Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody! I enjoyed a nice christmas at home with my family. A nice little christmas...

Anyhow, my Aunt sent us Guitar Hero: World Tour (Thanks Kimmi!), which is awesome. Bonus points for the microphone, which I can apparently use to more effectively record vocals and music and what-not. Also lucky enough to get a iPod shuffle, a digital camera, new shades, Okami, and a vibraslap (it's an instrument, look it up).

Anyhow, Merry Christmas!

In Other News

I've been working on an album lately. I've got about ten songs so far, and a few of them are decent. The others... well, some of them are decent. I've also been working on my book. I haven't and won't be posting on my Monday Musings blog anymore, or at least, I won't be posting that story. I hope to get it published at some point. That would be fun.

The Christmas Concert is tonight. I've arranged Wizards in Winter for it, a rock christmas song. The band is somewhat unprepared, but we'll pull it off. We'll be fine. Make it if you can (event details on the sidebar).

I have relatives and friends in town this weekend, including Grandpa Don, my Mom's best friend Beth, and her daughter Alyssa. It's actually Alyssa's birthday today. (Happy birthday Alyssa) They are staying at the house, which unfortunately means that I get to sleep downstairs on the couch. It wouldn't have been so bad if Mom hadn't given me a single blanket that doesn't even cover my feet...

I haven't started studying yet, but I plan to spend most of my weekend preparing for the finals. Except for Sunday. I may or may not have a racquetball tournament with some friends at the Y that day. A lot of guys I hung out with from swim team still want to get a chance to beat me at racquetball. I won't let them get that chance, though.

Micheal's coming on back Christmas Eve. Can't wait to see him.

That's all for today... I hope you've had a good day, and from all of us here at Alcatraz014, have a good night.

Out Of Hand...

For any of you around watching the ridiculous spam-a-thon of my blog a couple days ago, you won't be surprised to hear that I'm restricting comments to actual users now. To comment, you have to sign in. It may be annoying, and I didn't really want to do it, but trust me, it's justified. I had over 50 comments on my last post. Next to all of them were spam.

My programming class are the ones to blame here. In the course of a single class period they left the most ridiculous string of comments I had ever seen on my last lyrical post. It was kind of funny at first, and I almost considered keeping it up for entertainment purposes, but it soon got out of hand. Anti-semitic comments, trying to post my email account, and links to annoying pictures soon made action necessary.

So. I deleted every single one of the comments (even the positive ones, and a thank you/shout-out to Micheal Moriarty and Thomas Allan Hawk for sticking up for me) and restricted the settings on my blog.

Listen, I've had this sort of thing happen to me before, in very different ways. But the point's the same. It may have been funny for a second, but enough is enough. It's gotten to the point where it's just annoying and malicious. So please, I've had enough of the vandalism for one blog's lifetime. Go mess up 4chan or something.

In other, less chastising news, the BK christmas concert is coming up! We do it every year as a tradition, and this time around I arranged Wizards in Winter for the event. This is going to be pretty cool, trust me.

Come if you can!

Saving Up

I've managed to spend virtually nothing all this month. And it's almost December. Which means, with my $100/month allowance, I'm going to have $200 Dec. 1st. The reason for me saving up like this is that I plan to get my little brother, Andy, something special for Christmas.

I've got it all in twenties. It makes me reluctant to spend any of it, which is a good thing. Anyway, the other day there was a jean day at my school. Kids got to wear jeans so long as they gave a dollar. The money went towards someone in Oregon who had recently lost a 5 - month old child. I would have, and seriously considered donating towards it, but that meant I would have to break a twenty, which I was reluctant to do. So, I skipped it.

Bad move. Later that day, a girl called me out on it, angry that I hadn't donated money. I thought it was pretty ridiculous that she was getting mad at me, but I did feel bad. So, when somebody offered me a couple of dollars to do some Algebra homework for him, I agreed. Later I gave donated the money towards the cause.

Moral of the story is that there is no black and white as far as morality concerned. The whole day was a gray area for me. I wonder, if higher powers ever examine my life and look at that day, will they figure that I did right, or that I did wrong?

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

The Christmas Tree

Well everyone, Christmas has finally come and gone. The thing that we've looked forward to all year has finally passed us by. If you ask me, it's kind of bittersweet the day after Christmas. We know that we've got 365 (or 366) more days before we ever see it again.

Enough with the sadness of Christmas gone by, let's talk about how Christmas went. Like most Christmas mornings, I woke, unintentionally, at the ungodly hour of 4:00. I looked at the clock, irritated. Not because I was up so early (all though that didn't exactly help), but because I knew I was going to have to wait another four or five hours before I could go downstairs and open my presents. So I tried to go back to sleep. But that doesn't always work so well for me; once I'm awake, game over. That's it. So I laid there in bed and listened to my iPod for four or five hours.

Until my little brother Andy woke me up, making a huge ruckus. Soon after my whole family waltzed groggily downstairs to our fireplace and tree, where are our huge stockings were laid down on the ground, overflowing with gifts and goodies. After rounding up everybody, we finally started. The gifts and gift-giving weren't terribly thrilling as my boyish love of material things has declined, but here are a couple of the highlights and the gifts that I got.

My older brother Micheal, one of the most arrogant people I know, got a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale in his stocking. Funny stuff.
My older sister got some makeup, cool clothes, and Hairspray (the movie).
My Dad got a new suit which he loved.
My Mom got socks and a flying pig broach. She's really into flying pigs for some reason.
Andy got a Nintendo Wii. We both know it's for us, but he'll probably harass me that it's his. He also got hot sauce banned in several countries.
I got some sheetmusic, some ski clothes, a digital camera (blogger's best frriend), Super Mario Galaxy, a puzzle that's actually a map with my house in the middle, and a cowbell. Whoo-hoo! Merry Christmas! I'll post again once I get my blasted camera figured out...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody! I've been busy spending time with my family and playing with my new toys, but don't worry! You'll soon know what's going on. 'Til tomorrow!

The Christmas Spirit

First snow of the season and Christmas is really beginning to show.

The day started out sluggishly. Like a wet sponge. Like the past few days I woke up and spent about three hours in the basement entertainment center. The thing about waking up and doing nothing is that it often makes you do nothing later. And that's just what it did. When we were called up to make Christmas cookies, I nearly sank my face down in the dough from exhaustion. But I held and we decorated our shortbread cookies with all varieties of Christmas sprinkles.

After baking them and laying them out for display, we again laid around until 5:00 PM and then went to the Saturday mass at St. Mary's Church. I like going to mass but I wish I could've served as the cross bearer. It really helps my experience of the mass when I feel I'm contributing. But instead I sat with my family and listened to the Homily about St. Joseph. I may have wavering faith in the church but it warms my heart to see the community that joins together for the Eucharist.

At any rate, after the mass, we went to Kurt and Amy's. Kurt and Amy are two of my aunts and uncles and they are the only ones that live in Boise. I have noticed that they have some questionable financial tactics, but they are good people and their daughter Ali, is the sweetest little girl alive. She is only about three and like most other three-year-old-girls, she is a princess fanatic, and I ended up playing the princess wishes card game with her. But not before seeing the tree. It seemed humble in comparison to the house, and it really got me thinking about Christmas.

As time goes on, it always seems that holidays mean less and less. Several years ago, I couldn't wait for Christmas. I was excited out of my mind. This year, it just seems to familiar. It just is less of a big deal now. I miss waking up with that irrational excitement of gifts and stockings. Because that joy is gone now. But in place of it I have picked up an appreciation of spending time with my family. I now look forward to seeing Micheal home and Jessica coming over. And I think that this is somewhat better. It may not be the same sort of luster that Christmas used to have, but it is much more meaningful now. I've had my Mount Crumpit Moment (Switch 2 Plan B) and have lost my boyish materialistic thrills of gifts and picked up a much more mature enjoyment in the company of my dear family and friends. It's not Christmas I'm looking forward to, it's the people that Christmas brings about. And that's the true spirit of Christmas.

On another note, hen I came home, I found that I had left my bike in the snow and it made this neat little imprint in the snow seen above. It gives a good impression of how much snow we got.


"It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags!" - Dr. Seus's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Finals: Day 4 (Last Day of School)

I've got an announcement everyone!

Holy crap it's Christmas Break!

The school day today was only a couple hours long and we only had one class; whatever we usually had at seventh period. For me, that was theology. And God it was easy. Our teacher basically handed the answers to it out weeks ago. Anybody who studied it would be fine, which is why I'm sure I aced it.

I asked my English 1/Speech teacher about how I did on my English final and it turns out I got 95%. I was stunned; this was one of the finals I really wasn't sure about as much. That's the only grade I've got so far aside from the health final. It looks like I did pretty well. I'll have to wait to see how I did on the others.

After the Theology final and the bell, I ran out in the hall, hugging people and shouting "School's out!" and "It's Christmas Break!" and such. Everybody was happy to finally be out of school for a while. And with good cause. Christmas is five days away. Five days. That's a normal school week. It's just so close.

With the holidays approaching, my older brother Micheal came last night and is staying with us for break. I haven't said much about him, but he's twenty, he goes to St. John's in Minnesota, and he's majoring in Philosophy. He's totally buff and spent one of his summers working as a construction worker. He's great company and conversation, and thanks to him I'll be getting my healthy doses of sarcasm this winter.

At any rate, there's no worries. It's nearing Christmas time and I've got family nearby. Happy Last Day of Finals!

Finals: Day 3

Getting a little bit colder...

It's the second to last day of finals now. One more day and it's Christmas Day. I can see it now: skiing up at Bogus; sledding in McCall; a christmas with the family... I can't wait.

Of course, I still have to.

At any rate, aside from my 'Christmas time is here' euphoria, I did pretty well on my finals today. I only had Spanish because I had Speech last week (it's a little bit different schedule for speech). The Spanish test wasn't too hard, just long. There were 116 questions, and I'm confident I got 110 of them at least. For speech I just had to listen to the speeches that had not been done yet. When the bell rang, Mr. Connor (speech teacher) said farewell and merry Christmas. And that's when it really hit me that I wouldn't have a class with a lot of these people ever again. So now I write a tribute to the friends that I'm going to see less in the next semester.

Seth Remling, I had fun hearing your stories firsthand. I hope that I can still hear from you through your blog, but I'll miss seeing you so often.
Gavin, It's good to have someone like you in a first period class. Thanks, I'll see you around.
J.J., You always called me your buddy and put a smile on my face. I hope I'll see you just as much in the next semester buddy.
Brandon, I know you're leaving Idaho soon. I wish I could've heard more of your great speeches. Thanks.
Chelsea, I wish there were more people as individual as you. I'll miss sharing speech with you.
Nikki, I've never seen you sad. Your happiness is contagious; thanks for cheering me up.

These are just a few of my good friends I won't have a class with next semester. That's life. Thanks for the memories...

A little bit more of Christmas

Important, eventful day today. I may have to break it down to describe it all. First period, it turns out we have a health test tomorrow that I am utterly unprepared for. Second period I found that I had actually done more work in English than I was supposed to. Break was chaos, and I couldn't get my friends together to practice. Third period, I found a fun way to entertain myself with reflections and minigolf. Fourth period, I had a test and almost a late assignment. And Lunch, I had practice with my band. Did I mention I'm in a band? It's called the Uncrowned Kings.

I'll go into that in more detail later, but fifth period we reviewed a little bit of Spanish. And sixth period was my speech. It was a big speech for me, and I was in a suit the whole day just for the occasion. Most people used flash cards and such, but not me. Because this was a competition. The speech was on a charity, and everybody brought in money to give to the class vote. And I wanted my charity to win. So I memorized my five-and-a-half minute speech and presented my speech with empty hands and full suit. And I don't mean to boast, but I nailed it. It was worth about one hundred points and I only got two points off for pacing.

Nothing happened in seventh, and I practiced with my band after school, until the bass player's folks gave us a ride to the scool band's christmas concert. I basically faked it; I read the chords and new the melodies, and that was enough to sound good. I guess it goes to show you, eh? At any rate, it was really a pretty incredible experience to hear these christmas songs performed by a whole band with brass, percussion and everything else. We even had a song at the end that everybody played, and everybody in the audience sung as well. The band director had me play miscellaneous christmas tunes in the background as people started leaving.

And yet after this hectic day, I can always look forward to the warmth of my bed and the promise of tomorrow, hoping that it will be even better than today.

It's shaping up to be a good week...


"It is my custom to keep on talking until I get the audience cowed." - Mark Twain

A little bit of Christmas

Sorry I haven't been writing daily for a while, but ever since the teachers realized that finals are coming in two weeks, they've been doing their best to get in those final big assignments. I came home with nearly six assignments in english and speech. And the weekend caught up with me this morning.

I woke up this morning to hot water. But I wasn't laying down, I was standing up in the shower. I had actually sleep walked into my bathroom, climbed into my shower, and turned on the water. All this, unconscious. And better yet, when I finally got out of the shower and got all my stuff ready, I took a look at the clock. 3:00 A.M. Why did I get up that early? I laid back down, exhausted, onto my bed and slept for another three hours before waking up again to go to school.

Luckily, the day turned out better than I had expected as far as homework goes. I finished my grammar assignments in class and passed it in without my teacher realizing I had done it off his notes on the board.

But that's not what I'm talking about today. Today is one of the first days of advent, and it really is a transitional day. I'm starting to feel the windy cold and the christmas spirit is beginning to seep up out of the ground to cheer us up. We put a reef on the front door, and more importantly, the tin man in the picture. As you can see, Christmas is already starting to infect us with happiness. Don't you love it?

To top off the metaphorical christmas transition cake, I'm playing at a christmas concert tomorrow with the band at 7:00 P.M. I have several soloes slash one-on-one accompiniments. I'm nervous, but I'm sure I'll do just fine. I hope...

My aunt will be here in town in these coming weeks while my parents leave for San Francisco. (They're trying to figure out some chemo...)


"Christmasttime can be emotional, it may bring parties or thoughts devotional..." - Silver Bells