Nertz (??)

About a year ago, I had a chance to play a game that is very related to solitaire in many ways. The people I played with called it Nerts. After looking it up, I have found out that it is not a widespread game, or at least that it is known by a different name, but we all called it Nerts.

Nerts is played with multiple people. I would say that four people is about the optimum amount. It can also be played with teams of two. This allows more people to play the same game, and also speeds up the game considerably.

Every player (or partner pair) gets their own deck. The decks should have different backsides, so that they can be separated after play. The players each stack thirteen cards into a pile face-down, and then four additional cards face-up next to these 13. The top card in the 13 pile is then flipped face-up on top of the pile. To end the round, someone must get rid of all of these 13 cards. To "get rid of" these cards, players can either stack them onto the four piles (solitaire style, meaning 7-6-5-4-3 etc. alternating colors) or play them onto the field. The field (middle section) is the equivalent of the stacks on the top of a solitaire game. The first cards to be played out there are aces, and then twos of the same suit may be played on top of the aces, and so on. This is the main way to "get rid of" cards. Cards from the four piles or the card on top of the 13 pile may be played onto the field. Of course, when the top card of the 13 pile is played, the next card on the 13 pile should be flipped over, so that it can be played.

This next paragraph is about the other half of the game, which, as you can already see, gets very complicated while playing. This paragraph is about what the second partner would do, if there are partners. Otherwise, the one player will do both of these jobs. The second partner will have the remaining cards (after the 13 pile and 4 face-ups are dealt onto the table). Like in solitaire, they have the main deck, and play with them. The cards are laid down in threes, and the top card may be played either onto the field, or onto the 4 cards. Playing onto the 4 cards is rarely useful, but it can help get certain cards from the 13 deck in play, so that more can be played. Also, like solitaire, after the top (of the three) cards is played, the one under it can then be played. Also, neither can be played, and then 3 more cards may be laid down. This player is often dealing the cards very fast, and quickly scanning the card on the field, as well as on the 4 stacks. These cards may be played onto the field directly, or onto the 4 stacks, where the other partner may play them onto the field. Also, the player #2 may play cards from the 4 stacks onto the field. Much teamwork, and possibly counciling, are needed from the two partners, as games often get fierce and competitive.

Solitaire

With the addition of solitaire to my blog, I am blogging about the two games that I play after finals tests. Which one I play depends on if the whole class is done, and we can talk, or if we have to sit and be silent. I would, of course, play Texas Hold 'Em if we could talk, but if not, I would play solitaire.

Solitaire is a very generic group of games. These involve many aspects that the solitaire that you an I think of has. This common form of solitaire is called Klondike. It became so popular because of its default on Windows computers. This program was created by Wes Cherry, but he was never paid, because of complications.

Klondike solitaire has a few different styles of play. The original style is to draw one card at a time, allowing the player to draw through the deck as many times as they want. The Vegas version consists of drawing three cards at a time, and restricting the amount of times a person can go through the deck.

Though debatable, I think that Klondike has very little strategy. All that one has to do is not play stupid. For instance, a stupid move would be to play 2 through 7 of hearts, if the other suits are still on their ace. This restricts clubs and spades from being played on the field, and jeopardizes the game for the player. Maybe that is a bad example, because play as many cards on top is not stupid, but a novice mistake. But really, a small amount of experience and a little bit of thinking is all anyone needs to play.

Poker Face

A good poker face is often the difference between getting a lot of chips and very few. If people don't know whether or not you are bluffing, and your expression doesn't give away your hand, it is them in the predicament. If they can tell that you are bluffing, based on your facial expression, they could call your high bets and end up taking lots of your money. If you watch a World Series of Poker, it is very obvious that the players have taken time to create a good poker face, because their faces are always completely expressionless (at least until they win big).

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/pokerface.jpg

An easy way to make a good poker face is to find some sunglasses that do not allow other people to see your eyes. The picture on the link is an example of this. Often people's eyes can tell a lot about what they are thinking. Perhaps I have a 7 and 10 in my hand. This could result in two different straights: 10 high and jack high. To see if I have one of these straights, I would have to scan the community cards a few times over (maybe someone else would only scan once, but I know that I would forget half the cards by the time I'm done scanning). If someone saw me doing this, they would know that I have, or have close to, a straight, full house, or some other somewhat complicated hand. All of these hands are good, so they may fold, and give me less of a pot when (or if) I get the straight. Sunglasses would have influenced this situation, and the beauty of it is that they require no practice or skill to use.

A simple, yet often very hard, way to create a good poker face is to not smile. Smiling is the first reaction people have to getting good hands, or seeing people stay in when they know they shouldn't. If someone with a keen eye sees someone merely hold back a smile, the resulting decision could be changed. A strategy I sometimes use to not smile is to figure out what I am going to do, then think about something totally off the subject. Usually the thing I think about is also very complex or disgusting. This averts my mind until it is my turn to call, check, or raise, and also keeps any emotion I had off of my face.

Having a good poker face can always helps to keep other players from knowing what cards you have, but providing fake expressions could also be very effective. If you know that you are a poker player who often smiles at a good hand, and then quickly creates a straight face, you might want to smile in the same fashion at a time when most, or all, people are looking at you. This could make them think that you have a good hand, and bluffing would then be easier for you.

Though very closely related to the previous strategy, random expressions can create a good poker face. This is a strategy that I love to use when playing poker. If I get a bad hand, I will think about something funny, and laugh. I still play smart, but this randomness not only confuses opponents, but also helps the player, who might have trouble holding back their true emotions. The other players would simply think that you are faking, and disregard your expression(s).

Ultimately, you have to decide which strategy to use. This is done through examining your opponents, trying out different strategies, and having experience playing the game.

History

Texas Hold 'Em, or simply Hold 'Em, was invented in in Robstown, Texas.

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It was created in the early 1900s, where it spread through Texas, but wasn't introduced to Las Vegas until 1967, by a group of Texan gamblers. The game that we play today originally was split into two games: hold 'em and draw poker. Hold 'em is very close to what we play now, and draw poker uses only two bets, instead of four. In Las Vegas, hold 'em was being played in the Golden Nugget Casino, but it didn't attract any wealthy people, so the game grew very slowly.

Eventually, an event that later became what is now known as the World Series of Poker was established in 1969. Participants played many variations of poker, including Texas hold 'em. After its first year, no-limit Texas hold 'em was played as the main event.

In later years, variations of Texas hold 'em were prohibited in California, but Texas hold 'em remained legal, mainly because it was based more on skill than only luck.

It wasn't until the 2000s when Texas hold 'em passed 7 card stud as the most popular form of poker. This is thought to be because of wide-spread television and internet coverage.

Online Poker

Online poker is in many ways very different than live poker. One of the big differences is that one isn't required to go into a room with all of their chips. Also, people often go all in when they get bored, which screws the game up for many people.



The requirement of using all of your chips at all times is often enforced when playing with friends. This makes it impossible to go all in, lose, and keep playing. this is very important because going all in can be a very strategic, yet risky maneuver. To hide chips behind your back and go all in would not, in fact, be going all in. Going to a table with a certain amount of chips and holding some back is a very common thing in casinos, however. This aspect makes online poker more like casinos. The difference of casinos and at home play is often that in casinos, one can cash out whenever they want. At home, there are often rules that restrict that rule. Usually, people play until all but one person is out. Third place often gets around what they bought in for, second gets a little more, and first gets the whole rest of the pot. Buying out midplay would mean that someone could make more money than the third place winner in a small amount of time. Also, the first place winner would get less of the pot.



Online poker is offered in many places on the web, both for fun and for money (which is usually fun). The free versions often have a problem when people realize that 3000 chips is worth nothing, and 10 ships is also worth nothing. This leads people to play very riskily and, with the combination of not using all of their money (as previously mentioned), go all in frequently. A good game of online poker has people who are playing to have fun, but also to be fair. I have played a version of online poker on facebook, which actually had some conservative people playing. This increased strategy used in ways such as bluffing. The address to this specific site is www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2389801228. These games are a great waste of time (in the most positive sense of the phrase), and provide many people with cheap entertainment. Though I have never played online poker with real money, I believe that people play with less risk, because of the possibility of losing money.

The different places to play poker effect the game experience, and everyone should take into account who they are playing with and where they are when playing a game of poker.

Some rules

I'm not going to say how to play the game, because most of that is very boring, and most people know already. For my sake, and also for your sake (possibly), I am going to go over which hands are the best, and some other sometimes forgotten rules in Texas Hold Em.

Someone once asked me "what is the best and the worst hands in poker." I looked at them, and was kind of confused with the question. She wanted to figure out these extremes to have a basis on how good certain cards are, but i knew it wouldn't help. Also, I didn't know how to explain that to her. I told her that a royal flush is the best hand, and a 7 high is the worst hand, but nobody ever gets those two hands. The truth is that the hard thing about knowing which hands are better is kind of complicated. Firstly, there are seven cards out, but one can only use five. This is confusing, because someone might think that they have three pairs, because they do, but three pairs is obviously a six carded hand, and does not fly in poker. Also, there are many different kinds of good poker hands that do not necessarily seem alike. An example is a flush and a pair. The flush is much better than the pair, but a flush doesn't even have one pair inside it.

These problems are often solved with posters, which are bought by many recreational poker players, who like to play, but cannot always remember all the rules. If someone asked me if a full house (a pair and three of a kind) is better or worse than a flush, i would have no idea. I could very easily find out by looking at one of these posters that a full house is better. Also, if in the same situation I forgot what a flush was, I could look at this same poster to figure out that it is five cards of the same suit.

Sometimes two people will get the same hand. This often makes one of the more experienced poker players at the table grow interested. In these situations, sometimes a 'kicker' is used, and sometimes it is not. The whole 'kicker' rule is not on most posters that i have seen, and it is complicated. The kicker is the next highest card that is not in the most important part of the hand. If I had two pair (2s and 4s), and my friend had 2 pair (2s and 4s), and my next highest card is and 8, the 8 would b the kicker. If my friend's next highest card is a jack, since their kicker is higher than mine, they would win. If the kickers are the same value, the pot is split. In some instances, however, kickers are not used. I have found this is true in flushes, when a certain high card is a community card. I have also found, however that a flush will use a kicker. Obviously, different people play with different rules, which brings me to my next topic.

Some people play so that nobody will ever split the pot. To do this, they use the values of suits. This is also very diverse. Some people say hearts are high, and some people say spades are high. Not only are the orders different, but the applied card can also be different. Some people look at the high card's suit(s), and some people look at the kicker's. This is all very personal, and must be explained in detail at the beginning of the game to avoid big arguments in the middle of the game. The way I see it, though, is that having the exact same hand and kicker is not very probable; if it did happen, splitting the deck would be a fine compromise.

Texas Hold 'Em

About a week ago, I got a chance to play texast hold 'em with some friends. There was about 10 people playing, and we played elimination. At first, we had two separate tables, or games. We played at these tables until only 3 people at each table remained. At this time, We merged the two games. By the time we had gotten this far, about 3 hours had passed, and the friend's dad had to go to bed. We decided to play in the garage, and the father agreed. We then played for about 3 more hours. Around 12, people started talking about going home, because it is illeagal to drive past 12:30. We decided to end the game there. It was at this time that I did a very stupid move. I took out the chips from my back pocket. When my friend was passing out the chips, he had made an extra pile. I snatched it, and kept it in my back pocket the whole game until this moment. I took them out to compare how much we had, and how much we had started with. Only one other person recognized that I wasn't cheating by having those in my back pocket. He too, however, wanted to rank higher, and by counting me out of the running, as I had gotten first place, everyone would be granted a higher position. Needless to say, I was shunned as the cheater.

From this experience, I learned that one always has to judge his crowd when playing poker. Some people wouldn't care, and I thought that that was the case. Also, if you do cheat, get away with it. Don't tell anyone about it until at least a wek after the ocassion. but that advice doesn't get anyone, except for a cheater, better at poker. I believe that the reason I won was because everyone underestimated me. I had never played with any of them before, and used that opportunity to my advantage. I often said things like "stay" instead of "check" or "call". I also called a flush "5 of the same suit". For the icing on the cake, I got lucky. I hadn't been close to chip leader until the final table, when I won a ton of chips.

My strategy worked because I could have a good hand, and my opponents might think that I don't know how good of a hand it is, whether bad or good. Also, new players tend to try to bluff, but often get caught in the act.

Many people lose a lot of chips and don't realize it when they stay in. In the game I was playing at the first table, a certain two people always rose the bet before the first three community cards were lain down. This upped the pot quite a bit, but drained the individual pots people had. I suppose that this strategy of upping the pot early on is good for people who are risky, because they have more chance to win. I found a mention of this very situation in the website I mentioned earlier.

"How aggressive the players are: Assuming you've been playing with a few people for several hands, and you noticed some jackass is raising every hand preflop, you'll want to play tighter. Let the guy win the blinds (big deal) and nail him to the wall when you have a solid hand in the pocket preflop" <http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/preflopstrategy>

My personal stance is to be pretty conservative. I like to fold out quick, unless I have a really good hand in the beginning (after the first 3 cards are lain). I then try to bet medium bets every turn, so that people don't fold out. Keeping a couple of people in the game and betting medium bets gets more money in the pot than betting large amounts and playing against only one person. The only problem with my strategy is, however, that more people have chances to beat me. I usually don't worry about this, though, because I don't stay in this long unless I have a good hand (usually 2 pair or better).

A new route

Starting today, I will try to start writing one thing for a change. I will be
writing about card-playing, including different types of poker, other
games, such as UNO, and maybe even experiment with other kinds (if there
are...?). My reasoning for this is that it is too cold to play phanic, and there are many different card games and strategies that I could experiment with. Since I know and often play Texas Hold 'Em, I think I will begin with observing that game.

I will be citing sources that I use to research the game, such as www.texasholdem-poker.com/, which teaches many aspects of the game. I will also use my personal experiences and ideas to provide my opinion on the suggestions from the website.

Jazz combo intro

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I decided to make a jazz combo group, which is a jazz band that has only one of each type of instrument. We play from a big book full of jazz songs. I bought one this last weekend, and hopefully other people got some for themselves so they don't have to transpose in their heads. Practices are on friday nights and I hope we have some fun. I'm going to try to make this considered a class that we can get credits from, but I'm thinking that making it a club is our best bet. I'll get back to you all on this later, maybe after our next practice Friday.

Band rank

Over the past week, band has been having auditions for concert band. The was it works is everyone plays all the major scales they know(in as many octaves as possible), their chromatic scale(again...), a small piece of music that can be practiced, and finally a non-prepared sight reading exercise. I went into my audition not caring too much. I didn't practice a whole lot, and it showed. Out of twelve scales, I played four or five. I could have tried to play more, but decided against it. My chromatic scale was no better than my others. My prepared piece was okay, but there was nothing special about it. And then my sight reading went pretty well. I figured that I got into the middle of the three bands, as I did last year. I was hoping for the top, of course, but didn't want to get my hopes too high.

I did that audition early on Monday. Trumpets were playing on Monday and Tuesday. For the rest of the week, some friends and I, most of whom should have been getting ready for their auditions, left school and had some fun. The two band directors were listening to auditions, and could not even come out of their rooms or look into the hallway, for fear that the blind audition process might be faltered. This allowed us an easy escape. Too easy, perhaps, because we left every day.

And eventually the last day of auditions came to a close. I had totally forgotten about being placed into bands by that time, but other people were not. They reminded me that sometime this weekend, we would know who was in which band. I wasn't too excited, though, because I expected the post to be on Saturday.

So after school, I went home, and my parents and I headed down to Manchester to see my brother's haunted house(the one he was working at). It ended up being only about 5-10 minutes, but we got to see him briefly. Afterwords, we started back home. About ten minutes into the drive, my friend texted me saying that I got into the top band. This, of course, made me very excited. I asked him how he did. He said that he got first chair in the second band, and he was very happy with his position. He then talked to some people, I suspect, and texted me saying that maybe I didn't make it into wind symphony after all. He saw the middle band's people and saw that I wasn't on the list. Because of this, he suspected that I was higher than him, so he told me that. I could have been in the lower band, however. I asked him to look and make sure, because I had two hours until I could check at home. He said that he would. And then he didn't. And he kept not checking until about an hour later, when I had stopped caring. He said I had gotten second chair.

This amazed me. How could I get second chair? There is three trumpet players who I know for sure should have beaten me. I wondered who the one who beat me was. How could've I done that? Could he be wrong? He can't be wrong. I hope he isn't!

When I got home, I decided to check. It turns out that I got second trumpet part. There are three trumpet parts. Two players play part one, three players play two, and three players play three. I was the middle in second part, meaning that I was fourth trumpet overall. The three that should've beat me did not. Two did, but the third got placed a couple slots below me, to my surprise.

The competition is horribly fierce, and I hate that part of band. I know that after most people try to challenge up once, they lose their anger and settle into the spot they were originally given. I feel pretty safe where I am, but I know that a few people under my spot will try to challenge. And if they beat me, that's okay too.

CDs

Today I came home from school and almost imediately started working on homework. Soon after I got home, my mom came home. She started her normal routine, which included listening to messages. There was a message from the library that I heard, that was for me. My reserved CD was available!

About two weeks ago, I had a great idea. I would make one blank CD into my music CD. I would put all sorts of songs that I love onto this CD. Since I had already made a list of songs that I like(I get bored in class...), I thought it would be very easy. I would look in my dad's CD collection and find all the songs I wanted. Any that he didn't have could be easily checked out from the Hiawatha library. I thought that my plan was perfect.

First, I had to find a CD. This was the first time I questioned how perfect my plan was; I couldn't find a blank CD. But after I asked my dad, I found one. I then went to my mom's laptop. I had already extracted around fifty CDs onto the laptop. I had some trouble finding the songs I wanted, but eventually got them into a list on the computer. The problem I then faced was putting the onto the CD. Windows Media Player said that I didn't have a CD in the computer. I checked, and reassured myself that I did. I ended up copying a song from the computer to the CD, but I don't think it will work because it is in a computer format that my CD player will probably not recognize. I decided to postpone the idea.

I thought that I shouldn't worry about getting the songs onto the CD until I get all the songs onto the computer. To get the rest of the songs, I headed to the library. The library's stock of CDs was not what I had expected. They had a lot of CDs, but I hadn't heard of most of the artists. I decided to look for someone I did know, but not very well. I selected a few CDs and checked them out. When I got into my car, I started listening to them.

I loved being able to change the song whenever I wanted to, or even re-listen if I wanted. I never listened to CDs much in my car. I never put the songs on the computer when I got home. I left the CDs in my car. When they were a couple days from due, I decided to bring them back. While I was at the library, I got a few more CDs.

Today, at the library, I saw a woman who was talking to the librariam. She was trying to check out two movies, I believe. While I was waiting in line, I overheard that she had seventeen items checked out. Two were due today, but she had already returned them. I thought that this must be hard to keep track of, and realized that my idea was correct when the librarian told her about her fine. But this complication was not the thing I was focused on most. I had a mew idea. I could check out movies and watch them, just like she was doing. This, in addition to the CDs, seems like exploitation to the library. But I guess they kind of want that to happen. That is why we have libraries, after all.

I am on my third set of CDs now, and am starting to listen to bands I have heard of, but never, to my knowledge, heard. Currently I have Counting Crows and Bon Jovi. I have heard songs from both, but only a select few. I plan on using the library a lot while I am a student. This will be nice, because I can get books, CDs, and even movies for free. A drawback is that I cannot have the forever, but I get to have a variety of material. This will help to have fun, but still save some money for paying for college.

More Ping Pong

Last night, I had youth group. This lasted from seven to eight o' clock. At about six-thirty, I started playing table tennis with the youth instructor. We continued playing after everyone left. Since I didn't have any homework, I decided to keep playing. He must have been having a good time, too, because we didn't stop playing until nine, when the pastor left.

I learned how to read his moves. I started to get a feel for my own playing style, also. I am generally a player who hits the ball with normal speed until a tasty lookg ball gets hit to me. I then smack that ball, so that the other player has both a lower chance to hit the ball, and gets a little intimidated by me. I also tried to change it up, by hitting the ball very softly. I found out that if I serve the ball softly, usually my opponent will hit the ball back softly, and I will be able to smack the ball back down on them.

Tonight from three to four, ping pong club will be meeting for the second time. I missed the first meeting, so this will be my first. I don't expect to be good compared to many of them, but I can surely be worthy competition. Maybe I'll talk about it tonight.

Table Tennis

Like I said in my first post, or at least like I think I said on my first post, I like to play ping pong. I will firstly say that I'm okay with it being called either ping pong or table tennis. I'm not one of those picky people who gets frustrated when someone says it by its Asian, or European name. It actually annoys me when people get heated over these minimal issues. This also goes for when people write essays over how "10 items or less" is written somewhere in almost every supermarket existent. I never noticed this, and find that it is unimportant, even now that I know it should be "10 items or fewer".

Now going back to ping pong. I once did an LA paper over table tennis. The paper was supposed to be about something in the book we choose to read. I read Forrest Gump, though my teacher urged me not to, because I have seen the movie. It turned out to be like the movie, but much different. It would have been a great project to make a poster over the book and movie, comparing and contrasting, but that was not the assignment. I say this because in both movie and book, Forrest is a mentally slow person. He lives in the south and gets faced with many opportunities. In both, he finds himself playing football for college, fighting in Vietnam, meeting Lieutenant Dan, and falling in love with Jenny. In the book, he is fat, is a genius in mathematics, ends up in a NASA program to go to the moon, and lands on an island in the Pacific. In the movie, he runs from coast to coast many times, just to run, he teaches Elvis a very famous dance move, and he experiences the permanent loss of his beloved. But in both, he gets injured in Vietnam, and in the hospital learns to play ping pong. He is a natural.

He goes strait to the top. When China, who at the time was at very shaky terms with the US, invites some US ping pong players to play in a tournament, Forrest is chosen to go. In the book, he actually ends up saving the Emperor of China from drowning, but in both he ends up making good terms with China. Soon after the table tennis tournament in China, he gets to go back home and starts fishing for shrimp, and ends up creating a huge corporation out of it. His ping pong days are over in a splash (get it, because shrimp...). But because he played ping pong in the book, I was able to write my report about it.

I looked up techniques and styles of playing. Firstly, holding your paddle is very important. There are two main ways to hold a paddle: The traditional, American way that we all know, and what is called the pen-hold style. This is more of how Asians (not to be racists, but this is what I heard) use their paddle. It requires less of a handle, and often times their paddles are made with short handles.

A major part in being successful in table tennis is ball spin. I found this out a little from my research, and a lot from actually playing. If topspin (spin going forward on the top of the ball) is put on the ball as it is hit, the ball will curve downwards. This is one of the most important spins because it allows for harder, faster hitting of the ball. Also, side spin can be put on the ball to throw off an opponent. From my experience, bottom spin is not very useful. It makes you hit it slower, and seems to help the opponent. At times, I have used it and it has thrown off my opponent, but usually it is a risky maneuver.

Bed time, talk to ya later!

My Essay

Today, I got back two of the three essays that I gave to my group to revise. I felt like I really said some things that was hard for me to say. I talked about how my brother kind of ruined my family for a few years. The only thing more nerve racking than giving this essay out was getting it back and listening to my group talk to me about it. I was not the only person to write a personal essay, thankfully. This helped me decide to write about what I did.


-LITTLE SPOILER ON MY ESSAY-

At first, I was going to write about the peacefulness of a campsite I once camped out at. I loved the place because of the solitary feeling I got when living there. I loved the fog that always rose in the morning, and the sound of crackling fire, and the lake that I could go swimming or canoeing in. I was going to write a story about what happened up there. I started writing when I noticed that nothing much happened out there. I could describe the place until I reached the word count limit, but there would be no point in that essay. So I started to write a fiction story that could have happened. Inspired by the moth essay that my LA class read earlier this year by Annie Dillard, I decided to write about an animal that I saw. It started with me trying to see through the fog to my canoe, which was not very far away. I ended up keeping this sentence, because I thought it was very descriptive, and there was action involved in it. Then a rustling of a bush caught my attention. I looked, hoping to see what was there, forgetting what I was doing before. The animal did not move at first, but then an owl gave its last hoot before going to sleep. This caused the chipmunk (or bunny, I wasn't sure on this) to jump. I would then follow it, but I started to realize that this didn't sound real at all. If I made it more real by not following it, it would be boring. I decided to emit the fiction.

-MEDIUM SIZED SPOILER ON MY ESSAY-

Instead, I decided to go by my dad's advise. He told me to write about something personal. Maybe how I broke up with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago, or something with Chris (my brother). I decided to write about Chris. I did not delete the old paragraph, though. I served as my attention grabbing introduction. This was also a great opportunity to use metaphors, similes, and personification. I used the camping scene as a constant measure of complete peace and quietness. I ended the paragraph by saying it was the best morning that I had had in a long time. I then used the mention of morning to flow into my next paragraph. Though they connected with the topic of morning, they were in heavy contrast. I told about my normal morning (the worst morning of my life). (I just had a good idea, I would relate this to the movie "Office Space", which should be general knowledge, of when the main character says that every day is the worst day of his life). (But, as I reread and try to find a good place to put that connection, I realize that my negative, quick tempered tone would not persist if I added an allusion). Anyways, I contrast the 100% peace with the 0% peace of my home. I contrast my feelings of love and hate. I use examples that tell just how much I am willing to stay away from Chris. I use examples of how I hate him (so it doesn't sound like I'm annoyed by a little 8 year od brother who wants to play with me) and end the essay with the theme that everyone needs a 'happy place', and that this place can help.

-VERY LARGE SPOILER ON MY ESSAY-

One thing that I hope is noticed in my essay, because I feel it is a very good idea, is that I never said Chris's name. This could easily be revised, and the essay would flow more easily(I wouldn't have to say 'my brother' so many times). But I don't not say his name for privacy. I, as mentioned in my essay so many times, don't care about him or what happens to him. I feel no connection to him. Calling him and alcoholic druggie is perfectly acceptable for me, because it is very true, and he could have changed it if he only let my family help him. I didn't use his name so that he wouldn't be considered as human as you and me. He is just the other alcoholic in my family, not my brother. This helps my point that I don't regard him as my brother anymore.

-EH, I TALK ABOUT MY TITLE-

The title to my essay is "A Still Serenity". The word serenity is one used many times in my therapy class. We actually say a serenity prayer. It goes something like this, "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference". Basically, having serenity is what people with alcoholics in their families need. They need serenity to accept that their parents/siblings are alcoholics. They need courage to talk to about it. And they need the wisdom to know what to talk about, or if to talk. Going back over this meaning, I realize that through my examples I have become more wise. I learned that fighting Chris does not work. I then stopped doing that.

I just had an idea. Instead of finding your own happy place, I will talk about serenity. It is a much more positive approach and could serve a greater purpose for the reader. I'll get back on how this works, maybe.

Phanic

Since today is a Sunday, I went to play phanic at two. Today's phanic was different from last weeks for two reasons: It was a nice day, so more people showed up, and we had pictures taken of us.

A photographer from the Torch, the school newspaper, showed up to take pictures for a story they are doing. It is going to be about ultimate (Frisbee), also. If I reslease too much information, they threatened to kill me, so I can't say much more, but if anyone is reading this, be sure to check out that article.

On another subject, there were some pretty cool plays today. The first half, which was played to 3 points, was a close 2-3. the north team (in reference to the goal post they guarded), was ahead 2-1, when the south team came back with a point to even it all out. Soon after this goal, Dan, the south team's main offensive player, came running down, bouncing the ball. There were three players between him and the goal. He got passed the two defenders, but somewhat lost control of the ball. It was just me and him, just in front of the goal. A goal would've been very easy for him, except he hit the ball too far when passing the defenders. I thought I could get to the ball before him, in which case I could have picked it up and chucked it at least half the field away, but he dove for the ball, and swung his racket so that he made a perfect side shot on the goal. This was the end of that half. We all headed down to the south side of the field to take a quick break.

The second half would be to only one point. This was because a bunch the girls playing had to leave soon. We switched sides, but I will continue to refer the team names to the original 'south' and 'north' names. The north team, which I was on, started with the ball. We had a lot of trouble getting very far. The south team, however, got in positions to shoot around five close shots. Our homie (phanic term for goalie) was new to the position, and only luckily blocked most of those shots. I later realized how poorly we were playing defense, because one goal is the half in that game. Eventually, a couple of players on the north team got the ball down field, and the ball got passed to me. I did not catch the ball. The ball instead landed about 5 yards from where I stood, and about 15 yards from the goal. There was a defender standing the same distance from the ball, right beside me, between me and the goal. Since the homie was currently not guarding the goal, I decided to try to beat the defender to the ball, and shoot the ball straight off the ground, like a golf swing. I narrowly beat the defender to the ball, and as I hit the ball, I also hit the racket of the defender. If she had been 4 inches further, she would have blocked the hit. Finally, I made the goal. This tied the game up, and ended the game.

Since the photographer was still there, and we had a great idea last week, three of us decided to stay. The idea was to make some artificial action shots. We ended up not doing this, because it would be hard to effectively make it look real, but instead played some one versus one. Dan and I played against each other, with Ethan playing all time homie (he did that voluntarily, I can assure you). We played half court so that the pictures would be closer up and easier to capture. The photographer never showed us the pictures, so we aren't sure just how good they were. I suppose I can only hope that they look good.

Bad news

It sounds like my dad is very against getting a limo. He was into the idea before, but I guess something must have happened. He hasn't said no, but it's like he's stalling and eventually thinks I will lose interest. But if I get it after all, I'll be sure to blog more about it.

Limo Business

I think the chances of my dad buying the limo, either as a loan for me or to just help me buy it, are pretty high. This is partly because I showed him how much I was into this idea, and also because I know that he is interested in making a small business out of it.


To me, making a business would be the coolest thing. I would love to drive people around as a job. I would always get dressed up and I would get a funny looking limo driver hat. I might even buy some white gloves. I could make posters to put up around my church and some local schools. I could even drive for proms.

But there is a big problem. Without being 18, I cannot obtain a chauffeur's licence. Without this, I cannot legally charge people to give them rides. I think I have a way of getting around that, though. I can drive people around for free. If they so choose, perhaps they could give me an early birthday present. If I got pulled over by a cop, I'm almost sure that he wouldn't buy that, though, but I think that I might be able to defend myself pretty well in court.

Since I'm not actually legal driver, I know that whatever my standard under the table wage is would have to decrease. But for a kid who can only make minimum wage anyways, that isn't bad. A normal limo ride might charge upwards from 100 dollars per hour. I read that one can get a 2006 Sedan to come pick them up and drive them around for 60 dollars an hour. That's like a taxi driver making 60 dollars an hour. Since I actually will be getting a limo, I could probably add twenty dollars to that 60. But it isn't a new, luxury limo. This is an '87 Lincoln Town Car limo with seats for maybe 6. This takes my price down about 20. Now, back at 60, I only have to account for one more thing. I don't have a license. I suppose this should cut my price about in half. Also, because I don't have a license, I couldn't charge an amount, but just earn tips. I think that tips would be pretty high, though, if I'm giving away free limo rides.

Limo Driver

He said he drove a school bus. This was a very important fact that my physics teacher told us about himself. Because of this, he could drive his former students on impromtu field trips whenever he wanted. Also, he could so a physics experiement, where he moved the bus a couple feet with only his body weight (chain the bus to a fence, then jump on the chain, then tighten and repeat). He said that he was a bus driver in the mornings to pick up some extra cash. He shared the route with someone who drove in the afternoon. I thought this was a great idea.

I was on facebook looking for cool, unjustifiably cheap cars. I found 3 items of interest. Firstly, I found a foldout camper, which is very similar to the one my neighbor has, and it was only $500. Compared to other campers, which are above $2000 usually, I thought that this seemed like a bargain. I wrote down the information to show my dad, but neither of us are really interested.

I also found a moped. It was black and white checkered on most parts. There was a hawaiian looking flower on the front fender. It was $600. The person selling it said that she only had to fill it up once every three weeks. Also, it only costs about $3 to fill the tank. Unfortunantly, other people were interested, and so I forgot about it.

The final thing I found was a limo. 1987 Lincoln Town House. It was only $2200. About a year ago, my dad was talking about maybe buying a limo in the future and giving out rides as a kind of part time job. I told him about this limo, and we are going to check it out next weekend.

Bus trips

Yesterday was weird.

It was Saturday morning, I had just woken up at about 8:30, which seemed very late to me. I got ready for band. I packed 2 pairs of sweatpants, 5 pairs of socks (two blacks, one green baseballs, and two short whites), a white shirt, a sweatshirt, and some oatmeal creme pies. I got to school at 10 to practice. We practiced until 12, when we left to get lunch. We go back at 1:30 to get onto the bus. From school, we chartered to Kingston Stadium, where we had our first competition. This performance was merely a warmup for the one later that night, though. After the performance, we recieved bags of food, that would be our supper. We were to eat on the bus.

And the bus is where we had fun. Lots of fun. About mid-trip, we decided to play the slumber partyish game called truth or dare. Since truths are boring in highschool (for most people), we decided to only do dares. The first dare was given to Carl (I switched the real names up for privacy). Carl had to lick Drew's shoe. Reluctantly, he stuck his toungue out, and was about to poke Drew's shoe with his tongue, when Drew shoved his shoe all over Carl's tongue. The next dare was to a girl who wasn't quite as crazy as the rest of us. The dare was "I dare you to tell us the most dateable guy in band". She didn't ever give a good answer. As we continued going around to everyone, the dares got increasingly, well, daring. Alicia licked in between Kyle's big and second toes, and she thought that all feet were gross. Eventually, we were passing a peice of gum from person to person. This actually didn't make anybody sick. From the perspective of a bystander, seeing kids kissing each other and passing gum, in a way most couples wouldn't even do, we seemed like very disturbed people. For us, though, we were just having the best time we've had in weeks, if not months.

Eventually, the lights turned on and we had to get off the bus. We then performed and froze our toes off. It wasn't until the bus ride home that we got really weird (recall the first sentence of this post). First of all, on night time bus rides, we cannot sit girl-boy. This reaked havoc with the past seating arrangement. But we got it figured out. I ended up sitting by Scott. I was in the isle seat, so I could easily talk to Kali and Carl. At first, we were bored. We had been told to keep quiet, and that resulted in the sleeping of most people. Scott, Kali, Carl, and I all stayed awake, however. We decided about 20 minutes into the ride to play a question game.

It was like truth or dare from earlier, but instead of playing dare, we played truth. I remember saying that we should start easy. The first question was to me. Kali simply said three words, boxers or breifs. The questions following that were very personal, and though the identities of others are protected, mine is not. But I can say that I told those three people things that I never told to my girlfriend, who I had been going out with for 22 months. We told personal stories that have been sitting inside ourselves for years. I explained why I broke up with my ex-girlfriend, and also why I liked her. We were so very open. I am not sure why we did this. I'm sure that being with this same group of people for a long time attributes to it. That is also probably why we did the dare game earlier. I think that we also just wanted to talk to somebody about those things that we had never told anyone. Aside from the awkwardness, it was fun to talk about things people don't usually talk about. It was exciting. Truth or dare was definently my favorite part of yesterday.

Free Rice

Yesterday in my 6th period class, United States history, our teacher noticed that we were all tired and lathargic. Since we were done with what we had to do, and had about fifteen minutes to waste, she decided to make us have some fun.

She logged onto her computer in the back corner of the classroom, and googled "free rice". We knew this because she left the projector on after the notes we took. The first link that popped up went to http://www.freerice.com/. She picked a subject, and then we were taking a quiz. I believe the first subject we took was geography. Since I took Human Geography, a riduculously hard class, considering it is only for freshman and is barely worth anything, I had most countries in the world memorized. I think I impressed my teacher when I knew all the Southeast Asia countries by name. I was disapointed, however, that I forgot some insignificant countries, such as Qatar and Uzbekistan.

I, as well as the rest of the class, had a lot of fun playing that game. Before we knew it, we were quizzing ourselves on german and spanish. But without realizing it, we were actually accumulating rice. For every question answered correctly, 10 grains of rice were donated to fight world hunger. After ten minutes, we donated 1120 grains of rice. It is crazy how much rice we could have donated if we all sat down at our own computers and played.

Following Directions

According to an article in a Psycology magazine I read a couple weeks ago, breaking the rules is actually healthy for people. It caused a small adrenaline rush, which, in moderation, is healthy for the mind and body. When reading this, I was reminded of a time that I broke the law. It was a very small, innocent act, but it was also very obvious and wrong.

I was heading home from a church council meeting one Tuesday, when I realized my horrible luck. I was stopped by a red light on Center Point Road. This road is perpindicular to highway 100, which I was currently sitting under. I knew from paast experience that it is near impossible to turn left at the light I was currently at and make it in time for the next lights. It is always a situation that you can see the green light turn red right before your hopeless eyes. This is often uncommon anymore, because many lights switch based on motion sensors telling it that a car had pulled up to the light. These lights, however, are older.

So I turned left. I decided not to try to hit 70 on this sort-of on ramp, so that I could maybe make the light, and, as a side effect, get some major air from the bump at the intersection. I coasted to the line that made me lose my driving test by one point. After what seemed like 2 minutes, I looked around. There was nobody behind me. I looked right, nobody coming for their green light. I didn't have to look anywhere else to see if I was alone, because those were one way streets, but I looked anyways. Since it was dark, I had my lights on. It would be obvious to anyone who merely glances in my direction that I am running a red light. But the only people around were passing by above me at 60 miles per hour or below me at 70. Even if they managed to see me, and if they even cared that someone was running a red light, though it was totally safe for everyone around, they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. So I took a last glance in my rear view mirror, and see the absence of lights, pushed on the gas pedal. This took me to another light maybe 30 feet away. It is always lagging behind the first one by a couple seconds. I decided to quick make a break for it, and alas, I was free from the grasp of the overprotective stoplight, which ceased to turn green until I had run its red light. I go on the highway, stuck my arm out the window and let my new criminal self go free.

This reminds me of the essay by Ralph Ellison called "On Being the Target of Discrimination". Ralph says that as a child, he would often slide down the fire escape slides. He found it to be a very fun endeavour that was worth the consiquences. His consiquences were not very high, so almost any fun that he could find was worth trying.

Later in the psycology magazine, it asked how I felt after breaking the rule I broke. Did you get caught? If so, was it worth it? If not, what would've the consequences been? The consequences for running a red light is higher than the small thrill I got from the law breaking. I thought about that at the time, though. I suppose that I ran the light because both I had a low chance for getting caught, and I thought that the light was wrong; it should have been blinking red. Obviously this wasn't too big of a deal, but I still feel proud of myself for not being patient, and for not waiting that extra minute.

Of Caring

What is it that we care about? What is the personal gain connected to each thing or person we care for? Can we truly care about it? No need to stand up, I will provide examples.

I care about my parents. If they lost their job, I would have less spending money and a harder time paying for college. I don't truly care.

On the contrary.

I care about my parents. One time I dropped some shrub cutters inches from my father's toes. I felt horrible, even though he was fine, and if he wasn't, I wouldn't be hurt or blamed for my wrongdoing, because it was an accident.

And of things I cannot care about.

I care about my car. If it was stolen or damaged, I may not be able to drive myself around nearly as much as I do now. It would be bad for me if my car was stolen or damaged. I do not truly care about my car.

I cannot think of any 'thing' that I truly care about, or any argument to support the claim.

But of animals, there could surely be a case.

My dog is always around whenever I need someone to play with. This is important because I am often lonely and without anyone to talk to, so my dog comforts me. I do not care about my dog, I care that I have something to be with while lonely.

I rescued a skinny, furless cat from an animal shelter. I feel that all living things, other than plants, have a right to live a full, outgoing life. Instead of caging Snuggles into my house, I decided to let her go into the wild.

To truly care about something other than onesself is a difficult endeavor, but if someone can acheive this noble goal, thats sucks for them, because they get nothing out of it.

Of Understanding

Right at this instant, I am typing on a computer. I am looking at the screen, which tells me what I am writing, but I do not know at all how it works. I think that when I press a button, the computer does something, and then all of a sudden my letter is on the screen. But even though I don't understand, as most people don't, I use a computer ever day.

The fact that I can type on the computer and blog onto this post infers that I sort of know knid of what is happening, but how much does one have to know? I was reading the book "Flowers for Algernon" a couple weeks ago. Charlie told about the time that his workmates were trying to get him to form a ball of dough. Two people made balls of dough in front of him. Charlie didn't notice the big picture, which is why he couldn't form the dough himself. He noticed that one baker was holding his hands more inward than the other, and that the other baker would lean into the dough more. Charlie was trying to understand things that he didn't have to. If he had focused on the dough, instead of the people, perhaps he could have made a slab of dough spherical. In the same way, if I tried to figure out the components of the computer, rather than what the screen did when I moved the mouse, I would have very little success.

When I think about what a doctor has to do in their ten years of college, I get very confused. Why does a doctor have to go to school so long? All they do is look at a patient, and listen to their problems, and find out what is wrong with them. There could easily be a book that has all the common problems people have with the symptoms and perscription needed. The role of doctor seems so unneeded, yet they get paid such high wages and go to school for such a long time.

Comfort Zones

The comfort zone of a person varies dramatically. But not only does it depend on the person whose zone you are talking about, but also the situation that the person is placed into. This can easily be shown by the example of showering. Everyone showers at home, but only a select amount have the courage, selfapproval, and/or the need to shower in a public shower room.

I had to take a 8 hour leadership training class immediately after 4 hours of band camp, because I was a section leader, last August. Over those eight hours, I learned a lot about myself, and about how to be a leader. The man presenting the program to us actively lectured about some obvious leadership traits: Being a rolemodel, helping others who need help, becoming everyone's friend, etc. He also talked about other traits that, over eight hours, he successfully argued were leadership traits. These include not being able to get embarassed and having a vast comfort zone. He reasoned that this large zone would help us be more outgoing and fun, but also that they would help us earn trust and respect.

At the end of that night, I made a rather childish goal for myself. I decided to drink a lot of caffiene the next day so that I could be hyper, and have more fun. I figured that this would help me earn the trust and respect of the kids in my section. I did have fun that week at band camp, though I forgot to drink my caffiene. I increased my comfort bubble considerably that night, and that week, and even still this year.

Just tonight, I had a fantastic time at my jazz band concert because of this speech. I have since largened my bubble to the point that I performed on stage wearing shining bright white slacks, a silky black shirt with the collar popped up to my ears, and a tie, as bright as the pants, that was knotted in such a way that the two flaps hung down in opposite directions, with the small on the left and the big on the right. I will admit that a couple of my friends wore plaid suit jackets, but this was still a great leap for me.

I feel that it is exceptionally easy for me, especially around noncritical friends. I imagine that it is harder for other people to do the things I like to do. I pity them, as they cannot live life to its fullest. But to advocate devilishly at myself, I suppose that they get a thrill out of much lesser things, things like buying an extravagent pair of shoes, even if they are never worn. To me, it will only get harder and harder to fulfill my need for thrill. In this way, I am like a drug addict. Either way, I think that these comfort zones need to be poked at until they eventually extend. The reason for this pordding is to experience what it feels like to live on the edge of your comfort, and feel the thrill. As Miley Cyrus says:

"Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah"

And since life is just a big mountain we must climb, we might as well try to have fun soing it!

Future Evaluation

Today and yesterday, I was in Irondale, Minnesota for a band competition. Over the course of these two days, I had a lot of time to think, and a lot of time to play, and a lot of time to talk to people. This weekend, I thoughtmore about my future than I have in a long time. Much of this pondering branched from shopping, and some came from talking to people.

There is this sophomore, who is a very outgoing and fun individual, who I lived around a lot this trip. I can't seem to grasp the question that I asked him from my memory, but I remember that he responded very negatively about his sister.

He claimed that she isn't polite to anybody other than her friends. He also said something that took me by suprise; he said that she didn't know what she wanted to do when she grew older. My immediate thought, based on the previous knowledge that they were a wealthy family, was that he had been thinking about his future a lot lately, and that his older sister, who is my age, either didn't care about her future yet or had no idea to base her future off of.

He was right; not planning ahead could result in a mediocre job and a mediocre life. Coming from a wealthy family, this would not be satisfactory to her or the family, who could then feel like they had to help her, and also possibly that they had failed at raising her.

To be fair, I also thought of her side. It seemed like the sophomore had his future planned out so that he could get a good education that would lead to a good job and lots of money. But what fun is that? I find myself loving the thrill of spontaneity at least once a week. I will be planning on going home to do homework, when all of a sudden I run into a friend who had a great idea. I quickly ditch the old plan and go play chess at chess club (true story). Now I don't think that the sophomore has no fun, because he is a very exciting person. I just think that he shouldn't be worrying about other people's futures so much. Even his vision for himself could change, after all.

All this happened in about ten seconds. After I quickly analysed what he said and played devil's advocate, I started to think about myself. Where would I go to college? What for? Am I planned enough? Should I be worrying about this now?

I want to go to one or two colleges: First for my undergraduate degree, and then law school. I read somewhere that undergraduates for law should take varied courses that interest them. I think that civil engineering is the coolest thing in the world. I especially love the power the water has and the power we have to control it. I also need critical reading and writing classes. I wil then go to a school that teaches law, whether it is the same school as the undergraduate, or a different one, I don't care. Lastly, I think that I am prepared for the time being: I know what I want to do, I am planning on taking my ACTs, and I am considering colleges.

A Self Evalutation

As I drove away from home today, I noticed that I had forgotten my retainers. I was just down the street, but since I don't have to wear them, I continued driving. For about a month, I have been required to wear my retainers only at night. Even so, I always wear them.

I am in a before school weight lifting class. All I have to do to get an A+ is write my name down on a sheet of paper and signify that I lifted for 30 minutes twice weekly. I go every day for about 45 minutes.

I don't know why I do extra. Even the miniscule act of wearing a retainer is given up by most people. Perhaps it is habit. I don't have to worry about my retainer or think whether or not I have to wake up early if I always do it. Also, getting to lifting early gets me a good parking spot; wearing my retainers keeps my teeth straight.

As I was writing about overacheiving in my first two paragraphs, you probably didn't think that I would be critisizing myself for thinking about myself too much. I suppose I don't consider these acts to be bad, but they are not at all selfless. I wonder if a selfless act is really acheivable. I certainly don't think I can do anything for the sole benefit of somebody else. Even community service makes me feel good.

I'll try to do something totally selfless today. I guess it's for me in a way, because I will be able to write about it, but I'll try to get close anyways.

Done Working

Well I think I got my previous problem resovled. I went to work today and worked for three hours, and then when I was done, the guy that hired me came and talked to me. He talked about how I only work like 6 hours a week sometimes and told me that the shop doesn't need me too much. He said it very nicely, of course, and afterwards told me to write a calandar with all the hours I could work this month. I decided that since I was kind of on the fence about quitting, and he was on the fence about firing me, I won't make a calandar. Tomorow I will work for 3 hours, and later I will get 6 hours of work directly deposited into my bank account (good thing I straightened my direct deposit last Saturday).

I feel weird. I don't feel sad that I lost my job. I'm not happy that I don't have to work anymore. I know that my dream of getting an old car and fixing it up this summer to make it work will not happen without a job. Maybe I could work again in the summer. I don't know if I want to work there again though.

I think that it is comical that I cannot work. All last summer, throughout the summer, I applied at any place that had employees. In a two block area, I applied at Taco Bell, Starbucks, Auto Zone, Subway, Arbys, Sonic, and probably a couple more that I cannot remember right now. Sonic, my friend told me, hires anyone that might acidentally drop their information at Sonic. I tried applying to be a janitor in a couple different places, which wouldn't have worked well at all with my schedule. The first day of school, Honda, a place that hires only full-time adults, gave me an interview and I got the job. Not only was I lucky to get the job, the location was great too. It was right across the street from my church and just down the street from my school. On top of that, I got to work with cars.

The job was just turning into a job, rather than a fun afterschool place to be, when I had doubts about it. I guess it has taught me things about cars and work environment.

I guess I will just keep on living and see what it feels like to not have a job again. Hopefully it's a nice, relaxing feeling.

Priority dilemma

I just talked to my parents about my priorities. This week I will work for 6 hours, down from 18 two weeks ago. I used to work Monday 3-8, Tuesday and Wednesday 3-6, and all day Saturday. Now I have band competitions on Saturdays. Monday and Wednesday are jazz band rehearsals, so I can work 3 hours Monday and nothing on Wednesdays. I'm still too busy for much work on Thursdays, but could squeeze a couple hours in if I felt really productive. Soon, a sport that I got good at this past summer, table tennis, is going to begin from 3-4 on a couple nights every week. My employer said that I could come in at 6 until 8 before school every morning because I come in at 6 on Saturdays, but I can't even do that. I get to school every day at 6:30 to lift weights. I am in 0 hour gym, but only have to go 2 days a week. I go Monday through Thursday. This helps me because I don't have to keep track of the days I lift, and it is easier to wake up at a constant time.

I get my homework mostly done in the couple hours between work/band and 10, when I go to bed. I also do some homework just before school starts, after gym. My free time is Sundays after 4pm. Of course, this is also when I do homework. But I am not complaining. I hate when people complain, though sometimes I do, or people think I am, which is just the same as actually doing it. I have fun being busy. I hate to do nothing for long periods of time, but sometimes I want to play video games or watch television for an hour.

Also, I feel bad. Whenever I tell my band director that I can't come to the unscheduled Monday night rehearsal, she understands, but doesn't seem to quite forgive me for the misdemeanor that I didn't actually commit. Also, when I tell my employer that I won't be working the 10 hours I was working last week, I don't feel like I'm giving my 100%. But I really am. Not in one area, but in life. I just figured out that as long as I give my life 100%, I don't have to work all the time or do band all the time. I am trying hard and it isn't my fault that I can't work more than 6 hours a week. If I get fired, I just have more time for other things.

But there is one more thing. I want a cool car. Right now I have a blue subcompact nerdmobile that my girlfriend describes as cute. I love it because it runs and gets me where I need to go reliably, but it isn't what I want. I remember my dad talking about a car show in Parkersburg where he used to live. He said it was fun to see all of the guys he grew up with bringing their old hotrods from highschool. Am I ever going to bring my Tercel to a car show? My dad used to buy cool cars from junkyards with a friend and fix them up so that they would work. That is exactly what I want to do. My parents aren't thrilled with the idea of a junk car in the driveway, but they aren't totally against it either. All I need is a little more convincing and money. Well I have a job....

A teen job is a job for money, and for stuff, for the teen's self. I planned to budget my money so that about 10-20% would go to a college fund, 10-20% would go to spending money (anything that I buy). The rest would go to another account for a car.

After school activities are for fun, but also to make parents proud. I could have fun staying at home all night long playing an online video game while talking to friends, or I could have fun marching in the band or bowling for free on the bowling team talking to friends. The difference is that my parents would try to get me to play a sport if I stayed home. I remember a cartoon that I saw a long time ago. It was called Codename: Kids Next Door, or something like that. There was this organized band of kids who faught againts the evils of adults while keeping a relative peace with their own parents. In one episode, two bad adults named "Mom" and "Dad" were kind of freezing all the kids in this worldwide group in a goupy gel kind of thing. The last survivor was the bad people's son. They told him that they did that so he could have more time to do things other than this group. He told them to unfreeze all the kids, but they wouldn't until he started calling his coaches and quitting all the activities he was in.

I could work a lot for myself and get a lot of money for myself to spend on myself, and I would get a nice car for myself. That would make me happy. Or I could play sports and stay busy at school and have a good resume for college. That would be good for me and make my parents happy, but where is my nice car?

I feel like I could do something for my parents and get nothing, or I could get a car by doing something just for myself. I tried to explain this to them but they started saying things like "we'll support you either way" and my mom started talking about being poor while young is a lot better than being poor while middle-aged. I feel like my employer is asking me to do them either a favor without getting paid or offering extra paid hours. I want to be nice and do the favor (especially if this is a long-time employer) but then I can't get those extra hours that I want.

I'll sleep on this.

Pretty Weather

I will do that movie post, but for now I am going back to my car.

Today I was climbing a hill in my car on 42nd street when a flashing light appeared in front of me. It was the brightest sun I had looked straight into in a long while. I could still see the road, but I noticed that I, as well as the other drivers, had slowed down below the speed limit (which doesn't happen too often). I looked to the side to try to see the road that I may or may not have been driving on, and I saw that I didn't drift into another lane. I also saw the tennis court filled with people. There was not one open spot. I noticed how much I wanted to play tennis, and justified my habit of keeping two tennis rackets in my trunk. But I couldn't stop to play, so I continued on.

Again I looked to the side of the street to see where I was, but this time I looked to the left side. Hovering over the trees and condos where some majestically pink and white palaces floating in the sky. They were not normal, in that they caught the light of the sun like an icicle. Rays entered into the thinly walled structure and snuck out as rays of mandarin orange. The sight was incredible. My only regret was that I had to keep looking down to see the road.

Another time that I couldn't take my eyes off the sky was a morning going to school. The sun was rising right in front of me as I was going to school. I knew that I wouldn't be able to see the whole portrait if I turned right on Edgewood, my normal route, so I didn't. Instead, I made a detour. The sky was lit by the sun that I couldn't quite see yet. The air coming into my front left window and out the back right was very refreshing. I remember thinking that this is not my normal half asleep drive to school.

There is something about nature that can make me feel refreshed no matter how I felt before. It is kind of like the occasional dill pickle that I eat right after waking up. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I am wasting precious sleeping time. I am, after all, waking up a whole hour earlier than I have to to be to school on time. Sometimes I get up and remember that something ecxiting will happen today. Usually I don't fully wake up until I'm in my car, when I feel the fresh air and see the mist like a blanket to fields of overgrown grass.

Movies

Since I love watching movies, I'll make a detailed review and dig into the plots of movies. Tonight I will look through movies I have to watch and review.

Manual

I didn't mention that my car has manual transmission. Since I did not pick this car, but it was given to me, I had no choice. I don't remember if I ever wanted a manual car before I got it, but I now know that I want my next car to have it. I like driving my car because it makes me feel original. Not everyone can drive one. I'm not saying it's hard, it is just something some people can't do. Also, I like driving it because it helps me pay attention. I can practically sleep when driving an automatic. Of course, it isn't the best looking car, so that is one big downside to driving it, but I have begun to change that.

The shifter used to be a pole sticking out of a peice of cloth with a boring blue-gray knob placed on top. I decided to change the worse of the two problems - the cloth. I went to Auto Zone and picked up a Shifter Boot. It is rubber and folds in and out and has a metal base. Also, I replaced the head of the shifter with one with a metal and leather combonation. It looked great, but the head had to be tightened about once a day. After a couple of months, I finally got annoyed to the point of getting a new head. But instead of buying another one that I would have to tighten every day, I made one.

I had two ideas for making a head. Both, I think, are fantastic. Since I love to play both baseball and table tennis, I decided to incorporate them. I could cut the handle off of a wooden baseball bat, or use the handle of a table tennis paddle. Since I recently broke a paddle, I used the handle idea.

First, I cut off the remaining area that is used to hit the ball with, so that only the handle remained. Then I put the handle into a clamp. So I wouldn't split the wood, I drilled a small hole. I then proceeded to bigger drill bits. Once I had a big enough hole, I attached the handle to the shifter. I then added some electrical tape around the bottom for security and it was finished.

My new shifter works great. Because the handle of the paddle was made for someone to hold, I think it was the perfect head for the shifter. I have shown it around to a couple friends who have all given their utmost approval. I feel crafty to have made something that I get to use every day.

Result

I ended up getting mad at my girlfriend, who was to be my passenger, immediately preceding the trip. I decided that going alone would let my mind wander, but would ultimately be a long, boring, pointless ride. So I let her go with me. It was a funny ride. It felt like a first date, though we were going to a gas station in another city and we had been dating for almost two years. It felt like she was trying to impress me, rather than to have a comfortable ride. I say this because she would ask me what music I wanted to listen to, and never once asked me for a drink of water, which she took in a second when I offered it. But I think she had a really good time. Perhaps trying to be extra nice to me made me in a better mood, and let both of us have a better time. We laughed and joked when we went down a mile road to a road closed sign (we passed right by the detour notice). She loved seeing the horses and cows. I loved seeing the landscape as we drove over a hill, and feeling the wind through my fingers as my hand hung out the window.

Eventually, after many wrong turns, we found ourselves in Central City. Just as Mr. Jensen said, it was the only place there. But I do not remember seeing as many toothless people as he had informed me of. Maybe it wasn't even the right place. It did, however, have cheese curds and cappicino. I got a large cappicino and a hamburger and an order of cheese curds to share with Alecia. It was fine. I could have gotten a better meal in a gas station in Cedar Rapids. But it was a wonderful first date, in a gas station in Central City.

We saw horses and cattle and a house boat on a trailer trying to squeeze through a construction zone. She smelled grass and cow pies and skunk (I had a stuffed nose, and normally cannot smell very effectively anyways). I got to hover over the gravel roads that are hidden in the maps. I was running from a giant snake made of dust and always managed to stay one step ahead of him. All the while I absorbed the music that was playing extremely loud to compinsate for the wind clapping on the car.

The trip was a great success. I discovered that even a trip to a gas station in the middle of nowhere can be a great time. Also, my car battery ought to be fully charged, and ready to go.

PreTrip

Later Today I will be departing on my roadtrip. I don't actually need to doi this to power my battery, but that's fine because I'm so excited! It is about 2 hours, I predict, and we will leave at 5. I want to leave this late because I have Phanic to play at either 2 or 3, so I don't want to miss any of that. I will be driving in a big loop, so that the trip isn't too short. This will give me time to make lots of mental notes so that I can talk about this trip tonight.

My ride/trip

I love to drive and I love cars, though I can't say I know too much about them. I have a 'hand me down' '91 Tercel that my aunt used to own. It is blue and has a bluish graying interior. The roof of the car's paint has deteriorated, leaving an odd lighter and less shiny look to it. Unfortunantly, it is a very small car and the top is very visible. Also, my aunt was sitting at a stoplight when a semi truck came around the corner too sharp and ran over the corner of the car. I believe that she backed up in a hurry, because the damage isn't very extensive. There is a sizable dent and the paint has been rubbed off. Incredibly, there is only one spot of rust, which is on the left windsheild wiper. I have only seen one other Tercel in my life. It was green, but looked very similar to mine. Maybe they don't usually last long. Mine, however, has broken 220 thousand miles as of a couple weeks ago.

I will be adding a significant amount to that number this weekend. A couple mornings ago, I got up at 6, like always, and went to gym at 6:30. As I was driving to school, I noticed that everyone had their lights on, even though one could see easily, but I turned mine on as well. When I got to school, I parked at a reasonably good spot, because people never want to back into their spot, but want to face outwards, so spots get left in the front. I backed in and checked to make sure I parked okay, then I got out of the car. I went to the trunk to get my bag, but I never saw my lights, that were still on. It was too light to see them. So I had my lights on the whole school day. After school I couldnt start my car, so I called a friend who might have jumper cable, but he told me to just talk to the shop teacher. I hurroed over there, lest I be late to work, and after some negotiation, he traded the wires for my phone. I got my car started with the help of a friend, then went to work. Later that night my dad told me that I need to recharge my battery. I asked if I could just leave it on, but he said the best way to do it is take a road trip. Now this was ironic because last summer my parents wouldn't let me go on a roadtrip. Of course this is different, because I wanted to go to Canada, but still a tad ironic. So I decided that since I am working Saturday, I will go Sunday after phanic. I didn't think about where to go until the next day, today actually.

In Physics, our teacher will teach for maybe 20 minutes, then let us work on a worksheet or read the book. This teaching works for me, because I get math type problems easily. Other people don't feel the same way about him. But since he only teaching for 20 minutes, he has a lot of time to digress. Today he was talking about acceleration, and then I dozed a little, then he was talking about a great sandwich in some town up north. Well, I thought, I need a place to go for my roadtrip. So I raised my hand and asked him where he was talking about, and how far away. He said it was in some town in Minnesota, so I dropped that idea. But as he saw my interest, he said there was a great convenience store that sells the best cheese curds and cappicino in the world. I asked where that was, and he said Center Point. I asked him how could I find it and he said that it's right there. Also, I would know I'm there because noone that works there has any teeth. So I decide where to go.

Then I planned the trip. I would go up highway 380 to Center Point, then go north on Center Point Rd, then east until I get to the town just north of Central City. I will then go and eat my cheese curds. Then I go south and west and I am back at my house!

Topics

I'm going to write about running, pingpong, being healthy, and the great game of phanic!