"Well in my mind we can conquer the world..."

It's been a crazy few days since I blogged last. Wanna hear it? Listen closely...

Thursday was quite the day. I had a pretty good day in school, and decided to play a round of disc golf before Tommy was done with school and we played our round for the day. Turns out the wind on the 6th didn't like me very much. It took my older driver into the trees, and it was never found; I'm still not sure if it made it into the river or not. After Tommy, Dalton (who randomly showed up to play), and I were done, I went home to shower and head off for Albert Lea. Mariah and I decided have a birthday dinner, walk around the lake, and she really wanted to feed the ducks. We had Chinese (we've been planning on having Chinese together since we met), fed a few ducks, and we were about 3/4 around the lake when I realized my wallet was missing. We turned around and walked the long way back looking in a few places for it, and it (like my disc) was never found. That is until I got a phone call at 11:00 that night from the ALPD. My wallet was turned in with no money in it. There went 40 bucks....

On Friday, school was pretty lenient. For example, we spent about 20 minutes in AP Bio talking about carbohydrates and the last hour or so talking about fun parasites. Work was good Friday night, even with the rush at the end of my shift from the football game being over. We beat our biggest rival (Fairmont) 42-14 to keep the little brown jug. There's an article about our team on the Trib's website somewhere.

Saturday was a great day, starting with the fact that it was Mariah's birthday. I drove over to AL in the morning to pick up my wallet, which wasn't too exciting. As soon as I got home, Mariah and I left for NWC. We hung around down there for a good 4 hours or so before Cody had some free time, but it was really good to see Anna. And Carl too. We ate at Hemingway's with my brother (their food's great) and then went to pick up our tickets at the box office. After a 45-minute wait outside the theater doors, we went in and found some fairly good seats. RUSH (student-led, student-produced, student-everything dance concert) was really good. Mariah and I both laughed hardcore at Matt Reiter dancing in it, mostly because he seemed so serious and such. After it was over, we drove back to my house, and Mariah left early this morning.

I worked from 1-9 today, and it was a smooth shift. It started off with a little cleaning in preparation for Kwik Clean, which is coming up soon. I have to clean the outside of the store and the pumps tomorrow and Tuesday. Tomorrow is also play practice and homecoming coronation, which I'm an escort for. Boo to that part.

Adulthood

No, being 18 isn't all it's cracked up to be, although I had a very good day. School was quite entertaining, and somehow embarrassing pictures of me from the Youth Rep meeting about New Years (aka the Secret Santa meeting) showed up all over the halls. My locker somehow ended up wrapped in cheesy wrapping paper. Many people wished me happy birthday. I don't put much stock in birthday celebration, but it all made me happy. Even Jen's random "things I found in the clearance aisle" bag was great.

Work was really good, too. I got my $20 from KT, and I caught a lot of grief from my coworkers and boss. It was a fun shift tonight, and it went by really fast. A couple of coworkers brought in a mini cake for me and sang "Happy Birthday." After I was done, I washed the writing off of my car windows and went back in the store for some gum. I decided to take advantage of my legal gambling age and buy two crossword scratch-offs. The first was a failure, and the second was worth $3.

Hannah and I think we have our theme ready (at least verse and basic theme; not so much t-shirts, Conference Room, and actual name for the theme). I'm pumped about the fact that we have 10 Candidates, but it just means we have to work even harded to hit the limit. My hope for every TEC is that there are at least 30-35, and I'll be honest in saying I'll be happy with that number for this TEC, although a full one would blow my mind.

Now, time for my to be an "adult" and finish my Challenge Gov. essay on whether the Constitution is majoritarian or pluralist....maybe....if I get around to it....

Meet My Manual Manuel....

It's been over a week. Stuff's happened. Let's boogie....

Work is a wreck. Ever since a lady walked out last week, the schedule has been chaos. I work on my birthday (this Wednesday), but at least KT will give me $20 just for being a year older. The benefits at this job are fun.

School is a wreck. All my classes are going well and all, but I'm a little behind on my art homework. I just don't have the time to sit down and draw like we're expected to. On the other hand, our teacher showed us a cool site from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where you can create your own art gallery of works that you like. I have a couple of Yves Tanguy paintings (his shading is wicked accurate), a few Jerome Liebling photos (woot Minnesota), and a really cool photo by Paul Strand, along with a few other random works.

The TEC 69 leadership meeting was today. It was grand. Beforehand, I met up with Hannah and Joey at Subway for some lunch. Hannah and I talked about the verse and theme somewhat, and we're finalizing it this week. I finally met the infamous Joel, who will be serving on Support. We decided to keep our friendship strictly digital (which reminds me I owe you [hug]). I also learned that my good friend Tim managed to sneak his way onto team as an ATL. I'm happy he'll be there, but Lecy and I better see some bedtime stories in our Wheat bags. We also decided we would be on the lookout for Tim each night before we go off to sleep, especially on Thursday when the Candidates aren't around.

I'm very excited for this upcoming TEC. At our Pizza Ranch party after the meeting, Hannah said she had "butterflies in [her] hands," and I can't seem to get mine out of my stomach. Our leadership is amazing, and I'm just praying that we can get a boatload of Candidates. That's all I want for my birthday.

After that, I went to Kelly's to hang out with her and Janet. I surprised Kelly with two giant coloring books, and we surprised Janet with a grilled PB&J dinner. We planned on some mac 'n cheese to go with it, but there wasn't any at the house. Kelly surprised me with a great birthday cake, which i have more of in my fridge. Our coloring party was quite entertaining, and scanning through Kelly's iTunes was great fun.

Only two weeks of school, work, and randomness until the FIRST TEAM MEETING!

Come hither! I speak of wisdom and frolicking!

The first week of school has been (it really hurts me to say this) absolutely great! My schedule isn't too difficult, I have fun teachers, and it looks like our foreign exchange students might not turn out like a lot of the last ones have (i.e. stupid alcoholic jocks). My schedule is as follows:

8:25 am - 9:50 am -- Art Foundations
This class isn't all that difficult, but it's boring. The people in the class are all very quiet, and I'm not a big fan of the student teacher from MSU that we have the whole semester. I'm waiting for the day when Mrs. Wells flips out on her for some reason. So far, I haven't really done what we're supposed to do. I guess that means I should do the two homework drawings that are due Monday.

9:58 am - 11:23 am -- Challenge Government
I love this class! No, the book's format and contents aren't exciting in any way shape or form, but we have hilarious conversations in there, and Mr. Bartscher loves to be a part of them. Our greatest one (which I mentioned in my last post) was about what we would do if we went back to being in a "state of Nature" and were given sixty seconds to do whatever we wanted; no rules whatsoever. My friend Tim asked, "If I smoked a big bag of pot during that sixty seconds, and I was still high afterwards, would I get in trouble?" The best response was from Mr. Bartscher himself when he said, "If you were high enough after the sixty seconds, you wouldn't care if you got in trouble." Good times, and a constantly reoccurring joke with Tim.

11:23 am - 11:56 am -- Lunch
The only thing I have to say about this is that it's open campus for juniors and seniors. Good times.

11:59 am - 1:21 pm -- AP Biology
Although it's yet another college class in my schedule, Mr. Armstrong (or Doc, as we call him) doesn't like to give us busy work. Plus, he really doesn't care about any kind of work on Fridays. He's an awesome guy and loves to joke around, so it's easy to get along with him and make fun of what we're learning about. He already told us not to even bother taking the AP Bio test for college credit because we probably won't get through enough during the semester to get anyone a 3 on the test.

1:21 pm - 8:25 am -- Released Study Hall
I can pack up my books and be in my car heading for home by 1:23 every single day. I love it. It really makes my whole schedule feel like a day of college classes. On Thursdays I even get done with my whole day before Cody even starts his down at NWC. I have another released study hall during first hour, fourth quarter. What's the advantage? I don't need to wake up until 8:45 or so for a whole nine weeks. Fantastic.

And so, there's my current life. I only work about 2 or 3 weekdays each week, and I'll only be putting in 20 or so hours a week during the school year. So far, so good. Being a senior is strange, and it even felt weird writing "Grade 12" for the first time in AP Bio on Tuesday.

Leaves falling on Rocky ground....

There's a wicked awesome lightning storm going on right now, and the rain is just about to start (I can feel it in my old bones). Flood advisories are for squares.

I'm saving my "first day of school" blog so it can be a "first week of school" blog instead. The release is set for roughly 11:30 pm on Friday, Sept. 7 (word on the street is that it'll be formatted somewhat like Shayla's school post). I will say today's pot conversation in Challenge Government was the greatest thing ever, and it will definitely be the reoccurring joke this semester.

Now, onto tonight's real post.


I want to start off by saying how much I love Kelly Castle. She is definitely my favorite Rocky of all time (Rocky I-V don't even come close). Somehow I came up with that nickname for her, and hers for me is Pond. And so, she told me this short story tonight on MSN:

"You know those little Dove chocolates and how the wrappers say weird 'inspiring' things? Well, someone gave me one today, and the wrapper said, 'Look at the reflections of leaves on your favorite pond.' And I thought of you because you are by far my favorite Pond. So I'm going to have to stick some leaves on you sometime and look at their reflection because it will be inspiring."

I decided to blog about this because it totally tied in to some things I've been thinking about involving the upcoming TEC, let alone my life as a whole.

Fall is by far my favorite season, and I've been working on getting rid of some bad habits (i.e. procrastination) and worries (e.g. TEC complications) at the start of this fall. When Rocky (still talking about Kelly here) told me that story, I thought of how metaphorical that Dove wrapper was. My worries and habits are my leaves, and if I'm ever struggling to work through them I have many places to look for help. I don't know why I have to keep realizing this over and over (especially since this was what my last talk was about), but this summer wasn't much of a summer full of community and bonding for me. My procrastination is somewhat better thanks to a really nice first quarter schedule (more on that tomorrow). Then, after a Facebook wall post from Hannah today, I realized I have a great Rectora right beside me in that conference room, and where one of us lacks, the other will surely pick up the slack. I'm very excited to work with Hannah, Sarah, and Bill (who apparently has a personality that will click with mine), and the team list looks great. My mom is working in the conference room, too, and I'm confident having some seasoned veterans (ex: Janet) there with her will calm any fears she has and help her do well as a first-time ATL. I'll miss Tim, but a book of bedtime stories in my Wheat bag on Sunday will definitely help ease that pain. I'm also excited to work with Cooper for the first time ever!

I'm going to do my best to ask for help when I start raking these leaves up, and I know exactly who to call first.........Ghostbusters........or you crazy TEC folks......


To extend this post a little bit, I'm going to say that this torrential downpour (yes, it has officially come to that) reminds me of the chorus to a fantastic song by Melee called "Rhythm of Rain."

Oh you can find a way
Through the rain, the rhythm of the rain.
Songs from your past will play
Through the rain, the rhythm of the rain.


P.S. Hooray for parentheses tonight!

It's been a summer....

There you have it. Summer has officially come to an end. When the tone sounds at 8:25 tomorrow morning, I will be starting my senior year of high school. Yeah, it's a little exciting because it means I'll soon be moving on to bigger and better things, but at the same it doesn't feel like it's time to be at school. Plus, my high school is going to pot as soon as my class leaves. We've been the smartest, most involved class that BEA has seen in quite a while, and I kind of feel bad for the future. But not really. I'll be gone by then.

My final day of summer was well-spent with a couple great kids. Brice was home for the weekend, and neither Tommy nor I had to work, so we decided to play some disc golf. It was really hot out, but we made it through a couple rounds (with a KT break in between). Afterwards, we played Guitar Hero and NCAA Football '07 at Brice's house. He needed to get some homework done, and I had to get up early for school, so we ended it all about 9:00. It was a good last day of summer.

Tommorrow, after my "last first day of high school" (as Amy put it), I'll be playing some more disc golf. I don't work until Wednesday, and then I only work Friday, Saturday and Monday (that is until the week after next, which I don't have a schedule for yet).

Goodnight everyone! I'll try to post something about the first day!

P.S. It pains me to tag this as "School"....