A fair enough Thursday

Fair enough day today. I’ve got nearly no homework except for a few things I’d like to get done ahead of time. To be honest that’s not usually my style. My style for school is usually the procrastinating mindset. Of course, this isn’t unlike most high schoolers, but I’ve changed my mindset today. Finals are coming up faster than I would like, and I’m suddenly thinking to myself, “Better do it today. It could be harder tomorrow.”

And just as it should be. As I have mentioned before, procrastination is the root of all evil. You never know what could happen tomorrow, so why wait for then? When you find out your huge project is due tomorrow, it helps when you don’t have to worry about the silly vocabulary worksheets that you haven’t done yet.

Speaking of workbooks, I’m going to have to make some decisions here. I’ve lost several schoolbooks, and I can’t decide whether to foot the bill myself or try to make it as long as I can without it. Currently I’m missing my Spanish hardback textbook, my Spanish workbook, and my vocabulary workbook. That could add up to as much as ninety dollars if they’re expensive. I’ve got one hundred dollars saved up in my debit account, but I can’t decide. That’s the thing about money; it’s hard to spend in moderation. I seem to go either go crazy, or save every penny. Well that’s life.

I’ve also found that I’m not supposed to blog during the week. My mom says I spend too much time downstairs. To hell with her, I don’t care what she does; I’ll find a way around it. I didn’t write daily for a month to have someone essentially shut down my blog. I’ll do something. Maybe write on the weekend or get more people to write blurbs. Whatever it takes, but you all can count on me being back here every day God willing. Keep reading!


“The shifts of Fortune test the reliability of friends.”- Marcus Tullius Cicero

The DWA and Hockey Events...

Well. I was right about one thing. Today was quite a big day. My final grade in a couple of classes could have been made today with out my realization. I had two friends that copied workbook pages for me. Only one of them succeeded. I couldn't expect them to be perfect though. I now am missing assignments in C. Phyz, bu this is nothing new. I can't blame him. Next time, he'll remember. I'll recover. I always do.

At any rate, that was not what the big event of the day was. As I talked about in my previous post, I took the DWA today. For anybody reading this who took it yourself, know that I sympathize with you. Ninety minutes of straight writing can be pretty tough, especially when you get a prompt that you don't know alot about. Luckily enough, we got a decent one this year. We had to write and expository for why the driving age should be 16 or 18. I think I did pretty well. I finished ten minutes early and had to scrunch the words up to fit it all on the page. Definite four or five there.

But from what I've heard, it don't matter whether or not you ace the DWA. What's up with that? The school sets up a huge writing assessment and none of the colleges even bother checking our scores on it? Are they just trying to screw with us? That's actually quite likely...

Speaking of school, I had practice today for the school hockey team. And afterwards, we recieved some bad news. We had been getting complaints from the other players in the Junior Varsity League that we were too big and bullied them. The coaches took interest in this and tried to talk to our coach. So now we're essentially not supposed to play a physical game unless they're as big or bigger than us. Which sucks. We're just supposed to throw away our competitive spirit because a couple of eighth graders didn't like being pushed around. It's a physical sport; what did they expect? You don't take a career in football and expect not to get an injury or not to get hurt. Well, there's nothing we can do about it for right now, but make sure we don't get disqualified because our players are too big...

Pre-DWA Stress Syndrome

I've got a big day ahead of me.

I'm sure everyone reading is familiar with the Direct Writing Assessment. It's one of those big test days tommorrow at my school, and everybody is holding their breath for Hell on earth, hoping they don't get a crappy prompt. If I do, I'm screwed. Last time I got a three, but I constantly tried to change everything and made it worse.

Not only that, but I've got two assignments due tommorrow that I have absolutely no hope of finishing. It's not that their large, but it's out of my spanish and science worbooks, both of which I lost a while ago. So I'm calling up my friends, trying to get them to photocopy theirs and give it to me in the morning. I don't understand how I lose all my stuff. I'm only ever in two places where I have my stuff. Home and school. You'd think that would narrow it down, but nope.

The problem about high school is that the system makes us end up thinking that grades are the most important thing in our lives. Which it is to an extent, but this causes backlash on other aspects of our lives, such as our social life. I've probably imposed on a lot of people to try to save my grades. I feel bad to have to get people to photocopy things for me, or print assignments out for me, but what am I supposed to do?

Luckily for me, most of my friends have had this experience before, and can sympathize with me. But I can't help feeling I put a lot of pressure on them. To feel the weight of two peoples' grades on your shoulders. One is bad enough. But I do my best, and I get by with a little help from my friends. And I help others when they need it or when they ask. Even an enemy can borrow my answers if they ask for it and they obviously need it. Because I'm not one to sit by and watch someone fail and assignment when they could've passed, regardless of my thoughts about them.

So yet again, we end up in the Battle School. For those of you who have read Ender's Game, the more intelligent students learn that even though the students compete to succeed, the only real enemies are the teachers. And in real life, it's not always the teachers who are the enemy in real life, but grades as a whole. As students, we have to unite to succeed. Keep that in mind. Never be unwilling to "take one for the team" because when someone asks you for help in school, they're on their last string. They need it.


"I don't care if I pass your test, I don't care if I follow your rules. If you can cheat, so can I. I won't let you beat me unfairly - I'll beat you unfairly first." - Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

Lego City

Ha. I bet you all were expecting me not to write today, but I took my day off on sunday. Just to screw with you. Sucks for you.

At any rate, we went to the YMCA again on Sunday, and to my surprise and joy, my tower was still standing. But it was no longer standing alone. When I walked in I found it standing next to several other worthy buildings including an eiffel tower. You've really got to zoom in to see all of them. But here is my tower's evolution.


It started small...


Got bigger...


I finished it.


What I found two days later.

There's the leaning tower of pisa, the Eiffel Tower, a collosseum, a tiny pyramid by the eiffel, a red totem pole, and a big cabin/watchtower. I was quite pleased with how it all turned out. Now I'm ready for today. Which is monday.

Just to remind everybody, this is my thirtieth post and my blog's been up for a month now. Yay! (confetti flying everywhere)

"There are nearly infinite ways to combine eight differently colored bricks." - The Lego Company.

Mondays

I've got nothing to write about today so I though I would stick in an excerpt from a story I wrote a year ago in eighth grade. Plus I'm really mad I have to go to school in less than two days from now.

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock, blaring incessantly, tearing me away from sleep. I slammed the snooze button, even when I knew it didn’t do me any good. I fell back to sleep for a few minutes, but only to have the clock ring again as programmed. This time, sleep had left me again.

I tore myself away from the warm sheets and pillows to meet the harsh morning. As usual, I took my shower and dried off, thinking my normal Monday thoughts. This is stupid. Why do we have school today? Why do we have school at all? I always had these sorts of thoughts on Mondays, and this one was no different.

After getting dressed I walked downstairs to the kitchen to scrounge some breakfast. Bagel? Cereal? Toast? I grabbed the quickest meal available to me- a breakfast bar from the cupboard- and ate it while climbing back up the stairs. Andy had just gotten up and dressed, and we passed through the hall silently.

I brushed my teeth and gathered up my things for school, just beginning to worry about the half-dozen assignments that I hadn’t done. It was late in the morning by now, so I didn’t wait for Andy, but got my bike ready once I was packed. It was a cold morning, and the nine-block ride, albeit I had a jacket, numbed my fingers and made me shiver. Upon reaching the school, I harbored a tremendous temptation to turn around and do something useful or fun for the day, but I resisted as usual. After all, it was just another Monday.

I stepped into the gymnasium to face the day that awaited me. A few of my classmates looked as I walked in and greeted me, but most looked apathetic, concealing their own storms of anger. Not that I expected anything more; they were all as mad at the world as I was. Monday did this to people, especially students and teachers. There was something about this godforsaken day that put everybody in bad moods.

Mark, Luke, and John were three of my closest friends. Mark was a Hispanic boy who I had known since first grade. He was very strong and knew enough weak points and body locks to beat the crap out of nearly anyone in a fair fight. Luke, I had known since third or fourth grade, and though obnoxious and a bit short, was fun to be around. John was a huge, burly character who had joined the class just this year, but he immediately fit in with us and was soon a close friend of mine. I hung with them until the bell rung and we shuffled off toward homeroom.

Algebra was our first period subject, but it seemed like stupid placement to me. Most assignments that you forget to do can be done throughout the day, but not for Algebra, and when there was an assignment virtually every day, there were few days where we didn’t have homework. Mrs. Higgins was our teacher, and she was pretty nice, but I still had to go to the library to try to catch up with the math that I didn’t do. I tried to do the work that was assigned, but you always had to have a good calculator, which I didn’t have at home. And the math seemed so repetitive after a while, it was hard not to be sidetracked. I finished the unfinished work and got my late grade as usual. After all, it was just another Monday.

Leftovers

le

This was my candy stash from Halloween. And now it's all gone, all gone. If only Thanksgiving leftovers could last remotely that long. Because none of you have really had joy like my Mom's chocolate caramel tart. In retrospect, it lasted pretty long for most thanksgivings. We've still got three pieces of it left. I had two of them today, but as far as my family knows I only had one. Better to just tell them what they need to know...

That's all we had to eat today for dinner. Leftovers. Just pick out what you like from a huge tub of food. Which isn't any problem so long as you don't mind stuffing in your mashed potatoes. I don't, it's tasy. And I know everybody says this, but my mom makes the best thanksgiving dinner ever, and the leftovers are almost as good as the day before. I'd show you a picture of the dessert that's left, but my camera's screwy. Oh well.

In other news, I spent most of my day at the YMCA, building a huge lego tower. And it was huge. Again, I'd show you a picture, but the camera's messed up. I'll show it as soon as I can. It started very humbly, just a couple of handfuls of two-by-four bricks overlapping each other, but by the time I was done, It had three structurally different levels, a Empire State Building style top, and came up to my chest. I even wrote a little poem along with it to make sure that if anybody took it apart, they would do something worthwile with it:

If from these bricks does thou sow,
Take your time and let thee know,
That if a single brick is gone,
All must be used, every one.

So be it ship or plane or tank,
Then not one brick may be misplaced,
For if it does, it will come back,
To 'venge its weary, painful past.

This is just another example of my joy of randomness. At any rate, it was a good day, and the tower still stands at the local YMCA.

Right now I'm watching the football game - BSU vs. Hawaii. BSU all the way! If they win this, it's on to the Sugar bowl...


"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." - Calvin Trillin

Thanksgiving 2007

What a wonderful day. Happy and uneventful. Just the way I like it.

I'll give you an overview of how my day went. My older brother Micheal got home yesterday and Jessica (sister) came over too, so the entire immediate family was there. For the majority of the morning, we prattled and socialized. It was good to have everyone home. Micheal goes to St. John's in Minnesota, and it's his second year in college, so it's good to see him after so long. As for Jessica, she lives nearby but she's busy these days with school and work. The best part of the whole day was having everyone here for one happy holiday.

Later in the afternoon, Dad shuttled us to the park and brought a football. At first, it was just dad, andy, and me, but Micheal drove to the park and joined us before long. We scrimaged with Micheal and Andy vs. Me and Dad. Andy's team won before long, and we played pass afterwards. After getting my ass whooped by Micheal, we left. It was time for dinner.

Now dinner- the main event. We had a pretty normal thanksgiving dinner: turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, asparagus, stuffing, and buns. Mom cooked all of it, and it was absolutely incredible. And after dinner was the dessert. Trust me, you haven't lived until you have tasted my mom's chocolate caramel tart. Take one bite and your a step closer to heaven.

All of us stuffed ourselves to the brims. It's hilarious- all any us wanted to do after dinner is go to bed, we were so full. But that's why I loved today. It was just another warm, loving, family holiday. I can't wait for the next one.


"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." - E.P. Powell

Friends & Enemies

I hope you enjoyed Zach's blog yesterday. We may be getting more of those in the future. But today my post is about openmindedness and enemies.

You know, sometimes I wonder if we really ever see people with an open mind. There is seems to always, without fail, be a positive or negative sway.

You don't even have to know them. We all know how often we're judged upon our looks. But what about our actions? When we tell jokes in the front of the class and everyone's laughing, what is the kid in the back thinking? The kid who's just observing? Unfortunately, nobody ever makes an informed decision, because nobody knows everything about us. There's always something people don't know about it, even if we don't realize it.

And the real problem is that we often end up looking for faults in those we don't like. It happens to me all the time, and I don't mean to do it. But it's not just me. I've constantly found myself being stared at, observed. And I look at them, and it's always the stare that says "What is wrong with you?" And it is absolutely infuriating.

But when I find myself staring blankly at the people who get on my nerves, do I give them this look? Am I as bad as them? And the unfortunate answer is that it's quite possible.

We don't even treat our friends with an open mind. I constantly observe malicious rumors passing from friends to friends. And I think to myself, aren't these people supposed to be friends? When they hear stuff like this, don't they ask themselves whether or not that sounds like their friend? Don't they first go and ask their friend personally?

Of course, it's not the friends who really spread the rumors intentionally. They spread it to their close friends, but they forget that everyone's got different circles. And the circles interlap until it reaches a spreader. A spreader is one of those people who spreads gossip regardless of who it is about. Be it a friend or a total stranger, they'll spread it if it's juicy. We all know someone like that, and it's thanks to these sorts of people that we have people being judged without reliable grounds.

So there's really only one solution. There may be someone in our class who is an asshole, but chances are, if you don't want to know them, then you don't have to. What this means is that you just have to do your best to ignore them completely. And when you do hear rumors about people, just remember. We're all different. My normal behavior could be annoying as all hell to another person, and vice versa. If you just keep that in mind, you can have a lot more friends and a lot less enemies.


"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde

An Alcatraz014 Featured Blurb: #1: Zack Funke

What's this? a blurb? i guess i'm supposed to define it, since i'm the first to write one... when the author of this site wishes to add a little authenticity to his recounts, or if he just wants you to understand the people he talks about a little better, he'll have them write a blurb; you know, a little freestyle.

With that said, i should start. Hi! My name's Zack Funke. yeah i know, weird name, it's pronounced "funky" and it's super cool cause no one i know has that name too. uhh... I'm 14 years old, and I go to "the author's" school in Boise, Idaho. I'm a freshman, but not for long -- one day i'll help bring the Knights to another football state championship. I may even play varsity football before my junior year, that would rock! So, as you can see, I like football. I played on the junior varsity team this year, with inexperienced juniors, sophomores and talented freshman. I also play basketball... my height and weight is a great advantage, but i'm not skilled enough to make anything higher than freshman, for now. I'm 5'11 and weigh 149 pounds... kinda skinny for a football player, but i run like crazy in track and lacrosse and lift like crazy in football and conditioning, so i'm fairly lean with some above average muscle mass; nothing too exciting, though.

As far as schoolwork goes, I've always been a good student; like, straight A+. i find ways to make extra credit, and my learning style is thorough and I have a hard work ethic along with exceptional structural understanding of material.... all these big words, they come from my dad, who pushes me to go this far. I'm in one advanced math class, if you consider Algebra 1 the default math class for 9th grade; i'm in geometry. as for science, already took earth science, physical science is too easy, so i was put in conceptual physics. pretty much a dumbed down and cartooned version of regular physics, it still gives you a great understanding of the world. science has always been my strong suit... which is strange, because it's not something instinctive, like math, it's more something learned, like history. maybe somewhere inbetween... i've always been really interested in astrophysics, particle physics, quantum mechanics, how space and time work... how we think... how or brains work.... things that we don't know about yet. someday i'd like to make a discovery; i would never use my real name though, i'd never get the end of "NERD!"

that's right... my writing style makes me sound like a frickin nerd, but it's just the way i write. gets good grades in english. i have a ton of awesome friends, since i went to a catholic school for elementary school and jr. high, and the catholic-school-web called TVCS pretty much has all of the students doing stuff together. think of one huge class of about 90, only you know them all really well and you're all going to the same high school! pretty awesome, if you ask me. my girlfriend's also from my class; she's amazing too, and she might even write a blurb on here sometime. who knows, it's joe's choice!

anyway... uhh... there's probably a picture on here somewhere, but i have brown curly hair, a crooked (once broken) nose, wear contacts, braces, long arms, big legs, and big feet. it's all more or less in proportion to everything else, so, not too bad, i guess. like i said, i'm 5'11" and 149, and can play football, basketball, track and lacrosse. i know how to play baseball, but i can't play THREE spring sports. and, lastly, joe referred to me as "the bracelet heir" a couple times on here before; that's me. but call me Zack. bracelet heir makes me sound like some kind of arabian prince with a golden bracelet or something.... hahaha.

--Zack Funke

Monday

Monday's my day off. Sucks for you. Also, this is the third week of my blog. So scroll down and enjoy, there's more to this blog than meets the eye.

Beowulf (and polls)

I happened to see Beowulf this Sunday. And I'll be truthful. It was kind of weird. Of course I had to consider that this was based on a sixth century epic poem based on monsters and sex. So not much different than most movies.

It was pretty good. I would suggest it highly.

But there's big news for alcatraz014. For anyone who's been reading, I would just like you to know that the polls closed tonight at 8:00 P.M. The new web address is http://alcatraz014.blogspot.com. No more heifen.

I'm going to set up another site at the old address to make sure that if anyone actually goes back they can find my new address.

Monday is fast aproaching. Something wicked this way comes... and guess what it is? School. What's happening this week? Well I've got a test in Health, and that's all that comes to mind. Yeah, sorry this is such a short post, but I got squat to talk about. You all will just have to wait until Tuesday for something good. Maybe I can get that blurb from Zack...


"Are you the one they call Beowulf? Such a strong man you are. A man like you could own the greatest tale ever sung." - Grendel's Mother (Angelina Jolie) from Beowulf

Saturday School

Unfortunately, I spent about three hours of my Saturday in a room like this one. Because I had Saturday School, as my title would imply.

But how would someone as responsible as me have to go to Saturday school? Well, that's a good question. Apparently, they count tardies for zero hour classes. So they sent me to saturday school for three hours.

To be honest, It was fine. I got some homework done, where as I usually would do all of it on Monday morning. They just made us sit down and shut up for three hours. We could do homework or work on the computers or anything so long as was school-related. For some people it sucked, but for me, it was a good chance to get some work done. That's luck for me. A blessing in disguise.

But luckily, that's not all that happened Saturday. Otherwise, this would be a very dull post, nay?

Like last Saturday I had a hockey game. This one was at 6:15 P.M. I showed up about a half-hour early and played in the arcade until it was about time to get dressed. This time we did have a goalie; a goalie and eleven other players. We won. the final score was four to three. We whooped ass.

Afterwards, I got a ride home from the coach because my parents were out. We talked about the game on the way. Once I got back home, it was pouring out. But I was hungy. So what did I do? I ran in the pouring rain to the nearest burger king and promptly ordered ten dollars worth of fatty goodness for me and my brother.

And to finish off the day, I relaxed and wrote in my blog. So now I'm wondering: what's in store for Sunday?


“There aren't enough days in the weekend.” - Rod Schmidt quotes

The Two Backpacks

This past couple of weeks, I have taken up the habit of carrying around two backpacks instead of one. This is just one example of my randomness, as the second one serves no real purpose for me throughout the school day. The blue one on my right contains all my schoolwork. The green one on my left is filled to the brim with sheetmusic and music binders. Now, of course, I don't actually need to carry the green one around all day; I do anyway, though.

Why?

Because at least five times on any day, I get asked the same question. "Why do you have two backpacks?" I feel great joy in hearing this question, and have come up with several answers to it. So, you might ask, why ARE you carrying two backpacks?

1. (Truthful) Me: "This one's for music, and this one's for school."
Them: "But why do you need to carry music around all day?"
Me: "I don't."
Them: "..."
Me: *exit quietly.*

2. Me: "This is Pride, *pointing too blue pack* and this is Joy. *point to green pack.*"
Them: "You named your backpacks?"
Me: "Yes." *exit quietly*

3. Me: "Wait, I've been carrying two backpacks around? What have I been thinking! Oh, all the wasted time, all the wasted work!" *exit quietly*

4. Me: "This one's got a survival kit and a water bottle in it."
Them: "You need that to go through the school day?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "..."
Me: *exit quietly*

5. (My favorite) Them: "why do you carry those two backpacks around?"
Me: "So people will ask me that question."
Them: "..."
Me: *exit quietly*

All of these answers elicited confused expressions on the askers' faces, and it brings me great entertainment to watch it them. The real reason I started carrying the second backpack was because I had piano practice one day and I knew I wouldn't have enough time to stop by my home. So I packed my music in a backpack and headed off to school. The next day I found myself without the second backpack, and a kid asked me why I didn't have it. He seemed depressed. He said, "Geez, that fun guy stopped carrying his second backpack around. There's nothing to look forward to anymore; nothing to live for!"

Upon seeing his distraught reaction, I immediately took my own action and showed up the next morning with both backpacks slung over opposite shoulders. And so what if my back's sore by the end of the day from carrying twice the usual weight? It's deifinitely worth it to see people's various and comic reactions to them!


"Two heads are better than one." - Among other places, my 'Bracelet Heir' post.

014

Some people might wonder why I would use alcatraz014 as a username. Well, for one thing, it's unique. But it does have a history. My folks took a trip to California once and came back with a T-shirt from alcatraz. It had a picture of a jail cell on it, colored in purple, yellow, and black. I loved the shirt, and I wore it all the time.

When I went to hockey camp one summer, I literally did wear it all the time (I forgot to pack enough shirts). So, I just went through the week with the same shirt on. After a while I was coined the nickname "Alcatraz." I liked it, and never objected to it.

Fast forward to my second email address. I had to get rid of the first because people used it as a trash can to send their spam. Even if I check it now, peope are still sending emails titled "SEND THIS TO 14 PEOPLE!! IT'S FOR REAL!!!!"

Yeah right.

There's no way that an email could cause neither luck nor love, nor any of the good things it so naively claims. I had forwarded them a few times, but I had gotten sick of them. It was time to move on.

So when I thought of what to name my brand new email address, alcatraz popped into my head almost automatically. It had been a long time, but I had loved that nickname and thought it would be a great username. So I started the normal process of checking availability: Alcatraz? No. Alcatraz1? No. 0alcatraz0? No. Aallccaattrraazz? No. Dr Alcatraz? No. It was all taken.

So what was I to do? I knew I would have to suck it up and pick a random number to put on the end. So much for individuality; I was only a number away from the rest. But instead of making that decision myself, I looked up 'random number'. I found a nifty little program with a 1-100 range and a start button. I clicked it, and found myself looking at 014. I hadn't actually thought that was possible. Wouldn't it just say 14 instead?

But I liked it. So I went back and entered in alcatraz014, and viola! I had my email address. And it was more than an email address. If any of you see the username alcatraz014 anywhere else, know that that's me. As I surfed the web over the years and found myself subscribing and unsubscribing to all sorts of things, I used that username. It had become an avatar for me, kind of like my own cyber-image.

So my life became synchronized. All simplified. All one username and one password. And I know it doesn't mean anything, but everyday, when I leave my locker, I set the dial to 14.


"You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter, and medical assistance. Everything else you recieve is a privilege." -- The quote on the back of the T shirt

The Bracelet Heir (and polls)

Say hello to Zack Funke, my editor and friend. This is the bracelet heir.

If you have read my earlier posts (esp. Last Will and Testament) you will have known vaguely about this shady character. But here he is now, clear as a bell. We both go to the same school and share many of the same subjects together. We are very much alike in our interests.

Me and him were in the same class in kindergarten, and we've known each other ever since. We both spent nine years at the same school, St. Mary's. It seems Zack's always been there, whether or not I wished it. Even when I started ridiculous schemes, he was there laughing and playing along. Like starting my own country. Or planning a all-out invasion of the seventh grade. Or writing a blog.

This last year though we have become somewhat closer to each other. Something about high school picked us out and recognized that we were alike, so it paired us together. We share three classes together - English & speech (same teacher) and Conceptual Physics. So just like the years before, he's always there, playing along.

Zack is very bright and has made straight A's for most his life. I'd probably have his grades, but I don't study or finish homework diligently. Oh well. You can't have everything in this life, but I think with Zack there's a good balance. He's smart, athletic, social, and quirky. I think that over the years I've inspired in him something I've always had: a joy in the randomness of things.

So now we've got a nice little duo here. Joe & Zack. The inspiration and the brains. The hand and the pen. Better watch out, blogging world. Because two heads is better than one. Hopefully I can get him to write a blurb sometime next week. We'll see how things work out.

Now, before I close on a good note, I'd like to ruin the moment by telling everyone about how the polls scored. Last week I set up a poll that asked, "If I put a poll on my blog, would anybody vote in it?" The replies were 1. Yeah, I would. 2. No... 3. This is a retarded question and I refuse to answer it. Here's the results! Drum roll please!
1. Yeah, I would 5 votes-62%
2. No 0 votes-0%
3. This is a retarded question and I refuse to answer it 3 votes-37%

I will now hold a poll on advertising. This is an important one; be sure to vote.


"I get by with a little help from my friends." - The Beatles

Blog Changes

If any of you have been reading, and I'm sure you have, you probably have noticed the difference in the template and heading. Do you like it? I did. My last one was way too bland, and I couldn't get my computer to change that horrid picture behind the heading. This is much better, and I'm able to download pictures now.

Of course, this sort of thing comes with a catch. Apparently the only place I can upload pictures to my header or videos to my blog is through the school. So I'm supposed to handle all the technical aspects of the blog now from school. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that sort of thing in twenty minutes. Oh well, I'll figure something out. I'll probably be playing around with the templates alot, so don't be surprised if my blog looks alot different every time you see it.

I took a look at my profile again today and found that my views had soared to an amazing thirty- three views! That's eleven time three! I would've wished for a more divisible number, but that is impressing. That means I get about two profile views on average a day. I'm gaining some steam here.

If any of you voted on either of my polls, thank you very much. The first one (If I put a poll on my blog...) will be closed Wednesday at noon. So if you haven't voted yet go ahead. Funny I got so many votes, I though it was more of a rhetorical question. Luckily I haven't got any 'no' votes yet.

I bet you're still waiting for the picture up there to appear, aren't you? Well tough luck, that is my picture.

In other news, I've been thinking lately about my blog and I decided that I'm going to pick one of my friends to be and editor for it. He'd have to help me out deciding the templates and figuring out a logo for the blog. I also have a friend with a digital camera, so we can maybe count on some more pictures of me (I know, I can't wait either.) And in a couple of days I'll put up another poll for whether or not I should put an advertisement up on my blog. While it may be a soreye, it will earn me money. But I won't put it up without viewer's consent.

But that's enough technical stuff for now. Remember the kid who I talked about in some of my previous posts who I said got my bracelet if I died? Well tommorrow, you'll all get to meet the bracelet heir...


"We blog. Small, yet solid, spheres of life, shot-gunned out there into cyberspace." - Brian Richard Cieslak

Monday

Monday's my day off. Sucks for you. By the way, it's my blog's two-week anniversary. This is my fifteenth post. Twelve of them are good quality with pictures and quotes. So be sure to take a look at all of them. Scroll down you lazy slobs.

The Hockey Game

note- this isn't a current picture

Well if I ever needed something to take my mind off dad, the hockey game did a good job of it. I may not have mentioned it, but I've played hockey for a long time. My Dad and older brother, Micheal, both played hockey, so they introduced me to it at a very young age. I've been skating since I was about six. I played Rec. leagues until I hit eighth grade, and then I started playing Junior Varsity for Bishop Kelly. So this is my second year on the team. I'm not great, but I'm good.

At any rate, I came thinking it was just another game, but I was dead wrong. When I got there and got dressed, I checked the time and the locker room. It was five minutes until the game and only nine players were here. And none of them were the goalie. We tried our best to find one, but we soon found that we would have to play either without a goalie or not at all. So we played.

In a situation like this, it works out like this: the team without a goalie gets to have six players out on the ice instead of the normal five. We were desperately undermanned. Nine players? We had only two offensive lines, and the three defensemen (usually two) had to play the whole game through. No joke. By the end of that game I was exhausted.

But we gave them a run for their money. At first I thought we didn't stand a chance without a goalie, but we got off to a great start and had the game tied up three to three by the end of the second period. I even got an assist on one of the goals. We really would've won if we just had had maybe one more line. But we got worn down. All of tthe players were just about done for by the end of the game. The opponent picked up the pace and we lost, six to three.

Oh well. I sure as hell had fun. I got a few shots off and played my best. So I'm happy with that.


You miss 100% of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky

Gary

That's me and my dad, Gary, in McCall, having a great time. The picture was taken a while ago, but I want to make a point. When I left for McCall, I got some comments from a few friends about it. "Good for you. You've seemed kind of stressed lately." Looking back, it was true.

I wish I could blame this is all on the school system, but I can't. And there's no easy way to say this. A couple of weeks ago, my dad (in the picture) had a seizure. He was rushed to the hospital as soon as possible. I was asleep. I didn't wake.

That same day after school my mom explained to me what happened. They had taken an MRI of his head and found the cause of the seizure.

Cancer.

What they found was a large tumor, too big to take out. We had actually known there was an abnormal growth in his brain about a year before this happened, but this was the first time it had actually bothered him. The hospital said that they were going to have to take a snippet of the tumor out to see if they could treat it at all. So after a couple of days, we came back to the hospital and walked Gary into the surgery room. We then waited for more than two hours for the surgery to finish. My sister Jessica was there, as well as my little brother Andy. And of course Mom. She was very calm about all of this. We all waited patiently for him.

After two hours, they told us that they had a sufficent sample of the cancer and the surgery was done. Over the weekend, we repeatedly went and visited him in the hospital. My uncle Kurt and aunt Amy came with their daughter Ali to visit him as well. He smiled at all of us when we came in. Mom slept on the ground in his room the first night to keep him company.

His speech was temporarily limited and he had staples in three areas of his head where they had gone in. Now the staples are out and his speech is recovered. We still don't know what the cancer is like. They said that it was probably low-grade, but that's good news and bad news at the same time. It may be slow-growing, but lower-grade cancers are difficult to treat. So there's nothing we can do but help him recover. Hope. Pray.

This is when I need my friends the most.


"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love." - Jesus Christ

Friday Trip

Well it's Friday. Ok, not really. I had to write this on Thursday. And I wish I didn't, but I'm gone for Friday, so you'll have to deal with it.

"But why are you gone on Friday?" Glad you asked. Well, there's a town one hundred miles from here called McCall. We have a cabin up there, and it is one of the best places to go for vacation. And the best part is, it only takes about two hours to get to McCall from Boise.

There's always some great snow up there around wintertime and the family always goes up and skis at the two ski resorts up there: Brundage and Tamarack. If you haven't been too either, I can't suggest it highly enough. I still remembering skiing straight down Brundage. Not turning and stopping, but as fast as I could in a straight line. Good times. Tamarack is better for tricks and jumps and such. Even on their 'bunny hill', they've got a mini terrain park. I still remember me trying to grind a rail on my skis and failing miserably. Good times. And of course, there's always the activity barn. Lesser known, it's basically a hill with ruts. Grab an inner tube and hook up to the lift, and you're ready for some hell of a ride. I still remember sliding down the hill with wind burning my eyes. Good times.

There's everything you could want in a winter season there. What seems strange to me is how far I'll be away from home so soon after school. I'll be more than one hundred miles away when other kids just got home and are having dinner. It's a strange thought. And I'll be home on Saturday. And nobody will never know.

Of course they will now. That's the problem about blogging. I've told just about everybody I know to check this blog, and now so much of the school is reading it that I have to be careful about what I write. I'm really not sure how many people see it, but I'm sure the number is underwhelming. But enough to screw me over if I say something bad about someone. So I'll keep it vague.

By the way, as a sidenote, I'm thinking about changing the web address of the blog. probably won't change much, but hi-fen confuses alot of people and I keep getting complaints that my web address doesn't work. Just vote on the poll on the right.


"I need a vacation." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Blogger's Block Part 2 (Sleep Troubles)

Who ever invented daylight savings was an asshole. Trust me. When you have to get up at 6:00 A.M. every morning, you don't appreciate when someone comes along and screws up your schedule. Thanks to this dumb idea, I've been waking up an hour earlier than my alarm clock. I then I have to sit there, restless, for an hour. This is ridiculous. I'm waking up way earlier than I need to, and there's nothing I can do but wait for my body to adapt. I almost fell asleep in class (to the dismay of my English teacher).

But, that's not what this post is about. I'm finishing my day. My last post took us up to fourth period - Conceptual Physics.

Lunch - Self-explanatory. I guess I'm lucky; the cafeteria food isn't half bad and if I forget my wallet I can always ask the high faculty(Vice prinicipal, Dean of Students, President, Principal). It's actually kind of funny when I do. Kids come up to me and ask, "Did the vice principal just give you money?" Definitely one of my favorite subjects.

Fifth period - Spanish. I do ok learning foreign languages, but the teacher has this really dumb system of "muy biens" where you have to get a certain amount of participation points by the end of the quarter. Unless you raise your hand for every question and brownnose like there's no tommorrow, it's inconcievable to me how to reach the absurd number he demands. On top of that, there's quite a few of my enemies in this class...

Sixth period - Speech. I've got the same teacher for English as I do for speech. He is, like I said, vivid. I really do well in speech. It's probably my only subject where I can coast and still get an A. Of course, he occasionally assigns a big speech, but any competent student I.E. me can ace these. I'm just sad it's only one semester.

Seventh period - Theology. I like the teacher for this class, but I know alot of people who don't. The homework level is just a little bit below average, but I'm not complaining. I'm pretty much indifferent for Theology anyhow. It can be a pretty dry subject. But again, there are people in the class who don't like me.

After school - squat. I rarely ever do anything noteworthy after 3:10. Yeah. Oh well. That's my day.


"Oh here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again." - Ok Go, Here It Goes Again

Blogger's Block

I had no idea what a pain in the ass writing a daily blog could be. Even with Monday off, it's still difficult to come up with a subject every day. And then I have to go find a picture and a quote on that subject. I should be getting extra credit for this sort of thing.

But I'm not. So for today, I'll tell you about my normal day schedule. I have to get to school at 7:00 A.M. everyday for the school band. The band teacher is cool and sometimes let me skip band if I need to catch up on schoolwork.

The real day starts at 9:00 A.M. with my first subject - Health. Let me put it kindly, I hate health. I can't say anything about the teacher. There's kids at my school who read my blog.

Second subject - English 1. Now my english teacher is, well, vivid. He's a great english teacher and this is one of my favorite subjects. I'm happy to have it for two semesters.

Break - pretty self-explanatory.

Third subject - Geometry. A pretty good subject to me; I've always been good at math. On top of that, I rarely ever get homework in that class. But it still is challenging, even for me.

Fourth subject - Conceptual Physics. As its name would suggest, it is quite an advanced class and is difficult, but once you get into the routine, the subject is easy so long as you understand the concepts.

To be continued...


"If you think that education is expensive, try ignorance" - Derek Bok

Saved by the bell

Luck's a funny thing.

Sometimes, you get it when you need it, but other times it doesn't. It seemingly comes at random. But when it does come, it is vastly appreciated. And there's no other word for it. I got lucky.

Well, I came to school in the morning as usual. I spent my morning working to finish the homework I hadn't. And I did it. I was able to turn everything in. On time. Yeah, I'm stunned myself.

I went through the day, bewildered. And it's like that day I had a shield to bad things. I didn't get any homework. The Vice principal of the school didn't notice I was out of uniform. An old friend (bracelet kid) forgot a loan he gave me a while ago. Incredible. I really was pretty dazed when I went home, but there was hardly anything for me to do.

So I sat around and listened to my iPod. School seems to b a funny thing. Either it's a hellhole overworking me, or a pointless waste of eight hours. I hate both.

But it makes me wonder which one's better. An overworked, but overall efficient day I. E. The Battle School?
Or the inefficent waste of my whole day I. E. The Pointless Hell?

I could use a couple of Battle School days-I been having some good luck lately. Oh well. It's not my decision.



"Luck can only get you so far." - J.K. Rowling

Monday

Monday is my day off. Sucks for you!

Holding off

Ain't it true.

It's Sunday night, quarter past nine, and none of my homework is done. None of my homework is even started. I am inevitably, competely, and in all ways, screwed. Tomorrow is gonna be hell. And to think it's already Sunday. To think it's already November! I've got about a month and a half to get my grades the way I want them. And I can't even deal with tomorrow. The feeling from my first post is kicking in. I am overwhelmed. It's probably my fault, but there's no way to avoid it now.

But why does this keep happening? I'll tell you. Homework over the weekend doesn't do mie any good. There's work to do, but no pressure and no immediate compensation. Nothing. But come Sunday night, that's when I'm suddenly ready to go, because that's when the pressure hits me. But, there's too much homework in a weekend to do in a night. So I'm screwed, and it probably not going to stop.

So here's what I'll do. I'll stay up late tonight and do what I can, and get to school early and finish everything else. And if I can't finish it all, I'll use break and lunch to try to do the remainder. I really can't tell you the feeling that I've got right now. Anxiety. Anguish. Doom. I'm just wondering how I'll make it through the week right now. Good night and good luck.



"Procrastination is the root of all evil." - Patrick Connor

Saturday Procrastination

Boy, how I wish that I was here this weekend.

But no. That couldn't happen. I was supposed to hang out with a couple of good friends today (including the one who got my bracelet when I died (see yesterday's post)) but neither of the two have bothered to pick up their phone. So now I'm at home in front of my computer, writing yet another post. Needless to say, my accomplishment meter for the day is plummeting.

Now the real dillemma on days like these is whether or not I should do my homework. Now I hate to admit it, but quite frankly, I never do homework on Saturday. I'll do nothing all Saturday and work all day Sunday. I think that this is relatively normal for most ninth graders; they procrastinate as much as possible. But the only reason I ever get things done is if they're neccessary. So if I've got three days to do something, chances are I'll do it on the third day.

The only thing interesting I've done all day is get all my new ski gear at the annual ski swap for a pretty penny. My parents were quite distraught when they found that I had grown to the point where every single piece of equipment from last year had to be replaced. So after two hours of hectic shopping, trying on boots, and giving dirty looks to people who took equipment we had our eyes on, we finally had all our new ski gear for the family. I was ready to shred up the mountain.

The skiing season should be fun. I can't wait for some good snow. Unfortunately, homework can and will wait for today. I'm sure I'll regret it tommorrow. Procrastination doesn't get me anywhere, but I'm going to enjoy my wasted time.


If it weren't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done. - Anonymous

Last Will and Testament

The other day around second period, a good friend of mine asked me what he would get if I would die. I knew the answer of course- my bracelet that I'd been carrying around for so long, the one I never took off. He seemed pleased, knowing how sentimental it really was. But it got me thinking. How would my friends and family know he was telling the truth when he tried to pry the bracelet from my dead hand?

So I set out to write a will that day. It took me the better half of the school day, but eventually I had my last will and testament. While completely unofficial and handwritten on a piece of collegerule paper, it effectively dispersed all of my belongings of personal or monetary value to the people close to me. I was quite proud of myself and sealed the paper in an envelope which read "open on the event of my death."

But I made the mistake of mentioning it to other people.

Near everybody who saw it, including a few who read it, asked if I was contemplating suicide. (I wasn't) The ones who didn't told me I'm paranoid. (I'm not.) Now this got me thinking. Is this how peple reacted to that sort of document? I asked around again, and found most of the same results.

I talked to at least twenty people before finding somebody who's opinion differed. After I mentioned it to my theology teacher, she said "Good. Everybody should have a will." I smiled, realizing the truth in it. What a painful situation it would be to split up someone's belongings without actually having directions from them.

So my piece of advice to those who read this is to take some time off this weekend to write a will. It's a good thing to have, whether your fourteeen or grandma moses.



"Even at our birth, death does but stand aside a little. And every day he looks towards us and muses somewhat to himself whether that day or the next he will draw nigh." -Robert Bolt

14 views

As I was making some of the final touches to my halloween entry from yesterday, I found that I had no labels for any of my posts. I spent the better part of the hour figuring out what labels should go to each post. But I finally had my posts, labeled and finished, pictures and quotes and all.

But then I looked at my profile. I looked up in the corner. 12 views. 12? that was more than I had actually expected. I was quite happy with myself, and went back to check one of my posts. When I came back, it was 13. Confused, I took another look at my posts. I went back to my profile and checked again. 14 views. Crap.

At this point I realized that most of the views so far were either me, or planned by me, I.E. me showing friends. Well that's just great! I've put my heart and soul into one-a-day serving sizes and the only person who looks at it is me! Besides, the only views that really count are the truly random ones, people who don't know you at all but read your blog anyway. As far as I can tell, I haven't had any of those.

The net's just too damn big. Even if I do this same thing for a year or too, I'm still not going to get much along the lines of public acknowledgement. Of course, I'm not the only one. Take a look at Neil Cicieraga. Great online musician, does great music videos, and yet if I mention him to twenty people, none of them know him. Well that's kind of discouraging. I'd probably do better if I told you sensational lies about Justin Timberlake's love life.

But that's not me. So I'll just keep on working on my peaceful, personal, daily meditations, and write them as best I can. Maybe I'm exaggerating. It's only been four days. (counting down the days until my first comment...)


The NET is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it.- William Gibson