The Life and Times of A Baron

Return from the Abyss

2009-10-13T10:50:00.002-05:00

December 20, 2008 was a long time ago.

I'm probably not back for good, but I just wanted to come on here and let everyone know I'm alive and fairly well. School is going pretty smoothly now that financial kinks are worked out for this semester (next semester may be a different story). Dorm life is fantastic as ever. The only thing really going wrong is that I miss my mom a whole lot, and she's having a really hard time with things right now (please keep her in your prayers). Maybe I'll keep showing my face around here. If I do, I'll probably end up posting stuff like poetry and such.

My Day Off

2008-12-20T09:55:00.002-06:00

To Cody:
For the record, I have had two posts since the one you commented on. I'll admit it has been three months since the last one, but nonetheless I have posted since I started at NWC.

To Everyone Else:
It's been quite the semester for me. Nothing too big has happened, but it's been busier than I hoped my first semester at college would be. One of the reasons for this is because of the show Terror Texts (yes, the same one I posted about last February). We did the show again in hopes of making it to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. We found out at the beginning of this week that it will be happening, so I'm off to Kansas after the first week of next semester.

Until then, I'm on break, and it's definitely bittersweet. I don't enjoy being home too much. I love seeing my mom, but I hate how little there is to do around here. I'll be spending most of my break either working or sitting in my room on my computer. If I had a TV with AV hookups, I could catch up on playing 360, but that's not possible. I had planned to go to Mankato with enjoyable people today, but the weather crushed those dreams. I guess my first day away will be Christmas Eve when I go to Mariah's for her family's Christmas. Other than that, I only have a Black V performance in Des Moines at Impact on January 2.

I'm preparing for the most uneventful break of all time. I'll try not to let you all suffer through it with me.

My Improvisation

2008-09-02T00:16:00.007-05:00

Improvisation, noun. - the act or art of composing, reciting, playing or singing extemporaneously.

I was in for a pleasant surprise today after I woke up late, missing both my first class of the day and the chapel service. After walking down the stairs, ready to head to my noon class, my RD said to me, "Congratulations!"

"For what?" I replied.

Thinking quickly, he stated with a grin, "For being alive."

After another conversation with Blake from first floor, I decided I would be checking the call board in the theater after finishing my two classes for the day. Why would I need to check the call board? Simply because I had auditioned for something at my school called Black V. This group does improv (much like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" but with better looking performers), and they held a "workshop" yesterday for anyone who was interested in auditioning to be a part of the group.

I attended this "workshop," and as it continued to seemingly take longer and longer to end, I assumed something was fishy. Lo and behold, this "workshop" was also our audition.

So there I stood, walking through the back door of the theater. I was expecting to see a list of three or four fantastic people who had been accepted as a part of this small improv group, and I would've been just fine with not seeing my own name. Yes, I figured it would be a fun time spent with a great bunch of people, but I didn't feel I did all that well in the "workshop."

As I approached the board, I didn't even see a list of names. I knew it was there...somewhere...waiting. The door was calling my name, telling me to leave, when suddenly the gleaming white paper caught my eye. And I read...

I was surprised; I was one of the newest members of Black V. Even better, most of the new members were guys from my dorm (we all know West represents everywhere and everyhow). I'm very excited to get to know everyone in the group, and doing improv will be a ton of fun, along with a great learning experience.

[Don't forget to check the latest updates on my thoughts blog!]

My Dwelling Place

2008-08-26T12:19:00.011-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen who do not attend NWC, I miss you all. I wouldn't even begin to pretend that I don't. Still, I must admit I feel incredibly at home here. The guys here in West Hall are a perfect fit to my personality, and I have a feeling they will quickly grow to be amazing extended family members.

As for going to school with Mariah, I started out somewhat concerned about being so close. We've done well being almost an hour apart for the last two years, and I wasn't sure if the 3-minute walk to see each other would be a blessing or a hindrance. Turns out I have a very good feeling about going to school together. God put us in this place together for a reason, and I know His will is stronger than my own.

I suppose I could throw a few pictures and my address and such on here for effect. Before I do that, I just want to let any of you who used to read my old blog about lyrics know that I'm resurrecting that blog to an extent. Instead of being filled solely with lyrics, it will be my blog about thoughts on theology and such. Many lyrics will be involved because I really enjoy sharing incredibly glorifying songs with you all. Check it out by clicking here (for those of you reading from Facebook, this new blog will not be imported, but I'll leave links at the end of my posts on this blog whenever I update that one). I will also be transferring my "My Nathan" post to that site.

Without further ado, here are some photos (followed by my address here at school):

Here's the beds. They're pretty dang comfortable actually...

My desk, with many of your lovely faces making appearances.

The food corner...where the cool kids hang out...

Every dorm on campus is named after someone. Every dorm except West Hall, that is. So we like to call this man our founding father. He is the reason you can always catch a small whiff of Batman whenever you enter the building.

The lounge in West....

Meet Westley. He likes to chill in the lobby and greet everyone as they arrive.

So, yes. Please feel free to send me some mail or anything.

NWC RSC Box #50
208 8th St. SW
Orange City, IA 51041

My Last Days

2008-08-15T13:56:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure my summer had any huge moments eventful enough to blog about. Yes, I went to Spain (my oh my was it ever amazing), but my pictures tell that story. Yes, I worked the summer TEC, but you would've just heard the same old "It was amazing!" So here I am, one week from moving in to my new home at NWC, and it still hasn't hit me that I'm almost starting college.

My last day of work for the summer was on Tuesday. It was a nice short shift (only 6 hours), and there was cake wishing the three of us going to college well. My friend/coworker (he was a friend first) Tom came in to eat half the cake, but it was good to reminisce about our randomness we've had at work together.

I also experienced (probably) the last time I'll get to hang out with my good friends Bethany and Kaley before school starts. We spent a lot of time on our computers and walked way too far. It was still great to hang out with them, and they're two of the people from school that I'll miss the most.

Wednesday night came as a huge blessing. I was able to spend a lot of time with the usual BW3's crew, plus one newbie that I think will become a regular. I don't even know what to say about these people. They've been some of the greatest friends a guy could ask for, and most of them will be extremely far away (Kyle wins with Fargo). A few of us also went bowling afterwards at the new-and-slightly-improved Dutler's. It was good to get a few more games in with those folks.

Last night was my last meeting as a member of TEC Council. That one hasn't quite hit me yet, but I know for a fact I'll be saying a little prayer at 7:00 every 2nd Thursday of each month for all of them.

My last days at home will be stressful and busy with packing and forgetting half of what I need.

And my final words for this post go out first to the Schimek's, then to the rest of you.

Greg and Jennie, I'm so happy for your family. I told Emily on Wednesday night that baby Schimek couldn't be much luckier when it comes to his parents. You've done wonderful raising all these youth who go through TEC, Ryan and Jake are incredible kids, and I know the newest addition will be the same.

As for the rest of you, I will not go on a three month hiatus like I did this summer. That's a promise. I'll keep you all fairly well updated on anything big that happens at school. I'll be back soon after I get moved in.

My College

2008-05-25T02:49:00.000-05:00

Friday was amazing. Friday marked my official orientation into college life. Friday provided me with the ambition to not want to go to my last few days of high school next week. Friday was fantastic.

At orientation on Friday, my biggest surprise was the fact that I tested out of foreign language. 351 points were needed on the placement test, and I ended up with 355. Quite comforting knowing I don't need a foreign language in college. I might still take some Spanish, but I have four years to decide that.

Remember my post titled "My Jam Session"? Well, I was talking to a guy at orientation who was very into music. We got on the topic of bands we liked, and I mentioned Falling Up. He then asked if I had ever been to Club 3 Degrees because he went to see Falling Up there recently. Turns out we were at the same show (Falling Up, This Beautiful Republic, Spoken, Family Force 5) and opposite sides of the room. It's a small, small world.

I also settled my schedule for next year. Figure this out: Mariah ended up with 16.25 credits as a nursing student, and I have 17.5 for first semester. Lame. I will admit she has earlier classes/labs and they probably take up more time for less credits. I'm pretty excited that my only class on Thursday during the first term is TPE and it doesn't start until 3:30 pm. And so, my schedule:

Term	Course	Days	Start	End
Full	Princ. of Financial Accounting	M-W-F	8:55 am	9:55 am
Full	Intro to Biblical Studies	M-W-F	11:50 am	12:50 pm
Full	Calc. for Mgmnt	M-W-F	1:10 pm	2:00 pm
Full	Theater Production Ensemble	-T-R-	3:30 pm	5:00 pm
1	Concepts of Phys. Fitness	M-W-F	10:40 am	11:40 am
1	Intro to Spreadsheets	-T---	9:25 am	10:55 am
2	Advanced Spreadsheets	-T---	9:25 am	10:55 am
2	Public Speaking	-T-R-	12:05 pm	1:35 pm

My Character

2008-05-10T23:05:00.001-05:00

It was early this morning when I realized I would be having a bad day. Mariah's prom was tonight, and I was still struggling with a certain aspect of it when I left New Richland and randomly decided to stop in Mankato. I spent nearly nothing while I was there, which made me feel a little better because I'm broke.

The biggest pick-me-up of the morning was breakfast. Shayla had gone in to work an hour early, so she called and asked if I wanted to have breakfast with her. Of course, I accepted. Our waiter was having some issues, and we didn't like him much. After a quick stop at Scheel's and B&N, I went home.

I didn't want to go home. I knew I would be bored and frustrated, which turned out to be true. So, I decided to sleep for three hours before my academic banquet. Banquets are lame, and tonight's was no exception. The awkward moments during some of the award presentations were only partially entertaining, but Mark's was hilarious. Then, when it came to the scholarship I had won, I was able to feel a little better again. It wasn't because I won the scholarship but because of what the scholarship meant. It was a scholarship awarded on character instead of achievement. Personally, I would rather be awarded any day on my character as opposed to my achievements. Why would I want congratulations from someone for doing well when it was my character that led me to succeed in the first place?

Now I'm bored and frustrated again. It's because of the same prom issue. I wish I could talk to someone about it, but I know she'd kill me for it.

My Hiatus

2008-05-01T23:54:00.001-05:00

It's been a little while. Well, a long while. Life has been absolutely hectic lately, and it's had its ups and downs.

Baseball has been here and there. We've had a couple really strong games, such as today when we played extremely well and beat St. James 12-2. We've also had horrible games; two of them included 9 errors, and one of those two tested our pitchers by needing four of them in the first inning alone. All in all, there's only been a couple of times when I've felt like quitting this year. Last year I almost always felt like walking away.

School is winding down, and that makes me very excited. Only a few more big events before my senior year is complete and I can move on to bigger and better things. College is screaming my name, and I am thrilled to be heading to Iowa to spend four years with some people I know quite well and others I have yet to meet. Exciting!

What have I got left before college?

Saturday - Prom

May 29 -- Last day of school

June 6 -- Grad party (you're all invited)

June 8 -- Graduation

June 24 - July 3 -- Spain

Not much else, but I'm sure things will come up.

My Skin

2008-03-16T21:35:00.006-05:00

As of Friday, it is permanently changed. I ended up getting my tattoo on Friday in Owatonna. It's on the inside of my right forearm. I enjoy the insane sticking-out-ness of my veins in this picture.

After I was done, I took a little jaunt to go eat some food with Amy. We had a little bit of deep discussion and a little bit of random discussion. All in all, we found Ben's twin.

Then, I took another little jaunt to go on a walk with Mariah. It was good, and I think it was much needed. We talked almost the whole time, which we both decided makes the cold walks go faster.

After I got home, I started playing with the first picture I put in this post on Photoshop. It wasn't until after I got home from the leadership meeting today that I finished the textures. The coolest part was the fact that there was enough shading on my arm to make the gradient on the final product.

My Sense of Humor

2008-03-05T22:32:00.004-06:00

This is simply hilarious, and I'm definitely dedicating it to Greg and Jennie in light of their recent announcement.

My Jam Session

2008-02-28T22:37:00.003-06:00

I originally wrote this little diddy after I went to the Family Force 5, Falling Up, Spoken, and This Beautiful Republic show, which was utterly incredible. To see a few short videos, check them out at my YouTube page.

I wanted to write something about fellowship after the concert [on the 19th]...
Christian music concerts are amazing fellowship in my opinion. The first thing I think about is how all these Christians are getting together in one place whether they know each other or not. At big festivals like Sonshine and Lifelight it's crazy to think of the thousands of Christians in the same place at the same time.
That brings up the idea that everyone in attendance isn't a Christian. Still, they are there supporting musicians that play to glorify the Lord, whether they look at it from that aspect or not.
Kelly [Castle] sent me a text after the show that really sums all of this up [and needs no explanation]. She mentioned Family Force 5, but I'm leaving the spot blank because it applies to any Christian artist. It said:
"So, are you pumped to rock with __________ in Heaven someday?"
It makes me smile because that is such an exciting thought.

On that note, I forgot to blog about "Terror Texts" also. I'll simply say it was an interesting show. I think by reading the Scripture involved beforehand I was able to create my own images in my head, so the images on stage didn't appeal much to me. Although, the set design was fantastic and the costume/make-up really set the tone because of how goth/emo they were. It really showed how our internal darkness becomes physically apparent and changes how people see us. The biggest thing for me was the music. It varied in genre and was sometimes a little strange, but a couple of the songs were really deep. The best was probably "Devastate Me," which was very grunge and was pretty much a song where God is saying, "Hey, those times when you do things to better yourself and hurt everyone around you are the times when I'm devastated. Still, I love you, and I want you to simply give up the selfishness so you can stand up and fight with your fellow Christians." (This song came after the Joshua 7:2-26 story). Altogether, I think it was a show worth going to. Very interesting.

My Bliss-filled Blog

2008-02-15T23:01:00.004-06:00

I had almost forgotten I even had a blog, but then I read Greg's latest post and remembered. Yes, it's been nearly a month since a few of you have heard from me, but alas, I have been quite busy. Work and school are still on my case all the time, but this weekend moving into next week will be splendid.

As for work, I only have to work 15 hours between two days, thanks to the following events:

Tomorrow night I will be traveling down to NWC to see a production titled Terror Texts. You can check out the website for the details, but basically it was adapted from the Bible and directed by professor Barker and depicts six Old Testament stories (2 Kings 6:24-7:20, 2 Kings 2:23-25, 2 Samuel 6:1-23, Judges 3:12-30, Joshua 7:2-26, and Judges 19-21) that tell horrifying stories. Barker's quite as to why he chose these stories is excellent (read it on the site).

Then comes Tuesday night. A fairly good sized group of us will all be meeting up to catch the Family Force 5 Heart Support Tour show at Club 3 Degrees. I'm pumped. FF5 is absolutely amazing live, and it should be an excellent time. My friend Jonathan from school will be coming, and I think he'll enjoy the presence of some TEC folks.

With that, I have officially posted another blog. I'll do what I can to update you on both of these events. I'm sure the show will be worth it for you all to take a nice long trip to go see it next weekend, and if you're not busy Tuesday night we'd love to see you all at the show.

Edit: It's just after 1:00 a.m., and there are still people out trying to fix the water main that broke at about 7:00. Slightly funny.

My Excitementworryexcitementstressexcitementconfusionexcitement

2008-01-23T01:08:00.000-06:00

I got three pieces of mail today, all from Northwestern. The first was a postcard saying they would be at my school this Friday and would like to talk to me. I emailed the girl in admissions to let her know I wouldn't be around. The other two pieces of mail were both letters. Somehow I opened them in the correct order, but how is beyond me (I think it was because the first one didn't have my middle name and the second one did).

One of them was another theater scholarship application. Now, I'm very interested in being a part of the theater program down there, but I don't think I'll apply for the scholarship. On the other hand, I am thinking about attending the theater preview days. If I don't go down for those, I may still go down to see "Terror Texts," which sounds very interesting. (Check it out here and if you would be interested in going [probably the 16th] let me know.)

The second letter is the reason for the title of this blog. It started like this:

Dear Aaron:

Congratulations! You have been selected as a Norman Vincent
Peale Scholarship semi-finalist.

I'm thrilled, and somewhat shocked. There was all that confusion and stress with my one recommendation that I almost wanted to tell them not to worry about my application. Now, on February 26, I will be having an interview and a writing competition on campus. Although they say the writing will involve a wide enough range of topics to complete the single task from my own experiences, I'm defintely already freaking out about it. Even worse will be the interview. I'm horrible with interviews because I still haven't gotten rid of all my shyness. Still, as Mariah reminded me, it's all in His plan and it'll all be fine, but don't be surprised if my blog asks for a prayer or two when the time comes closer.

And on that note, I'll be doing my homework now. I slept for a while already, so I'm refreshed and ready to read some Hassler.

Random Fact of the Day: The longest distance record of projectile vomiting is 27 feet. Outstanding.

My Vast Knowledge

2008-01-09T23:09:00.000-06:00

Our first Knowledge Bowl meet of the season was yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised with our results. We ended up with only two teams competing, and both performed strongly in the written round, one receiving 49 out of 60 points and the other, 45. Both teams remained within the top 3 rooms throughout the meet (our #1 team was actually in room 1 for the entire meet). The questions in the oral rounds were more government-related in this meet than any time last year, which was great seeing as 4/5 of my team for the meet is in challenge government right now. In the end, my team placed 6th, just 2.5 points behind a 5th place medal. The other team placed 2nd, just 5 points behind the winner (Loyola). I still think the Fairmont meet is always rigged due to the fact that their teams always either a) win, or b) do eerily well. At yesterdays meet, all three of Fairmont's teams placed in the top 5 (3rd-5th, to be exact). Creepy, no?

Next meet:
Blue Earth Area Blizzard Invitational
(hosted in Mankato)
February 8

My Schedule, Stress, Stupidity, and Surprise

2007-12-19T06:04:00.000-06:00

I picked up my work schedule today after school, and next week looks horrible for me. Thursday, tomorrow, the last day of this work week, marks the start of a long week. I work 3:15-9 tomorrow, 3:15-10 Friday, 7-4 (truck shift) Sunday, 1-10 Monday, and 9-4 Wednesday. I requested off New Years Eve and New Years Day, so I better not get stuck trying to find someone who can work so I can make it to the NYE party.

Thank you, Northwestern College, for causing the most stressful twenty minutes of my recent life. Trust me, this wasn't an easy feat, but you succeeded quite well. How? Well, the notice that you hadn't yet received one of my recommendations for the Peale Scholarship was a good start (no worries, Janet, it was the other one). Of course, the nice guy filling in in the admissions office who just so happened to steal my name was very generous in letting me sort it out with my teacher so that the recommendation would be faxed to them this morning. Still, all you'll be getting is the written portion with a little notice that says the form was sent to you and it's the post office's fault you never received it. So take that, NWC!

On that note, more stress. I have two big research papers due Friday, and I'm just about halfway done with one of them (the less important one). This stress ties in with my stupidity, meaning I fell into some hardcore procrastination yet again recently. Thankfully, I have a nifty little stress poker chip from the lovely Kelly Castle that always helps relieve some stress (it's also lucky in poker tournaments).

Then, the surprise. I don't think I've ever mentioned in my blog how amazing Mariah is, and I probably should more often. She had asked me a while back if I wanted to go with her family to a Wild game this Saturday. We would've been in a gameday suite, which would've been tighter than a noose in The Crucible. Something came about where that wasn't going to happen, so she told me she had a surprise for me. Now, she and I will be going to the game on January 3, hanging out behind the penalty box. Have I mentioned lately how amazing my girlfriend is? I never have the resources to come up with any good gifts or surprises for her, so I'll have to think of something very clever to return the favor.

My nightime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep I ever got with a cold...medicine

2007-12-13T23:16:00.000-06:00

Oh how I wish I had liquid Nyquil right now. I would love to be able to sleep, but this cough is keeping me up. Thankfully I have some homework to kill some time.

Council was a good time tonight. The pre-meeting meeting for youth reps was really just randomness, but it proved that we've got things fairly well in order.

Speaking of TEC, I showed up to school on Monday to a flurry of angry voices. Everyone was pretty upset at me for giving up One Act this year to serve at TEC. One of my good friends tried to give me a "You don't understand! We don't have enough guys!" speech, and I couldn't bring myself to give her my "You don't understand. I have priorities" speech. So I decided instead to ask her if she wanted me to apologize for putting service for God above One Act on my priorities. She said yes, and I told her, "That's too bad." There were two comments about my decision that kind of bothered me. The first one was meant to be sarcastic, but I just couldn't take it that way; "Aaron, is this thing just a cult that's taken over your mind so much that you won't even be in One Act?" The other one came from someone I have a lot of respect for, but they really shocked me when they said, "Oh, he just lives for TEC." I wish the potential Candidates from my school wouldn't be in One Act this year. Sometimes I feel like nobody I hang out with from school understands that it was this ministry that took all the masks I used to wear and tore them to shreds, burned them with that fire of Christ that was put inside of me.

I'm sick. I don't know what else to say. I wish I knew how to explain all this to them, but I know it won't happen. Yes, they're Christians, but I don't see many of them who have open enough minds to understand how important it is for me to go back and serve Christ at TEC just like I try to do in my everyday life.

Mi película español

2007-12-03T23:23:00.000-06:00

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking how much you enjoy fine foreign films with subtitles; I, too, am a fan of Pan's Labyrinth. If you want to see one of the best Spanish videos ever, I know exactly where you should look (if you have Facebook, that is, and most of you reading this on Blogger do [all of you reading this on Facebook do]).

This video gives you the best features money can buy. It has movie/TV spoofs, a wicked fighting sequenc with some of the greatest moves you'll ever see, a low-speed chase, an upset Spanish teacher, and an ending that you'll never see coming.

Please, for your own sake, watch and enjoy the 2006 Spanish Video of the Year, and the theatrical feature I am the most proud to associate myself with:

Part 1
http://hs.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=21321326360

Part 2
http://hs.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=21338741360

If you can catch either of the two cameo appearances by TECcies (both Candidates at 59 and working 70 [not including me]) feel free to point them out. There's also a ninja who may be a Candidate at 70, but we're all still working on her.

Edit: There is yet another TEC cameo in the video that I forgot about. It is a Candidate from 62 that has not worked since they went through. All three of this person's siblings have worked a TEC at some point.

My Quick, Uninteresting Thoughts

2007-11-29T00:47:00.000-06:00

Just for the record, Scrubs did not air a new episode on Thanksgiving day, and I was truly disheartened. Moving on...

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I thought mine would be slightly awkward. My friend Bethany (who is officially labeled my "best friend born on April 16, 1990 at 7:17 pm") and her family invited me to spend Thanksgiving at their house. This was because my mom and her boyfriend went up to my grandparents' house, and I stayed home due to working on Wednesday and Friday. I ended up eating a great meal at Bethany's, and it wasn't too awkward except for when her brother decided to randomly leave; he came back with his computer because there had been a debate over the appropriate way to pass food around the table, and he was looking up the correct way. It also got a little awkward when a debate on abortion started, and Bethany's brother-in-law asked me my opinion. I nonchalantly said I was pro-life, and he said, "Kind of a tough decision though, huh?" My response: "Um...no...pretty easy decision."

I have a lot of essay-like work to do these days. My research paper for challenge government is due before Christmas break (otherwise it's worth a B- at best), we're working on a cause/effect paper for American lit, and I still have to peg out my "essay" for the Peale Scholarship.

On the American lit side of things, my teacher knows me all too well. We're working on a short story unit, and the group she put me in was assigned to read a selection from Night by Elie Wiesel. I love that book, and I'm actually already prepared to give our presentation next week (and we haven't even started working on it).

What it all boils down to is this: I learned how to make a collared shirt out of a dollar bill.

Back to homework....

My Lost Week

2007-11-19T00:08:00.000-06:00

I feel this blog is appropriately titled for a couple of reasons. The first being that most of you probably haven't heard from me since last Sunday. The second reason is because the whole week was kind of a blur for me. I'll go day by day, just to waste both my time and yours.

Monday
I didn't have to work, but we had our first dress rehearsal for the play. It went fairly well, but the show still wasn't what we wanted it to be. Not much else happened that I can think of.

Tuesday
This was the day of our matinee performance for the 5th and 6th graders. Much like our dress rehearsal, it went fairly well. Afterwards, we had a question and answer session with the kids, and they liked asking about how people had died in the play. They asked how Simon Stimson (the town drunk) died, and we all finally realized that it says in the show that he hung himself in his attic. Crazy stuff. I didn't have to work on Tuesday either! That gave me a chance to go on a "date" with my good friend Bethany. Where did we go? Why, to the NRHEG (it's one word) choir concert of course! It was very good, and I decided the girls definitely carry their choir. Mariah had been trying to get Mr. Rud to let them do "Seasons of Love" ever since she started high school, and he finally let it happen. There was, of course, the stipulation that she had to sing it. She sounded great singing soprano (she's an alto), and Bethany and I succeeded in embarrassing her with a tactic I learned from my brother. At my musical last year, Cody showed up in a suit, and I didn't want to claim him. So Bethany and I dressed up hardcore for the choir concert, and Mariah laughed and shook her head at us when she saw us.

Wednesday
One of my favorite days of the school year! It was time to give blood, and I was very excited. Word on the street is my time was just over 6 minutes this time, which is the longest I've taken in 3 times giving blood. I kind of just left the class I was in (during a test) when the runners came to get me for my appointment, and my teacher thought I had gone to the bathroom. He was making a girl wait until I got back before she could go, and it wasn't until the last few minutes of class that someone mentioned that I went to give blood. We had our last run-through of the play before our first show, and it was still quite choppy, but at least I didn't have to work. I also decided to start learning some Hebrew, which is fairly exciting. I wanted to learn a little now so I have a grasp on it when I go off to college and take it as a foreign langauge.

Thursday
The big night. Our opening night for the play. It went fairly smoothly with one a few missed lines, but the most disheartening part was when we saw our choir director putting up the side walls to block off about half the seats in the auditorium. That meant there wouldn't be many people at the show. It didn't seem like everyone understood it when they were shaking our hands afterwards either. Oh well. At least I got to see amazing people like Kati, Amy, Ruby, and Mariah.

Friday
The second (and thankfully last) night of our show went a little better, but we're all glad to be done with it. The main problem wasn't the play itself ("Our Town" is a great play), but it was the fact that we cut out so many little peripheral things that made the play what it was. All in all, I'm just ready for One-Act, and hopefully we don't have the same issues with casting that a lot of us felt we had for the fall show.

Saturday
My first day back at work. It was a pretty good shift, and not too terribly busy. Not much else to say about the day that I can think of.

Sunday
Oh my goodness was work perfect! There were 4 people scheduled instead of 3 for some reason, so after I learned how to clean the bathrooms (which is super easy and not pain-staking at all) I was able to go home! Instead of a 2-9 shift, I worked until 6. I hung out at Tommy's for a while before heading back to Blue Earth. I ended up talking to Bethany and Jen for a while at Bethany's house, then Jen left so I talked to Bethany and Ashley. Eventually I went into Amanda's room to see the disturbing poster over her bed, and she screamed at us for going in there when she was downstairs. That's when I left.

I haven't done any homework yet this weekend, so I should work on that. Goodnight!

My Fruit

2007-11-11T21:44:00.000-06:00

Last night was full of a lot of driving, and very little sleep. I went down to NWC with my mom and Mariah to see a play. It's a play I wasn't too sure of, seeing as I disliked both the book and the movie. My brother had done the sound design for The Grapes of Wrath, which was adapted by Frank Galati (I have to admit the writing was very good for the play).

I was utterly impressed with the show. I loved it, and I wish I could see it again. I'm a little sad I couldn't make it to other things I had as choices for the night, but it was good seeing my brother and hearing his great work for the show. Plus, I remembered reading Tracey's blog about her labor scene, and while she was giving birth during the storm I had to hold back some laughter.

We didn't get back to Frost until just after 1:00 in the morning, and I had to work at 9. It took me a while to get out of bed because this cold of mine is getting horrible, but I was only 15 minutes late to work. I made up for by staying until 5:15, so I got the whole 8 hours in.

After work there was a run-through of the play before our dress rehearsal tomorrow. I'm still a little skeptical about the show, but tonight made me a little more confident. It'll all come down to remembering lines.

As for the title of this post, I kind of got to thinking tonight about The Grapes of Wrath. I instantly thought of Galatians 5:22 (Fruit of the Spirit). There wasn't anything too specific or deep that I was thinking about; just that I feel like all of the things listed in that verse are things people hold near and dear in relationships. Coincidence? Not likely. Godincidence? Definitely.

I want to include the Director's Statement from the play last night because it's really good. It's kind of long, but well worth it.

"Three provocative statements to consider as we enter together into tonight's production:

1. Christ-figures appear in various forms of literature. Writers as diverse as C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), Ernest Hemingway (The Old Man in the Sea), Bernard Malumud (The Natural), and John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath) imbue their protagonists with Christ-like qualities, often leading us to see familiar aspects of the Gospel story with fresh eyes. In his apologetic writing, Lewis argues that the appearance and reappearance of Christ-figures in myth and literature testifies to the inherent truth of the Gospel in our daily lives; Christ keeps showing up, often where we least expect. This said, we must acknowledge a key difference between Christ-figures and Christ. Jesus was not literally a Lion, an old fisherman, a baseball player, or a fallen-away Pentecostal preacher from Oklahoma. The fact that these characters exhibit some of Christ's defining characteristics only serves to remind us of the essence of the Gospel story and how we are all, at our core, image-bearers.

2. As a culture, we do a poor job of ministering to our social and economic outcasts. This production forces us to remember this sad fact, and begs the question "Who are the 'Okies' of today and how are we serving them?"

3. Our American expressions of Christianity reveal annoying tendencies that emphasize the indiviual over the corporate. Sometimes we allow our individualistic culture to define the Gospel exclusively as a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." This stops short of an equallyl pressing biblical call to live in community, ceaselessly serving the "least of these" our brothers and sisters. This seperation is false. Christ's directive to the apostle Peter's individualistic affirmation that he loved Jesus was to direct him to feed and care for community (John 21:15). As stewards of the creation, God calls us to live and sustain our individual faith through community. At its best, The Grapes of Wrath reveals to us our corporate body and our social responsibility."

-- Robert Hubbard

My Detention and My Freedom

2007-11-09T00:02:00.000-06:00

Today marked a milestone in my twelve years of school thus far. I had my first ever detention this morning because I've been tardy a few times this year. It was the biggest waste of twenty minutes ever, and I'm pretty sure I deserve some compensation for the 3 minutes extra I stayed (accidentally).

Play practice was a total bomb again tonight, and I'm not sure how well the show is going to turn out next week. Word of advice: don't go to it.

Then, the Council meeting. The meeting was great and all, but the real fun was had afterwards. Everyone was hanging out in the parking lot for a while, but then most people left. We could've all been warm in the church had Janet not taken us all out there. The last four in the parking lot were Sarah, Janet, Julianna, and myself. We hung out for a while, and Julianna and I went on a short rampage. It ended in me yelling, "JJ! Get behind the tree!" Hilarious nearly-dive-move on her part.

Then, we couldn't get in through the main doors back into the warmth of the church, so Julianna had the bright idea to use the pastor's door on the side. We decided she fits into Council really well already since breaking into a church through an unlocked side door is totally a great influence. As we hung out, we told Facebook stories and had a real-life poke war. We stood by the stairs waiting for Ben, Bob, and Gary to finish their "closed-door" meeting, and pennies started falling from everywhere. We realized they couldn't be being dropped from a higher level, and eventually I tried peeking around to the stairs going down to catch the scoundrels in the act. After the next penny, Julianna said, "Thanks for the pennies!" and I charged down the stairs. Ben and I screamed at each other. Good times.

When I came back up, one of the best quotes of the night occurred.
Julianna: "And you down there, Mister..."
Me: "Rambo? MacGyver?"
Julianna: "Clint Eastwood." (She also continued on to say she saw him in Bruce Almighty recently.)

The Fab 4, as we became well known as, were the last ones to leave the parking lot. This was shortly after seeing the "whale eye" on Bob's sunroof. So much fun. There will be a picture at some point.

Quick note on the second part of my title (if you haven't caught on). I've been having a really stressful month and a half, and until next Friday I think it's just going to stay stressful (and maybe for a little longer until I get my Peale Scholarship stuff done). I feel like my life is one big detention for now, and tonight was a total freedom from that. No words can explain how I feel when I have just random times hanging out with good friends. Not a care in the world, and no chains of school, work, etc. holding me down. I wish life was so carefree.

My Mind

2007-10-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

Feel like each section of your brain is being pulled in a different direction all at the same time? I know what you mean. That's exactly what's going on right now. Mostly it's because I have so much junk to get done before the end of the quarter on Thursday (since I don't take finals on Friday). An art project and two late assignments, challenge gov't terms (32 of them) and studying up on a current events quiz, studying for an AP bio test on membrane structure (still need to read the chapter) and do two late assignments, and fix the devos that I wrote so there's one available for the reunion on Sunday.

It's crazy. Life is crazy.

I also need to remember to ask for a whole week of work off so I can make it to all the rehearsals leading up to the opening night of our play. I'm really hoping my boss allows it seeing as we have three new people working there who could fill those days. My concern is that she won't let me do it, even though she never has the schedule ready that soon so it shouldn't be too much trouble.

I'm just confused. I don't know where to start, but I know I have to start now. Goodnight!

My Fellowship

2007-10-29T23:26:00.000-05:00

I think the concept of fellowship was stressed really well at this last TEC, and I just feel like sharing a story that stresses it some more.

It was Saturday night of the TEC weekend, and I was kind of struggling with a few minor details and such. I think I was saying goodnight to Amy and she realized I was a little out of it, so she asked if I wanted to sit somewhere for a minute. We sat at the head table in the conference room for at least a good 20 minutes (probably longer) and I just kind of let things go for the first time. That small timeframe (along the the random sufficiently awkward moments during the weekend) really helped our friendship strengthen. She's a good kid.

It felt really odd being the person who's venting, and I couldn't figure out why until after the weekend was over. Normally, I honestly don't have any problems to talk to people about. I love listening when people need an open mind, but I never really look to other people for advice because nothing really comes up in my life that makes me need to.

On that note, more fellowship. I virtually didn't sleep at all Saturday night. In fact, you might as well say I was awake from 1:30 Saturday afternoon until 8:45 last night. So after working from 7 am to 4 pm on Sunday, I was uber tired. Thing is, Amy and I had planned to get together in Kato and just chat. I drove through Vernon Center and thought about calling her to tell her I couldn't make it because I was very close to dozing off, but I started reciting Scripture to keep me awake.

We eventually decided where to eat (Jimmy John's is always a good choice), and had a good time talking about random things; everything came up in conversation from the fun signs on the walls to who we "knew" (she lies about it) at the restaurant.

I made it home without dozing off at all, but I did send a fun text about falling asleep. I was out like a light by 8:45, and ended up getting 11 hours of sleep before school this morning. Let's just say I didn't need any 2nd hour naps today. Plus, work was really good today.

My Yesterday

2007-10-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

** (Quick note: in light of the final season of Scrubs beginning this last Thursday, all of my blog titles during said season [and maybe beyond depending on how well I can continue it] will begin with the word "My")

Friday, October 26. A regular day, like most others. I went to school knowing I had to work from 2-10, and the only strange thing that happened at school was that it was the first day this week I didn't fall asleep in any class. Kind of a good feeling. Made me enjoy the day a little more. That is until I went to work and started to change into my work clothes in the bathroom. My work pants were nowhere to be found. Turns out they fell out of my bag due to my rush in the morning because I was running late. My boss let me go home and get them, and when I walked past my kitchen I noticed the mail on the counter.

I checked the mail, and there was a letter for my mom from Northwestern College. Any other day I probably would've opened it because it would pertain to me anyway, but I was hurrying to get back to work. I flipped through the rest of the pile, and there was a letter for me. From who? Northwestern College. I opened it on my way to my room to get my pants, and it was exactly what I hoped. An acceptance letter. Yes, I was thrilled because I hadn't gotten a chance to apply anywhere else yet, and NWC is my top choice, but there's more to this letter. The first part of the second paragraph reads:

"You are to be commended on your fine academic record and have been named a Presidential Scholar. Your scholarship award is $7,600.00 annually. To renew the scholarship you must maintain a 2.75 cumulative grade point average in your freshman year and a 3.00 cumulative grade point average thereafter."

What does this mean? Well, it means my room/board and meal plan is totally covered by this scholarship (and then some). Another way to look at it is 1/3 of my actual tuition is covered by it.

There's more to this story. I also got a call from a lady at the school who was congratulating me on my acceptance. One thing she mentioned was the fact that I also qualified for the Peale Scholarship. This scholarship is huge, and I'm really nervous about it. How can I not be nervous about something that could earn me $12,000 annually (Yes, that equals $48,000 over four years)? "Criteria for the Peale Scholar candidates included a ranking within the top 15 percent of their high school class or a minimum 3.5 grade point average, and a minimum ACT score of 26." This isn't too much of a problem for me, but what follows the application is. This year, 146 applied, and there were 71 finalists representing 12 states. As a finalist, one is required to visit the campus for interviews and a writing competition. And all eight of this year's winners "include student council officers, community volunteers, students who have earned honors in speech and music competitions, and all-conference athletes." I'm maybe 1 out of those 4 things. It scares me to even apply for this, but I know I have to give it a shot. I'll definitely be asking for prayers from you all when the time gets closer because my nerves will be all over the place.

Northwestern College

Orange City, Iowa

My new home?

TEC 69

2007-10-22T23:23:00.000-05:00

"Oh my goodness gracious!" Those were the first words I texted Hannah on Thursday when I woke up and realized the TEC weekend was just hours away. It wasn't until I was ready to type this blog tonight that I realized those were also the first words in my prayer of thanks last night after I got home from TEC.

This TEC weekend was more than I ever could've imagined. I'm going to attempt a Top 10 list, but it won't even come close to doing justice to the weekend.

10 - Music
Our music team was so incredible! I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Conference Room with all of them. Greg is always a blast to work with, Amy and I grew closer as friends, Dan's jokes are great, Paul is just plain fun, Sara is a big bundle of joy, and Emmalee is simply amazing. Having the last two members of the team stand at Closing made me chuckle. On another musical note (no pun intended, but it is a good one), the songs used for talks were great!

9 - New friends
It was so fun working with all these people I had never met before. I made a lot of new friends on team, and I can't even explain how much expanding my Christian community means to me. The most random ways I made friends during the weekend all involved the Candidates. I first talked to Jasmine while sitting at the pool, Calven has the same name as my dad with the exception of one letter, Lindsay sat across from me at Agape and we shared food, Julianna and I met Friday after knowing who each other was for a long time, and there were so many other random things.

8 - Old friends
There were also quite a few friends working this team who I had already known quite well. They're some of my favorite people in the world, and I can't find any words to describe how incredible it is to work with them time and time again. I became even closer with Amy (as I mentioned), and I feel like our friendship isn't nearly as sufficiently awkward as it used to be. The experiences that we all shared, whether first-hand or through talking about them, were absolutely fascinating.

7 - Conference Room
Wow (insert W-mouth-W here)! These Candidates, ATL's, and YTL's were so amazing! It was great being able to observe more than having to teach. So many of them already had faith background and just needed a good revival. It seemed like a lot of those had that revival, and I'm just praying they continue to burn for Christ!

6 - Talent Show
It was so awesome to see the variety of talent at this weekend. The talent show is always a big highlight for me, and this one didn't change that fact at all. The range of acts from the old school (ATL's with "Sister Act", Milk and Cereal, Dueling Banjos) to the new ("Taylor the Latte Boy", Frolicking 101, Brandon's song) was just awesome. Plus, how cute was it that Jennie and Greg shared a pair of pen lights that they put up their noses. Bob only made it awkward by saying her lights were used ones from Greg. I want to give a special thanks to Joey again for his dance that he said was inspired by John 1:4-5; I honestly could see the flame coming and going during the dance, and it was just awesome.

5 - Tim's Wheat
The most anticipated Wheat of the weekend turned out to be the first thing I pulled out of the bag and the last thing I looked at. It was a book of bedtime stories that he went all out on putting together. It's bound and everything. It starts with a couple of familiar stories (Tim mistaken as a girl, the Valleyscare story) and moves on to some of his letters, stories, and essays from without his school years. I'm so impressed by it. I keep reading it over and over.

4 - God's mysterious works
God really worked two amazing wonders on Saturday. One of them involved fully speaking through Ben to help a fellow team member just completely let go of everything they were struggling with at the time. Another was all about Joey and Erika, two of the greatest leaders I have ever known. God just gave them a total revival of strength on Saturday morning, and their team became so much stronger because of it (quick side note: Wheat team was so prayerful! The pray-up for Talk 9 was so incredible!). There were other times God worked in mysterious ways, but those were the two most prominent ones that I felt I had to mention. Praise God for his amazing ways of working in us and through us.

3 - My mom
Cody went through TEC 50 in January 2003, and I don't think it took long after that before he asked my mom to work the first time. After I went through TEC 59 in April 2005, the topic of her working still occasionally came up. I think the past year has just been hard for my mom ever since she was diagnosed with breast cancer last June. Maybe it was the experience of fighting this cancer that made her decide it was time to work a TEC, but no matter what her inspiration was I'm so glad she finally did. I was happy to have her in the Conference Room, and I hope she works again not only during one of my final 3 weekends, but also after I've graduated.

2 - Hannah
Oh my goodness gracious! Hannah Bartell is so amazing! When I found out she had accepted, I was absolutely thrilled. She was the only person bowling with us one night in Mankato who didn't know who the Rector would be, so she earned the nickname Captain Oblivious. I still think she's somewhat oblivious to how much it meant to me to lead this weekend with her. I won't talk about that too muh since I still have to write her Wheat (oops), but I will say that I don't think I could've worked this well with any other person in the world. Council really did pick an amazing Rectora who was totally on fire for Christ from the start.

1 - Catch a Fire
John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." I feel like this theme was perfect for this weekend. No matter how big of a fire the Candidates (and even team) caught this weekend, I still think everyone caught at least a little spark. What they do with it is totally up to them, but like Hannah said in Talk 9, that light can't be hidden. There's no way to completely shut off that light. I just want to thank God once again for giving us (in Joey's words) "a fire that no water can extinguish."

And now, the National Day of Silence for Pro-Life. It'll be tough, but it's totally a day dedicated to God's undying love for every soul, whether they're born yet or not.

Weekenders

2007-10-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

It's here. It's gone. Let's recap.

Saturday was the big day. It was the 2nd annual trip to Valleyscare for a select group. Last year this group included Janet, Nate, Laura, Mariah, and myself, and this year was the same minus Janet. We had a coupon for some discounted tickets, and we were in line to buy them when I saw this lady pointing at me. It kind of worried me, especially when the guy she was with started walking toward us. Turns out it was actually karma on our side. He was offering us four free admission tickets, and we saw it as a "give and you shall receive" sign seeing as we gave away an extra ticket last year. Oddly enough, we never saw him while we were in the park.

We had a good time riding rides and such, and we definitely made Mariah go first through the CarnEvil attraction because she's afraid of clowns. While we were in line for The Asylum, I heard Nate look out say, "Is that Joel?" When I turned around and looked my first thought was, "TIM!" (sorry Joel). Tim, Joel, their significant others, and a couple of people I didn't know where at Valleyscare that day too, and we ended up chatting with them a while later. Tim even took our group picture (last year Steve Jacobson did it for us, so I think we always have to find someone we know to do it). Oddly enough, I knew someone who was in line for The Asylum at the same time as us too. He's a kid whose locker is just two away from mine at school.

It was a great time, and I definitely think this is going to be a continued tradition. And for anyone who plans on going to Valleyfair either later this month or next season, be sure to ride Renegade. It had a 52 mph constant speed, and it's such a rush. If you can help it, ride it at night when you can hardly see the track. It's amazing!

Sunday marked the final team meeting for TEC 69. We lost a Support member, so that was the first stress of the day, but I know God will work that all out. I'm just so excited about the weekend being this Thursday already. I know there's some last-minute things that are very important to get done (can you say "commissioning"?), but it'll be fine. It's harder for me to get things done for school right now than it is to get things done for TEC.

Laptop

2007-10-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

So this post marks my first official post from my shiny new laptop, which I love. It's a lot of fun to play with, and the first night I had it I realized at about 1 a.m. that I still had an essay to write. Go me for playing with Vista for so long.

I'm not the biggest fan of Vista, but at the same time I like a lot of the random little features. The best features so far aren't actually Vista related, but they involve Office 2007. There are so many ways I can save time in my English classes that it's not even funny.

Team meeting #2 went really well, and I'm pretty pumped for the weekend. Amen.

Amazing....simply amazing....

2007-10-01T23:14:00.000-05:00

This post is a day late, but only due to the fact that I fell asleep after I got home from the meeting.

I have to say, I am thrilled with how things went at the first meeting. God definitely put this team together quite well (by the looks of it so far), and I especially felt that Hannah and I were meant to lead together. The two talks were both awesome. Kelly never ceases to amaze me, and I'm so proud of Emily for being so strong. Tim wouldn't be too thrilled with the choice of songs for the first two talks, but he won't be there so his opinion is belittled.

[Adam, this is the part I was talking about. It ends with the quotes.] When Hannah and I introduced the theme, she ended up going on a little rant about it and she got so emotional and into it that the whole time I was just thinking, "Wow, this verse and this theme are perfect." She and I had a good time team-hunting when they all broke off into rooms to have some team time before the first talk. It ended up with a dance lesson where I tried to teach her the dance to "Crank That" (woot for Soulja Boy).

The most amazing experience involving this TEC happened to me tonight. I came home after work to pick up my checkbook and go back to Blue Earth to get gas (it went down 7 cents today). On the way back, I stopped at Tommy's to help him with some music he was putting on his computer. In the two miles from his house to mine, I decided to kind of pray about the weekend and recite the verse again. Just as I finished saying "but the darkness has not understood it," I saw a bright light at the top of my windshield. When I looked up, I saw the biggest, brightest, shooting star I've ever seen. Talk about prophetic! It was just beautiful with it's light blue tint, and I had to call Hannah and tell her about it. God works in mysterious ways, but I love them.

TEC 69 theme: On Fire for Christ
Verse: John 1:4-5 "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

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

2007-09-23T23:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-09-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

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....

2007-09-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-09-08T01:26:00.000-05:00

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....

2007-09-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

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....

2007-09-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

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"....

Whispers in the Dark

2007-08-30T22:14:00.000-05:00

Last night just so happened to be a great end to my summer. Although I don't start school until Tuesday, I have to work and such between now and then, so last night was one of my final hurrahs.

Waldorf College was holding their annual Bash, and some folks I know down there told me to go down to see a free Skillet show. How could I turn that down? After work (it was a small truck and went by fast), I showered, changed, and went out to Tommy's. I had an idea of what time I wanted to leave, but he had a load of baby pigs to finish before we left. Mariah was there when I got there, so we waited for Tommy to shower then headed off to Forest City. After we got there, we were throwing the frisbee around a little, and Maggie walked by. A little later, we got Matt's attention since he didn't realize who was playing frisbee.

When we finally walked to the next block for Bash, we eventually saw all the people we knew. The first band (Holes In the Space-Time Continuum, a student band) was a little strange. They covered a couple songs, and they kind of ruined the mood (in my opinion) due to the swearing. The second band (Hillhaven Raven) was really good. They were all from Forest City, and I liked their sound quite a bit. After they finished, I walked with Tommy and Matt to Hardee's. My roast beef sandwich was one of the first things I'd eaten all day, and the insanely large amount of fluids I had had probably led to the story coming up. Kyle met up with us there, and we walked a block back to Bash in time for Skillet. Tommy and Kyle slowly made their way forward during the show, and eventually Tommy was at the stage. I decided to make my way up there too after a while. It was awesome until my stomach started bothering me a lot and I decided to go back out of the main crowd and watch with the M's.

After the show, we got the band's autographs. I was feeling even worse, and I made it through the line feeling like puking the whole time. I told John Cooper that he was one of my top 5 bassists of all time, told him a couple others on the list (that's for a future blog), and walked away with Mariah and Tommy. I had to hand them my stuff and kneel by a tree. The vomit wasn't going to wait any longer. The deciding factor for the hurling was most definitely fountain Gatorade. Don't drink it. It's not good. Nor is it good for you. I figured out tonight that I had had about the equivalant of 6 cans of pop plus the nasty Gatorade from the pop fountain. Not a good idea. It made me sick.

All in all, it was a great show. I called Deml with a couple of songs as messages, and I was texting him a little too. It was good to see how well Matt and Maggie are liking school so far, and I told them I would come down to be on their Friday night radio show at least once. It'll be fun.

Next show I'm going to (even though my mom's being a spaz about it): Mayday Parade, Alesana, As Cities Burn

It's that time again

2007-08-26T23:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's time for me to once again backtrack through my life a few days and let you all in on the fun. What's that? You've been bored to tears by my previous reviews? Well, feel free to skip this one, but the Euchre story is your loss. I'm going to start with the latest events, and work my way back.

Today was a long day at work. Slow. Not a lot of people. A guy that was wounded in Iraq came back through town and there were people lining 169 to greet him. Yesterday was also a fairly long day at work. Neither one was very entertaining. I know. You really want to skip out, but bear with me. The Euchre story is almost worth it.

On Friday, neither Mariah nor I worked, so I agreed to go with her to MOA. I only planned on buying one thing while I was there, and I succeeded. I'm now the proud owner of a new Notre Dame hat (this one's actually white instead of "2 years of dirt, dust, and sweat" brown). My plan is to keep this one for three years to see how bad it gets. I had a second goal while at the Mall, and that was to keep Mariah from buying any shoes. If you saw her closet, you would understand. Sadly, she ended up buying some, but at least it was only one pair for just $10. Friday also marked my first time eating at Bubba Gump's. They have some great food there, and I'll probably go back next time I'm at the Mall (which could be a while, seeing as Friday was only my third time there in my life and the second time was this June).

Now for the moment Nate has been waiting for. Euchre story.

Nate and I played a few games of Gin on Yahoo! Thursday night, and we eventually decided it was time to show some folks how real men played Euchre. When we finally got a pair of opponents at our table, Nate started telling everyone to play faster. Eventually, the conversation led to Nate telling one of our opponents, named saffiresure that he loved her. Soon after, Nate said the three of us should exchange phone numbers. When she wouldn't give us hers, Nate said something to the effect of, "You need to give us your number too saffire." To which she gave the greatest answer ever, "Sure 555 yeast infection." I was laughing so hard I couldn't play for a few minutes. She said she would remember our names on Yahoo! in case she ever saw us again, and I hope we do get a chance to play against her again. It made my night. Good times....

Ok, so the Euchre story wasn't worth it, but it made you read it all, didn't it?

Wasted....

2007-08-23T23:54:00.000-05:00

Why isn't either of my emails working for me? Hotmail is causing me trouble, and Gmail won't let me compose. I'm very frustrated, and pretty close to screaming. The whole "not enough team" situation is getting me down, and my email to rally the troops isn't getting to Greg. Unless time stops for the app deadline, I'm not sure if it's worth trying to send it out again tomorrow morning.

Anyway, on to better news....

As I had expected, the new Cartel album is absolutely incredible! I introduced Jodi Bob to them recently, and she said she likes their sound. I mentioned the song "Wasted" to be one of my favorites (there's also a remix that Wyclef Jean produced), and Bob ended up saying she loved it. I can't say specifically what I like about it, but just the sound (the drumline is amazing), lyrics, and Will Pugh's voice (apart from the sound of the song as a whole) come together perfectly. With that, here's the lyrics (I italicized parts that I felt kind of fit my own thoughts at times), and feel free to check out the entire album on their purevolume page.

It's 2:45, the baby takes his first breath
The mother never knew he only had a few left
And the father gets a call in the middle of the night
His breath gets short, and his chest gets tight
But he's 16, and he's driving too fast
Takes a turn to the left, it would be his last
Nobody knows what happens if he turns to the right
Nobody in the car would've died that night
But he's 32 and invincible
The cancer he had, it was visceral
He never saw it coming, thought he had his whole life
Sick in the morning, and he died in the night
We're all so
We're on the run
We're all
We're all
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're wasted
We're all wasted
7 years old, got his bat in his hand
He's looking for his father, and he doesn't understand
'Cause dad's too busy, got some deals on the way
His son sits alone as the children play
And he's 18, he couldn't wait to move out
His parents wonder what all the rush is about
The never bothered with his dreams, only thinking of theirs
Wonders why he doesn't call and why he doesn't care
But he's 32 and invincible
With everything he is based on principle
He never had a truly happy moment in his life
He didn't want the kids, and he didn't want his wife
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're all wasted
We're all wasted
23 now, got his life in his hands
He's looking all around, and he doesn't understand
'Cause life's too busy, things get in the way
We all feel alone every single day
And at 18 I couldn't wait to move out
It's been 5 years, and now I'm starting to doubt
Whether all my dreams are just aimless stares
Looking off to someplace that isn't there
When I'm 32, will I be miserable
With everything around based on principle
Will I have a clue, wouldn't it be nice
To never be alone in this wasted life
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're wasted
We're all wasted
We're all wasted
We're all wasted

I'm bored....

2007-08-20T22:35:00.000-05:00

This is probably the earliest I've blogged in a very long time, and it just so happens I don't have much to say.

I helped my mom move some of Cody's things down to NWC today. I saw Reiter walking around, Carl with the longest hair and biggest beard ever, but I didn't get a chance to see Anna before I left. On the way home, we stopped in Worthington and I got me some new shoes. Both of my old pairs were getting horrible.

I was randomly looking at the MSN front page, and they had the Princeton Review top 10 lists for colleges. Two Minnesota colleges made it onto three lists. Macalester College (St. Paul) was #3 on the "Politically Active" list, and it made #1 on "Best Quality of Life." St. Olaf (Northfield) also made the "Best Quality of Life" list at #5, and it came in at #8 for "Best Campus Food."

Work tomorrow....not sure what I'm doing Wednesday (maybe swing in Roch?)....work Thursday....maybe MOA on Friday....hopefully I have the weekend off (miraculously) so I can hang out with Nate and Okon and witness the Giesen Draft Day....

The few, the proud....

2007-08-18T23:39:00.000-05:00

I am officially one of an elite few Kwik Trip employees. When I walked into work tonight, Velma told me I had a secret shopper recently. My first thought was, "Oh, crap..." but she ended up congratulating me. Turns out I had the first secret shopper score in about a year, which I think says a lot for my ability to learn quickly (seeing as I've only been there 2 months).

Bowling on Thursday was amazingly fun (as usual). There were more great nicknames, but I don't have the ambition or memory to get them all. I'll highlight some of the best:
Mariah -- Dick and Jane
Hannah -- Oblivious, Grandma
Melissa -- Jose Offerman
Okon -- Mad Hops, [the other one was Nate's idea and won't be repeated]
Emily -- Galaxie [named after her ball]

I'm pretty pumped for this upcoming week. As of now, I'll be seeing Anna and Matt on Monday, going to Kato with Tommy someday, and going to MOA with Mariah (I'll keep her away from the shoes) on Friday (because I think I don't work, but the schedule doesn't go as far as I thought).

Since I don't anything interesting left to say (and what I've said already wasn't too interesting), I'll leave now.

What a world, what a life....

2007-08-13T01:15:00.000-05:00

If I earned a dollar for each complaint I had daily, today wouldn't be very profitable for me. I can't believe how glorious it turned out to be.

First off, I went to bed way too late (oops), and I had to be up by 9:00. When I did wake up (right on time), I took a little longer than expected getting ready to go to Albert Lea. Still, no complaints. The weather was absolutely gorgeous as I got in my car, so I decided to drive with the windows down (my favorite) and crank up the volume of Anberlin (amazingness). I finally got to Perkins a few minutes after 10:00, and the one and only Levi Budd was standing at the door. We only had to wait a couple minutes for a table (Perkins was extremely busy), and breakfast was great. We were there for a good hour after we finished eating, and eventually the waitress kept asking if we needed anything else (a hint that we should leave because people were waiting for tables). I've never had the chance to just sit and talk with Levi, and even though we just jumped from topic to topic, it was great. Out of all of the people going off to college this year, he is definitely one of the ones I want to keep in touch with the most. He said he's going to try to make it down for the next TEC, and he'll be the first one I call if I'm ever near Northwestern.

I showed up to work at about 2:03, which is technically "late," but the time clock hadn't rolled over to the next 15 minutes yet. Nate stopped in once, and before that I surprised Leah Mortensen when she came in to pay for her gas and realized I worked there (fun fact: she lives on Mortensen Lane....ironic....). It was a good shift at Kwik Trip, minus the guy who got angry over six whole cents [complaint count: 1] and the Comdata card situation [complaint count: 2]. Although, we gave the trucker with the Comdata card some free food for waiting around so long, and he seemed to feel a lot better. He even came back around 10:00 to buy some things [complaint count: 1].

Tonight was the big night of the Perseid meteor shower, and I was pretty excited to see it all go down (there's still some time as I'm writing this until the "peak" time). Sadly, a few clouds have rolled into town and made it pretty tough to see the sky very well. As I hit this point in the paragraph, I checked back with the stars, and they were shining splendidly. I saw about 12 really nice meteors and a bunch of smaller, dimmer ones [complaint count: 0]. Two fairly good ones almost crossed, but both died out and left really nice tails before they got that close.

Today was fantastic, and I wish every day was just as great. Even if I would've ended up with 10,000 complaints I know that there's nothing to dwell on or worry about because there are days like these where everything just seems to fall into place. God is good....all the time....

Is this a joke?

2007-08-08T23:37:00.000-05:00

I'm absolutely appalled at the Westboro Baptist church for their actions concerning the bridge collapsing. It's just disgusting; they seriously even have a song? I can't even say anything else about it....

"Yeah? Well, I'm Catholic. I don't want to piss Mel Gibson off."

2007-08-06T23:28:00.001-05:00

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up this morning and went to Mankato with my mom to pick my brother's bike and get a few things for school. Then I came home and showered so I could go pick up my good friend Amanda. We had plans to go eat Chinese and maybe catch a movie. We ended up bumming around Wal-Mart after we ate, and I ended up getting some more great music (Michael Bublé anyone?). I made Amanda decide what movie to see, and we ended up going to "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" after some narrowing down. It's not hilarious through the whole movie, but there's moments where I had some great laughs. One of the best (that will be appreciated by you folks who read my blog) is the name of the captain of the fire department. I told Nate not to look it up because it would be much funnier for him to hear it in the movie. There's also a lot of quotable moments, but I have trouble with my short-term memory.

I ended up picking up a 2-10 shift tomorrow because a lady couldn't work tonight; I took tomorrow's shift for the guy who took her shift tonight. At least I didn't get stuck with the morning shift tomorrow like I was going to at first.

Council on Thursday....Relay for Life on Friday....good times....

Music make you lose control....

2007-08-06T00:06:00.000-05:00

Music has been pretty amazing the last couple weeks for me. Between the random songs at the bowling alley and the jam session in the Frost gym last night, I just feel like taking a day to lay in my bed and do nothing but listen to good music. I won't be doing that until I have a laptop (hopefully soon) so I can have a music cache.

The Rocket Summer
As I said in my blog about the albums I anticipated this summer, I love the latest from The Rocket Summer. It's absolutely amazing, and I decided to pick up a copy (just so happened to be the last copy) at Wal-Mart the other day. Bryce Avary is a freaking mastermind. I am officially dedicating the song "A Song Is Not A Business Plan" to Tim Parrott because it fits in with his trifecta of blog posts about Christian music.

Cartel
Hey, hey, don't pay no mind. We are the second, you're minutes behind. So you say, 'Yeah I'm all right.' You are the fortunate all the time. Yeah, you are the fortunate... Officially 15 more days until the new album! There are no words to explain how excited I am....

Mayday Parade
Mariah asked me tonight if I wanted to go to their show in Iowa on her birthday, and I totally agreed. They're pretty incredible, and their show is with Alesana and As Cities Burn (whose album comes out in just 8 days). I'm excited for it!

Facebook iLike application
I've been randomly addings songs here and there on my list, but the best part of it is the dedications. My plan is to eventually dedicate a song to each one of the people I talk to the most on there.

Nicknames

2007-07-28T23:17:00.000-05:00

I figured I would follow up my previous post with one that ties into it. I totally forgot about the fun nicknames we were using and changing randomly during the night. Nate and I are trying to remember as many as we can. I'm pretty sure Chris and Tommy were the only ones lacking cool names.

Nate: Death [he wanted to summon Ben's bowling skills, and he even had Ben talk to his ball over the phone], Random Hobo, Mr. Cuddles, Douche [he intended it to be my name, but he put it on his own]

Mariah: Clowns Malone, Flamenco, I Love Janet

Amy: Jason [her brother's name], Not Jason [Nate and I started the "You're not Jason" chant]

Shayla: Shiloh, Wayne, Hoogland

Brice: Aunt Mary

Emily: Beans, Jerry Hahn [the dictator boss at "The Groce"]

Me: Von Bauerick, Hero Jones, Baron

That's all we can think of. Thanks for playing! Enjoy your consolation prizes!

It's a hard knock life....

2007-07-27T23:26:00.000-05:00

Last night was a freakishly great time spent in Mankato with some amazing friends. After getting done with work at 4:15 (I did about 80% of the stock from the day's truck by myslef and still managed to get out of there only 15 minutes late), I came home and showered up for some disk golf. Brice stopped here, and we went out to pick up Tommy. It was starting to sprinkle a little bit, but we figured we could at least get one round in before the heavy rain came. As we were walking to the ninth tee, it got pretty heavy. We all brought towels and extra clothes (we'd make good Boy Scouts [like Kyle Hart]), and after Tommy found out he could bowl with us we headed to Mankato.

The rain was insanely heavy, and we could hardly see the road until we got through Winnebago. After that, the sky cleared up; we only had a few sprinkles the rest of the way to Mankato. We went straight to Scheel's for Tommy to check out some golf disks. No need to call Mariah when we got there seeing as she was already in the store looking at golf clubs. Amy met us at Spencer Gifts, and we all headed to the alley at about 9:00. We stood inside waiting for Chris and Shayla, then decided to get ourselves two lanes and start some sweet cosmic bowling.

In the lane 1, it was Mariah and myself (Nate and Emily would show up about 10 minutes later), and Brice, Tommy, Chris, Shayla, and Amy were all in lane 2. We were able to win a free pizza because we had the largest group of people (nine), and later we won three free games of bowling and "beer/pop." We also got moved to lanes 7 and 8 because lane 1 kept resetting on us. Amy, Chris, and Shayla all left about the same time, although I can't remember what time that actually was. After that, we started somewhat of a challenge. Nate, Mariah, and myself took on Tommy, Brice, and Emily in a best-of-three showdown. They won the first game by two pins, and we pretty much dominated the final two games. We all finally left about 12:45, and it was a fun ride home. I wish all of these folks would be around next Thursday for another game, but very few of us are free that night. Maybe something will happen....who knows?....

I know you're sad....

2007-07-25T01:56:00.000-05:00

You'll all be very disappointed to hear that I don't have any great stories about unloading truck on Sunday. I have an even better one. I called in sick that morning and the shift leader sounded really mad (I figured it was because she didn't know who would work for me). She sounded less mad when I called back a little later to confirm I wouldn't be going in.

My 6-2 shift on Monday morning wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. I worked with some fun people, so that eased a lot of the pains of not wanting to be there that early. On Monday night, I went to Tommy's for a while and a few of the lifeguards from Bricelyn were there. We played some Guitar Hero, DDR, and started a short-lived fire.

Today's shift wasn't too bad either. We've been busier than usual this week due to the fair (which I don't plan on going to unless Nate miraculously shows up), and things stayed pretty steady today. After doing two sets of paperwork and mopping, I was out of there 15 minutes late, which isn't too horrible. I went to Tommy's for a little while again tonight, and we ended up watching "Young Guns II," which is a pretty dang good movie. I'm not a fan of westerns, but "Tombstone" and the "Young Guns" movies aren't too shabby.

On that note, I probably won't have anything to blog about tomorrow (it's my day off), and I might blog about Thursday night's fun when I get home from said fun. So I'll leave you with this thought:

Why is the streetlight that's shining into my window so freaking bright?!

Decision....

2007-07-22T02:09:00.000-05:00

I decided it was about time to recap my last few days, seeing as they've been pretty sweet.

Thursday
It was a day off for me, and I decided to spend it not doing a whole lot. I already had plans to hang out with Brice that night, but other than that I didn't want to do much. It was around 3:00 when I finally drove out to Tommy's to see if he worked that night. Turns out he didn't so Brice stopped by there and we threw the frisbee around until we lost it in the thick weeds. That's when we decided to go play some disk golf in Blue Earth. On the fifth hole, I lost my driver in some bushes, but I found it halfway through the second round when we decided to quit and go to Mankato. We thought we could catch the 10:05 showing of Transformers, but then I thought we should see if the bowling alley was open. Lo and behold, it was cosmic night, and it cost $10 for all you could bowl until midnight. We ended up bowling finishing our 6th game at about 12:10 and headed home. Good times....

Friday
I worked from 2-1o, and I have to say it was probably the best shift I've ever worked. If I'm ever scheduled with Angela and Carmen again, I'll be very excited. Nothing too exciting happened, but they're fun folks to work with. I get to do truck with Angela on her birthday (technically today), so that should be pretty good too. Good times....

Saturday
I woke up for the last time around noon, and my mom and her boyfriend were just about to leave for the Three Dog Night concert somewhere near Red Wing. They'll be gone until sometime this afternoon. Brice stopped by at about 3:15, and we left for Albert Lea. After a couple quick stops, we met up with Kimmy and dropped her car off at the BP by Ellendale. From there, it was off to Trinity for Agape. Pretty good turn out for community, and I knew three candidates. I saw a few folks I haven't seen in ages (Anna, Ann, Travis, etc.), and Mariah proved she had somewhat of a memory by continuing on an inside joke we have. There was also a TEC 67 Wheat Team picture taken, but we were missing about half of the team (Anna, Eric, Sam, Emily, Witte, and Janet weren't there; Gary was in the conference room). Afterwards, a bunch of us headed to Reiter's for some good times. We played a little bit of Wii and a lot of Guitar Hero. Kyree wiped out on a rug and hit her collarbone (her head too?), which I didn't get to see happen. Ann, Ruth, and Levi all left somewhat early; Abby was next, and Kyree eventually headed home (but not before she wiped out again; this time with Matt). Kimmy fell asleep on a chair, and she was still there when Brice and I left (Melissa and Bethany went home also). It was a fun night. Good times....

[blank stare]

2007-07-14T00:49:00.000-05:00

I got my first paycheck today, and it wasn't too shabby. My intentions for tonight were to get on EMSS and set up direct deposit, seeing as I opened my checking account when I got home today. Lo and behold, the site isn't working. In fact, none of the three options for getting on EMSS are working.

Just to throw this out there....Joel is one of my many heroes for his love of Eddie Izzard's comedy....

I slept through the Giant Days derby tonight, but I heard it was a complete waste. Maybe I'll stop by the parade tomorrow after work, but who knows.

On that note, I have to find something to do to pass the time before work at 8. I probably won't sleep because I've already done plenty of that.

Tonight's Cyanide and Happiness is dedicated to the one and only Greg Schimek because I have yet to dedicate to him, and I found this one somewhat fitting due to his computer geekness....

Edit: I got the EMSS site to work by using a different company's EMSS and changing the URL. If the paperwork Kwik Trip gave me would've had the entire URL on it, everything would've been fine. Now I just have to wait for the payroll processing to finish so I can actually set stuff up.

Dedication....

2007-07-12T01:05:00.000-05:00

Since nothing too interesting has happened to me today, I am officially dedicating this entire post to my highly anticipated album releases of the next couple months.

The Rocket Summer -- Do You Feel
I have loved The Rocket Summer from the moment I heard the song "Show Me Everything You've Got," although I didn't know who played it at the time. Then, as I listened to more of this amazing music and learned The Rocket Summer was actually a solo artist, I was even more amazed. And so, I've been previewing the new album on Myspace, and I'm thrilled for its release next week! I especially love the songs "All I Have" and "Run To You" in all their amazingness.
Release Date: July 17

Yellowcard -- Paper Walls
Did I hear any of Yellowcard's previous album Lights and Sounds, apart from the title track? No, but I've caught a glimpse (in a listening sort of way) of a couple of songs from their new album, and it's not too bad. I've never been a huge fan other than the fact that I love the use of a violin. Still, I'm at a crossroads on whether or not to get the new album.
Release Date: July 17

Johnny Cash -- The Great Lost Performances
It's Johnny Cash. How can I not? 'Nuf said....
Release Date: July 24

Hanson -- The Walk
I, personally, am not anticipating this one. I just found it ironic that Hanson has a new album and the Spice Girls are touring again in the same year.
Release Date: July 24 (but who really cares)

Junior Senior -- Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
They're music is so random! I always get the old song "Move Your Feet" stuck in my head, and the video for it always used to entertain me. I might not buy this album, but seeing the name Junior Senior makes me chuckle....
Release Date: July 31

Third Day -- Chronology: Volume 2
This album, which comes with a DVD, includes the years 2001-2006 of the band's music. I don't own any Third Day albums, so I'm kind of leaning towards buying this one and thus owning their greatest songs from the last six years.
Release Date: August 7

Soundtrack -- High School Musical 2
I just want to state for the record that I, Aaron Bauer, will be avoiding this CD and movie at all costs. Thank you for your open ears and open minds.
Release Date: August 14 (but, again, who really cares)

12 Stones -- Anthem for the Underdog
I absolutely love 12 Stones, and I somehow managed to mostly miss the release and two-year existence of their last album, Potter's Field. To make up for it, I plan on buying the new album, although I've heard nothing from it yet.
Release Date: August 14

Cartel -- Cartel
This album is my mostly highly anticipated for not only this date (sorry Nicki Sixx) and month (sorry Boyz N Da Hood) but also for the entire summer (sorry Kool & The Gang). I watched the last few episodes of Band In A Bubble, where they spent 20 days in a bubble-like house on Pier 54 writing, recording, and completing their new album. I was very disappointed when they announced a change in the release date, which was originally July 24, but I know it'll be worth the wait. Wyclef Jean even produced one of the tracks, and from what I've heard of it, it sounds pretty cool (Wyclef also gave Will Pugh major props for his vocals, which are stunning). The first single "Lose It" (featuring Juliet Simms of Loveletter) is just incredible, and I'm just excited. Period.
[Is it odd that I love it when bands don't self-title their first album?]
Release Date: August 21

Casting Crowns -- The Altar and the Door
Much like Johnny Cash, it's Casting Crowns! How can I not? 'Nuf said....
Release Date: August 28

Here's the story....of a guy named Baron....

2007-07-09T22:51:00.001-05:00

Vladimir Guerrero won the Home Run Derby tonight, and that definitely disappoints me. I was pulling for Rios the whole time (don't get me wrong, I wanted Morneau to do well, but I wasn't holding my breath). One of the main reasons I didn't want Vlad to win is due to the fact that his swing bugs the crap out of me. I mean, seriously, Sheffield has the same stride and way of cocking his wrists, but it doesn't look as utterly ridiculous as Vlad's. Plus, if you're going to be in the Home Run Derby, wear a freaking cap! Bogus....

I went down to Spirit Lake today to get my senior pictures out of the way. Thankfully, it was much cooler outside than the last couple days. We had a scare after the first hour and a half because the counter on the camera somehow reset, and the photographer thought we lost all of the pictures he'd already taken. Lo and behold, everything was just fine, and I did one more series before heading home. My mom and I stopped at the Pizza Ranch in Jackson to eat, and I ended up sleeping the rest of the way home.

Quick note on the lock-in and church services from this weekend: it was a grand time! Lynch Mob was a lot of fun with a lot of people (first time I'd played with Typhoid Mary), and the lack of sleep wasn't all that horrible. I'm glad Laura asked me to give my talk from 67 at two of the services, and it seemed like it went pretty well. The children's message was priceless (especially Levi, Lecy, and "Because my daddy's a stewardess."). The best part of the weekend was probably hanging out with Levi, Lecy, and Boyum during the TEC team meeting. We had a good time running around Target with the walkies, even though the Target employees have their own frequency and we weren't able to talk to them. A "security guard" politely yelled at Boyum for not having shoes on while we were sitting on patio furniture.

My last thought for tonight involves VH1. The first two matches of this year's World Series of Pop Culture aired tonight. In the first match, Team Motherboy defeated Fat Guys in Little Coats. It was a pretty good match, and a lady on Team Motherboy was really losing her voice, which made me chuckle. In the second match, Remo-leen Teen-Teen, the only sibling team in the competition, beat The White Russians in a blowout match.

Tonight's episode of Cyanide and Happiness is dedicated to the one and only Janet Youngers because she was one of the only other people (besides Joel) to blog the other day....and I ask everyone to please refer to the previous comic first if they don't remember what it was....

I think it's time to sleep....

2007-07-06T23:34:00.000-05:00

I know I must be tired when the word "FALSE" doesn't look like it's spelled correctly and I spend 10 minutes staring at it and retyping it.

I worked from 2-10 today, and I got my schedule up through the 27th. The only thing wrong with it is that I asked a few days ago to have the 21st off (for obvious TEC reasons), and it looks as if I'm scheduled 2-10 that day. I'll have to find someone to switch days with. I work with the lady who used to own the Frost store, and I got to know her really well. I'm guessing she's my best bet for switching days with me.

There will be a lack of blogging tomorrow night since I'll be in Owatonna, but be prepared for a blog about the services and my game of disk golf on Sunday.

Tonight's episode of Cyanide and Happiness is dedicated to the one and only Joel Cooper....not for any specific reason....just because he was one of only a couple to blog today....

¡Estoy terminado!

2007-07-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

I'm officially done with all of the CBT crap at Kwik Trip! No more sitting at the computer listening to the same boring stuff for hours on end! I got home from there at about 2:30 today, and I ended up falling asleep around 4:30. After a good 3 hours of sleep, I realized it's going to be a pain trying to get back to sleep tonight.

I went to the fireworks in Albert Lea last night. They weren't too bad, but there was a debate over whether certain ones were pink or red. They were definitely red, and I liked Chuck's argument on it. "So you're saying our country's flag is pink, white, and blue? Because I'm pretty sure that last one was red, white, and blue."

My life schedule for the next week looks kind of like this:
Tomorrow -- haircut (1:15), work (2-10)
Saturday -- Owatonna (6:30 or 7:00)
Sunday -- services in Otown (8/9:15/10:30), disk golf with Brice
Monday -- senior pictures down in Iowa
Tuesday -- nada
Wednesday -- work (2-10)
Thursday -- Council meeting (7:00)

The Cyanide and Happiness for tonight is dedicated to the one and only Jodi "Bob" Bonkoski....for obvious animal-death-related reasons....

....I've got nothing....

2007-07-01T22:59:00.000-05:00

I don't have anything interesting to say tonight. Seriously. I'm just a boring one tonight.

On that note, MacMan's mention of the iPhone forced me to post a link to this video that Brice showed me tonight. It's utterly hilarious.

Tonight's episode of Cyanide and Happiness is dedicated to the one and only Tim Parrott because he is, in fact, a hardcore rebel....

Woot!

2007-07-01T00:11:00.000-05:00

Today was another pretty good day at work. I was there from about 2:30 until 10:00, and I realized there is one huge benefit to working there. We're always so busy that I don't even realize what time it is until it's time to leave. I felt like I was only there about 3 hours, not 7.

Since the USB ports finally worked, I uploaded all of my pictures onto Facebook. If you use these links, you'll be able to see them even if you don't have an account (or so it told me...if not, let me know).

Bowling for Soup // Melee // Army of Freshman -- June 25, 2007
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000404&l=32472&id=1272000013

Whitewater State Park camping -- June 18-21, 2007
http://hs.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2000401&l=d7a2a&id=1272000013

Tonight's amazing Cyanide and Happiness is yet again dedicated to the one and only Ben Hoogland....

Too much Kwik with that Trip....

2007-06-29T16:59:00.000-05:00

Today was a much better day at work. Instead of all that time doing CBT stuff on the computer, which I finish next Thursday, I spent a good 5 out of 7 hours at the register. There was a lot of rushed periods because of the bikers going to Algona (plus the typical noon rush). Of course, I managed to screw up a few times (sshhh...don't tell KT), but it was all good. It's much better than staring at a computer screen for hours on end. It was nice to actually see people's faces and talk to people I knew instead of being cooped up in a 3x3 room. I also neither nearly froze my hands of in the cooler nor bled at all today. I did do garbage again, but that's easy enough.

Now I'm just sitting at home doing nothing. My mom and her boyfriend went up to Taste of MN to see George Thorogood, and I'm pretty sure everyone I hang out with around here is working tonight. So woot for that....

Still can't upload pictures....no woot for that....

To Uncle Tim: I dont' work until 3 tomorrow, so I'll be partying with poker....you should let me know if you're up for it!

And now, a special Cyanide and Happiness dedicated to the one and only Ben Hoogland....

Edit: For some reason the USB ports work on my computer again, so be expecting pictures from Monday's concert randomly throughout the weekend.

I give up....

2007-06-29T01:05:00.000-05:00

I've officially given up on trying to get all of those pictures onto the computer. One of these days I'll upload them at Tommy's and send them to myself, but that's for later on.

Today was my first day at Kwik Trip. I stocked the cooler, did the garbage run, and spent a good 4 1/2 hrs. looking at training stuff on the computer. Very bogus. I have to work at 9 am, and I can be on the register as soon as I finish some more CBT crap. Still very bogus.

I'm tired, and I hate getting up early.

Come back to Texas!

2007-06-26T01:15:00.000-05:00

I HATE MY COMPUTER'S USB PORTS RIGHT NOW! NEITHER ONE IS WORKING SO I CAN'T UPLOAD PICTURES FOR NEITHER WHITEWATER NOR THE CONCERT!....

So I just got home from a freaking amazing concert! Army of Freshman, Melee, and Bowling for Soup played at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis tonight. I'll post details and pictures tomorrow night (I have to resize them). I'll just edit this blog and repost it as if I had just come home from the show.

Whitewater: Day 2

2007-06-24T00:31:00.000-05:00

This day will be much less detailed than the last, and the last two days of the trip will be bunched together in very little detail in my next post.

Tuesday, June 19

8:35 am
Kyle and I are being woken up by threats of disappearing camping donuts (which are amazing). It's all a lie. We slept in compared to everyone and there's still plenty of donuts left.

1:13 pm
We just got back from our first trip to Inspiration Point. We laid up there for a little over an hour in a circle using each other's stomachs as pillows. Great fun!

1:48 pm
It's quiet time, which we're having every day after lunch. I really like just sitting by the river and skipping rocks during this time, but I'll eventually go lay out on a picnic table until I hear Kyle blow his referee whistle.

5:52 pm
I've been tubing twice so far this year (last year I didn't go at all), and both times were doubles rides with Kyle on the big tube. We're pretty amazing seeing as we've beaten everyone down the river both times. The second time down ended at Rock Island, where we spent a good couple hours. Rock Island is a big mass of rocks that was previously covered by a part of the river. This is the first year the water has been this low, so we've officially made Rock Island our place to swim and relax (instead of the nasty beach).

Sometime in here
It's really hard to coax a deer in with slow movements and a handful of grass. I was almost able to touch it, but I got within 15 feet before it slowly meandered away; it didn't run though, which surprised me.

10:21 pm
Curfew to get back to camp is 10:00, but we just got back. A few of us veterans took Ashley, James, and my mom up to the top. My mom's very afraid of heights, so she made me go out on the rock and take pictures for her (I'll post random pictures after my last blog). I also checked my messages and found out I'm good to go for a drug test for Kwik Trip. That means I'll be working there fairly soon.

Whitewater: Day 1

2007-06-23T00:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, I survived Whitewater yet again. It was a good time, and now you all get to relive it with me. The first two days are in detail and will each get a blog, but the last two will be lumped together in my third post about Whitewater. On that note, we shall pretend it's monday again.

Monday, June 18

7:25 am

Waking up, my first thought is, "Mariah's such a jerk!" She stayed over last night so she wouldn't have to drive here early in the morning, and now she's all perky and keeps telling me to wake up. Relentless. 'Nuf said.

8:37 am

We're finally leaving Frost after picking up Sam and managing to pack all her stuff into the car. My mom's boyfriend was a jerk (as usual) and wouldn't let us take the truck, even though we have so little room in the car that Sam and Mariah are packed in the back with most of Sam's stuff.

8:45 am

We stopped already. We're checking the bikes at the Alden exit because they shifted hardcore (stupid wind).

8:48 am

Problem solved. My mom and I are geniuses when it comes to bike racks.

9:20 am

Look! Hormel plant!

9:21 am

Stupid Hormel plant! All I smell is Spam!

9:25 am

We just passed the exit for Brownsdale, and I'm reliving my brother's random ability to get lost between GEV and Ellendale. On Saturday he thought he could find a shorter way than I-90/I-35, and he ended up somewhere by Brownsdale.

10:03 am

We're pulling into Stewartville. I can't remember if it's to visit Schimek's or get lunch at Subway.

10:05 am

It was for Subway. Sorry, Schimek's.

10:29 am

I'm so bored that I decided to prank call Mariah, and I see it as part one of my payback for waking me up.

10:57 am

We're waiting in the grocery store parking lot in St. Charles for Kim, Steve, and James to show up with their vehicles. I find it ironic that we're listening to Journey but not moving at all. Silly Steve Perry, trips are for kids!

11:44 am

Finally! We can leave Mike's Food Center! Within the last 47 minutes, a lot has happened. Kyle and I "got Jak'd for less" by buying Red Jak energy drinks, he blew his whistle at random times and at random people, and we sang songs while we walked around the store. Also, Joy and Sarah told Kyle to eat 1/4 of an ice cream cake by shoving it into his face.

11:54 am

It's Whitewater!

3:30 pm

Were you at TEC 67? You were?! Good! Then you remember the song Support continuously danced to, which is also the one Kyle and I have danced to twice already on our newfound "Rock Island." We've also been skipping rocks on the river (I told Kyle how to skip even a round rock) and getting soaked. Oh, how I love a little bit of rain the first day of camping.

3:53 pm

Kim just gave me the things she found for me at garage sales. These things were a toaster and a tie with flying toasters and pieces of toast on it. I'm supposed to wear the tie every time I do the song, and it will also be making an appearance the Saturday of the next TEC.

4:58 pm

It's still raining a little bit. Kyle and I had asked for a little bit of rain to raise the river, but now we're pretty sick of it. I don't to be sleeping in Lake Tentbedrowned tonight.

5:26 pm

I just finished cutting up some lettuce for supper, and I wanted everyone to know I still have 10 fingers.

6:38 pm

I'm feeling sick and don't know why....

1:00 am (roughly)

I'm finally going to bed. I've been standing around with Ashley, Joy, and Mariah for a while because Ashley was very entertaining tonight. She did some "gangsta" dancing. I laughed.

That's all folks!

2007-06-17T18:17:00.000-05:00

This will officially be my last blog before my camping trip. My plan is to relive my four days gone by posting about each one when I get home. That way, you're all stuck reliving my four days (sucks to be you).

On that note, I'm going to go get the dirt out of my duffel bag because I still haven't taken it out of my car since baseball. Have a great week everyone!

The Life and Times of A Baron

2007-06-16T00:52:00.000-05:00

I don't have anything too exciting to blog about tonight, so I'm sticking you all with a boring post about how I've spent the first two weeks of my summer.

As most of my readers know, I've been job hunting. My interview was on the 8th, and I know at least one of my references was called yesterday morning. There are still a few slight ideas in mind if I don't get the job, but who knows what'll happen.

I've been swimming a few times so far this summer. Not at a public pool, but at the Oswald's house. Come to think of it, I've basically lived there for the last two weeks. I'll go out there after I wake up, stay until supper (or sometimes eat there), and then I'll come back home about 11 at night. We shoot a lot of blackbirds, play PS2, and swim. It's a good time. We've still got to start our random "Hey let's have a fire" nights where we call people up either the night of or the night before and see if they're bored enough to come to a fire.

I went to a total of 9 (I think) grad parties so far, and there's only one left to go to on Sunday.

As for the rest of my summer, it's fairly open. I have a wedding tomorrow (technically today since it is officially Saturday), and one next Saturday. My youth group is going on a camping trip from Monday to Thursday of next week, and I'm always excited for it. I love Whitewater!

So let me set up this comic a little bit. I was on the phone with Mariah last night, and I told her I thought Rachel Ray was making a lot of money (I was looking at the Forbes Celebrity 100). Then, we both decided Rachel Ray was annoying. 'Nuf said.

Knock down the old brick wall, and be a part of it all....

2007-06-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

My mom and I had a meeting with my high school counselor today to talk about my plans for after high school. It's kind of nice already knowing where I want to go to school; the only thing I don't know for sure yet is my major. Figuring that out is one of my top goals for my senior year.

My hopes of Tim "Don't Call Me Tina" Anderson actually posting a blog during Joel's absence are thwarted by the fact that there is not yet a post. We're all waiting, Tim, and the suspense is killing me!

I don't have a whole lot else going on in my head right now. It's kind of........blah.......

Cyanide and Happiness

2007-06-11T00:08:00.000-05:00

I realized I haven't used a comic strip very recently at the end of my posts, so I'm dedicating this entire post to them. Enjoy!

And that's all she wrote for now. I'll try to keep these updated more often, but who knows what'll happen.

Frustrating....

2007-06-07T00:36:00.000-05:00

That word alone describes my day.

First, Tommy and I couldn't beat the Division II championship game in Blitz: The League with our team, the Wichita Fascists. I run the offense, he runs the D. I was throwing a lot of interceptions, he was giving up TD's on the kickoffs. It was just a wreck.

The baseball team was supposed to meet up tonight to eat and give our uniforms back. I showed up at 6:00, which I'm pretty sure was the time we decided on, and nobody was there. I gave up after about a half hour and came home.

My grandparents are coming here tomorrow because they're bored at home. I was going to spend some time with Mariah before she goes to Girls' State (10-16) and I go to Whitewater (18-21) and she goes to the Cities (most of July), but I figured since my grandparents are coming it wouldn't be a good day for it. Hoping for Saturday....

Ambyr (aka my favorite Bamby) is amazing. That's all I have to say about that.

I'm following in Joel's footsteps. I have a job interview Friday for Kwik Trip. It's kind of a lame place to work, but I really need a job. One of my reasons is so I can go to Spain next summer, but I have mixed feelings about going. It'd be an amazing time, but I wish it was with people like the ones who read this blog most of the time (aka crazy TEC geeks). I get along with most of the people who are going on the trip, but I just don't know how much fun I'd have.

Pandora. Just do it.

Hyperstatic Boredom....

2007-05-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

My weekend was short-lived. Yes, it was a 3-day weekend, but that's not the point.

I spent Friday at school, followed by a quick haircut before the first round of sub-section baseball. As I mentioned before, St. Peter screwed themselves over by voting us as the #2 seed, and we gave them what they deserved. It was a 11-0, 5-inning game. After it was over, I went to Sam's grad party for a little bit before heading to Tommy's for some randomness. We played Apples To Apples for a while, and then I went home and slept.

Saturday wasn't too eventful until I drove to Deml's grad party. It was a good time, and I spent some time afterwards at Brice's with my brother (his last night home before camp) and some other folks. We played more Apples To Apples and a few Wii Sports. I left later than I expected, but it was good fun.

I woke up somewhat early Sunday, but I fell back asleep before grad parties started. I woke up again in time to make it to Kimmy's, then Mariah and I hung out and watched "Walk the Line." After she left, I just sat around watching TV until I fell asleep.

Today was probably the most eventful day. I went to Blue Earth at 1:00 to start taping more of my Spanish video. We got a lot done including our ninja scene, "socking" Sra. Tietje's house, the low speed chase, and our twist ending. It was all hilarious, but I think our random ninja scenes were the best along with our random extras we taped on the way to Tietje's.

Now, I'm just listening to great music, and I give all the thanks to Greg. I had heard a little about Pandora recently, but I hadn't been told exactly how it worked. I love it. Setting up a station for each kind of music I'm in the mood for, rating songs so I can hear them more or less often, pausing songs at any time, switching stations and then returning to the same point in the song I left back a the last station, and experiencing new artists I haven't heard of. Always a good time.

Welcome to my mini rollercoaster....

2007-05-18T23:22:00.000-05:00

Chapter 1 -- AP Euro
Today was a day in the media center well spent. We were given some time to type one of the four essays that was due today (I typed up the 4th one and my conclusion to the third). The essay most people typed was all about the German army's view on the use of aircraft before, during, and after WWI. There were really only two interesting aspects to my essay, the first being my title, "Planes, the German Army, and Anthony Fokker." In case you didn't read up on Fokker with my Wikipedia link, I'll just say he was an airplane designer and builder during the time this essay was all about. The German army, when WWI started, asked all airplane companies to quit designing new planes and focus on the mass production of what they had. This next line is from my essay, and my teacher loved it (note: I couldn't resist making the comment I did):

"One of those men was Anthony Fokker, who was so determined to advance the aircraft industry that he convinced one of the pioneers of airplane construction to make modifications. Fokker gave the German army a taste of his “Fokk you” attitude by continuing his innovations, and in 1916 he designed a new and improved pursuit plane"

Chapter 2 -- Baseball
Yes, we won the conference today, but it ended up a 3-way tie with Waseca and New Ulm. It's still a conference win, making us the first team from Blue Earth in 40 years and the first Blue Earth Area team to win the conference (we shut out Fairmont 8-0). Our coach is still mad about how we were seeded on Wednesday. It was a tie between us and Maple River after all of the coaches had voted for our sub-section seeding, and so our athletic director called each coach from the other five teams for a tie breaker vote. The final vote came down to St. Peter, who is in our conference and didn't play Maple River this season. The coach voted for Maple River, and dug his own metaphorical grave. We play St. Peter next Thursday in the first round of sub-sections, and we've beat them twice this season.

Now for my rant on what's frustrating me about baseball. Right now, it's not the lack of playing time, but it does involve that. I was invited to the athletic banquet tomorrow night, and it made no sense to me since I didn't play football and I haven't played enough in baseball to legitimately get a varsity letter. Turns out our coach lettered everyone on the team, which kind of irritates me. If he just lettered all of the seniors, even those who don't play much, it'd be a different story, but I don't really feel like taking a varsity letter that doesn't mean anything other than "Hey, congrats! You sat on the bench your junior year of baseball!"

That's all I've got....

00110001010111000111001000101110101010101

2007-05-17T22:21:00.000-05:00

Oh, the title? Don't ask. I'm just as confused as you are.

- My name's Aaron.
- I have no brain cells because I'm finishing three AP European History essays simultaneously.
- I'm surprised I can still spell simultaneously.
- My baseball coach thinks I'm a trustworthy guy because I'm a blatant Christian. It kind of irritates me.
- Lemon Lime Powerade isn't very tasty.
- My back is killing me. I need to find me a chiropractor.
- Only 12 days of school left. School is so yesterday. I'm not into that fad anymore.
- My Spanish video this year should be amazing. [Cross your fingers, knock on wood]
- Essays are for people who care. I don't care.
- I need to work on my list. It's starting to fill up.
- Cody's cat is annoying right now. Anybody want it?
- Cody isn't here. No idea where he is.
- Why am I bulleting all this?
- I'm confused.
- No more brain cells for me.
- I talks like these now.
- Bye.

[Insert suspenseful music here]

2007-05-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

Friday. 4:00. Blue Earth.

We'll be playing Fairmont for our shot at being the first BEA baseball team to win the conference. It's very exciting, but we're going to have to be at our best. We beat Fairmont earlier this season, but they're definitely competitors. They're a strong enough team that our coach is going to seed them #1 in the sub-section tomorrow.

On that note, we're hoping for a high seed tomorrow. First would be great, giving us a first round bye in the sub-sections. If we happen to be seeded second, we expect to play St. Peter, who hasn't been having the greatest season.

And on that note, I have a lot of work to do on some AP Euro essays.

Farewell....

Another quick one

2007-05-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

Prom was on Saturday, and I have to admit I had a blast. It's still very much overrated, but it was a ton of fun. Mariah looked quite gorgeous, and I was sweating like crazy in my tux. The dance was good, and post-prom was just full of dozing off. I slept from about 6 til 10 before going to the TEC 67 Reunion.

The reunion was short-lived. I really wish I could've spent more time with the Wheaties. Oh wait....FRIDAY! I'm very excited for our Wheat Party this Friday. Both the Wheat slideshow and the weekend slideshow at the reunion had some interesting pictures.

School is lame....I don't like tests....

Speaking of which....
I feel pretty good about my AP Euro test on the industrial revolution and such. I don't feel so good about taking the AP test for college credit this Friday. My hopes for it aren't very high....

Finally....the week is over....

2007-05-04T19:59:00.000-05:00

Last night, we beat the tar out of St. Peter 13-1 in 5 innings. It was great. I finally got my first varsity at-bat, and failed. I struck out, but at least I struck out swinging.

Today we had a mock crash to show us what could happen with drunk driving. It was pretty unnerving, but the freshman were all making jokes and being stupid. Kind of ruined it. If you talk to Sam (Wheat 67), ask her how it felt to die. She got put in the hearse and everything, which was pretty interesting.

Tomorrow is prom, and I'm not so much excited for that as I am to hang out with Mariah all night.

Sunday is the reunion, and I'm very excited for every aspect of it.

Next week is going to be interesting....

Real quick

2007-05-01T23:57:00.000-05:00

I'm very tired right now, so I'll make this quick.

We played a double-header in Waseca tonight, and we lost both games. That puts us a game behind them in the conference. I got back from there about 11:15 or so, and it sucked just sitting on the bench (not even a chance at baserunning) for two games. I'm pretty glad to be home. Our next game is against St. Peter on Thursday.

When I got home, I decided paying the ACT Monopoly $8 to see my scores early would be worth it. Registration for the June test is due Friday, and I would've had to just guess whether or not my score was good enough for my taste. It was. A 32 is just fine with me.

Goodnight!

SCC!

2007-04-24T23:06:00.000-05:00

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer baseball team is officially ranked first in the SCC! We beat New Ulm tonight 6-4 (it was a huge win at Johnson Park) to take the lead in the conference. Very exciting!

I don't have much else to say, but I wanted to quote Bob's post about TEC because the last line made me very happy. It read, "What hope it gives me to know that the next generation has kids like these." When you think about it, there are so many incredible youth at TEC who will continue to serve and praise God throughout their lives. It's very hard to fathom how much the 3,000 who have gone through TEC so far have impacted the people around them. And so to Bob I say "Amen!"

On a quick side note, I saw a kid at the college fair today who looked just like Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High." It was priceless....

TEC 67

2007-04-23T21:45:00.000-05:00

The TEC weekend is over, and I spent my first day sitting at home. I slept a lot. I can't believe how amazing the weekend was. I've never been on a team (and probably never will again) that bonded like our Wheat Team did. On that note, here are my highlights, first from the weekend, then from Wheat.

10. Wheat bag -- I found some of the most random things in there. Between Barney and a history book, I'm not sure what the strangest thing was. I know the Wheat from Mariah was probably the most happifying though. My favorite Wheat that I gave was to Bob. Hopefully she'll put that dried applesauce to good use.
9. Talks -- I have to say I loved each and every talk that was given. They all tied together really well, and I think that helped the candidates make connections.
8. Team commissioning -- This has always been one of my favorite parts of the weekend, but giving the commissioning instead of receiving it was even better than I thought it would be.
7. The atmosphere -- I have to thank God for the lack of stress during the weekend. It was so laid-back that it was more of a weekend hanging out with friends than working. The comfort made the weekend
6. Talent show -- It was priceless. 'Nuf said.
5. Prayers -- So many prayers were answered! A lot of the team was sick or injured, some Candidates were having trouble opening up, and things from the outside world were trying to make their way in. Thanks to prayers, the team was able to serve through any sickness, the Candidates felt more comfortable with their tables, and everyone was focused on the weekend.
4. Conference Room Leadership -- Adam and Amanda are amazing! They did an awesome job, and Adam finally got through the weekend verse at Closing.
3. Burning of the Sins -- I've really been struggling with the things I wrote down for my personal inventory. When we were outside to burn the sins, I asked God not to let me put mine in the fire until he felt I was ready to be forgiven and ready to fix things. It hurt so bad to realize I couldn't move. It takes a lot for me to get emotional, but I was definitely in tears.
2. The Candidates -- I knew it would be a good group when I saw them at lunch on Friday. From where I was sitting, I couldn't see any who weren't joining in on the song. Usually there's a couple you have to force to stand up. Plus, seeing more share at Closing than downstairs was incredible!
1. God -- What can I say? He's amazing! I can't even fathom (one of my favorite words of the weekend) how well this weekend went. Praise God for being so blatant through His love and grace during the weekend.

Now, for the Wheat highlights.

10. The "Wheat Cave" -- Our crazy little room was renamed for the weekend. Anyone who came in with shoes or eating food was demoted to the Support Team. Everyone at Closing gave us funny looks when we yelled for the Wheaties to go to the Wheat Cave.
9. Being on Wheat and giving a talk -- It was just awesome to have these fellow prayer warriors, who I had been getting to know and bonding with so well, do the pray-up and pray-down for my talk. It's very different and much more powerful than being on a different team.
8. Music in the Wheat Cave -- We played so many random songs. There was Disney music during affirmations, "Devil Went Down to Georgia" (oops....bad word....), random sign language to some songs, and Nate's priceless lip-syncing to the o's in "Prince of Peace." Plus dancing to "Love Addict" was crazy awesome.
7. Stations of the Cross -- I've now been on all three sides of Stations, and I have to say this was one of the best. Being able to see all of the stations combined with seeing the words instead of hearing them made it easier to understand and experience.
6. The Champion -- It was nice to practice so many times before Saturday, and it all worked out wonderfully. I apologize for my random pointing in the video, but Ben was looking through the door and I was trying to get rid of him.
5. Final prayer -- When our team had our last prayer together on Sunday, there were lots of tears. For some reason, it still doesn't feel like our weekend was finalized. It's probably just because we came so close together and it's like I'm not with family anymore.
4. Saturday -- The whole team agreed Saturday morning that it was a good day, but Saturday night brought about a few tough things to handle. God prevailed over Satan's attempts to bring down our team, and we came even closer during our prayer.
3. Wheat Leadership -- Nate and Alyssia were so great to have as leadership. I can't find any words to describe how awesome they were. I do thank God for allowing Nate to lead the Wheat Team again; I might not have ever worked a team with him otherwise.
2. Wheat Adults -- I finally got to work with Janet, Angie and Gary! Individually, I love all three of them. Together, there are no words to describe how amazing they are.
1. God -- He was such a factor for our team, as He is with everything. He brought our team so close together, and I will definitely not forget them. Sadly, few of us will be able to work together again, but at least we had this amazing weekend to spend together.

Quotes of the weekend:
- "Hey, you stop!" -- Lecy to the 'gang members'
- "Wheaties to the Wheat Cave!" -- Wheat at Closing
- "What do I thonk..." -- Alyssia
- "It's syphonated." -- Emily
- Nate: "I'm naked."
Bob: "That hasn't stopped me before."
- "It's Schimek! Schimek! Not Shmishlinglebitle..." -- Nathan
- Nate: "You're getting fat man boobs on you."
Lecy: "I'm excited!"
- "And he sleeps naked." -- Kyle

There are probably more....but I forgot them....

Take me out to the ballgame

2007-04-18T00:16:00.000-05:00

Monday

We played NRHEG (yes, it's one word) in New Richland, and Mariah, of course, started trash talking. Lo and behold, the 10-run rule took NRHEG (yes, it's one word) out of the picture. We beat them 17-6 in 5 innings. Our starting pitcher was an underclassman who throws unbelievably fast, they pitched 4 or 5 different pitchers, Dusty homered off of one of their pitchers, and I did baserunning for our catcher. Our record improved to 1-1.

Tuesday
We played St. Peter at home. Last year, the varsity went 0-2 against St. Peter during the season. This game, being our home opener, couldn't be lost. We scrounged up 2 hits (one of them could've been considered a reach on error) and won 2-1 with an RBI double by Trent in the bottom of the 7th. Our coach called us mediocre. It was funny. We're officially 2-1, but we play St. James on Thursday and then Maple River and Blooming Prarie on Saturday. I'll definitely be missing all of those games.

I'm bored. Goodnight.

And of course, here's your Cyanide and Happiness of the night:

Saturday....

2007-04-15T00:40:00.000-05:00

Today wasn't too productive of a day for me. I started out by getting up early and driving to school (yes, school). Today was the day of the ACT. It wasn't that bad, but I just didn't feel like taking it that early. I took three of the four practices tests in the book I was given when I registered (I skipped the reading practice) and ended up with composites of 31 in English, 29 in Math, and 34 in Science.

Quick rant: The section on Science should NOT be called Science. It should be called something like "Data Interpretation." All it consists of is reading graphs, charts, and other experimental data and figuring out what it means. I think there might've been two questions where you actually had to know something about science (i.e. C6H12O6 = sugar).

If my actual composite scores are anything like my practice ones, I'll be more than content. I'm not so sure how my writing went. I was kind of rushed, and I didn't feel too comfortable with what I wrote.

After the ACT, I went to help the little kids (3rd and 4th graders, I believe) learn to play baseball. They're pretty entertaining, but it wasn't very eventful.

My mom started painting the bathroom today, and she plans on finishing it tomorrow. I'm hoping we're able to use the shower by Saturday.

I realized I have 3 1/4 days of school this week.
Monday -- Full day//game in New Richland 5:00

Tuesday -- MCA math test in the morning (2 classes)

Wednesday -- Teach elementary for Spanish (3 classes)

Thursday -- Full day//TEC after school//missing game vs. St. James 5:00

Friday -- TEC

Speaking of science, here's a scientific comic for you (one of my favorites so far):

I have two words for you all....

2007-04-04T22:44:00.000-05:00

As the title says, I truly do have two words for you all....

GO TWINS!

What a start to the season! The Twins swept the series against the Orioles tonight. I must say, I was very happy with Ramon Ortiz. He threw 98 pitches for 4 strikeouts and a walk in 7 innings.
First applause of the night: Ramon Ortiz

I'd also like to take a look at the Twins offense thus far. In the opener, it was the long ball that led to a win, but in both of the other games the Piranhas struck hard with scrappy hits and good base running (especially in game 2).
Cuddyer went 3 for 3 tonight before he was taken out to get stitches. What a stud.
Second applause of the night: Michael Cuddyer

My week was officially ruined when our opener was postponed. We now play USC on May 11. We're supposed to play Blaine on Saturday, but that isn't looking too promising either. Lo and behold, my week was turned around tonight. I normall don't answer phone calls from "Unknown" numbers, but tonight I did. Oddly enough, it was Mariah calling from Costa Rica. We had a nice little chat (although I was caught up in watching the game and didn't say as much as I should've). It sounded like she was having a good time.
Third and most appreciative applause of the night: Mariah

Our upstairs bathroom is being remodeled. I hope to have random pictures of when it is gutted (which it officially was today) and when it's finished. Sadly, I didn't get a before picture to awe you all with. I guess you'll just have to settle for this comic (and Janet, I believe Beth should see the 4th panel of this one)....

Newsflash

2007-04-02T23:51:00.000-05:00

I decided to copy the format of Shayla's most recent post (even though it was from February 27) and give you all some good news/bad news. There isn't much news at all, but oh well....

Good news: This weekend was pretty grand. I spent a good evening with Mariah on Saturday since she left on Sunday for Costa Rica. For our Palm Sunday service, I played Jesus. We went through the Procession, Last Supper, and Crucifixion. Word has it some people were teary-eyed when they left, and that never happens in our church. I also realized this weekend that my last post about four-day weeks was wrong. I have 4 consecutive ones because of TEC.

Bad news: The weekend is over, and I have 4 days of school to deal with this week. Then 4 next week. Then 4 the week after that. Plus, next Saturday is the ACT, which I'm not looking forward to. Plus plus, both of my best friends were gone (California and Costa Rica) at the same time. I didn't really have anyone to talk to until Nate came back (thankfully he was online tonight).

Good news: We got our field ready today since our first game is tomorrow. The weather sucked for field work, but at least there isn't water and such all over anymore.

Bad news: The weather doesn't look promising for tomorrow. We might not even have our game.

Good news: The Twins won their home opener tonight! Mauer got a hit on his first at-bat, and Morneau and Hunter hit back-t0-back homeruns on consecutive pitches on their first at-bats. The offense looked pretty good tonight, with the exception of White.

Bad news: For the Orioles. They start their season with 3 games against the Twins, who won 96 games last season, and then (after a day off) 3 against the Yankees, who won 97 games this season. After that, they play 3 against Detroit, a dominant force in the AL Central last season (although they lost their opener to Toronto). I'm not saying this is bad news for me, seeing as I'm not an Orioles fan. I'm just saying they didn't catch much luck to start the season.

Good news: I'm eating cereal.

Bad news: More wisdom teeth are coming in for me, and it's causing me to bite the inside of my cheek a lot.

Good news: I'm about to call Nate so we can call Ben for his birthday! I'm waiting until we call to find some bad news.

Bad news: Nate didn't answer when I called....this could be devastating to the company....our reputation could be ruined. We CAN'T miss calling our #1 client on his birthday.

Worse news: I tired calling again and still no answer....

Horrible news: Nothing from Nate. I might have to make this call alone. It just won't be the same....

OK news: I decided to text because I'm not feeling altogether talkative tonight.

Good news: Death thanked me for the text. He still needs to blog more often. I know for a fact the old man has things to blog about (i.e. Twins game).

Other news: I have no other news. Here's my comic for today....

You make oceans from the rain....

2007-03-29T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today was just one of those days. Our school seemed very empty because the seniors didn't need to be there, and anybody in orchestra had left for their trip to Salt Lake City. Advanced algebra was as boring as ever because she actually made us do work. I was the only one in study hall because the other two people are in orchestra, so I spent the whole time doing a last-minute AP Euro essay. We watched The Pursuit of Happyness in Spanish. It was my first time seeing it, and we didn't get through it all, so I'm thinking about checking the rest of it out sometime. AP Euro was supposed to be productive until Duden realized how many people were actually gone. We ended up sitting around talking about random topics the whole time.

Basically, it was just one of those days. Not much happened. No big events. No fanfare. No parades. Mundane and boring. Amen.

Outside of my life, one thing did happen. The Twins chose Carlos Silva over Matt Garza for the final spot in their starting rotation. Garza's back in Rochester for some AAA ball. Gardenhire said, "He needs to be able to locate his pitches a little bit more." Amen again.

Four-day weeks

2007-03-28T22:46:00.000-05:00

I have three consecutive four day weeks on my schedule. This week is a four-day week because of the end of the quarter, and the next to weeks are because of spring break.

So far, so good this week....kind of....

School's been pretty good. I've been finishing up the last of the AP Euro essays (had 3 to do this week) that are due by Friday (our day off), I felt alright about the AP Euro test we took today, and I've only been late to class once.

Which brings up my first-time experience that occurred yesterday on the way to school. I was running a little late and still had to pick up Tommy on my way to school, so I was going a little fast between his house and the school. I came up over a hill and saw the cop car coming the other way. Yes, I got pulled over. He took my license back to his car, but when he came back he told me he didn't check it at all. Lucky break seeing as he clocked me at about 15 over the speed limit. Talk about lucking out of a hefty ticket and a hefty insurance increase. Looks as if I'll have a new life experience every week at this rate (first flat tire, first time being pulled over....I'm 2 for 2).

Baseball's been just dandy. We were out at the field Monday and Tuesday, but with the rain and such we were stuck inside today. Our coach complimented me on my speed yesterday when I was baserunning, which definitely helped me with my goal to not get my self esteem down this season. He said even if I don't play much I'll definitely be pinch running for our pitchers and catchers a lot. Bueno....

That's all I've got. I should get to writing my last essay now. I'm sure you'd all love to write it for me. It's about whether the Reformation was more like the Middle Ages or the Renaissance. Yes. Tons of fun. Or something. Like that. Yeah. No. Maybe.

I also discovered a strange new online comic this week and started to look through its entire archive. I'll post good ones on here as long as I'm able to find good ones.

Hold up, wait a minute, put a little love in it....

2007-03-25T23:25:00.000-05:00

Last night was the Family Force 5 -- TFK -- tobyMac concert in Waterloo. I went with Boyum and Mariah (Curtis and some folks from his area were there too), and needless to say, it was a blast. We didn't have anything to do after we ate at Applebee's, so we just went and sat at the doors at 3:00 (they opened at 5:00). We were in the front row (the barrier was maybe 3 feet from the stage), and we started talking to the people behind us after a while. They were from Winona and hadn't waited outside at all.

Toddiefunk from DiverseCity came and talked to us before the show started. He asked us why we wanted to stand in the front row.

Family Force 5 was insane beyond my imagination. They're incredible live, and they have more energy than anyone I had seen up until then. Solomon Olds....is amazing....he put on golden "Hulk hands" for the last few songs....hilarious....

TFK had a mic issue right off the bat, and their show was very low-energy until they played "Rawkfist." Still, they play amazing music and it was nice to see them live again.

tobyMac was absolutely incredible. There was so much going on in his set that I can't even begin to spout off details. Well, I can try. They took a collection of old-school funk songs ("Play That Funky Music, White Boy"..."Rollercoaster of Love"...etc.) and put them all together into a song that was labeled "Disco" on their set list. There were also a few random bits of hip-hop songs thrown into the set ("Yeah" is the only one I can remember right now). Truett (Toby's son) was at the show and came out on stage a couple times. He never said anything, but he was jumping around. The best part was his Worm at the end. Plus, Tim Rosenau is a musical stud.

Boyum ended up with all three set lists, but he gave TFK's away. Other than that, all we got was a bunch of water thrown on us by Shonlock and GabeReal.

Good times....

Fresh treads

2007-03-23T00:10:00.000-05:00

Wednesday....what a day it was. It started out with a blown tire on the way to school. Since Tommy and I had the spare (which only had about 10 psi in it) on by 8:30, we decided to drop my tire off to get it replaced and go cruising town before we got to school. That way, we would miss most (if not all) of advanced algebra. We got to school about 9:30, and all was good. I had an interview for Boys State (ugh....what a joke) at 1:00, and it was pretty dull. I won't be the least bit disappointed if I don't get chosen out of the four guys interviewed.

Baseball's still been great. My personal goal for the season is to not get down on myself for small mistakes, and so far so good. Outfielders even made it outside today for about a half hour. It felt good.

This weekend should be pretty great. Saturday is the tobyMac/TFK/Family Force 5 concert in Waterloo, and Sunday is the first TEC meeting (thankfully I don't practice my talk until the 2nd meeting). Good times....

I still check Tim's blog every day for his first post, but lo and behold, there is still nothing. Sadness....

Baseball....the sequel....

2007-03-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, so this is actually only my first post about this baseball season, but hey, it's my blog and I title it what I want.

Anyway, the BEA baseball season started today with a meeting at 4:30 and practice at 5:15. I truly dislike indoor practices, but I love the sport too much to complain a whole lot. The one thing I will complain about is how poorly I stayed in shape after I quit football. I was a wreck while we were running today. On the bright side, the worse I felt as I ran the better I felt about how my hitting is looking this year. I'm typically not the best batter, but I started to do better little by little last season. Today, we only hit off of the tees and soft toss, but I felt comfortable and I was hitting a lot of balls. It made me happy.

With that said, I'm utterly exhausted. I need to eat something and get to bed.

Tonight's episode of "The Riches" was pretty good. There's a small twist that I have to discuss with Nate after he watches it tomorrow night.

Knowledge....

2007-03-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

Today was the day. Knowledge Bowl sub-regionals in Mankato. Out of 84 teams at the meet, the top 27 moved on to next week. I knew our top team would make it on to regionals next Friday, but my team (2nd team) was a question mark [our 3rd team struggled all year, so we all knew it wasn't likely they would make it]. We're not too shabby as a 2nd team, but our written round usually isn't up to par and we all pick the wrong oral rounds to sit out. Today was a little different.

Our 1st team got the highest overall written score (50 out of 60), and it was the start of something nice for them. They stayed in the top 5 rooms for each of the 5 oral rounds, so they guaranteed themselves a spot at regionals. Our 2nd team (the team I'm on) started with our best written round this year by getting a 43. That put is in the top 12 teams (room 4). Sadly, we ended up with scores of 6 and 7 in the first two oral rounds and dropped out of the running for regionals. We weren't able to get back into the top 9 rooms at all, so we didn't qualify for regionals. The round I sat out, I knew 20 out of the 45 answers, but hey that's the luck of the draw.

On that note, be sure to congratulate Nate on doing well today (he might blog about exactly how well later on).

And a quick question....
Has anyone noticed the fact that Tim has yet to produce a blog post for us all to read? I mean, I know a lot of us have been lacking posts lately, but to not even have a first post? Sad....I guess I can forgive him though....

March Madness

2007-03-14T23:31:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow marks the start of this year's NCAA tournament. Since Nate chose to blog about his first round picks, I decided to follow suit. With my upsets, I won't put how sure I am of them like he did. I decided to stay pretty conservative this year and stick with higher seeds going deep in the tourney, but who knows what will unfold?

Midwest
1 Florida over 16 Jackson State
8 Arizona over 9 Purdue
12 Old Dominion over 5 Butler
4 Maryland over 13 Davidson
11 Winthrop over 6 Notre Dame [even though I love the Irish]
3 Oregon over 14 Miami (Ohio)
7 UNLV over 10 Georgia Tech
2 Wisconsin over 15 Texas A&M CC

West
1 Kansas over 16 Niagara
9 Villanova over 8 Kentucky
12 Illinois over 5 Virginia Tech
4 Southern Illinois over 13 Holy Cross
6 Duke over 11 VCU
3 Pittsburgh over 14 Wright St.
7 Indiana over 10 Gonzaga
2 UCLA over 15 Weber St.

East
1 UNC over 16 Eastern Kentucky
8 Marquette over 9 Michigan St.
12 Arkansas over 5 USC
4 Texas over 13 New Mexico St.
11 George Washington over 6 Vanderbilt
3 Washington St. over 14 Oral Roberts
10 Texas Tech over 7 Boston College
2 Georgetown over 15 Belmont

South
1 Ohio St. over 16 Central Conn. St.
9 Xavier over 8 BYU
5 Tennessee over 12 Long Beach St.
4 Virginia over 13 Albany
6 Louisville over 11 Stanford
3 Texas A&M over 14 Penn
7 Nevada over 10 Creighton [this was a tough call]
2 Memphis over 15 North Texas

100th Post

2007-03-09T17:32:00.000-06:00

I thought maybe my 100th Blogger post might be something enlightening or a really good story. Lo and behold, it's not. I'm actually just posting something short, sweet, and to the point. I'll be going to Chicago in the morning with my mom because my brother is in the hospital there. He was doing a service project there for spring break, and he ended up fainting and such. I have no clue why everything happened the way it happened, but if you all could just keep him in your prayers it would be a great blessing.

On that note, have a great weekend everyone! Hopefully I'll be home with positive news on Monday!

ASHDFCasgdkl fAGDKASDKLo83 8432fiojhrewaioh gvr4fjwreaiof

2007-03-03T22:30:00.000-06:00

I'm frustrated. I'm in a bad mood. I'm just absolutely aggravated. I spent my third straight day sitting at home doing nothing. What have I accomplished since Wednesday night? I've read my Bible, and that's about it.

Tonight was going to be my first escape. I planned on going to the boys basketball game (sub-section quarterfinals) against St. Peter. It's a 12-mile trip to my school, and I heard from multiple people that the road to get there was perfectly fine. What does my mom say? "The roads are horrible. Travel isn't advised anywhere in southern Minnesota." Her subtle way of saying, "Might as well jump out your window now so you don't have to suffer sitting here doing nothing yet again."

I only got angrier when I remembered that TNT cuts out all the best parts of Gladiator. The only time I felt happy the whole night was when I saw the latest Sonic commercial. It gets me every time.

"You used wooden spoons for mixing?"
"Yeah that's what they're for."
"You mean they're not for....[swats at air]....'Get outta here!' "

Contentment?....Joy?....Definitely not lackidaisicalness....

2007-02-23T00:38:00.000-06:00

Today is quite the good day. I found out about making it on Wheat team (working with Janet, Angie, Nate, Gary, and my good friend Emily) and that I'm giving Talk 6 for TEC 67. I'm very, very, very excited for this TEC. I only know of a couple people from Blue Earth so far who have decided to go through (at least they better send in their apps), but hopefully there will be a couple more yet before the deadline.

** Redundancy Alert for Shayla** My school is randomly 2 hours late. They gave us 2 days like that this year, and the first one was in September. We have a homeroom to deal with registration for the first 25 minutes that we're there, so my first hour class is only about 25 minutes long. In other words, I only have to deal with advanced algebra for less than half an hour. I'm very happy about that.

Shayla asked me tonight how life was, and I really felt good about my response. My life right now is great. I can't think of a single thing that I feel is going wrong, and everything just seems to go pretty smoothly. Nothing is too redundant or horribly boring in school, TEC is going to come faster than anyone expects, my relationships are pretty sound, and the weather was fantastic this week. The only negatives I can see in the near future are the projected storms we might get this weekend and the other involves my sleeping pattern. I screwed it up this week, but it hasn't had too much of an effect on me yet.

Lent is different for me this year, even though I never usually give something up for the season. I decided not to give anything up, and instead I took something on. Seeing as I'm very inconsistant in reading my Bible, I decided to make that my daily habit during Lent in hopes that it will carry on after the season is over. So far so good, but 2 days doesn't say much. Everyone who gave something up for Lent is definitely in my prayers because it can be very, very tough.

On that note, I'm sending my content, joyous self back upstairs. I slept for a little while already, but Leviticus is always a good way to put yourself to sleep.

A Funny Thing Happened....

2007-02-18T17:59:00.000-06:00

I went to see Melissa Oswald in a play last night called "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum." It was absolutely hilarious. Waldorf's website describes it like this:

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" by Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove, and Larry Gelbart, is a musical comedy about the trials and tribulations of a slave, Pseudolus as he schemes to find a way to earn his freedom. Filled with chases, courtesans, soldiers, and a gallery of off-the-wall characters, "Forum" is a slapstick loaded, hilarious musical comedy that will entertain and amuse everyone who knows how to laugh. With such familiar numbers as "Comedy Tonight," and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid," the show boldly proclaims, "we shall employ every device we know in our desire to divert you."

On that note, I'm really bored. I stayed out at Oswald's last night, and I was up all night playing Black Hawk Down with Tommy, Andrew, and Branden. I think I fell asleep for good at about 6:30 or so. Good times....

Short, sweet, and pointless

2007-02-09T23:13:00.000-06:00

I have a bad cold (i.e. headache, sore throat, runny nose). Thankfully there's no fever or much other pain. I did think I was going to die when I coughed this morning right after I woke up. One of the worst pains ever....

Knowledge Bowl was good on Wednesday. I sat out on a bad round. There were a lot of questions I knew that other people didn't (i.e. K-r-z-y-z-e-w-s-k-i).

Duke had a heartbreaking loss on Wednesday. I was going to blog about it, but I ran out of steam. Scheyer had a career high 26 points.

It's bound to be a boring weekend.

Tim's lost a lot of hair in the last 2 years.

What I've learned so far in AP European History

2007-02-05T23:25:00.000-06:00

My goal for my blog is to set aside a day every other week to talk about European History with you fine folks. I'll try not to bore you too much.

Rats can fall from a height of 50' and land without any harm. They must also chew on things often or else their lower incisors will grow into their brain and kill them.
Neil Patrick Harris is in fact a homosexual. I'd heard something to this effect, but I wasn't sure. So no, Barney from How I Met Your Mother is not a good womanizer in real life. He does make a very effeminate king in Joan of Arc.
Joan of Arc is a wonderful TV movie....to fall asleep to almost every day in class.
The Great Schism is one of the top 3 finest displays of Catholicism's problems. Not saying I have anything against Catholicism, just pointing out how horrible the Great Schism made the Catholic Church look. I mean, honestly, two "popes" along with the real one?
The French were crazy in the Middle Ages.
The French are crazy now.
Jen laughs really loudly. Whenever her and I are actually quiet during class, everyone else is talking and vice versa.

I give up on thinking of random things now. Mmmmm....Black Plague....

Who Wants to Be A Lifeline?

2007-01-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

As I sat there watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? today, I started to think about who would be on my "phone a friend" list. Here's who I have so far along with their subjects of expertise:

Greg -- computers, old TV shows, original Nintendo games
Janet -- reality TV
Nate -- random trivia (woot for Knowledge Bowl)
Mariah -- shoes
Cody -- photography, theater, lighting, theater lighting
Jennie -- motherhood
Ben -- death-related issues
Tim -- llamas

Ok, so I ran out of ideas after a few people. If you have any other areas you want to be included in or you're not on the list at all and have an idea, be sure to let me know. That way I'll put you down on the list if I'm ever on Millionaire.

Excitement!

2007-01-26T23:22:00.001-06:00

I'm posting in an e-mail again because I don't have enough time to read everyone's blogs tonight (sorry!), and I know I would end up doing it if I went to Blogger. I just wanted to post something quick because I'm very excited about tomorrow. I'll be in Mankato for One-Act Competition, and it's going to be a great time. We leave at 7:45, but we won't go on until 3:45 (lametastic). If you want to check it out, the whole thing starts at 10:00 am at Fitzgerald Middle School (about 5 blocks up the hill from Riverfront I believe).

The other thing I'm excited about is today's Knowledge Bowl meet. I knew a lot of folks from the NRHEG teams (Cody, Trevor, Andrew...), and it was a huge meet. Out of 69 teams, the Blue Earth teams were 8th, 28th, and 32nd. Not too shabby. My team was the 32nd one, but we did the best out of our 3 teams on the written round (43) and we our best verbal round was in the last round (14). There were 23 rooms, and we went from room 5 to 11 to 13 (twice). It was a good day though.

For those of you going to Roch tomorrow for TEC, have a great time! I'm still really disappointed that I'm missing my first Agape since I went through, but I'll survive. It'll just get me excited for TEC 67 in the good ol' town of B.E.!

Good gracious....

2007-01-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

I'm not having the best week ever, no matter what VH1 says. Our last comp essay is supposed to be fairly easy because it's a college essay with a lot of choices for topics. Lo and behold, I can't get anything done on it. I've changed my topic at least three or four times, and I'm working on changing it again right now.

One Act is going pretty well. We have a few things to fine tune, but we should be ready for the competition on Saturday. We're also performing it Thursday morning for some of the people at school. Something's wrong with my throat right now, so I have no idea what's going to happen in the next few days. I can talk and all without having a raspy voice or anything, but it's really sore and such. It feels like it did after yelling at the TEC 65 talent show. It's crazy.

Friday is my first day off, but we all know what happens when you hope for a relaxed weekend: BUSYNESS! Friday brings about Knowledge Bowl (69 teams from 23 schools) in Blue Earth. I'm guessing my team won't do very well yet again, which is disappointing. One of our B.E. teams will do pretty well. Saturday, as I said, is One Act. I won't be able to make it to Agape for the first time since I went through TEC. I honestly think that's my biggest disappointment, even if we don't do well at One Act competition. Sunday might actually be a day of rest for me. Thankfully, I won't have any homework since it's the end of the semester this week.

I'm pretty stressed right now, but I'm trying my best to just shrug it off and try to stay positive about these last few days. Comp is my only big concern, and I just have to finish a rough draft (which should've been done today); it's all smooth sailing as soon as I have the rough draft done.

I suppose....

2007-01-17T00:34:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty out of it right now, but I suppose it's normal for me.

I don't want to work on my 2nd to last comp essay for this semester, but I suppose I should.

I haven't seen how that last essay went for me, but I suppose I'll find out fairly soon.

I'm working on writing Talk #3 for TEC 67, but I suppose it's kind of slow-going.

One Act play is getting frustrating and stressful, but I suppose it'll turn out just fine.

This semester ends next Thursday, but I suppose I'll have to put up with it until then.

Milk Duds taste great, but I suppose I should quiet eating them for the night.

It's kind of cold in here, but I suppose it's partly because I'm not wearing a sweatshirt.

I feel like going to school late tomorrow, but I suppose I should try to make it on time.

My nose is running, but I suppose it'd be easy to catch.

I know you all enjoyed this pointless blog, but I suppose I should end it and get back to work.

Dropping the Hammer

2007-01-11T01:15:00.000-06:00

The title I used is actually the title of my latest comp essay (yes, the one I was procrastinating on earlier in the week).

Yesterday was our first Knowledge Bowl meet. One of the 3 teams from my school got 2nd, the other was in the mid-teens, and the team I was on was about 20th. There were 27 teams there, so I was a little disappointed in our score. There were a lot of interesting questions that I knew. Since KB is using a new company to get their questions from, there are a lot of pop culture questions in comparison to previous years. I do give a special thanks to Bob for having a link to Ken Jenning's blog on her own, seeing as his name was an answer to a question (I think I was the only one in the room who knew it).

Today, I thought I would have a bad day. My contact irritated my right eye really badly yesterday, and it was blurry all night last night. I figured it would be a good day if I woke up and it was clear again. Sadly, there was still some blur, and I decided it wouldn't be a very great day. That was until I had my conference with Mrs. Alleven. She gave us extra credit if we had her go through our essays one-on-one with her and make sure we're going in the right direction with our writing. After reading mine she said, "Interesting." Usually that can be good or bad when she says it, but it turns out she really liked my essay thus far. All I had to do was add a little bit more. Hopefully this is a good sign for what my grade will be.

Curiousity cramped my style

2007-01-08T23:48:00.000-06:00

I'm procrastinating yet again (imagine that) on a comp essay. This time it's a literary analysis on the short story "The Hammer Man." I know what I want to write, but I have no idea how to write it. Good times.

I really need to hang out with the people in my school more. Yeah, I have friends at my school, but I'm not as close to any of them as I am all the folks at TEC. The worst part about that is the fact that everyone from TEC lives anywhere but close. Oh well. "I will survive"

Why is this blog sounding so emo? I'm in a great mood tonight, but this still turned out to be a negative blog. It happens.

Back to work for me....

....what??

2007-01-04T01:47:00.000-06:00

These last couple nights have been horrible to me. Nothing bad has happened or anything, but I managed to screw up my sleeping pattern horribly. I'll fall asleep around 7:00 and wake up between midnight and 1:00. Then, I either stay awake until I have to go to school or I'll get another hour of sleep at the most. It's nasty. I don't like it. I think tonight was a little better since I slept from 7-11 and I'm already getting tired again. As soon as I finish my homework I'm back in bed.

Other than that, things have been going pretty well. I've actually done my homework lately instead of procrastinating hardcore. I finally got an A on my grammar quiz in Comp (we get 9 tries, and it isn't very easy to get an A on it). My grade on my PPP (Personal Philosophy Paper) was surprisingly better than I thought. When I wrote it the morning it was due, I didn't follow the guidelines at all. Instead, I decided to kind of just rant. I ended up with 90% on it though because he liked it and I stayed on one line of thought the whole time.

I think I'm getting a new phone on Saturday. My 2 years is finally up on the piece of junk I have right now, so I'll be getting my free upgrade as soon as possible. It'll be the highlight of my week thus far.

If you can't tell, I've got nothing to blog about. Maybe Tim and I should get together and brainstorm more interesting topics....

My dad's gone missing....

2006-12-25T23:29:00.000-06:00

It was Saturday night up at my dad's house, and we decided to go to Target to buy a DVD. We get there, eventually find the movie, and just kind of wander around some more. Cody and I were looking at a sweet speaker system, and our dad was just an aisle farther down. When we looked in the aisle, he was gone. Since he was holding the movie, we figured he might've gone to the registers. After walking past each and every one, he wasn't there.

We decided to entertain ourselves a little bit. There were two security guards standing by the entrance, so we walked over there. We put worried looks on our faces and said to the male guard, "We need your help. Our dad walked off somewhere in the store, and we can't find him anywhere. He's been diagnosed as clinically insane, so we need to find him quick."

Needless to say, our dad wasn't too happy with us, but at least we got a good laugh out of it.

Pre-Christmas school day

2006-12-22T00:03:00.000-06:00

For the last two years, my school's choir teacher has played Christmas music in the Commons on the last morning before Christmas break. It's kind of a cool idea and all, but very random. I never really thought much of it meaning anything until I walked into the school today. As soon as I heard the music, I realized how close Christmas actually is.

I had one-act play auditions on Monday, and I ended up with 4 different parts in the play. We're doing "High School for Dummies." Sadly, our competition date is the Saturday of the upcoming TEC weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to Rochester in time for Saturday night's festivities. I'll definitely be praying for everything to go well.

That's all I've got. Not sure how much I'll be online leading up to Christmas, so I'll say this now:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Remember the real reason for the season. We celebrate Christ's birth through love, not gifts. Be joyous this season, and don't worry about being politically correct in wishing people a good holiday. If they're offended by you saying Merry Christmas, they can feel free to say Happy Hannukah or Happy Kwanzaa right back to you.

God bless you all!

Mariah's English assignment

2006-12-11T23:31:00.000-06:00

I had nothing interesting to blog about tonight, so I chose to use Mariah's English assignment as a quiz of everyone's knowledge. Figure out which common phrase corresponds to each of these:

1. Surveillance should precede saltation.

2. Freedom from encrustation of grime is contiguous to divinity.

3. The stylus is more potent than the claymore.

4. Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.

5. All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.

6. A revolving lathic conglomerate accumulates no diminutive glaucous saprophytic plants.

7. Missiles of ligneous or petrous consistency have the potential of fracturing my osseous structure but appellations will eternally be benign.

8. Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.

9. Exclusive dedication to necessary chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders John a hebephrenic fellow.

10. Individuals who make their abode in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting petrous projectiles. [Hint: Chuck Norris does both]

11. Neophyte's serendipity.

12. Members of the avian species of identical plumage congregate.

13. It is fruitless to become lachrymose over precipitately decanted lacteal fluid.

14. Scintillate scintillate astral minific.