Oh. No. I'm. So. Scared.

Man, AJ and Rae, you guys are freaky. I'm like, about to die of fear.

:P Aaaanyways, my profound apologies for not being here for so long a time. Not a whole lot happened, and I was playing ToS like nonstop . . . until it had to go back :'(

Basically, Friday and Saturday were made up almost entirely of playing ToS and (on Friday) school.

But one seriously major event happpened on Friday.

SCHOOL'S OUT! YEAH!!!!! I, as you can tell, am very happy about this. So I am now officially on Summer Break . . . and I'm LOVIN' IT!!!!

Then on Saturday, I played much ToS. And I was supposed to go to Pilgrim's Progress with Megan . . . but, because of various embarassing things, I didn't. And she's one of my readers here, so in order to embarass me, she'll probably comment filling you all in on all the details. If she remembers them. So anyway, I didn't go, but she told me it was really good, and I'm going to start bugging Mom and Dad about going soon.

By the way, Megan, I forgot to ask you, did you take the sign? If so, what did it say? If not, why not?

So then Sunday Church happened, we talked about Jesus' arrest and Peter's denials . . . we had some interesting discussion about the stupidity of Roman Soldiers. When they arrest Jesus, Peter cuts off a servent's ear, and Jesus picks it up and puts it back on, and then the Romans tie his hands to keep control of him. You'd think they'd put two and two together. Ah, well, whatever.

Then we got home and I was on the computer for a while, and AJ and Dad went to the evening service at the River (Dad was preaching), and I stayed home and went to Homestarrunner.com, and as a result of that profound experience, I would like to impart some knowledge that will help you along in your life: "THE CHEAT IS BEHIND THE FREAKIN' BOX!!!!"

Sorry. I couldn't help it, that line is just so funny . . . in context. You probably didn't laugh at all unless you've seen that email. But no matter. You all know me well enough to know that I find many things funny that others think are just stupid. Or at least, I'd have thought you picked that up.

Then we went out to dinner at Applebees, and took back Tales of Symphonia (much to my dismay). Then we came home and crashed until bed, which for me was a regular 10:00 because I had Algebra on Monday.

So I went to Algebra, and it wasn't fun, of course. I had to work a problem on the board in front of everyone . . . I was so afraid I'd make a stupid error like "Okay, so then we add the two numbers, and 4 + 9 of course equals 14, so . . ." But thankfully I didn't and got the problem right (wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles . . .).

Then I came home and headed for my gamecube, and then remembered that I no longer had ToS. So I went on the computer, waiting for Mom to get up (she had worked the night before) and take me to Gamestop to buy it. Eventually she did, and we went, and they didn't have it. So we went to Target, and they didn't have it. So we came home and I called Game Crazy, and they didn't have it. So then I called Wal-Mart, and of course they didn't have it, either. So I desperately need to find somewhere to get it before I go insane . . . and believe it or not, this does not qualify as obsessive. You have not seen obsessive about ToS unless you've met Sarah and brought it up to her. Holy cow, it's frightening. She can go on for hours and hours telling me to visit such and such village and buy such and such potion to give to so and so the person, and then go and fight a bunch of monsters to get gald (aka gold) and experience to fight the monster who WON'T DIE. And then she'll tell me exactly how much gald to get, and exactly how many steps it is from the bush to the tree, and . . . yeah. It's scary. Amusing (and helpful, since I'm not too good at the game), but scary.

Then today I woke up at like 8:30 to take care of my neighbor's dogs, then experienced the incredible joy of going back to bed. Woke up with an unpleasent tickling sensation at my face, and when I opened my eyes, there was Jersey, perched on my neck and staring into my face as if to say "I'm here! I'm cool! Yay for me! Now PET me already!" So I pet him, and then he left and I looked at the clock and it was about ten thirty, so I decided to get up. Then I blinked, and it was about eleven thirty, so I decided to get up. So I got up and showered and ate lunch and played SSBM (to occupy my time until I can get ToS, I'm learning to be good with Bowser).

And this afternoon I played basketball, and then CJ invited me to his house to play Revenge of the Sith on his Xbox, which of course I agreed to. "Rule number 1:" he said, "General Greivous sucks. Rule number 2: Anakin is MINE." I agreed to these terms, and we dueled. I pitifully lost the first duel (which I expected, since I've never played the game before in my life), then I had the lucky break of picking Mace Windu. And boy, did I embarass CJ. Someone who has never played the game before totally destroyed him. I had very nearly full life when he died. And then, the ULTIMATE humiliation, I beat his Anakin with General Greivous. THAT was fun. GG is actually pretty good, I think, because he has two (or four) lightsabers, so he's powerful and has good defense. He can't use the Force, but he has a blaster that's hard to block.

So then I came back, and did some Algebra homework (ugh), and was going to update this, but then I decided to wait until after Orientation tonight, so that I could write about that.

Basically, Orientation is a sort of pre-rehearsal thing. We listen to Wayne talk for like an hour or so (BOOOOOOOOO-RING, he says the same thing EVERY TIME). Then we listen to the director (Steve, in this case) talk for a while, then we usually hear the choreographer, but he was unable to make it so we went straight to taking a break. Which was welcome. I was sitting next to Jeremy P., and although he's cool, he has a very . . . weird mind. It can be rather disturbing sitting next to him for longer than 20 minutes or so. So I was relieved to be able to go and talk to Megan and Nick (I would've been sitting with them, but Megan took my seat when I wasn't looking >:-O) and Jeremy S. and Spaghetti (sp?). Oh, I should probably mention that that's the nickname of Josh S. Just so you all don't think I'm insane. Most of you don't know him, I don't think, but just knowing that it's the nickname of someone will be helpful.

So then the break was over and we read and sang through the first act. Which went pretty well, although we were missing like 10 people. I was kind of ashamed, too . . . there's this kid named Timmy who's like 10, and he's like four times the singer I am. He's cool, so I don't like hold a grudge against him or anything, it's just frustrating that he can sing and I can't . . . anyways, that was pretty much orientation.

Except for bothering Taylor beforehand, which as always was fun. I mentioned that the Fourth of July was coming up, and she kind of froze and had a sort of "Oh crap" look on her face. It was hilarious. Hopefully you'll be able to think that through and figure out why.

Anyways, then I came home and Mom told me that AJ isn't going on vacation with us because he has "two things" that week, and I decided to come here and update, and apparently it's a good thing I did because Rae was glaring at me and AJ had his Ls out . . . scary stuff.

Oh, and also, Rae, I need your advice. Me and my friend want to kidnap my other friend (for reasons I don't really feel like explaining), but neither of us have had experience kidnapping, so we could use some pointers if you've got any. Being the kidnapper extrodinaire that you are.

Comment time:

Rae 1: Yeah, I heard about that . . . I was actually going to ask you if it was Top Ramen (as opposed to Easy Mac), but alas I've heard the story so I can't ask that honestly any more. But hopefully it's funny anyway.

Megan: lol . . . don't worry, I didn't think you were quite that stupid. Close, maybe, but *braces for slap* And I really don't feel like opening the all-knowing can of worms again (although I DID win that debate). Hey wait a sec . . . why did you change it to person? You weren't in Pollyanna . . . did I tell you about that, or are you referring to something else completely? I take a Jazz and Tap class . . . and for a variety of reasons (mostly because I'm really good friends with everyone in my dance class and don't see them often outside of it), I don't plan on switching. So you'll just have to find some way to survive without me . . . I know it's hard, but if you try really hard, I think you'll make it work.

Rae 2: Sorry, sorry . . . and I'll probably regret it, but I have to ask . . . why minion?

AJ: *pulls out Grenade Launcher and fires one into the shadows where you're hiding*

Music of the Gamecube

Man, I am on a ROLL with cheesy stupid titles!!

Anyway, where did I leave off . . . Dance class I think. Well I don't THINK anything else really happened on Monday . . . well, school, but that's not really worth spending the time to describe . . .

So anyway, Tuesday had no major happenings, either, save one. I finally got to Hollywood video and got Tales of Symphonia. Which is a major part of the reason I haven't posted in the last few days. Because that game is very unbelievably awesome. If you have a gamecube and you haven't played it, shame shame shaaaaame. I'm ashamed that I didn't play it until this week.

So of course Sarah is totally freaking out. Because she is as obsessed with that game as I am with Star Wars (for those of you who don't know me too well, that's a LOT), and she said she doesn't know anyone else who's played it and liked it. So she's obsessing over it. And she says I have to tell her EVERYTHING . . . down to my emotions as I play it.

Which really isn't that annoying, because I can see why someone would be obsessed with it. Any game where you can punch the ground and make a giant bear's head devour an enemy is pretty cool. The only real problem with it is that there's a little bit of language in it, but there isn't a whole lot and it's not too bad.

So basically, the game is about the Chosen, who will awake the Goddess and regenerate the World. So you're this Kid who is the Chosen's Friend, and you have to Protect her from the Bad Guys. Which is Fun. Because you have two Ninja Swords, and you can do cool Flips and Tricks and Deadly Things with them.

So that's, of course, a very watered down version of the plot, and probably not the whole plot at that, but I haven't gotten too far. But if you have a gamecube, get it. Amazing graphics, good story, good gameplay. Best of all three worlds. Oh, and for those of you who are RPG lovers, it's an RPG.

I realize that probably none of you really care (except perhaps Stephen, who is in Hawaii anyway), but it's just so cool and has been taking up so much of my time that I have to mention it. And if Megan is still reading this, she'll have been rolling her eyes for about five paragraphs now.

Anyway, I've been playing that and being on the computer and doing school pretty much since I last posted. Well, I got a haircut. And this morning I had an Algebra Class (urgh), but I'd rather not speak on that.

And if you're wondering what the heck the title means, it's because the game is Tales of Symphonia. So sorry, I wasn't thinking too creatively at the time.

To comments:

Megan: Whoa . . . one of the people at Wholesome Theater actually cared enough to SHOW UP?! No way . . . anyways, I'm happy you did. And yes, I know I have five lines, but I didn't feel like wading through them all to change one little thing. Although it might've been worth it because of the scene . . . getting to throw stuff at you and Nick will be very very awesome.

Allergey Medicine rocks!!!

Stephen: Good point . . . and he confirmed it later. Interesting. I probably won't even be able to play with a d-pad anymore, it's been so long . . .

Cormack: Yeah, if anything really matters it's important to be decided.

And what is it with those blasted people?! It seems like every time I turn around someone is either telling me I should get a girlfriend or wondering why I don't have one, or assuming one of my friends is . . . and don't worry, AJ, it isn't just you. Nor is it just you, Megan. Although both of you are part of the group . . . but I can deal with it. If it was just you two, it'd be fine, it's just those OTHER people that really get on my nerves . . .

AJ: Yeah . . . did I ever tell you that Mom called Jessica your gf once? It was quite funny . . . both Dad and me immmediately jumped in to correct her, of course. And one thing you should keep in mind: if you hang out with girls, people automatically assume things. Which I'm sure you know. But anyway, yes, you should get a girlfriend. Then maybe you'd stop pestering ME about it :P

Two parties and a dance class

I've been busy the last few days, which is why I haven't posted in the last few days. But now I'm back with accounts of, as seen above, two parties and a dance class.

But first, Friday. After I posted, I just kind of hung around for the rest of the day, until 9:40 or so, at which time me and Dad proceeded to leave for Krikorian Premier Theaters. We were going to meet AJ there and see Batman Begins.

Which, of course, we did. The theater was packed, we had to sit waaaaay in the back, and there were only two seats there, so Dad had to sit waaaaaaay in the front. So Dad actually had it worse, because he was in the area where you have to watch the entire movie by looking up.

Anyway, the movie was REALLY good. Kind of dark, kind of spooky in parts, but really really good. It had a really good story, with several unexpected plot twists, lots of good acting, and was more of a story-driven movie than an action-driven movie, which was rather surprising. The action scenes were a little too fast (so it was hard to tell what was going on sometimes), but that didn't bother me a whole lot.

It had a lot of good lines, too, that I now quote all the time to the immense annoyance of my friends. "Scarecrow . . . scarecrow . . . . scarecrow . . ." "Does it come in black?" "Let me show you my mask . . ." "There is nothing to fear but fear itself. *ZAP!*" "Didn't you get the memo?" "I've never tried selling to the billionaire sperlunking market before."

Ahhh, good stuff. So then we came home, and I was on the internet for a while, then I went to bed. Then on Saturday, I had to clean my room because Seth was coming over to carpool to Kyle's party, then was spending the night. So he came over and we played Gamecube for a while, talked for a while, wasted a lot of time, then it was time to depart. Mom was driving us to the Perry's, then they were taking us to Kyle's. The Perrys were running a bit late when we got there, so we sat and played with Cinder (the "blasted dog" of a previous post) and talked some more. Then we left. In the car, the Perrys played a CD of the Smothers Brothers, comedians from some long-forgotten age called the 60s. I think. Maybe it was the 50s. I don't remember. Anyways, they were hilarious, and kept us well occupied on the trip up to Kyle's house in Oak Glen.

Then we got there and joined the party. A bunch of us played volleyball for a while, which was fun, although both teams contend that they won (we weren't really keeping score). But my team actually won, of course, because I was on it. ("You got that?" "ye-" THUMP "no.") So then we were tricked into thinking the food was ready, and so the game ended. We then played foozeball for a while. There were two complete games, and one that was interrupted. Kyle and Seth won both the complete games, and were winning the third game when the food became truly ready. So we went and ate, and the food was really good.

Then we began to play football, and that was fun, although my team was losing, because one of the two times the ball was thrown to me it went BANG into my nose, so I didn't catch it, and the other time we gained about 2 yards. And then, on the climactic final kick return, I ran up against the other team, and was about to tag Kyle B. (and thus he would be down), when Matt suddenly appears in my face and levels me. Which was actually pretty funny.

Then it was time for the water balloon toss. My team was probably the sixth or so to go out. Matt and Toby were on a team that was unfairly disqualified because Toby threw his balloon at Kyle in self-defense. In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Perry won.

Then, it was time to stop starting each paragraph with "then it was time to."

After the water-balloon toss, there was much goofing around, then karaoke started. Most of them were rather un-noteworthy, but then Kyle did "Born to be wild." It was absolutely hilarious. If anyone is reading this who knows Kyle and was not there, you are a poor deprived soul. Seeing him flinging his hair and jumping around and screaming was a priceless experience. And the best part was that the first time he jumped, when he came down the karaoke machine skipped and he had to start over.

The whole karaoke thing was part of a talent show, which culminated in one guy (named Zach, I didn't know him) running around Matt juggling knives.

Later the Nuclear Misquitos (sp?) (Matt, Kyle and Toby's band) played worship music, and there was also Limbo that Kyle won. Then there was a camp fire type thingy with s'mores, and then for the remainder of the party (like 2-3 hours) Me, Seth, Kyle, and some other people were hanging out on the trampoline. All in all, a very fun but tiring party.

Then we came home and went to bed. We got up for church in the morning, and dropped Seth off at The River before heading up to God's Household. The focus of the service was Nick's baptism, and his kids' dedication. The dedication sparked some discontent amongst firm believers in infant baptism (such as our family), but Nick did it anyway. Then Nick was baptised in the Vanderbyls' swimming pool, and we had a party to celebrate. There were Hamburgers and Hot Dogs and such, and swimming. Not really a whole lot to tell, although me and Joel were playing King of the Step for a while (which he won because he said "I don't want to play this anymore" as soon as Josh intervened and pulled me off the stair). Then Josh and Joel had a battle which I watched, then it was time to go for us. So we went.

So now I'm terribly sunburned, and I have the traditional "goggle burn" and the new "band-aid burn."

Then we came home and I was exhausted, and spent most of the afternoon on the computer and reading. We watched The Incredibles and had Subway last night.

Today school happened again, for the last Monday of the school year (YESS!!!!). Dance class also happened, as is mentioned in the title, but it really wasn't too exceptional (except for me and David somehow managing to be exactly opposite each other at all times in the tap routine, when we're supposed to be together). I only mentioned it in the title because "Two parties" is boring, and it's kind of like "Two weddings and a funeral" except not. So yeah.

Comment Time!!

REPLY TO ALL COMMENTS ON "OOPS.": I didn't bother looking at the site after reading your comments, so really nothing to report.

OTHER COMMENTS:

Stephen: Well, sort of . . . AJ has a playstation, so it's probably in our garage somewhere right now. But he'll probably take it with him next year, so no dice. I have GBA, DS, and GCN. If that helps.

Ah . . . . thank you, then! I'm happy you liked it :)

Rae: Well, I could teach it to him without her, but it would be kind of hard because I really don't know the girl's part, and there has to be a girl there or it just looks stupid. But yes, if you could get him a girlfriend I'd get Rachel to help me and it'd probably work (although honestly she doesn't know it too well . . . nor would she want to help, either, come to think of it. But she might if I asked her). I actually kind of wish he'd get a girlfriend . . . maybe then he'd stop bugging me about my getting one :P (to clarify, I don't have one, but he seems to want me to)

Cormack: I see. Well, undecidedness can be good sometimes, and . . . oh, never mind, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

The only Orson Scott Card Series I've read is the Ender series, actually, so I wouldn't know a whole lot about his writing in general, although if it's anything like the Ender series I'd like to read more.

You have double-jointed fingers?? Shoot. Jeff has double-jointed fingers, too, and I can't beat him at ANYTHING . . . although I don't think I ever played him at SSBM, come to think of it.

Oops.

Missed Stephen's other comment on my last post:

Stephen: Yes . . . Sarah has a rather large vocabulary. A rather scary one, too, you wouldn't believe some of the adjectives she digs up to insult me with . . .

FINALLY, sheesh.

The title is in reference to my Oliver letter, which FINALLY came today. As you can probably tell by the fact that I'm not freaking out, I did not, alas, get Dodger. But that's okay. Because my friend Nick got it, and he's going to be very very awesome in that role (typecasting).

Did I get in, then? Yes, as a matter of fact, yes I did. And I got an even BETTER part than Dodger. I am the star of the show . . . Oliver?! What? You think I'm young enough to play Oliver?! No, I mean the REAL star of the show . . . I am Townsman!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

In all honesty, though, I'm just happy I got in. Obviously I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get Dodger, but Nick will be awesome, and I don't mind being a Chorus member with 2 lines, because this is one of the best Lifehouse shows (the music is actually almost good!). The only problem is that every single scene starts out the exact same way: "Buy my bread!" Seriously, at least five or six scenes begin with Merchants singing the same song over and over again with the exact same words. *sigh* You came so close, Wayne, why'd you have to go and ruin it with that??


Anyways, I'm happy to be in the show. Actually, my part, although only 2 lines, isn't that bad. I get to look out a window and yell at Bill Sykes!! And then I get to adress Mr. Brownlow. The only bad part of it is that I have a wife . . . not that I mind having a wife, it's just that I'm already almost certain of who they're going to pick, and . . . well, let's put it this way: one mistake, she's on the ground once, and I get slapped about a million times. Yes. I'm reasonably sure I'll be paired up with Taylor again. Actually, I don't really mind too much, but she'll probably rush at Wayne with a knife . . . which would actually be quite amusing. I did a skit at the Pollyanna cast party and was making fun of her (good-natured fun, of course), and she got really mad and enlisted this one guy to sock me in the arm every time he walked by me for the rest of the night. Which hurt after a while.

If you don't know who Taylor is (which most of you don't, probably), she's the girl I was dancing with in the Fourth of July Rag in Pollyanna. If you didn't come see that, or still have no idea who I'm talking about, tough. Deal with it. Well, hold on, you may remember better the part where we went off to the side of the stage and she whacked me in the jaw. That was her, too.

Oh, and for Rae, Eleanor, and Jessica, I told her that you guys wanted me to teach AJ that dance (if you'll recall), and she told me that she is most certainly NOT helping. So we have a dead end there. I meant to mention that earlier, but I forgot. So I've said it now, now that you have probably completely forgotten that you even asked me to do that.

So getting my letter was the big even so far today. I'm going to the movies tonight with Dad & AJ, and I'm going to a birthday party tomorrow, but nothing big has happened to this point. Other than my letter and, of course, finishing school for the week. One week to go . . . I think I can I think I can . . .

So, in light of the fact that I have nothing more to say, on to comments:

Stephen: I'd offer you my copy of Children, but my friend Sarah has it at the moment . . . if she's done it by the end of summer I'll send it to you via AJ, unless of course you've gotten another copy from somewhere else.
I think I like RPGs, but I haven't played a whole lot of them . . . I haven't played either of those. Actually, the only Final Fantasy game I've ever played was FFTA, which I'm not sure if it even counts. Are Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy even related?

AJ: That is indeed a good game, and both you and Stephen appear to like it very much. I, however, must beg to differ. Look for my own personal pick in my response to Cormack . . .

Rae: Uhhhh . . . sure. Somehow I think I prefer gourmet ice cream to that, but to each his (or her) own, I suppose. Neopolitian is definitely awesome, though.

Cormack: Okay, so yours ends in a three- or four-way tie, then? I see. (Btw, I'll probably never have the opportunity to play Halo 2 with 8 people, but I'll try.) My personal pick for best video game of all time is (drum roll please) . . . . also a tie. A three-way tie, to be precise, between one VERY old game and two pretty new ones. What are they? The original Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Fire Emblem. Link to the Past and Super Mario Kart are right behind, so Stephen and AJ aren't TOO far off in my opinion. But of course, AJ has never played Fire Emblem, and I don't know whether or not Stephen has, either. SSBM gets in there because it's my favorite multiplayer game of all time by far, and I could play it 24/7 with other people, but it's actually probably slightly inferior to the other two. Mario Bros. is just a lot of fun and is very addicting, but in all actuality Fire Emblem is probably a better game. So, then, my pick goes to: Fire Emblem for the GBA!! *cue crazy cheering and applause*
*GASP* You mean you . . . you . . . YOU NEVER READ XENOCIDE AND CHILDREN???? You must!! How can you possibly be satisfied with Speaker?? You must need to know what happens, surely . . . Children is the best one, I think, but Xenocide is good, too, and you've GOT to read them to find out what happens! I finished Speaker and started Xenocide literally the same day, I think. Speaker's ending wasn't satisfying for me . . . but oh, well.
HEY WAIT A SECOND!!!!!! THE NEW BOOK IS OUT??!!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!! *runs to Barnes and Noble*
*okay, I can't run that far, so never mind, but I'll get it as soon as possible. My summer reading list gets put on second priority if Mom allows it . . . *
Ah. So I might actually have a shot at beating you, then, if you play the original one more often. Cool. Ness is okay, if you know how to use him, and Samus rocks. I never wanted to take the time to get good with any of the difficult-to-master characters (Yoshi, Ness, Jigglypuff, Mr. G-a-W). Although I'm reasonably good with Jigglypuff because being cheap is easy with him/her/it. And AJ's good with Mr. G-a-W. But anyway, this whole thing just goes to show that I play video games too much.


Stephen's comment on my story: Uhh . . . thanks? What exactly does that mean? I, alas, have never taken Spanish. . . . is that even Spanish?

And to everyone who read my story and didn't comment: What did you think?

And to everyone who didn't read my story: Why not?? :P

Not much to say, but . . .

. . . lots of comments to respond to, so I decided to update.

After blogging yesterday, Mom discovered that we needed fabric for something she was making for the CVCA grads (I'm not sure if they're supposed to know about it or not . . . so if you are related to one of them, you didn't hear anything). So we went out to JoAnn's fabrics, which, of course, was like the coolest store ever. We went in, and wherever you look, as far as the eye could see, fabrics fabrics fabrics. So we browsed for a while, looking for royal blue fabric, and silver ribbon. We found it eventually, and, much to my disappointment, we left the store.

Then we came home and made the things. Which wasn't too bad, I got all the easy jobs because my parents don't trust me with really sharp objects :P So when that was over we decided to go out to dinner, which would be three meals out of three that Mom had eaten out that day, and two of three for me and Dad.

Mom said she wanted a slice or two of pizza and then a coldstone ice cream, and that sounded good to Dad and me, so we went to Uncle Howie's. A word of advice: never go to Uncle Howie's when you're really really hungry. They have big pizzas, and they have really good food, but they take FOREVER. We ordered one small, one-topping pizza, and it took them half an hour to give it to us. So then we ate it.

Then we went to coldstone, which, for those of you who don't know, is the best ice cream place in the whole wide world. They give very generous helpings, too, so you get good stuff that takes a while to go away. Of course, in terms of nutrition, they're awful, but hey, who cares. One every once in a while won't make too much of a difference . . . I hope. They're so good.

So then we came home, and just pretty much messed around until bed. Then I got up, and school happened once again. And ended early once again. Since then I've just been messing around some more, on the computer, playing video games, reading, etc. I was going to go to Hollywood and get Tales of Symphonia so Sarah would be happy, but Mom had to go to a CPR renewal class or something, so that didn't happen because I can't drive yet. So hopefully I'll get that tomorrow.

So that's basically today. I got the mail, no letter still. I didn't really expect one, but I'm starting to obsess over it, so I hope it comes soon. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, LifeHouse sends out letters to tell people who auditioned whether or not they're in the show. So I'm waiting for it, and I always start to go crazy after about a week, and it's been 8 days, so it's beginning. I hope it comes soon . . .

Anyway, that's basically it. So, on to comments:

Comments on "Another day in which I accomplished exactly nothing:"

Rae: Wow . . . freaky. . . . Yes, Jerk-and-a-half is fine, what I said really only applies to Sarah, you'll see why in my response to AJ's comment.

Speaking of which, AJ: Correct! *dingdingdingding* Uhh . . . a prize? Hmmm . . . how about big, happy, nothing. :D
Thanks for the compliment, but it was actually a trip to the game section of Target, so maybe it wasn't as good as you thought . . . And as for being hypocritical in reference to "jerk," that's somewhat of an inside joke, which hopefully Sarah got. I think she did based on her response, but yeah. She probably wouldn't mind me explaining, but I really don't feel like it.

Cormack: Yeah, it can take a while to get used to Yoshi. My friend did it once then decided that he liked Fox better. I use Marth almost exclusively when I'm playing people who give me a challenge, but I use Falco, Link and Samus a lot when I'm playing people who aren't as good as me or if I'm playing by myself. Sometimes I use Falco against good people, too, because he used to be my best character, but now I'm better with Marth, so I use him more often.
I think he said "Halo 2 is the bomb," but I'm not sure. That isn't a very Lucas thing to say, which is what makes me question it. Anyway, I've never actually played Halo 2, but I really didn't like the first one very much (unless I have a sniper rifle in a versus match, in which case it's so lopsided that it's fun). I'm trying to keep an open mind about Halo 2, but I don't really expect to be impressed whenever I finally play it.
And I have to ask, if he's only very close to being right, what is the best game ever?

Dr. C: Okay, cool. Good to know it's moving back.
I hate to ask you again, but if you could tell her that she should practice what she preaches, I'd appreciate it. If she has no idea what I mean, oh well.
Yeah . . . I'll try to remember. I meant to bring it to auditions, but I, being me, forgot.

Cormack again: Yep, loved them. Some of my favorite books, too. Especially Children of the Mind. Which was your favorite? (oh, and btw, if you could start nagging AJ to read them, I'd be obliged. I told him to read them multiple times, but he said they were pretty far down on his list. But I want his opinion, and I think he'd really like them, so yeah)

Comment to "One more thing:"

Rae: Whoops . . . *goes to fix it* Okay, it's fixed. Hopefully you people will read it now *glares at everyone and tries and fails to be intimidating*

One more thing

In case you didn't notice, I put a link to my xanga in the sidebar, and my story is posted there. So basically, READ IT NOW!!!! :P j/k But any feedback would be appreciated.

Another day in which I accomplished exactly nothing . . .

. . . another perfect day. (Trivia question: what's that from?)

I don't really recall when I posted yesterday . . . hmmmm. Well nothing really happened yesterday anyway, I don't think . . .

Man, I'm so tired for some reason. I got plenty of sleep, I'm just . . . tired. It's weird.

Anyway, Kyle IMed me last night and asked me if I was going to his party . . . which I had completely forgotten about. And earlier in the day, Emily IMed me and asked me if I was going to her graduation, which I had also completely forgotten about. I felt so terrible. So I must remember to ask my parents about those things . . . I don't think they even know about Kyle's party, actually. They know about Emily's graduation, because Dad's speaking.

So then I went to bed. Then I got up and did school, which again didn't take too long (the end of the school year ROCKS!). Mom had gone out to breakfast with my aunt Bev (her sis-in-law), and she came home pretty much right when I finished. She then said she was going to Crackerjack Too (or Collective Journeys, as it's now called). I chose to go, because I needed stuff for my scrapbook page of Lion Witch.

After we went to CJ/CT, we went to Micheals because Mom didn't find what she was looking for, and I needed one other thing. We found neither of them there. We then proceeded to go around pretty much the whole town, looking all over the place. We actually never found either of them, but Mom told me I could probably find what I need on the WWW (which I'm sure I can), and Mom switched what she needed to something she could find.

There were two highlights to this day: lunch and one other thing. We ate at El Pollo Loco, where we haven't been in ages, and it was really really really good. So yeah. And then, while we were at Target (after I had given up searching for my thing), I was over in the video game section playing demos, and someone said "Mark Harbison, I should've known." So I turned around and there's Lucas. So we were talking for a while, and he was playing Metroid Prime 2 on the demo and doing really bad and just kind of walking around while all the enemies were shooting at him. It was pretty funny, he tried to put a bomb under one of them, and then the enemy moved, and he had to set like five bombs before it finally worked, and by then his health was pretty low. Then he traveled into the dark world, and didn't know that the atmosphere hurts you, so he was just walking along and then suddenly went "Whoa, I think I hurt myself somehow." It was amusing, and then he was fighting two enemies (called Ing) and he asked me "Any tips on how to fight Ing?" and while his face was turned away from the screen, the demo stopped. So I said "Yeah: don't let the demo end." Then he looked back and went "Oh, shoot!" Then he walked over to the XBox demo and looked for a Halo 2 video to convince me it was good. I was in the middle of a game of Star Fox Assault when he found it, and called me over. I went, and he said, "After you see this video, you'll see that Halo is the [something, I can't remember]." Then he played the video, and it was really exciting. The whole thing consited of the logo and the date it was coming out. It was quite pathetic. So then I turned to finish my game of Star Fox and pound the boss, and some kid had taken my place. He was playing it and complaining about how hard it was. I thought it was rather easy, but I suppose that him being really short it would be hard to see the screen, which would make dodging attacks pretty hard.

So the Lucas decided to play Mech Warrior 2 or something like that, and he was just randomly running around shooting missles, and the enviroment (sp?) suffered the consequences. Then he found a bunch of enemies, and started attacking them, and it was quite funny because we couldn't figure out which bar was his health until he died, and then we figured out it was the one that was empty. He was in the middle of his second game, trying to climb a random mountain (and failing) when his mother came and he left. But it was fun hanging out with him for a while, I haven't seen him since Lion Witch because he's a JERK and didn't come to How to succeed in business with us because he was "tired."

So then I was playing random demos until my mother came and I left. Then she went to one other place, and then we finally came home and discovered that we had left Jersey (our dog) outside when we left, so he was out for like 4 hours and was quite happy to come in again. And then I went around on the web for a little, and now here I am. I feel like something is supposed to happen tonight, but I don't think anything is. It's weird.

Just a random thought: I hope I get my Oliver letter soon. Emily said she auditioned for Guys and Dolls at Riverside Youth theater, and she said auditions were Monday, callbacks were Wednesday, and they called her Wednesday night and told her she was in. That made me mad. Lifehouse is apparently much slower than most theaters. Which kind of ticks me off, because they always cast it the night of auditions, so why can't they just send out the letter that night?! Well??

Now, to comments:

Cormack: Well, you're probably right. But I'd love to take you up on that challenge sometime, if the opportunity ever presents itself. And why do you have to be Yoshi?? He's one of the hardest characters to combat, in my opinion . . . unless the person who's using him has no idea what they're doing, and I'm sure you do. But that's okay because I'm a coward and counter all the time. Shoot . . . now you know my strategy. Oh, well.

"Dr. C:" That's really cool, it makes you sound like a spy or something . . . although of course I understand why you're doing it. Anyway, I wasn't at dance because a) Mom forgot all about it, so I had no ride and b) I forgot about it myself until it was already too late to call and ask someone for a ride. . . . So next week it's back at Dimyana and Tracy's, right? Just confirming.
Oh, and if you could kindly tell your daughter to stop calling me a jerk whenever I miss dance, I'd be much obliged. Tell her that she should be more creative in her insults, at least.

One more thing

I posted my story and a link to it, in case you didn't notice. So basically, READ IT NOW!!! :p j/k But any feedback would be appreciated.

I can't think of a witty title :(

Okay, if I recall correctly, when I finished writing yesterday, Seth had just called to invite us to a BBQ, AJ was taking a nap, and Dad wasn't home yet. So I'll start there, without an intro, because, as the title implies, my wonderfully witty mind isn't working properly right now.

So anyway, after blogging yesterday, I quit Internet Explorer and stood up. Then I played F-Zero for a while, while waiting for Dad to come home so I could ask if we could go to the BBQ. Then I started wandering aimlessly and being bored. Then, I was pouring myself a drink and saying to myself, "I really hope he [Dad] comes home soon, because it's [the BBQ] in less than an hour." As I said this to myself, Dad walked in the door, and I laughed to myself. Then, after going through the formalities ("hey" "hey" "how was it?" "good" "cool"), I told him that we had been invited to the Bar-be-que (is that spelled right? it doesn't look right to me). He said that he probably wasn't going, but that if AJ wanted to I could go with him. About a minute later, right on cue, AJ came downstairs. I asked him if he was going, he said "I was thinking about it, but I slept a lot longer than I planned." Basically, at the end of it, he said he was going out on errands anyway, so he'd drop me off and then come by himself later. And that's just what he did.

There were a LOT of people there. Most of them I didn't know, but Seth was obviously there, and Preston and Jordan and Indy were all there, too. Obviously, I was hanging out with them the whole time. Also, Seth's sister's boyfriend's brother was there and he hung out with us. His name was Joseph, but for some reason everyone calls him Goose. When asked why, he replied, "well, there's a lot of reasons . . . . like 'honk.'"

As one would expect, we spent pretty much the whole day on the trampoline. So my legs are a little sore today from jumping like that. And, with much prompting, I tried my first flip. The experience can be summed up in three words: "Crash and bu-hurn!" only more literally this time, because my face crashed into the trampoline, and I got trampoline burn on my elbow. It was pretty pathetic, really. I was trying to flip over but I stopped, so I didn't really know what to do, so I just kind of threw myself forwards (I don't think too well in mid-air) and it was like a dive rather than a flip. Everyone laughed and someone actually said, "that's pathetic." I think it was Seth, I don't remember. It was funny, though.

And then this other guy (he was like 19 so he didn't hang out with us for too long, but he was there for a little while) tried to do a backflip, and he succeeded, but his feet hit the net as he was coming down and ripped it off the pole, so Seth had to grab the duct tape to try to fix it. It didn't work, for once, so he used a nail as a hook, then went around and fixed all the poles and stuff. So we were just sitting there listening to Seth complaining about the poles being loose and talking about various things.

Finally, he finished and we began to jump again. Then later, the official festivities started. The whole thing was a retirement party for Seth's dad and a graduation party for his sister. Someone else was retiring, too, but I didn't know her. So we had a toast and cake and such. Then they started taking pictures, and they wanted one of a bunch of the younger people, and they told us to make it the most random thing possible, so Jeff suggested a human pyramid. Which we did. Me, AJ, Jeff, and another guy (I don't remember who it was) were on the bottom, then a bunch of girls were on top of us, then Preston and Jordan were at the top. They took three pictures and really caused me pain, as they waited a while between each picture and the person on top of me was on their knee (like the pointy part), which was right in the middle of my back.

Then me and Indy had a Jedi battle with empty soda bottles, then we went and jumped on the trampoline some more. Then it got dark, so we went into Seth's room and broke out the gamecube. Jordan had been telling me how his Link was better than my Marth in SSBM, so we had a match to determine who was better. I died once, he died 4 times. And my death almost didn't count because there was like one second left when he finally knocked me off. Then we let other people play. We had five people, and the game is only compatible with 4, so whoever came in fourth had to sit out the next round. It was awesome, I played the whole time, and only twice I came in second or third. I won every other match. It was so much fun.

Then everyone but me, AJ, Jeff, Courtney, and some girl I didn't know left. So me and Seth were the only ones who remained at the gamecube, so we decided to jump on the trampoline with flashlights instead. So we did, then we came in and were about to play the gamecube again when it was decided that it was time to leave. So we all left (except for Seth and his family, since they lived there). Then we got home, and I went to bed.

Then I got up and was bummed because school was happening. But it turned out to be okay, because this is like the lightest week I've had all year, so I was done by like 11, even doing more than I was assigned to today. So that part was cool. Then I got my email, read for a while, ate lunch, played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for a while, and now here I am.

As a note to all regarding my aforementioned story, I've decided what I'm going to do. I'd like to post it in segments, but for several reasons I'm not going to do that. The reasons being that it would only be four days at a page a day, and it's better if you read it all at once anyway. But, I have come up with a solution. I joined xanga a while ago so I could comment on my friend's xanga, but I never put anything on mine except a link to here. So, I'll put a link to there on the sidebar, and I'll post the story there. That way it can all be there at once, and it won't clutter up or be interrupted by regular blog entries. So that's what's going to happen with that. Probably later today or tomorrow I'll put it there, I want to read over the story first and possibly revise it.

Anyway, on to comments:

First off, to all who have commented in the past: Well, excluding AJ, this doesn't really pertain to him. And also excluding Beth and Lucas and Mrs. Perry. But anyway, most of you are AJ's friends, and I met you because of your friendship with him. In my last post, I said something like that, but it came out the wrong way . . . I consider you all to be friends, I just meant that I met you through AJ and I haven't really hung out with most of you a whole lot. When I referred to "my friends," I meant the people who live around here who I do hang out with and who are around my age. So . . . yeah. I didn't want you all to feel like I don't consider you all my friends, so I just wanted to clarify that.

Rae: Really? What's it like there? The other world, I mean.

AJ: *points to end of post*

Rae again: Yeah . . . I'll try. But no promises.

Cormack: Thanks :) *then points to the whole thing meant for all of you*

I'm back.

You can't get rid of me that easily! . . .wait, what am I talking about? Anyone have an idea? Maybe I'm in a haze again :P

Anyway, as you may have noticed, I didn't post here the last few days because I didn't feel like it, but now I've returned. Nothing really happened the last few days, so I decided to wait in hopes that something would happen, but it didn't. So I'll just chronicle the nothing that happened, and bore you to death with it. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! THE WORLD WILL SOON BE MINE!!!! The darn myspace people will never prevail . . .

Friday. Well, the last time I posted was actually Thursday, let me go see where I left off. One moment. Okay. Right after school. Well, as I said, nothing really happened. I spent the rest of the day playing F-Zero GX (that game is so hard . . .), and playing basketball again.

Friday — for real this time. Well, again, nothing happened. I just realized that I've said "well," three times. Huh. Anyway, I did school, which wasn't so great, but wasn't too bad because it was over pretty quickly. Ahhh . . . the joys of the end of a homeschooled year . . . if that makes sense, which it probably doesn't. Basically, it means that when I get towards the end of the year, I tend to have less school. And, being homeschooled, that means that I finish earlier each day. So, HA! to all those of you who are not homeschooled. Except for the fact that you're probably out for the summer already . . . oh, by the way, to all those of you who have been commenting here, I'm expecting to actually get some readers who are actually my friends, rather than AJ's. Not like I don't like you guys, I just think it's funny that I have like one friend who reads this, and he never comments. But anyway, I got some publicity, so to speak, so I'll probably have a larger commenter population . . . or something.

Friday night. Yes, Friday night is different than Friday. That's because I always stay up to all hours of the night. Actually, usually into the morning. Anyway, (that's the third time I've said that, too) I usually spend most Friday nights on the computer, and this was no exception. I almost updated this, but I decided not to because of a variety of reasons, most of them being "I don't want to" "I don't feel like it" "It's just not the right time" and other such things. So I was online for a while, talking to Kyle (via AIM), who came here and was amazed at its length. Then the biggest event of the night happened (I think it was actually morning, but whatever). To give you a bit of a backstory, I enjoy fictional writing (usually fantasy), so I start a lot of stories. I say "start" because out of probably 20 I've started, 3 were finished. Anyway, (4) I had started a story a while ago (like two weeks or so), and I finished it. It's not very long, it's about 4 pages, but I like it. I was going to post it here, but although 4 pages is short for a story, it's pretty long for a blog entry. Even one of mine. I still might at some point, but I'm not sure.

Saturday. Having been up until about 3 AM, I slept in until 11:00 or so. Actually, my mom was rather surprised at my being up that early, it's a half an hour before I usually get up on Saturdays (unless I'm in a show, when I usually get up at 11). Then I got up and discovered that AJ was home for the weekend. I came downstairs, washed down my allergy medication with a glass of juice, and went to check my email. Then I ate lunch, then I played basketball again for a while, played F-Zero GX for a while. And I actually beat level 3!! I couldn't believe it when I won, I was so excited. If you're wondering why that's such a big accomplishment (as 3 isn't a high number), beating the 9 levels of F-Zero GX is considered to be one of the most difficult things in a video game in a long time. So the fact that I made it to level 4 was astounding to me. Then I was on the computer for a while, then it was dinner time. We watched The Sons of Katie Elder while we ate. It's an old western, one of the best in my opinion. Then I went out and played basketball again for a while, and then came in and realized it was 9:30.

Saturday night. I didn't go to church this morning (I know, I'm a heathen), because mom worked last night, so she was sleeping, Dad was preaching at a church in Rowland Heights, and AJ was playing in the worship band at the River, and long story short I didn't go. So, since I didn't have to get up, I stayed up late on Saturday night as well. I was on the computer pretty much the whole time, and I almost updated this again, but for the same reasons as before I didn't.

Which brings us to Today. Today I got up at around 11:30, showered, ate, and came here. Well, I got my email first and did a few other things online (the aforementioned publicity of this blog). But now here I am. And as I'm writing this, Seth called to invite our family to a BBQ his family is having, so hopefully I'll be going to that. I think he said AJ's going . . . anyway, (5) I really have nothing more to add, except

comments:

Stephen: I used to go rollerblading, but I never really got into it for some reason. I bought all the pads and stuff, so when I fell I didn't mess up anything. They were really good pads, too. Like one time I punched myself in the knee as hard as I could, and I barely felt it. Although I suppose that might be because I was extremely weak at the time. But I'm just babbling on and on and on and on about nothing, so I'll stop now.

Stephen2: Congratulations! You should celebrate . . . although I suppose it's a bit late now.

Cormack: Well, hey, first is worst, second is best, third is . . . umm . . . something else. I'm going to shut up and stop humiliating myself now.

Eleanor: Okay, that's what I figured. Just wanted to clarify. And by the way, I think you missed my point with the whole "Ms. Crawford" thing. It was my pitiful attempt at making a joke. You were complaining about your destiny of being an english teacher, and I wasn't sure if I was using "patron" properly, so I asked you. And since all teachers (I think) go by Mr., Mrs., or Ms., and then their last name, you would be Ms. Crawford. So there you have it.

Physical Activity

It's so rare, you know? I heard on the news a while ago that 2/3 of all American men are over-weight, and 1/3 of all American women are over-weight. It's because no one exercises anymore, they just go on the Atkins diet and get themselves killed of heart failure because they're eating so much fat.

Anyway, now that you're probably wondering if I'm sane right now, as I usually wouldn't talk about stuff like that, I actually do have a reason for the title. That being that I got it yesterday.

Normally I exercise before school (using a Tae-bo DVD), and yesterday I did as well, but I also got a little extra. Yesterday afternoon I had a weird urge to play basketball, possibly brought on by the game I played last Friday. So I dug up the basketball hoop and a ball (which took forever to pump up, it was like totally flat) and went to play. Then I remembered that I had to set up the basketball hoop rather than just find it. In the past, I always asked AJ or Dad to do it because I wasn't tall enough (or strong enough to move it, for that matter). But, as a) Dad was at work and AJ was, too, and b) I've grown taller and stronger in the few years since I last played, I chose to set it up myself. And I came up with a genius idea that saved me a lot of work. Rather than putting it at the top of the driveway and bungee-cording it to the flagpole thing, I put it on the sidewalk. That way I could play on the street, and I didn't have to climb up the pole and secure it. All I had to do was put a weight on the back so it wouldn't fall over (I used a trash can, it worked quite well).

So I was playing basketball for like two hours. It was really hot and I'm in worse shape than I thought, but it was still fun. CJ came over and we played 21 (I beat him 21-19 in the first game, and was winning 8-2 in the second game when he had to leave) for a while, then he left and I was left playing by myself again. Which I don't really mind.

So then I came in and was totally exhausted, so I washed my hands and face and changed shirts and collapsed on my bed, then realized that my gamecube was no longer next to my bed, so being collapsed there I had nothing to do. I wasn't sleepy, I just didn't want to move. So I forced myself to get up and come downstairs, and I went into the office and played the Gamecube for a while (yes, AJ, Paper Mario 2). Then it was time for dinner, so I ate. Then I was on the computer for a while, and then I went to bed. And slept.

And then, just as I'm falling asleep, I hear "WHAAAAW WHAAAW WHAAAW" and I look over and it's morning already. So I got up and went about my normal routine, and finished school pretty early today. And also I discovered that I only have two more weeks, so I was very happy, because I thought I had three. So the end is near . . . I can see the light . . . *HOOOONK!!!* TRAIN! RUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem* On to comments:

Rae: Thank you. I think you totally misunderstood my question about the permit, but whatever. Maybe I'll just look it up on Google or something. Hey, wait a sec . . . what was that evil laugh for?

AJ: 1. You're only 5'11"?!! Wow . . . I thought you were at LEAST 6'0" . . . that means I'm only one inch shorter than you. Huh.
2. Yeah . . . . thanks for your sympathy. I'd be surprised if I didn't get in, although I WOULD be surprised if I get Dodger after that audition. But that's okay, I'll live. Maybe I'll get Noah Claypole and be able to beat up whoever plays Oliver . . . if that happens I hope it's someone I know. Beating up Jeremy would be fun . . .
3. Ask and ye shall receive: If you'll recall, Mitch was the music director for Pollyanna this time. He, being a very good and thorough music director, handed out sheet music for most of the songs so we could practice them because *snicker* Wayne sung his own songs wrong on the rehearsal tape last time, so the melody and timing was slightly different. So she had vocal sheet music and gave it to Tedd to play, which he did. It was funny, actually, he got it and hesitated for a second, and his face was like "Wow, I've never heard of this song before . . . " then he laughed and said "Oh, I was about to say, 'who wrote that?'"
4. Well hey, I do. They're certainly better than the ones Wayne wrote . . . although that isn't exactly high praise.
5. I see. Well, I'm happy you enjoyed it, doesn't sound like I'd enjoy it too much, cleaning and reorginizing. Ugh *shivers*.

AJ2: Yeah, I was thinking about how funny that was . . . the first time someone makes a big deal about getting the first comment, he doesn't.

Eleanor: Uhh . . . well, maybe that will make more sense to me with the answer to this question: how tall are you? Ah yes, your blog . . . I kept meaning to look at it but kept forgetting. I finally did, though. I shall attempt to become a more regular patron . . . if patron is an acceptable word . . . is it, Ms. Crawford? (wait, that is your last name, right?)

Cormack: lol :D

My apologies . . .

. . . for the two days in which I did not grace you folks with my internet presence. But I have now returned and am here to post again.

As you may remember my saying, the only major event in this time period (the past few days) was my audition for Oliver. As nothing really happened on Monday, and nothing else happened on Tuesday until after (well, actually it was during, but you'll get that later), I'll go straight to that. I'll give you a play by play to make this post a length worthy of my blog.

After practicing, AJ told me to drink a cup of hot tea and not talk until my audition. As it turned out, I didn't exactly follow those orders, but I did talk considerably less than usual at an audition. I just kinda forgot after a while. But I promise I didn't talk too much. And my voice wasn't too raspy when I was singing, so it worked out okay.

AJ then took me to Lifehouse, dropped me off and departed. I walked up to the driveway place in front of the theater and saw three surprising sights: first, there were chairs there, which hasn't happened in like three years. Second, there weren't a whole lot of people there, which hasn't happened in three years or so, and everyone I talked to said they were auditioning . . . weird. Thirdly, Josh B. was there. Probably no one reading this has any idea who he is, but he was a kid in Heidi and Tom Sawyer when I did them (if Sarah is reading this she should know who he is, but she probably isn't). He's a few years younger than I am, and he looks a lot like Daniel Radcliffe. If you don't know who Daniel Radcliffe is, uhh . . . well, too bad for you. Anyway, Josh looks like him. And in Heidi and Tom Sawyer he was considered a "new" person, so he got picked on a lot. Another reason he got picked on a lot is because it was so . . . fun to pick on him. He's one of those people who gets annoyed really easily, and he has like the most sensitive skin ever . . . you could tap him on the shoulder to get his attention (meaning extremely lightly, just hard enough so he'd know you were there), and his reaction would be "OOOWWWWW!!!!" I don't think he was really hurt by a lot of the stuff, which is why I kept doing it, but . . . . it was quite sad, really. He hasn't done a show since Tom Sawyer so we all thought we had emotionally scarred him for life and he left. But it appears he has regained some emotional confidence and has returned. Poor guy. Anyone from Tom Sawyer will probably still pick on him . . . probably including me. One of those blasted hard-to-break habits.

Anyway, I stood around for about 15 minutes or so waiting for them to open the doors (I didn't really feel like sitting down). Megan Martinez asked if she could use me as a reference to her personality because I was standing there and could give her my address. So I decided that was okay, and she did. Then Rachel's friend Doug came out of the theater (he was helping, so he had the privelege of actually being inside) and said hello to me, and whacked me in the arm and told me it would be awesome if we were in a show together (which it would be, he's really cool).

So then FINALLY the doors opened, and we all went inside. I got my paperwork, filled it out, and got measured, and get this. I'm taller than Dad now! I'm 5'10"! I couldn't believe it. But anyway, I put in my paperwork and was given the new name "11."

Then, after some more waiting and talking to people, it was time for my group to go in. They audition us in groups of 5, so mine was "11" (me) through "15." I knew all but one person in my group . . . Erin was "12," she was in Lion witch and Pollyanna, Timmy was "13," he was in two camps I helped at, the girl I didn't know (Karen?) was number "14," and Kristen was "15," she was in Pollyanna. So anyway we went into the audition room, and Wayne went through his whole "it's good to have you all, I'm sure you'd all be great, blah blah blah" speech. And then, it was time for me to audition.

I was singing "Now I Have Everything" from Fiddler. If you don't know what it is, that's probably because it was cut from the movie. It's a song that Perchik (or however you spell it) sings. So I stepped up to the tape "T" (it was supposed to be an "X" but it wasn't), Tedd signaled to me and began playing the intro.

I can describe the audition itself in three words: "Crash and bu-hurn!" Well, okay, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't very good. Tedd played it at about half the tempo it was supposed to go, and I had trouble getting enough air with it played full speed, so this was just a disaster. But I'm not too worried because the panel was Wayne, Steve, Debra, John and Tedd, so I knew everyone and they knew that I'm better than that. It's soooo nice having done so many shows there and knowing everyone, it takes a LOT of pressure off me at auditions.

And then, just to top it all off, Kristen ("15") was actually singing a song from a Lifehouse show. Which song and which show, you ask? "*bleep* As *bleep* Can Be" from Pollyanna. If you saw Pollyanna, or you've been around me for more than a few minutes, you probably know what *bleep* is. If not, ask someone who did. And don't get me wrong, I think Pollyanna's a really good show, and I really like some of the songs (mainly the ones AJ wrote), but this one just drives me crazy . . . and of course, *bleep* was said so many times, that over the course of the run it becomes a swear word. It's rather funny, actually, my friends always used to tease me about getting so worked up about it (I was in it last time, too), and then they were in the show, and now they're the same way. And the worst part is that it never ends. We're all scarred for life . . . AAAAH!!!!!

*ahem* Okay, now on to the other thing that happened during the audition. That was AJ's departure for . . . somewhere. I'm not exactly sure where, it might be Fullerton, it might not be. Somewhere in Orange County, I think. He got a job there painting stuff or something. As you can tell, I really know nothing at all about it.

So, since I don't, I'll just move on to comments:

To All who Commented: Thank you all for the positive feedback of my script. I'm happy y'all enjoyed it, it was a lot of fun to write :P

Rae: Read it, and replied to the myspace one, if you haven't already seen it. You SHOULD update your blog, I go there like everyday to see if you did, and every day you didn't. *sigh* Oh, well. I'll get over it . . . someday . . . . :P

Eleanor: Yay! I was right and AJ was wrong! Cool! Thanks! . . . . *deep voice* *ho-herr* It is your destiny . . . *end deep voice* . . . sorry, I couldn't help it.

Eleanor2: *points to end of last response*

Cormack: Yeah, it's cool because I have all these other people who look at my blog now . . . and of course you're all cool in person, too.

A new family member

I left off yesterday at my time of blogging, which was a very good thing to do since that was the point at which time was . . . . and I'm not making sense again. GAAA!!!! Well, at least this time I'm not really in a haze, or a daze, or a trance, whichever the frock star prefers.

Anyway, after blogging, I was online for a while, and was just getting bored when we got The Phone Call. . . . (the backstory will be presented in a script, because I'm feeling weird, and it's always cool to have multimedia stuff)

~2 hours or so before The Phone Call~
AJ and DAD are in the office talking, while MARK is sitting at the computer, checking out websites and such
AJ: Okay, so me and Doug were looking at cars online, and we found a few that I want to look at in Irvine and Fontana, so would it be okay if I took either your car or Mom's car to go look at them?
DAD: Sure, you can take my car, I'm not going anywhere.
Dad leaves, AJ goes to his computer and sits down, picks up his little phone-headset thingy and calls DOUG

~1 hour or so before The Phone Call~
Mark is sitting at the computer, checking out websites and such

~At the time of The Phone Call~
Mark is sitting at the computer, checking out websites and such. The PHONE rings. MOM answers it. There is muffled talking, Mom is talking on the phone but you can't really hear what she's saying. Dad comes into the office.
DAD: Hey Mark, do you have a phone in your room?
MARK: I think so.
Dad begins to walk upstairs, then turns back to look at Mark.
DAD: Is it plugged in?
MARK: I don't think so.
Dad walks the rest of the way up the stairs, going off-camera.

~A minute or so into The Phone Call~
Mark is sitting at the computer, checking out websites and such. Dad comes back down the stairs, carrying PHONE #2.
DAD: It doesn't even have a cord in it.
MOM: says something to Dad, but you can't tell what it was
DAD: somehow is holding a phone cord all of a sudden Well I'll go into the office, and Mark'll hook me up here.
Dad goes into the office, and Mark hooks him up there.
DAD: into Phone #2 Okay, I'm on the line.
A phone conversation goes on, but since you're only hearing one of three sides of it it's kind of hard to tell what's happening.

~Immediately after The Phone Call~
Dad hangs up Phone #2.
DAD: He's driving home a car.
Cue studio audience cheering

~Several minutes after The Phone Call~
Mark is sitting at the computer, checking out websites and such. Mom's voice comes from off-camera.
MOM'S VOICE: Mark, you might as well come with us, because it becomes muffled, and you can't tell what she's saying
MARK: Okay.
Mark quits the internet browser, gets up, stretches and walks into the kitchen, where Mom and Dad are preparing to go pick up AJ and his new car. Both of them are going because AJ drove Mom's car up, so there are three cars and must therefore be three drivers.
MOM: We'll go and pick up AJ and the car, then we'll go out to Pat & Oscar's for a celebration dinner.
MARK: Sounds like a plan.
They do.

~About 37 minutes after The Phone Call~
Mark, AJ, and Dad are outside of the Pacific Auto Center, walking across a puddle that looks like it shouldn't be there towards a Silver 1999 Nissan Altima GXE. They reach it and huddle around it, looking at the motor and stuff under the hood, staring through the windows at the interior, and examining the exterior of the car.
DAD: It's nice, it's a lot like your old one.
MARK: Yeah, it's nice.
They all turn to go back into the building.

~Sometime later~
A bunch of cars are seen driving on the highway. The camera zooms in slightly, then begins to follow a Silver 1999 Nissan Altima GXE. After following it for a short ways, it cuts to the front of it, then moves up close to the winshield. AJ is inside, driving it. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel and sighs contentedly.

Words come up across the screen as the car moves away: THE END


So there you have it. Probably the most complete account there will ever be of AJ's getting of a new car. Unless his is more complete in whatever email or IM he sent most of you telling you that he got a new car. But I'm hoping that he didn't so you'll at least find this post to be somewhat interesting.

So anyways, after we got the car we did indeed go to Pat & Oscar's (my favorite resteraunt) for dinner, and it (as always) was really good. Then we returned home. Upon our aforementioned return, me and AJ finally worked on my audition song, and it turned out the song I'd picked was too high for me, so we picked another one. Then we worked on it for a while, and then that was that, and we'll (hopefully) practice it again today.

Then me and Dad watched "Ocean's Twelve" while AJ did some other thing on his computer, and apparently checked and commented to this very blog. The movie was okay, I enjoyed it, but it was really confusing . . . I had to ask Dad afterwards what the heck had happened involving a very major plot point. It kind of takes away from the movie when the event that it's all leading up to makes no sense to you. *sigh* Oh, well.

Then we went to bed, all except AJ, because he, being him, didn't want to. So he stayed up for a while.

Then came the morning, all too quickly. I got up, showered, went downstairs and got in the car, and we all went to church, stopping at Stater Bros. on the way to buy some juice to take. Church was good, we talked about the unity of believers and got some interesting things . . . Jordan told a story about a church that broke in two because someone painted a picture of Adam, and he was painted without a navel. The painter said "well, he didn't have a mother, so why would he have one?" but some people said that it would make his kids feel weird, and a big argument started up, and the church divided over it. Quite sad, really. It reminded me of a segment from a movie called Mark Twain Tonight, in which Twain talks about catching a bunch of Christians from different denominations and putting them in a cage, and he came back later and they were all dead. It's longer than that, and he elaborates somewhat, and he mentions a few other things, but that's the basic gist of it. It's really funny, and yet so true. Sad the shape the church is in today.

AJ: I'll tell you what I got, I got the pleasure of being the only player with an even 7-7 record! . . . And I meant what Cormack said, I was in a haze in that I was living in a fog, and couldn't think clearly and all that, although I was in a daze as well.

Cormack: Yeah, that's usually what it means for me and my friends, too, but it's good to get physical activity now and then, and there are a lot of adults in my church, and they don't tend to play video games a whole lot. Yes, I can see how playing Bunko could be less enjoyable if it wasn't coordinated well . . . Hey, I just realized that you haven't commented here before! So I have another person who comments! Goodness gracious me!

Game Night

Well, as I said, my church had a game night last night. We went, all except mom, because she was working, but me, AJ, and Dad went. It was fun.

Oh, by the way, I'm kind of in a haze right now (I don't really know why, I got plenty of sleep), so if I don't make sense, that's why.

Okay. Back to business. We got there at about five after six, and the Vanderbyls (who are the people who lead our church; it's a house church) were out playing pig on the driveway. If you don't know what pig is, it's a basketball game where you shoot, and if you make the shot, the next person has to make it, and if they miss it they get a letter, and when you get p-i-g then you're out. So they were playing that, so I joined in, and later AJ and Dad came out to play too. At that point we started playing Around the World, which is where you move around shooting a basketball, and whoever gets all the way around the court (or driveway) first wins. It's more interesting than I make it sound, but hey. Like I said, I'm in a haze.

So we were playing Around the World, and I was doing awfully, as I usually do with basketball. Then, all of a sudden, I hit like 5 or 6 shots in a row, and I was tied for second, I was so excited . . . and then it was time to eat, so we never finished the game >:-O

For dinner we had burgers and hot dogs (I had burgers, of course) and chips and chile and some form of green bean thing which I declined to eat. Then we went outside to play basketball again, and we started playing a regular game of basketball. My team was winning, when four or five new people came to play, and we had to start over. It was the most confusing game I've ever played, we had 16 people instead of the usual ten. The hardest part of the game was remembering who your teammates were. It was really funny, for like three or four plays in a row, one guy threw it to the same girl, and she was on the opposite team. Which was my team. It was awesome.

My team was winning the whole game, then all of a sudden Josh scored a two-pointer (we went by ones, so a three-pointer became a two-pointer), tying it. Then the women called out that it was time for dessert and celebrating birthdays (we celebrate each month's birthdays at game nights, we have them the first Friday of every month). So, since it was tied (it was tied at 12), we decided that the next score would win. My team started out with the ball, Rebecca had it first . . . she passed it into the center of the court where like ten people dove to catch it, and Ben (my team's leading scorer) caught it and shot . . . he missed . . . Brian came down with the rebound, and after a scuffle, it ended up in the other team's hands. It was taken back (we were playing half-court, come on, it was a driveway), then thrown to Josh (their team's leading scorer). He charged in and threw it up . . . he missed. He jumped up, caught it again, shot it again, missed again . . . he jumped up, caught it AGAIN, shot it AGAIN, and . . . . scored. They won. *sob*

So then we went inside and had dessert and talked for a while, then all the young people went to swing on the "swing of doom," which was basically a piece of wood (about two inches thick and tall) tied to one rope. Tied to a really tall tree. So eventually they convinced me to get on, and Josh pushed me, and I went up really really high . . . which would've been great, except for my terrible fear of heights. And Josh kept pushing me and I went higher and higher . . . and I was yelling things like "don't you dare push me again" and then he'd do it again. It was quite nervewracking, since all I had to secure me was my hands holding on to one rope. So everyone was making fun of me since I was so freaked out (good-natured fun, nothing that offended me), and finally Josh had mercy on me and stopped me. Which was really funny, because I was going so fast that he caught me and the swing to stop it, and he came very close to falling over. Then Rebecca went on (or maybe it was Christina, I don't remember), and her first swing her feet came like two inches from kicking someone in the face (I can't remember who it was). So then she kept swinging higher and higher, but once she started to come back down she nearly hit Jordan in the face, so he had to dive onto the ground to dodge.

After everyone had had a turn on the Swing of Doom, we decided to play Sardines (which is Hide-and-go-seek except that one person hides and everyone else seeks, and whenever one of the seekers finds the hider, they have to hide with them, and whoever is the last person to be searching loses). We played one round of that (I didn't lose, I was happy), then it was time to play the main game of the night: Bunko.

What is Bunko, you ask? It's a dice game, a very strange dice game. It's a favorite with the church, it's really fun. Basically there's fifteen rounds (or more depending on how much time you have and which version you're playing), and each round is a different number from 2 to 6. Round one is 2, round two is 3, etc. and when you get to 6, the next round is 2 again. There's a bunch of tables, and each table has four people and three dice. Each person at the table will roll all three dice, trying to get whatever number the round is (2 through 6). Whenever they get one, they score one and keep rolling, and whenever they don't get one they pass the dice. A Bunko is when all three dice are the number you're looking for, and it's worth 21 points. You can also get a three-of-a-kind, which is a three of a kind that isn't the number you're looking for or one. It's worth five points, but you have to pass the dice. If you roll three ones, then you get a wipeout, and all of your points for that round disappear and you have to start over again. It's a little confusing at first, but after that it gets really easy. The goal you have is to get to the high table, which is the highest possible table (go figure). Every time you win, you move up a table, and if you lose you stay where you were, unless you're at the high table, in which case you go aaaalllll the way back to the beginning and have to climb up. So after the fifteen rounds are over, you get prizes. Whoever has the most total points gets a prize, whoever has the most wins, whoever has the most losses (it's awesome to hear people fighting over that, "I was worse than you!" "No, I had the most losses!"), whoever has the most Bunkos, and whoever has the most wipeouts or the most three-of-a-kinds, whichever. It's really really fun.

I ended the game right smack-dab in the middle of everything, so I got no prizes :( AJ got the prize for most losses (*snicker*) with 11.

So there you have it, the house church game night 6/05. I already can't wait until July 1st, that's when the next one is (this was the first one I've been to, I was in a show when they started it so I had shows every Friday).

So when we got home, I came online for a few hours then went to bed, and slept in really late today (I say "today" because by the time I got up it wasn't morning anymore). Then I played my DS for a while, showered, ate, played my Gamecube for a while, then got my email and came here.

On to comments:

Stephen: Yeah . . . the Sun Crusher was cool, though. It made the battles kind of one-sided, but it was cool. But he certainly does like making Death Stars too much, yes.

As promised, an account of "The Event"

Yes. Here it is. All of your waiting in susupense has finally paid off. And now I get to let you all down with what it was . . . WE WENT TO SEE STAR WARS EPISODE III AGAIN!!! Okay, now that you're probably all going "that was it?! that was what we were waiting for?!" I should probably mention, if you don't already know, that I am positively OBSESSED with Star Wars. I have read many of the books (several courtesy of Stephen, thank you again, I promise you'll get them back one day), I have two reference books, and have soaked up as much extended universe info as I could. So that's why I was so excited. "We" I AJ, me, and Dad. Although I gave a slight review the first time I saw it, I shall give a longer, more complete one now: (not a word, Zach, not a word, you still have to write me back >:-O)

A friend of mine told me that it was better the second time. He was right. Although the first time I saw it I ranked it with the original trilogy, I now rank it above Return of the Jedi, on level with Empire Strikes Back, and slightly lower than the original (yes, AJ, Empire is now higher than Jedi for me).

The primary reason for this high ranking of it is twofold: a) It's just a fun movie to watch and b) it's more story-driven than the others, and the story is good enough to drive it. The story is basically . . . well, I'm sure you all know, and if you don't I won't spoil it for you. But it's a really good, if somewhat dark, story.

As with Episodes I and II, the SFX are amazing. In fact, the Special Effects here are so much better than I and II that I really don't know why I compared it to them. In the very first scene, which is a space battle, the camera is following the starfighters piloted by Anakin and Obi-wan, and it felt to me almost like Star Tours in that it felt like I was actually in a ship and following them. Although it's been a while since I've been on Star Tours, maybe AJ can give me some feedback there, or any of you others. But since AJ went to disneyland on Wednesday and saw the movie yesterday, both are fresh in his mind, whereas for the rest of you, seeing the movie (and going to disneyland for some of you) are rather distant memories, I mean like 2 weeks or so. But I'm going to try to start making sense again. Anyway, I felt like I was actually in a moving starship, following them. In addition to the awesome special effects, there was also some very impressive lightsaber fighting, the likes of which have never been seen before in a Star Wars movie. In Episode IV, when Obi-wan and Vader are fighting, it can barely even be classified as sword-fighting, but here it's amazing how well coreographed the fights are, and how fast with the lightsabers the actors are.

Speaking of actors, I was somewhat impressed with the acting in it as well. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, because Episodes I and II had terrible acting (except for Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, they're always awesome). But I was very impressed, especially with Hayden Christenson. Although I have been told by several sources that he was bad in III as well as II, I don't believe them. I really liked him in III. Natalie still wasn't too good, but she was bearable, better than Episode II for her as well.

And now, for some reason, my reviewing mind has completely shut down. I can't think of what I was going to say, so the review is over, I guess. Big thumbs up from me, although my opinion is biased.

*WARNING: IF YOUR NAME IS LUCAS OR ZACH, THE FOLLOWING MAY SURPRISE AND DISMAY YOU* When we came out, and we were sitting in the car going home, Dad said (his exact words [I think], I think them fitting to close my review), "Except possibly for the original, that was far and away the best of the Star Wars movies." As previously stated, I rate it equal with Empire, but on the whole I agree that it's definitely WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than Episodes I and II, and I liked them somewhat (although I acknowledge that they were pretty bad in a lot of ways).

So there you have it. The Event.

Okay, so that's basically all I have to write about, but our church is having a game night tonight so I'll write about that tomorrow. Oh, whoops. There goes the suspense. Oh, well.

On to comments:

Stephen: Yes, I love Zahn. The Thrawn Trilogy is my favorite series (or individual, for that matter) of Star Wars books. At least that I've read. I thought Stackpole was good, I read the New Republic one (I'm ashamed to say that I haven't reached the Empire one yet, for some reason my reading of those books is really slow). I never thought about that, Wedge being Luke's only surviving wingman and the only minor character in all the movies . . . huh. He was in III, too, I thought that was funny . . . I don't really know why, he just looked so funny to me . . . maybe I'm just weird. Well yeah, that's a good point. I remember wondering why it was so scantily defended, but I guess I just dismissed it . . . it bugged me more that Daala kept dying but he always found a way to bring her back.

Rae: Uh . . . ya. Didn't quite follow that, but I think I get what you were saying. And yes, I know that they cancelled it, I actually meant Thursday, he was out car-searching . . . but, alas, he didn't come back in time. Oh, well. I'll bring it up to him today, and torture HIM. I actually don't mind, it's him that gets tortured by it. Although actually it would be really funny if I just let him come to this blog and see it here, and then wonder why I didn't tell him in person . . . I think he's looking at blogs now, so I'll just let him do that . . . haha, this'll be fun . . .

Today was another day in which the usual happened

What is the usual? Nothing! Or nothing of note, anyway. Although tonight something will be happening, that won't be written about until tomorrow unless AJ is a JERK and comments on this telling everyone what it is and ruining the suspense I've been building. And also, hopefully he'll get home in time to practice my audition song with me . . . I really need to start practicing, auditions are in 6 days, and I don't even have the song memorized yet . . . but I DO know which song I'm doing, so I guess that's better than usual. *sigh* One gets so lax when he doesn't have to try for an audition . . . although it's good to know that all the people there know me, so I'll most likely get in whether I have a good audition or not. Not that they show favoritism for me or anything (I don't think), it's just that my audiditons are usually worse than my performances and/or singing in shows, so they already know what I can do. I just hope they think I can do Dodger . . . you'd think that I'd be better prepared since there's actually a part I want and there's going to be major competition for it . . . huh. Go figure.

I suppose that I should clear the mud a little here and tell everyone what the heck I'm talking about. If any of you don't know, I'm involved at a local Christian community theater. On June 7th (next Tuesday), they are having auditions for their "award winning musical, Oliver!" It's not the broadway version, it's completely original. It's a good show, though. So anyway, I'm hoping to be the Artful Dodger, but the director's son is the same age as I am, and he's better than me, so I think he'll most likely get it. But we'll see. Hope springs eternal and all that.

So anyway, I had school as usual today. I'm supposed to be reading Ben-Hur as my literature for the next few weeks, but Mom is being merciful and letting me watch and answer questions on the movie instead. So I watched like half of it today . . . holy cow, that movie is long. I knew it was long, but I thought it was like three hours . . . turns out it's three hours and forty-two minutes. And, although I'm enjoying it more than I used to, it's pretty slow-moving, so my brain is kind of fried right now . . . It's a good feeling to know I don't have to think again until tomorrow. What luxury.

That's pretty much all I have to say for now (I'll update this tomorrow and give you details on the mysterious "thing" happening tonight), so on to comments:

Stephen: Interesting . . . never heard that before. It's kind of sad that roses have a purple variety and violets doesn't . . . weird. I'm really not a fan of Kevin J. Anderson's either, but I like him more than you seem to. Darksaber was awful (other than Bevel Lemelisk, I liked him), but I thought the academy trilogy was okay. I liked the story. The writing wasn't too good, and everything fell flat at the end (and how many times does Daala have to die before he actually lets her die??), but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Kyp is awesome . . . Anderson certainly isn't Zahn, though . . . do you like him? Anyway, I shall indeed read the X-wing books first . . . it's the same main character as I, Jedi, isn't it? Or is he just a character like any other in the X-wing books?

Rae: So, let me get this straight . . . you came on here to say that you didn't have time to come on here, basically? Interesting. Oh, and thank you for your monumentally comprehensive answer ;)

The long-awaited Next Post

Ladies and Gentleman, I have returned. Well, okay, not like I was actually gone. But hey. I'm posting again. Fear not! The blog is making a return.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, let me tell you why I haven't posted in three days. It's for the same reason I'm usually unable to keep a journal going: whenever I'm not in a show (at LifeHouse), my life kind of slows down and not a whole lot happens that's worth writing about. So unless you want a play-by-play of my various less important activities (such as playing video games, reading, watching TV, being online at other websites, AIM conversations, eating, sleeping, etc.), you'd better just hang on for a week or so until Oliver auditions, and then things will pick up again. I'll still be posting, they'll just be more pointless than before.

So I left off on Sunday, after our return from church. Not a whole lot of a cliffhanger, unfortunately. Basically, I spent the rest of Sunday doing two things: messing around with various pointless activities (see previous paragraph for examples) and having random times where I would just want to scream "YES!!!!!!" Why did I want to scream that? Because, on the way home from church, Mom disclosed some very good news: "You can have off tomorrow, but—" Of course, being me, I didn't hear anything after "you can have off," so I just started rejoicing. Then, I decided to listen, and she was saying that I had to do a week's worth of school in 4 days if I took off. I chose to take off, of course. (For those of you who have forgotten, it was Memorial Day, so that's why I was allowed to have off.) And what's REALLY cool is that although I have to do school in 4 days, it's a really light week so I'm done by lunchtime pretty much every day anyway.

There was one other event that happened on Sunday, however (actually, it happened on Saturday and Sunday, but I chose not to mention it before). I was invited to go to Rachel's house for a Memorial day barbeque. I accepted the invitation, of course. The reason I didn't mention it before was I decided just to wait until it was over to talk about it.

So things were looking good. As is my traditional activity when I have no reason to get up in the morning, I stayed up late on Sunday night. I watched Diagnosis Murder (a very good show, I highly recommend it, it's on PAX every Sunday and Thursday night at 10:00), then messed around and read for a while (I think . . . I don't really remember). I was pretty tired, though (the play [see below for details] was long, so I didn't get to bed until late Saturday, and I had to get up early on Sunday, so there ya go), so I went to bed around midnight instead of two or three AM.

Which brings us to Monday. I slept in until 10:30 or so, then got up and did my traditional messing around for a while. Then, at 12:27 (ish) I got The Call. What was The Call? It was Rachel, calling to say she was sick, so the barbeque had been cancelled. Blasted sickness-prone people . . . especially when they have a pool at the beginning of summer, when it's starting to get hot . . . grrrrrrr. Anyway, she said we'll probably have it some weekend just because.

So not a whole lot happened for the rest of Monday . . . oh, wait, right. In addition to The Call, my family/house also recieved The Visit. The world's most famous (and only) Frock Star came home. I believe some of you folks have called him that, too . . . I promise I didn't steal it from you, I came up with it myself and he said "Yeah, that's what Stephen said, too." So anyway, he had been at a retreat of some sort up in the mountains, playing on the praise band with Jeff. So he came home and was extremely sunburned and tired, so he took a nap for three hours before dinner.

So that pretty much brings us to Tuesday. There was school again, so I was kinda bummed until I realized it was such a light week. Then I was exultant. But really nothing happened on Tuesday either, which brings us to today, and nothing much has happened yet today. AJ went to Disneyland with Jessica, Eleanor, Rae and Jason, I think . . . sorry if I got the group wrong, I wasn't really listening. I don't even know who Jason is, actually . . . I'll have to ask AJ sometime. So anyway, I saw Jessica this morning when she came to pick up AJ, and she told me she had seen my blog and commented, so I had to check it. And here I am, bowing to your request like a good little slave boy (j/k :P).

I should have another post for you by Friday at least, because another event is happening tomorrow . . .

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, my world famous Comment Response Section:

Rae/Eleanor: Eleanor: Sorry . . . uh . . . La voiture es rouge et neuve. There. I hope I spelled everything right . . . so yeah. Hopefully that counts as pretending. Rae: Uhh . . . right. Still not quite sure what you're talking about, although I think (think) I get it. If there is anything to get. If not . . . well, I'll just shut up now and stop making myself look like the idiot I am. No! Wait! I'm awesome!

Stephen1: Thank you! Like I said, it's a novelty. Although, as y'all can probably tell, the novelty is starting to wear off, so there probably won't be as much here . . . just when stuff happens, and random pointless posts. Because random pointlessness is awesome, too!

Jessica1: Hello yourself! Thanks for coming by . . . and yes, I wrote a lot my first several days here . . .

Jessica2: Thank you!

Rae1: I know, crazy, huh? My real answer to this comment is actually in the post . . . if you search hard enough, you might find it.

AJ: Nice catch. You must have longer arms than I thought . . . wait, Rae, where do you live? Anyway, yeah, search the post for my answer to this, too. And hey! I didn't give any excuses! If I had, it wouldn't have been two days without a post! HA!

Stephen2: Here I stand, vindicated. (Wait . . . is that right? Never really used that word . . . ) Thanks for the books, by the way. I've already read the Jedi Academy Trilogy, though.

Rae2: Well, this was pretty much in response to another comment, so I won't bother responding. Or should I? Maybe I should just babble pointlessly until it looks like I gave a full response . . . I think that's what I'll do. Roses are red, Violets are blue, Carnations are several colors, actually . . . wait, roses are pink and white, too, aren't they?