My dad's gone missing....

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

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

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.

Bob and Giesenbauer

I noticed Tim's random Threeve in his own blog comments that stated how long it had been since Bob had commented him. That made me wonder how long it had been since she had commented my blog also. How long has it been? Counting this post, it is 15 posts and 117 days. I'm pretty hurt by that.

I also learned yesterday of a website offering random "Bad Commercials" for radio broadcasts. I decided to fill in the questions and see what they had to say about Giesenbauer, Inc.



Hey!

It's the season for sheer randomness, and Giesenbauer, Inc. is your sheer randomness headquarters!

Are you really, really gullible? Then call us today at 507-317-2081!

Yes, it's that time of year again at Giesenbauer, Inc., where you'll find Death second to none.
So for all your sheer randomness needs, call us at 507-317-2081!

This offer is illegal in every state except Minnesota and Iowa, and you won't believe our friendly, knowledgeable staff!

Yes, you've got us screwed six ways to Sunday, because we've got to get rid of this crap before the auditors discover our two sets of books.

So hurry on down to Giesenbauer, Inc., where we haven't had an employee freak out and shoot innocent customers for over 2 months and with prices so low, you know our stuff must really suck!

So call now at 507-317-2081. That's Giesenbauer, Inc.. 507-317-2081.

And remember our motto, "But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun..."

That number once again is 507-317-2081!
That's 507-317-2081!
507-317-2081!

"Chem is cool....if you like drug addictions...."

Chemistry has been quite the interesting class these last couple days. Yesterday, we spent a good amount of time learning how to build molecules of caffeine, nicotine, codeine and cocaine. Great fun! We then spent almost an hour talking about 1 of the 5 groups we intended to cover in our notes. Completely avoiding ethers, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids, we spent that hour taking about alocohols. Think that says something about where some people's minds are?

Today we had a "Code Red" drill test during chemistry, and it was decided we should definitely be in chem if there is ever a real "Code Red" threat because we have a small storage room to hide in. When we got back out from the storage room, we finished covering those groups that just happened to be left behind yesterday (and of course people had to complain that it was taking forever to get through them....and whose fault is that?).

That's my rant on the randomness of chemistry these last two days, and I'll end this blog with a quiz. Name each of the following four compounds by their more common (household) name:

1. CH2O -- methanal
2. (CH3)2CO -- 2-propanone
3. C2H4O2 -- ethanoic acid
4. C4H8O2 -- butanoic acid (this one's a tough one)

Battle With Worry

The above title is actually the title of my first completed composition essay (remembering an event). I have nothing better to blog about, so I'm posting it on here. It's roughly 4 pages on Word, so it's a little long (just a heads up).



Of all the adult women I have ever met, I see my mom as one of the strongest; her mentality, emotion, and will power are all characteristics that show her tough shell. Only something like a natural disaster would ever cause me to feel like I needed to worry about my mom. This last summer happened to be when she first encountered the dilemma of “her boys,” my brother Cody and me, having to worry about her, and it happened to be one of the most practical yet scary reasons there could ever be.

On June 2nd, like most other lazy summer days, I was lying in my bed when two soft knocks sounded at my door, followed by an immediate turn of the doorknob. Since my mom has been the only person ever to enter my room that way, I knew she was the one behind the dark wooden door. Her expression as she opened the door instantly told me she was not having a good day. Knowing my brother Cody lie in his bedroom next to my own, my mom sat down, called his name, and asked him to shut the door after he entered.

Sitting down next to me on my bed, my mom began to tell us about a former problem she encountered. Some years ago, a lump had developed in her breast. She did not go to the doctor at the time to have it examined, and it eventually disappeared and ceased to bother her. Then, just a few months before this conversation, my mom had discovered a new lump. At first, she thought nothing of it, but she finally decided to hear the doctor’s opinion. That led to the conversation in my bedroom.

With her voice starting to crack and tears forming in her eyes, she said to my brother and me, “This time it’s cancerous.” I could not think of any time when I had seen my mom shed a single tear, so when she started crying, I knew she feared what would happen. Silent and worried, Cody and I choked back our emotions as we had been doing in tough situations for as long as I can remember.

After a few minutes in silence, the small refrigerator in the corner started with a hum, and my mom continued the conversation by telling us not to change our plans for the summer. Cody would still be traveling on a theater tour, and I would still be camping at Whitewater State Park with my youth group. Unlike my brother, I could have easily changed my vacation plans in order to be with my mom at the hospital in Mankato during her surgery. Instead, she insisted I still attend my camping trip, just as I expected.

Seeing as though Cody and I are both devoted to our belief in God, Mom asked us to pray. Not only would we pray that her surgery succeeded in its purpose, but we would also ask God for peace, courage, and a positive attitude for the three of us. Knowing we also had a large Christian community to utilize because of our involvement in Teens Encounter Christ, Cody and I later decided to ask those friends, through phone calls and e-mails, to pray for our family.

Finally, my mom exited my bedroom without saying another word. Cody, wearing a black t-shirt and the jeans he borrowed from me, scratched his chin as he continued to sit on my bed solemnly. I quickly realized he was having the same issue as me; we both wanted to say something, but neither of us had the right words. My head buzzed with loud thoughts that muted out the sounds of the television. Before either of us could think of the words that we hoped to say, Cody left in sheer silence.

Nearly two weeks later, I reluctantly started my camping trip. The hilarious car ride to Whitewater took my mind away from the bad news, and few thoughts about the situation entered my mind until Wednesday, the day my mom scheduled her mastectomy. Because of my worry, my breakfast that morning lacked taste. I knew my grandma had accompanied Mom to the hospital, but I still felt uneasy about not being there. “How will I know everything is going well?” I thought. Luckily, the arrangements to receive phone messages from my grandma were in order, but I had to travel almost four miles into the town of Alba to get a signal on my cell phone. My youth director took me aside on that warm Wednesday morning to pray with me; the words, “she is a strong woman,” flowed from her mouth during the prayer and sang to my heart like a beautiful chorus. An idea arose as we were finishing the prayer, and I chose to hike to a glorious cliff, appropriately named Inspiration Point, later that afternoon. I only hoped my phone would receive even a slight signal there so I could check my messages. My phone showed enough of a signal to make calls, but my voice mailbox was void of any message from my grandma. The desire to know whether the surgery ended successfully or not burned inside me like a wildfire; I called my grandma to find some information.

“The doctor said everything was perfect. They took out some lymph nodes, and they’re pretty sure they got all of the cancer,” Grandma said quickly. She then added, “Your mom’s asleep right now, but I’ll have her call you as soon as she’s awake enough to talk.”

Two hours later, as the sun began to set, I was still perched on the edge of Inspiration Point, sitting quietly in the presence of God, fighting the tears of joy creeping to the rims of my eyes, and glorifying the fact that the surgery went well. The steady vibration of my cell phone in my pocket brought me out of that euphoria and back into reality. A huge smile stretched across my face as I answered the call from Mom. After deciphering her quiet, raspy voice for fifteen minutes, she told me it was time for her to receive a check-up and some medication, ending our conversation.

Before she lost all of her hair, my mom donated it to Locks of Love. The rest began to fall off of her head quickly, so she chose to have her head shaved instead. Seeing my mom without any hair continues to be somewhat of a strange experience, but I know she is bald because of the treatment that is helping her. Anxiously, my mom counts down the days until the end of her treatment, and at the same time I think about the reasons she, Cody, and I stayed so strong during the ordeal. My mom admits she would do anything in the world for my brother and me and that she sees us as the most important part of her life. Similarly, my brother and I have had to grow up fast and be strong adults because we have lived without a father figure in our house for nine years. She may have to “worry about her boys” more than we need to worry about her, but I believe Cody and I have an unending need to protect our mom during troubling times because we had to rise to the level of mature adults quickly. Mom has continuously shown a strong mentality, emotions, and will power, but all in all she stays strong for “her boys.”

I made the switch

I decided to switch over to Blogger Beta. I had wondered about the changes for a while, and tonight I finally checked it out. I liked some of its easy features that make it much more like Wordpress now (sorry, Greg). The most interesting feature I found is the one I'm using right now. I think it might've been available for the original Blogger, but I just never found it. What is it? Well, I'm typing this blog via e-mail. Gmail to be more specific. I love Gmail (thanks for the invite way back when, Bob!)....

"Run, freedom, run! You gotta run away!"

Tonight was the last of my performances for the 2nd play I've ever been in. I joined the Town & Country Players in their dinner theater show. It was "Earth So Rich the City Grows," and it told the story of how Blue Earth was started. We had some interesting songs, but they weren't all that exciting. It was a really lame show, but at least the costume was more comfortable than the one I wore for "Once Upon A Mattress."

On that note, and continuing with the musical aspect of this blog, I struck up a conversation yesterday with the guy who directed our school musical. I asked him if he had ever heard of the Broadway show "Avenue Q," which is basically an adult version of Sesame Street. He had, and we talked about it for a few minutes (and sang some of the songs) before he introduced me to "Urinetown." It's about a city where a drought occurs and people can no longer own personal toilets. They must pay a fee to use a public restroom, and if they get caught urinating (or deficating) anywhere else, they are sent to Urinetown.

I must admit, it's a strange concept. I borrowed the soundtrack from Kurt, and it has some good songs. All in all, I like it. It would probably be an interesting show to see. He said it was the only one he saw while he was in New York, and he really enjoyed it.

Philosophy book

I've been skimming through my philosophy book (Philosophy for Dummies) instead of reading chapter 8 and taking notes. I found some interesting passages on one of the many well-known characters within the TEC Community: Death
**Red are from the author, Green are quoted in the book from other sources

Part IV title: "What's the Deal with Death?"

Chapter 17 title: "Philosophical Consolations on Death"

Chapter 18 title: "Is There Life After Death?"

"We face our mortality, and we look at four different fears that Death inspires."

"...yet by looking at the questions distinctively raised by Death..."

"Death and taxes. You'll have to see an accountant for tax advice. But a friendly philosopher can help you understand the other unpleasant certainty in life."

"We fear Death. And we all live in some measure of denial, pretending that it's a fiction."

"Death surprises us in the midst of our hopes." -- Thomas Fuller (18th Century)

"My first real experience with Death was when I was in seventh grade."

"As a young boy, I heard about Death only when my mother talked about her childhood."

"Men fear Death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other." -- Francis Bacon

"There are at least for different kinds of fear of Death [one of them being] fear of punishment after Death."

"Whose Death is more terrible..."

"Therefore, after Death, there must be a realm of existence in which justice prevails."

"He didn't see Death coming."

"This is a particular kind of fear of Death...that is confined to those maintaining a certain specific world view."

"I did not believe at the time that Death is annihilation..."

"For life is nearer every day to Death." -- Phaedrus

"In the midst of life, we are in Death." -- The Book of Common Prayer

"All our life is but a going out to the place of execution, to Death." -- John Donne

"Nobody knows, in fact, what Death is, nor whether to man it is not perchance the greatest of all blessings..." -- Socrates (scary thought)

"Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist, Death is not present, and when Death is present, we no longer exist." -- Epictetus

And though there are many, many more along with those, my favorite would probably be this one:

"Death...is simply the ultimate horror of life." -- Jean Giradoux

"I don't want you groping around in the dark all night."

Last night and tonight were our performances of "Once Upon A Mattress." Tonight was definitely AMAZING in comparison to last night. Everything went so smoothly, and I had a great time doing it. I can't pick an order for a Top 10, so I'll just post my highlights of tonight (might try to give reasoning on some of them).

-- 3 for 3 on taking off the crown (my wig would've came with it last night 2 times)
-- 2nd row "LoudFans" (Janet, Mariah, and Shayla)
-- Perfect songs tonight
-- I didn't blank on "Man To Man Talk" like I did Wednesday for the elementary
-- "The Minstrel, The Jester, and I" was the best out of any time we did it
-- Laughing at "LoudFans" during my first song
-- Searching for the Wench, I looked out into the crowd....decided to look at Mariah....
-- The greatest, most lively crowd we had (especially topped the elementary kids on Wednesday)
-- "Your job is just as important as everyone else's" [Larken] (John {Dauntless} and I laughed every time this line came up in all reahearsals and performances)
-- No cast laughing on Minstrel's line, "You're leaving forever?!?!" (We laughed just about every time until we started performing)
-- I saw Cody all dressed up in the second row....my first thought was "How embarrassing."
-- Brice made it to the show (the little liar)
-- USC folks (Kyle, MaryErin, KG)
-- Meeting Alex's {Harry} dad....he's hilarious....
-- Cast party watching the video of the night
-- Horrible TP job on my car (also with a leaky can of Full Throttle)
-- The night as a whole!!!

I'll miss performing the musical for people, but I won't miss it in the essence of things. Alas, a lass is what Dauntless no longer lacks....

New Lines!

Today, I accidentally decided to revise my lines in the song "Man to Man Talk" during a matinee for the 5th and 6th graders. How did it come about? Basically, I blanked. Horribly. I was doing fine at first, but it came to a pause where I'm supposed to "think," and I absolutely lost everything. I got the next few words down for my gestures, but then I blanked again. Got a few more words, and one last blank. It almost happened a 4th time within that 30 seconds, but a whispered to John, "What is it?" and he fed me the word I was supposed to gesture.

Thankfully this was for the 5th and 6th graders who had basically no idea what was going on in the show. If it would've been tomorrow or Friday night, I probably would've freaked out horribly. I still freaked, but realized it's not a huge deal that it happened today. I resorted to reading through the song a few more times so I don't blank again. Not really sure how it happened in the first place since I'd had it down for so long, but it happens I guess.

For anyone going to the show tomorrow night or Friday night: I won't blank. Promise.

That's all folks....

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet.

Blue Earth lost to Rochester Lourdes in the state quarterfinals today in Blue Earth. It was tied at 29 with 6 minutes left, and apparently Lourdes grabbed an interception with 43 seconds left. The final was 29-36.

Guess that means I'll be hearing people whine for weeks about this. Oh joy.

On the other hand, this won't be as short as I'd hoped. I went to the play in Wells tonight with some TEC folk. It was a good time at a good play. USC always has great sets for their plays, and this one was no different.

Highlight of the play: Seeing Death had a cameo appearance as The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. Way to go Ben! (The irony of this was the kid's name was Ben who played the ghost....)

Poets R Us

I fell in love with a book of the Bible I hadn't ever ventured into before. It made me become a fan of abstract poetry, which I had never really enjoyed before. My new Biblical love is none other than Lamentations. My favorite verses are probably 2:11, 3:31-32, and 3:40.

"My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city."

"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love."

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord."

I also randomly listened to "Here Is Our King" by David Crowder Band, and absolutely love the chorus:

Here is our King

Here is our Love

Here is our God who's come to bring us back to Him

He is the one

He is Jesus

And He is our King

He is our Love

He is our God who's come to bring us back to Him

He is the one
He is Jesus

Jesus

I have nothing else to say except that my new venture is going fairly well. I asked God to keep me in check in any way He felt necessary, and He's done just that.

Majesty....Finally....

[insert appropriate title here]

My day was great. It may have started off on the wrong foot when I got a hardcore shot of soap in my eye, thus leading to me wearing glasses so the soap didn't get under my contacts, but all in all the rest of the afternoon/early night was great. That is, until I got home.

As soon as I walk in the door I hear from my mom's boyfriend (the one who threw the cat down the stairs) a sarcastic, "There's the golden child." I was pissed. Completely and utterly offended. More than anything, I felt like I was being judged. The first thought I had was about his own youngest son and what he's done in his life, but I knew right away that wasn't the right thing to be basing my anger on. I said something back, but nothing really crude or anything. I went into the kitchen where my mom and grandma were, and my mom told me to ignore him. I usually do, but he usually makes those comments under his breath so I can't hear them.

And so I sat in the kitchen for a good hour until my mom went to bed. Then I walked to the church to pray. Oddly enough, my bad mood turned into somewhat of a revelation. I decided that I was changing things about my everyday life. That way, I could shove his comment back in his face. Not in a "I really am a golden child" way, because I know I'm not and I never will be. But I mean to do it in more of a "at least I'm doing something with my faith life" way.

My TV is officially unplugged, my Bible by my bed. I'm writing a talk when I have nothing to do in study hall every day. I'm spending my time after school and play practice with God instead of wasting it away like I usually do.

What was this realization? Well, I realized I'm greedy. Not greedy for attention, not greedy for any material possessions. I'm greedy for things to go my way. Greedy for everything to fall into place according to my standards. And so I'm doing my best to give up that greed. I'm working harder on giving up things that feed the greed (yeah, I rhymed) and focusing on living not for myself and my greed, but for God and for the people around me. If someone needs me for something but I have other plans, I'm going to do my best to help them out or at least split my time between the two.

This is starting to make no sense to me because I can't think of how to word anything, so I'm stopping there. I just ask you all to pray for God to help guide my way through this and for Him to help me be able to walk through my house without feeling judged by my mom's boyfriend. Thanks a ton! I love you all!

It's been far too long since....

....I've been able to say these words:

THE BUCS ARE GOING TO STATE!!!

For all the doubters [cough]Nate[cough], I chuckle in your general direction. We beat Jackson County Central tonight 24-21. I wasn't at the game, but I heard the minute it was over. I also chuckle in the direction of the NRHEG (one word) football team for their incredible 40-0 loss to Triton tonight.

It's between Plainview and Rochester Lourdes for us to play at home on Friday. Either way I'll be there and I won't have a voice on Saturday.



Buc Pride!


**Edit** I just got word from Janet that Lourdes won tonight, so we should be playing them on Friday.

Evacuate the premises

Today was an interesting day first hour. We had about 20 minutes left of study hall when the fire alarm went off. We walked to the grassy area past our parking lot where we sometimes go (other times it's only to half of the parking lot), but then they made us walk all the way to Lampert's. We stood inside their storage garages for a good 10 minutes before we went back to the school. It was really random, and I could just imagine what it was like for drivers on the road watching 300+ kids walk across at the same time.

I have nothing better to do now than post another week of BEA Fantasy Football. Here goes:

Week 3 -- Blue Earth Area Buccaneers at Jackson County Central Huskies

Game Winner: Jackson (39-12)

Fantasy Winner: Jackson (69-20)

QB
L. Becker (3)
M. Brandt (6)

WR
C. Sukalski (6)
F. Passer (0)
T. Sonnicksen (0)
J. Grages (9)
M. Haeffner (0)
T. Hendrickson (0)

RB
B. Hanevik (0)
G. Mensing (1)
T. Stewart (9)
C. Lines (14)

TE
G. Holmseth (0)
J. Lewis (6)

K
F. Groeger (0)
?. ??? (1)

DEF
BEA (10)
JCC (24)

**Quick note: Logan threw 7 interceptions in this game. It was bad....and we play these guys on Friday to go on to state, where we would play either Plainview or Rochester Lourdes at home in the first round....

Section Finals!!

The Bucs are officially moving on to the Section Finals! We beat Maple River tonight (ranked #1 in the state because of their weak schedule), and we'll be playing Jackson on Friday. We lost to Jackson in the regular season, and they annihilated Fairmont tonight (last I heard was 43-8), but we're one of those underdog kinds of teams. Garrett got sent to Mankato tonight to get x-rays after he was taken off the field, so hopefully he's alright. I think it was all just precautionary. All in all, Friday should be an interesting night! Buc Pride! And now I'll post another week of BEA Fantasy Football.

Week 2 -- Blue Earth Area Buccaneers at Fairmont Cardinals

Game Winner: Blue Earth (20-19)

Fantasy Winner: Fairmont (42-37)

QB
L. Becker (14)
E. Hugoson (10)

WR
C. Sukalski (3)
F. Passer (0)
T. Sonnicksen (1)
M. Klutz (7)
J. Peymann (6)
?. ??? (0)

RB
B. Hanevik (8)
G. Mensing (0)
P. Mallory (10)
B. Lubenow (0)

TE
G. Holmseth (6)
M. Berhow (3)

K
F. Groeger (0)
M. Klutz (1)

DEF
BEA (5)
Fair. (5)


Just a quick little something that is going in my history books: Tonight marks my first comment ever from Ben Hoogland on Myspace. I think I may have shed a tear or 2 of joy when I read it. I'm also glad he is now "random-cuz-I'm-random Ben" and not "crabby-cuz-I'm-sleepless Ben."

Buccaneer Dream Team

I decided last week to get all of the football stats from my chemistry teacher and do something with them. My idea was to see what kind of fantasy points my school's team would rack up each week. So now whenever I have nothing better to blog about, I'll be posting a week's worth of fantasy play for my school.

Week 1 -- New Ulm Eagles at Blue Earth Area Buccaneers

Game Winner: Blue Earth (22-0)

Fantasy Winner: Blue Earth (58-13)

QB
L. Becker (20)

N. Van Roekel (-2)

WR

C. Sukalski (10)

F. Passer (9)
T. Sonnicksen (1)

Z. Geistfeld (3)

D. Runck (0)

W. French (0)

RB

B. Hanevik (3)

G. Mensing (1)

D. Otis (3)

J. Carda (1)

TE
G. Holmseth (1)

J. Suess (1)

K

F. Groeger (0)
?. ??? (0)

DEF

BEA (13)

NU (7)

Sorry about the crappy format. My table I made with HTML earlier on wasn't formatting on here the way I wanted. Either way, I'm sure you'll see more of these than you think because I, like Nate, have had nothing too special to blog about lately.

Thursday, Bloody Thursday

Today (much like Ben) was kind of a big deal. At least in my eyes it was. Today marked my first time giving blood. I didn't have any big worries about it because I personally like getting shots and the like, so I didn't figure I'd have any issues at all giving blood. I think my only issue was how I felt like I had eaten to much for lunch before I gave blood. That turned out to not be a big deal. I actually had to go eat pizza and bananas at the canteen when I got done because I was so blasted hungry.

The guy that took me in to get all my information and have me answer all the questions looked really familiar. Turns out he kind of knew me too. He's my friend Tim's dad, but I've really only seen him once before today. It was pretty interesting talking to him about Social Security Numbers. The students that were helping out at the blood drive were cracking jokes about squirting blood all over myself. Turns out Amanda (my next-door-locker neighbor from the last 2 years) had nothing better to do than watch the last 2 minutes of my blood draining and walk me to the canteen.

Good day today. I'll definitely give blood again. At play practice Emily and I were talking about how we were "heroes" along with everyone else who gave blood. I was singing on the inside. Singing Enrique Iglesias....

01-22-73

Yesterday was a national day of silent solidarity for pro-life. I was one of two people who participated at my school. It was definitely a tough day, and I can honestly say I slipped up a couple times and my smart comments got the best of me. Other than that, it was a great day. A lot of people asked about why Melissa Fenske and I were being silent. It sounded like many of them thought it was interesting too. Hopefully next time we can get more people involved at my school.

Big props to others that I know participated:
Mariah
Melissa J.
Lillie
Kyree
I'm not sure who else I knew personally, but there were many all across the country participating also.