade rarely given. Because of this, she suggested I look into a few writing contests. Actually, the one she mentioned in particular is the Ayn Rand Institute's essay contest. I was very flattered that she thought I write good enough to be eligible to participate, because I've wanted to participate in it since I first found out about it.

The 8th-10th grade contest is based on questions from the book Anthem, while the 11th-12th questions are on The Fountainhead. I've already read Anthem, because a friend recommended it. Oh, and did I mention there are cash prizes? The Anthem essay has a $2,000 first-place award, and The Fountainhead has a $10,000 prize. I'm totally going to enter, because I could definitely use that.

Other than that, not much has been going on. Last week I started the mandatory half-year of P.E. that is required. It's not too horrible. I don't mind being forced into working out for 45 minutes every day, although I hate having to do sports. I'm not inclined to be good at sports, especially basket ball. Guess what we play every single time we have free-time? I'm sure you can.

I hope everyone else is having interesting times. As for me, well, Internet articles about nothing can be pretty interesting.

Cold....Brrrrrrr

Snow day today!! Actually, this is not a good thing. You see, the school would be warm. However, the inside of my house is about 38 degrees Fahrenheit. We ran out of propane last night, just as an eventual 8 inches of snow started coming down. My grandparents are on vacation, so we loaded up the dogs (yeah...their puppy and 14-year old dog are staying with us) and headed over to their house.

To be honest, I have no clue how I managed to live there. I think it was a bit less terrible while we were there, but that's probably denial. The water that comes out of the tap is yellow, the shower is a tiny concrete pit in the basement (I've never left a shower feeling less clean than when I got in before), and it's just generally non-conforming to my cleanliness standards.

Right now we're back at home, waiting for the propane delivery dude to show up. It's cold as all get-out in here, and we have to leave in about an hour to go to town. Well...if the guy hasn't shown up by then, my mom will have to leave for town. I'll stay in the cold house and wait for propane dude.

Other than the cold, I'm kinda hoping tomorrow is a snow day as well. If it is, we'll have a seven-day weekend. You see, midwinter break starts Friday. I'm kind of hoping to visit Winter-Fest in Detroit this weekend, and maybe go to a hockey game with my girlfriend Keeley and her family.

Well, if you get a chance, please picture enormous bonfires and think in my direction.

Dinner With Family

Well, today I had intended to write a post about my class ring that I was supposed to get today. However, when I went up to the table they had them at and tried it on, I discovered it was two and a half sizes too big. I hadn't been able to make it to the meeting to get my finger size measured, and my mom had to bring in two rings and say "This one is too big and this one is two small. Find the middle."

So, you'll instead have the joy of hearing about my evening. Today was my grandpa's birthday, and we went to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the downtown of the city/town near us. It was a last-minute thing, because I was supposed to have a pep band event at school; however, it was cancelled because the "upper authorities didn't feel it was a good place for the band". This is, of course, referring to a cheerleading competition. You've got to watch out for those cheerleaders, they're deadly.

My mom and I hadn't gotten my grandpa a gift as of when school got out, and we still didn't know what to get him. My mom's gift was some top-shelf whiskey, and I went with a gift card to a kitchen store (he loves to cook). I didn't feel a gift card was very thoughtful, but then we got some cards that made up for it. I wrote a personalized message in mine (round of applause for me).

Back to the restaurant. My mom drove my grandparents to the place, to save gas. I got in the backseat and promptly fell asleep, which has been happening a lot lately. My uncle met us there, and we took our seats. He and I talked guitars for a while, and then our orders arrived.

Let me just say: the food at this restaurant is fantastic. My favourite item on the menu was no longer being made, apparently, but I substituted it with a burger and was delighted at the taste sensation.

The ride home was a bit problematic. My uncle's truck is very very old, and it hasn't been taken care of in the best manner possible. My grandma got a phone call about five minutes after we left the restaurant, causing her to panic and my mother to make a joke about whether she knew how to take a call. My uncle's truck was failing, and he wanted us to follow him home in case he broke down.

Now, at this point you have to know that my grandmother can be a very dramatic person. She started freaking out about him getting home, heaving big sighs and posing in an anguished manner. We made it to his house, and when he told her what he thought was wrong with it she started freaking out even more. There was no reason for this particular freak out; all he said was that he'd have to buy a new belt for the engine.

Once that had settled out, everything was smooth sailing. We made it home okay, and I logged on to write this post.

Hey, I made it to present time! Guess I've filled you in on the evening, with all the uncensored comedy and tragedy inherent. Woohoo!

Exams

This week is all exams at school. That's the quick way of saying my memory is currently being put to the test on half a years' knowledge, a big order.

I'm somewhat concerned about one of the exams I already took, Advanced Social Studies. I won't go on my little rant about how I think the exam is poorly written and the class isn't well taught, because I've been informed I can't blame every bad grade I get on the teacher. I will say that this test is quite important to me, because I hope to be valedictorian and (so far) I've been getting the grades for it.

All in all, however, I think I'm pretty much prepared for the rest of my exams. I've actually studied a bit, and my hardest (the above mentioned Adv. Social Studies) is already over. The other one I've already taken is Geometry, which was incredibly easy. The nice thing about math is that there are no "best choice" type questions. It's right, or it's wrong.

Wish me luck!

A Dispatch From The Western Trip

Today, instead of a post about what's been up, I shall share a tale from the fabled Western trip.

* * *

After a long day of marching and learning, ending in an awesome halftime performance put on by all the high school bands who attended, our High School's band bailed from the game early and headed back to the hotel. We got to relax for about an hour, and then we were given the option to walk to a nearby fast-food place and get a bite to eat. I choose to go for the fast-food, figuring walking through downtown Kalamazoo - a college campus, basically - at 10 P.M. would be interesting. I was definitely right!

We walked about a mile and a half to get to a Burger King we had seen on the drive there, only to discover it was closed. The drive-thru looked like it was still open, and people we walking up to the windows and banging on them. Our band director was standing around and discussing what to do, and my friends and I were standing around talking. While talking bass guitars with my friend Nick, our little group noticed two dudes walking down the sidewalk towards us.

The reason they were noticeable was their outfits; they were both wearing full fur-suited costumes, one being a mouse and the other a lion. They came by, and we stopped them to chat. Apparently, they were headed to a party or something. We got a few cell phone pics with them, and then they headed off to whatever costumed mischief they had planned.

After deciding to walk back in the direction of the hotel and past it to find another place to eat, our group decided to just stay in the hotel. On the way back, my hair was complimented by a very stereotypical bum we passed. I agreed with him that my hair is, in fact, awesome and went on my way.

The strange off-ness about those specific incidents, especially the costumed dudes having a chat with high schoolers wandering through the city, was characteristic of the entire weekend. Everything was just a bit weird in a good way, with mascots and complimentary bums around every corner.

What's Been Up Lately

Quizbowl season has started! at the high school, it's a fall activity. We've been training for a couple of weeks, but our first real match was last Thursday. Woohoo!

I'd forgotten how time-consuming Stumble Upon can be. I had finally read through a large part of the Cracked archives, and turned to it as a possible source of entertainment. Turns out it still wastes my time as much as last year. I have found a lot of stuff that - literally - makes me laugh out loud. Mostly demotivational posters, funny test answers, that sort of thing; every one I read fills me with an urge to force those around me to listen to me reading them aloud. I've gotten good at fighting the temptations to bore others, but sometimes I'm human.

I've also been strumming away at the guitar a lot lately. Who'da thought getting an electric would increase my appreciation for the acoustic? Me either.

I've been reading actual books much more lately, which has been nice. However, I'm a bit stuck as to what to read. For some reason, I've been having a hard time getting at all interested in anything that isn't a classic. This is kind of a problem, because A) there aren't too many out there I find appealing and B) I feel a bit like a pompous jerk stating I only like classics.

Just for the record, I don't just like classics. I really love pop-culture related books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as science fiction and fantasy. The former is actually my absolute favourite genre, but that's the kind of stuff that isn't carried by school libraries. The latter tends to be difficult for me to get into, unless there's also humour. Did I not mention that? I love the funny stuff as well.

Well, I feel I've reached the perfect ratio of length to interesting-ness. Yes, I just made a new word. Feel free to submit it to Websters, I'm sure they'll recognize it's brilliance.

2009: A Review

I realize I'm about five days late for a New Year's Post, but you're going to have to deal with my eccentric (lazy) behaviour.

Many people I've talked to about the year had mixed opinions about it. One of my mother's friends put it quite well:

"There were a lot of high points in 2009, but to go along with each one was a low. I wish it had been a more mellow year."

I personally feel it was a freaking awesome year, possibly one of the best. You'd like me to list the reasons why? Well, you're in luck!

• I successfully ran a half-marathon in August, going from totally nonathletic to quite fit in the course of 6 months.
• I lost 20 pounds - I'd always thought about how cool it would be to come back to school after summer break totally slim and fit, and this year I achieved that.
• I've learned to play both bass guitar and 6-string. I'm taking lessons for bass, and I've learned actual songs on the 6-string variety of guitar - even a few sweet solos!
• I've made a bunch of new friends in High School - my band trip to Western, often referenced, was an amazing experience for me.
  

Currently, those are the only major achievements for the year that I can think of; trust me, I did more this year than that, but those four really dominate my memory.

I hope everyone had a good 2009, and for those who didn't I hope you have a 2010 so amazing it completely makes up for it!