Back from McCall

In celebration of the end of radiation, our family and Troy went up to our cabin in McCall this weekend. It was a short trip but Troy, Andy, and I all got to get one last day of skiing in at Tamarack. I'll probably give you some pictures and videos of that at some point.

At any rate, Dad seems to be doing pretty well. He's still not quite himself, but I can't expect that so soon after finishing radiation. He's still taking plenty of medications to help him. But my point is, he is recoverng, however slowly. That's all I can wish for.

This week will be somewhat busy. I have a BK band concert and tour in the middle of the week as well as a shadow on Wednesday. I'll make sure I'll get some footage from the concert for all of you. Hopefully I'll come up with something to write about too. Because I'm stuck. Ah well.

Such is the life of a blogger.

A Weekend in McCall: On The Road Again

(The House In McCall)

It's Thursday. Today, at lunch, my parents whisked me away so we could spend the rest of the week and weekend in McCall with some of my relatives. This was easier said than done; lunch was a total mess. It was tip-off takedown week (some ping-pong club tourney thing) and they had a 'mix-it-up lunch'. Basically, we were supposed to sit at random, assigned seats so that we sat next to new people. The prize was ice cream, but as I was leaving, I was able to convince Mr. Vitrano to give me the benefit of the doubt and packed me with a popsicle.

I climbed into the car and we started heading out. Before going, I met up with my family back at home and had a little lunch. By the way, the extended family is Brian, my uncle and author of Switch 2 Plan B, Julie, his wife, Billy, their son, and Annie, their daughter. All in all a completely enjoyable family. We had tomato soup and shuffled into our cars to start the long drive toward McCall.

The drive usually takes about two hours on an unnerving road. That is to say, nearly half of the drive is a couple of feet from a rushing river, sharp rocks, death, death, and more death. But I'm of course used to this and soon fell asleep and woke up in McCall two hours later, parked next to our cabin.

Shortly following the unpacking, we got into our ski clothes and yet again scuffled into the car, off to The Activity Barn. It's this nice little tubing hill a few miles from McCall. You go really friggin' fast, trust me. I feel sorry for Annie - she really didn't enjoy it. It's just that none of those guys were really used to the snow (They're Californians). As opposed to me, who has always been a skiier and always had white winters. It really makes a difference.

At any rate, we went home, freezing and wet, after about an hour or so of tubing. We plan to do something fun tomorrow as well. I can't wait...

New Year's

I've got an announcement everybody!

Holy Crap it's New Years!

We've made it to 2008. Let's make it a good one, eh? For me that means some examination of myself and my writing. I've been up in McCall since the 27th and it's been the perfect time to deal with my own inner-conflicts, make some resolutions, and take a look at my blog (This is also why I haven't posted for so long). So far what I've found is this: I need more drive, I need to play music more, I need to get better grades, and I need to write better posts. Well at least all of them are positive, huh?

Looking back on the year, I've made a lot of progress in some of these. After reading some of my early posts, I'm certain that my writing has improved, and my music has been making progress since I picked up the saxophone again as a second instrument. But school? Yeah, not so much. Maybe this year I can pick up some of the slack.

What else do I mean to improve?

Hockey

Skiing

Overall Fitness

Organization

Everything else

If I hold true to all of these, then I know it'll be a successful year.

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