Requiem

When I came home Monday, Dad was unresponsive, laying there, in the hospital bed we had moved into the bedroom a week earlier. A priest was standing over Dad as I walked in, speaking some sort of blessing over him. I joined my family around him. Tears flowed freely as we realized how close our dear father was to death.

Over the course of the day, Dad miraculously sustained somewhat stable conditions while family and friends arrived at house. Mom's friend Beth, and Gary's father, Don. Dad survived the night, but remained unresponsive and of declining, hopeless health. By the end of the next day, Uncle David, Uncle Brian, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kim, and Aunt Amy, as well as a few of their spouses. We convened in Dad's bedroom, sitting by him, standing watch.

His whole family was there in the house.
His wife, laying next to him on the hospital bed, squeezed up against the metal bars.
His siblings, scattered around the bedroom, or throughout the house helping.
His dad, sitting solemnly in the armchair.
His kids, kissing him goodnight and sleeping on the floor to be near to him.
Even his dog Yogi was there, sitting vigilantly next to him on the bed.

A hospice nurse came by, and estimated that he could last a couple of days. By Wednesday, Mom began to prepare us, telling us she anticipated Dad's death sometime that night. But he held on.

By Thursday, Gary's vitals were decreasing. Not shocking, but an ominous sign of his imminent death. Mom, with more certainty this time, told us Dad would probably die during the night. But he held on.

On Friday, a chaplain from St. Luke's came by and prayed a blessing over Dad. Mom cried silently into Dad's shoulder. The chaplain left. And suddenly, Dad's breathing became astoundingly shallow. Mom called us over, intuiting her husband's last moments. His kids came to him and held his hand, whispering "I love you, Dad"s as Gary passed away.

It was no surprise, really, to anybody.

Somehow I thought that would soften the blow.

It didn't.

The problem here is that this is more than the death of a father, or a husband, or a brother, or a son. It's so much more. Words fail to explain it.

(to be continued?)

Good News

"Good news is blowin' in your window
Good news is knockin' on your door
Good news is comin' round the corner
Good news is rollin' round your floor...."

I really didn't think I'd get to say it, but Dad is getting better and better. He's now able to walk fairly well. His speech still suffers but it slowly and steadily makes progress as well. They took an MRI recently and the tumors had shrunk. Everything is getting better. Even some of his hair is growing back. It really makes me happy to see him these days and be able to watch him recover.

This opens up new possibilities for the family. Before this last month or so, Dad had to constantly be watched and cared for and there would be no taking him anywhere. I can't imagine what it's been like for him... but Mitzi took him to the park the other day for a walk and he did well. We're talking about taking him up to McCall. If things keep improving we could take him to dinner or movies or vacations even.

While it's true that Dad doesn't need to be cared for anymore, he shouldn't be left alone either. He should still be watched. With all this happening this obviously means that we're not thinking weeks and months here anymore. We may still have him for many months and even years. We've been getting by on Gary's insurance (he's still taking care of us, isn't that sweet?) but it's obvious that we can't go on like this. Mom had left her work to take care of Gary, but she's going back to work now, and she talks about maybe hiring a companion for Dad (family reading this, keep it on the down-low. That means you Brian!). It's almost as if things are going back to normal...

So Mom's going back to work, Dad's getting better, and everything's turning up for the better!

"Good news Comin' down the chimney
Good news Knockin' on my door
Good news Leavin' through the window
Good news Can't take no more
Good news Spreadin' all the country
Good news For the young and old
Good news Goin' round the world, now
Good news Too hard to hold back..."

Another piece of lesser good news is that I finally found my camera, so once I get it to hook up to this dam computer right, you can expect some more pictures and such.

"Good news....
Good news...." - Randy Newman

The Situation With Dad

It starts with a Dance.
What makes it worse about Gary is just what a man he is.
If ever there were saints, he's one of them.
If ever there were scholars, he's one of them.
If ever there were good fathers, he's one of them.
And if ever there was true love... Gary and Mitzi have it.

So it's really quite tragic to see him diminished to what he is now - speech is incredibly difficult for him, and he has trouble moving around.

I will never forget that week under the maple tree with friends and family, near and distant, all come together to toast to Gary, the man they all know and love dearly.

So a toast! To Gary! A good Father. A good Husband. A good Doctor. And a Saint.

Once In A Dream

The best waking moments of my life seem to be those that are more like dreams.

I haven't been dreaming lately. This saddens me. Maybe it's because of all that's been going on. Dad's been having more seizures at home and Mom is kind of stressed due to that. And somehow I find myself trying out for a play and organizing a talent show at the same time. And I'm trying to hang out with my friends more, but there's just not enough time to do all this and have any time at the end of the day to relax a little.

What bothers me most is Dad. I've had trouble getting to sleep since a couple of days ago when he started having trouble again. I'm just so worried. People tell me to try to be optimistic and hopeful, but I can't help but wondering how this story will end. He's going to be starting radiation soon. My friend Sam had a Dad go through cancer. He told me never to see Dad go through radiation. He said seeing his dad go through it still gave him nightmares.

What to think in these troubled times? The most comforting thing I can ever do is lay my head down on a pillow and be whisked away by imagination. Sometimes I wonder whether heaven is just one eternal dream. A reverie, ever-changing and morphing to what the thinker wants it to be. And sometimes what the thinker needs, but doesn't realize. There are truly infinite possibilities in the realm of dreams, and every one is unique and meaningful. I've come up with songs before in my sleep. They were better than anything I've written awake.

There are two other comforting thoughts (memories really) I can look at. A flashback to that moment in the St. Joe's Church. Dad had just taken the anointing of the sick. He came and sat back down next to Mom. We all held onto each other, and for a golden, hopeful moment, everything was gone.

And a dream. A single dream from long ago. Micheal and Jessica and Andy and Mom and Dad and me, hugging in a beautiful, bittersweet moment. And behind us is a montage of all the happy places we've been together. Seattle, Maui, Lake Cushman, the list goes on. And when it goes black, we're still there, hugging.

Things are what you make of them. But dreams are what your soul makes of you.

Blood Relations

My grandpa Don and my uncle David are in town this weekend and they're staying with us. I may haven't made this clear, but as of late, I've had my extended family in town much more than usual. I'll expand more on this later, but I have to get ready for the weekend - A TEAMS competition and the Junior Varsity hockey semifinals are coming up. This'll be good.

Groundhog's Day

(St. Lukes Hospital)

I awoke this morning to the sound of Andy desperately whispering to me, "Wake up Joe! Dad's having another seizure!" In a sense of disbelief, I put on some clothes haphazardly and walked into the master bedroom. There was Gary, on the bed, twitching and breathing with difficulty, almost wheezing. Mom was right there too. She's a nurse and called the paramedics as soon as she figured out what was happening. After a few confused moments, watching in pain, they arrived, carried Gary outside onto a stretcher, and put him in the ambulance.

We knew the way and were there before they were. And as soon as they came, we were able to see Dad and comfort him. It was a long time in the hospital before I finally took a look at a clock. It wasn't even 4 AM in the morning, and we had spent an hour or so awake already. And we had spent most of that time standing there in the hospital room next to Dad. We all cried and held hands and tried to comfort each other. I didn't know what to think, and that was partly due to the fact that every single thing that runs through your head in a situation like this seems infinitely inappropriate. And you can't think of anything to do or say to make anything better. What are you supposed to do?

We spent three hours in the hospital. Dad got a CT scan and they sent us home at six so we could all get some sleep. None of us know what this means yet. It could mean radiation. It could mean more powerful pills. It could mean anything. But I'm gonna hope it means nothing. And I'll try to start over today. I don't want this to ruin everybody. If we indeed have limited time with our loved ones, we should spend minimal amounts of it weeping. Comforting, always. I hope to God that this is just a sign, a warning, anything but bad news.

Weekend In McCall: On The Road Again

Here is the final chapter of my McCall quadrology (yes I made that word up). But anyway, read through the last few, because this one may be a little bit dull. This is the day that Mom, Dad, Andy, Julie, Brian, Billy, and Annie, and I all pack up and go home.

There's not much to say about the actual packing up, except that it was accompanied by the normal "where's all my stuff" panic and the normal "you should have kept track of your things" scolding from Mom. Sometimes I wonder if my family is normal... I know that I'm not.

And this of course was accompanied by the normal shuffle into the cars. Back to the long drive home. Like I've said in the first chapter of the quadrology, the road is unnerving and difficult. This was not helped by the fact that we were driving in blizzard conditions. Usually the drive takes two hours, and this time it took two and a half. All I could do was listen to my iPod.

Julie, Brian, Billy, and Annie split up with us once we rolled into Boise to visit Kurt & Amy & Ali (Brian is Dad's brother and Amy is Dad's sister, so all three are siblings). We went home and I started working on my homework. Of course, distraction is a dangerous game, and I often end up wasting hours off-topic. Yeah, it happened again. I'm acutally supposed to do homework right now...

Julie & Brian and their kids are staying with us tonight and they'll be gone on Tuesday. So there's the happy ending to the McCall quadrology...

Weekend In McCall: Snowmobiling

Welcome to my third part of the four part McCall story. You should probably read the last couple posts, but I'll try to give you a synopsis of my weekend so far. I'm hanging out at my McCall house with my extended family - My uncle Brian, my aunt Julie, and two of my younger cousins: Billy and Annie. Yesterday we went skiing and the day before we also went tubing.

Alright. There's good news and bad news about today. The bad news is that I'm missing my JV hockey playoff game. If they lose, that's it. If they win though, I'll get to play next week. The good news is that the reason for me missing it is because my folks had some really cool stuff reserved for us in McCall...

SNOWMOBILING. The day passed without interest until we finally went out to Cheap Thrills Rentals to start snowmobiling. So we grabbed some gear and drove out to the trail head where we got an overview of how to use them and which one would belong to who. Each of the parents got to drive and each of the kids got to ride along with them. I asked Mom if I would get a chance to drive.

I got more than I bargained for. I drove the majority of the trail, and I did better than Dad. Mostly though, this was because aunt Julie couldn't drive. I can't blame her - she's a Californian, and she really wasn't used to the snow. Nor was Billy or Annie. Brian seemed to enjoy it just fine, though. And I enjoyed it too - it really is a fun thing to do. Go snowmobiling!

Weekend in McCall: Friday Skiing

Well Hello Again. If you didn't read my last post, I'm here in McCall, staying with family - my uncle Brian, my aunt Julie, my cousin Billy, and my cousin Annie. Me and Andy ditched school at Lunch to go out to McCall with the family. We just got here yesterday, and spent last night tubing. But enough about yesterday. We spent today skiing.

Have you ever been to Brundage? You should, it's a great place to ski (or snowboard). Andy and I skiied for hours while little Billy got some snowboarding lessons. They finally set up their terrain park, called Jammer. We pretty much did that all day. Let me tell you, you can get some serious air off those jumps. Andy did a bunch of cool little tricks and I even managed to do a 180 off one of the jumps.

Around two though, we were spent, and we skiied over to pick up Billy and go home. And that's what we did, climbed back into the Lexus and drove back to the house. Mom shooed them outside once I passed out on the couch and told them to play in the snow. When I woke up she sent me out too. So we built a jump and skiied down it. I wish that I could say that it worked just fine, but it really didn't. Oh well.

We put some water on the jump though and maybe it will freeze over tonight. Til tomorrow...

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...

Meet the Family (p.2)

Same image as last time. There's three people though that I have yet to explain.

Kurt - Father of Ali and wife to Amy, this conservative diabetic is really some charming company. He has a lot of skills in the models business (I mean models as in miniatures) and even made the car in the movie Stuart Little, as well as many other movies that I can't remember. He is looking for a job that suits him right now and ended up with a California workplace. So he goes back and forth between work in Cali and family here in Boise, and it works pretty well.

Amy - Kurt's husband and my Dad's brother, she is one of the happiest people I know. I never see her without a smile on. She's a good mother to Ali and because she lives only about ten miles from our house, we do our best to see each other on at least a weekly basis. She is just really happy with everything she's got, with her family and house and friends and all. She is in all ways a very pleasing person.



Ali - Amy's and Kurt's kid. She's four years old. She's really quite cute, but I can't say that she's unique for her age. Her interests include: princesses, girl stuff, and more princesses. Oh well, she'll grow out of it. I can tell that she's intelligent, and she loves to spend time with our family.

Now funny story about these guys. Before they moved to Boise, they wanted to look at a house to buy. They found some new suburban area and bought it before it started building. So what were they supposed to do while they were in Boise? Stay with us! For a couple of months they lived with us, using our guest rooms for bedrooms. I loved having these guys around, even if Ali could get annoying at times (not her fault-she was three). Kurt disappeared during the day to oversee the construction and make sure it was perfect. And in a couple of months, it was completed and they moved out. It was kind of like roommates for a while there.

At any rate, that's my family here in Boise. You may hear some more later about my extended family.

Meet the Family

Note - Gary, my dad, is not in this picture. He was the one taking it.

This is my immediate family, as well as my aunt, uncle, and cousin. Not my only ones, but they live here in Boise, so I get to see them alot more than most of my extended family. (Most of them are in California.) And I will now describe them in no particular order.

Jessica - My sister of 22. She always liked me and is very nice. She is good company and enjoys girly things like clothes and makeup. She also enjoys partying with Micheal on a regular basis. She goes to college at BSU and owns a little house about a mile away from ours. She visits often, but I can tell that she's starting to get a life of her own now that she's an adult.

Micheal - My brother of 20. He is strong, philosophical, if somewhat arrogant. He is funny and great conversation. I don't get to see too much of him anymore because he goes to college in St. John's in Minnesota, but I miss him every second that he's gone. One of my favorite characters in my life.

Me - Oh come on. It's on the sidebar.

Andy - My brother of 13. This is one of the most competitive, athletic people I know. He's on year-round swim team, some sort of plus soccer team, as well as having played most of the other sports out there. He's somewhat annoying and malicious, but I have faith that he's going to mature and be a good person someday.

Mitzi - My mother of ??? She is really a great Mom. She's always been really caring, and how I was brought up really made me a good person. And a lot of it comes from her. She's never really does things if she doesn't think that it's right. She's got a great sense of right and wrong, and a great will to follow the first one. Besides that, she's a nurse working under a neurosurgeon at St. Luke's Hospital.

Gary - (not shown) My father of ??? He as well is a great Dad. He was the religious factor in the family, and was an outspoken Catholic to try to teach us about his faith. He is a doctor - anesthesiologist - and works at St. Luke's as well. I think Dad told me he met Mom over a patient. He really is brilliant, much smarter than I am. He recently was diagnosed with cancer, but he's taken some chemo and if things continue as they are, it could be normal again. I love him so much, and hope that it will be normal again.

Later: Amy, Kurt, and Ali.

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 Weekend

Why is it that whenever I try to spend a weekend studying, something screws it up?

You may doubt me, but I would have spent the whole weekend in front of books if it had not been for other commitments. Why are there sports events on finals weekend anyway? I'm surprised that BK allows that sort of thing; they seem to value grades alot more than athleticism. Of course I could be wrong. But Saturday was not a good day to study for me.

I was able to finish some of my homework Saturday, but only a fraction of my ridiculously large 50-page Spanish worksheet. I would have finished more, but it's amazing how many distractions you can find in your room when there's work to be done. About quarter til 3, I put my gear in the back of the car and headed out to hockey.

We were playing the Canyon County Coyotes. Most of them were eighth graders and girls, but they didn't play half bad. Unsurprisingly, the refs sucked and the other team was hooking and roughing without penalization. They actually turned out to be really aggressive, and at one point in the game, they half knocked one of our players down in front of their net, one of those classic brawls in the crease. At any rate, we tied them, 2-2, and I got a good assist (he really deflected it more than anything else). The team's improving a lot though, and we're probably one of the strongest teams in the league by now.

After that I had to hurry to a Varsity basketball game because I'm in the pep band and I had to play. On my way over I noticed that there was a room filled with food and marshmallow shooters. And understand me, I had had no dinner and I just got back from the hockey game. So what do I do? I casually walk in and try to blend as much as possible while taking a piece of delicious brownie. After eating a few snacks I grabbed another brownie and left. My friend Cameron saw me and laughed. "Look at him! He just jacks food and leaves!" Well he's pretty much right.

At any rate I soon found myself playing keyboard with the band. And I got to say, the cheerleaders get a lot more credit than the pep band does, and that seems unfair when it the band takes more effort. I have to get up an hour earlier for band practice every morning, almost without exception. Can they say the same? We played at breaks and timeouts throughout the game and then moved all our stuff back to the music room. My folks picked me up and I was looking forward to sleeping in.

But that didn't happen.

Instead I did what most catholic boys and teenagers fear: get up early for mass. An 8:00 AM mass. School starts at that time for the love of God! Oh well, it was a good mass. I really enjoy the Homilies the most in a mass, probably because it's the most original part of the mass. This one was a good one, and it was shortly followed up by an Anointing of the Sick. When the priest called for those who wanted the sacrament to stand up, Gary stood up. As he walked up, I looked at Mom to see that there was a tear rolling down her cheek. He sat back down and we all held each other as a family, suspended in that one golden, peaceful moment.

I hardly studied at all this weekend, but I spent some good time with my family. I'm content.


"Love...is the strangest thing..." - James and the Giant Peach

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

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