SNL Lawrence Welk Show

http://www.hulu.com/watch/37752

I first saw this video about four years ago, I believe it was.  Four or five years ago, I'd have to say.  I recently re-watched it and I got quite the kick out of it.

I Still Read Books

This is a day in AP Lit and Comp in a nutshell.

Someone is in the front of the class playing my guitar to someone else next to them, people are hanging out, it's a pretty relaxed environment to say in the least, not to mention my cow cup is out of sight.

I just finished The Cellist of Sarajevo.  If it had credits I would have sat through them.  Instead I read the afterword.  I don't know if I can accurately describe my feelings for that book in words.  I can, however, say that I am beyond thankful I read it.  It took me a short while to read the 235 pages, including the three page afterword.

I highly recommend the book.  Please read it.

I Tried Logging Out

I was listening to a song and I wanted to comment so I had to switch YouTube accounts.  I tried logging out and this is what I got.

I Have No Ideas for a Title!

I think I'll learn how to play the bass.

I have a pretty good idea already and I've played around with it before but I want to learn a song that can be recognized.

After two hours my fingers are really sore.  It's like playing the guitar for the first time all over again because the strings on a bass are so much thicker than any electric guitar that I play usually.  That's pretty normal.  It's not just a bass, though.  It's an acoustic bass!  So it's really hard to press the strings down.  Maybe I'll get gnarly calluses like when I was playing strictly acoustic...

I kind of hope not but I really want to be able to play my bass without wimping out.

KB!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DedVFIT7L2M&playnext=1&list=PLBF14D2897A561622&feature=results_video

I was just shown a video of the Knowledge Bowl team from 2007-2008.

The Prime Minister of Knowledge Bowl and I, Head of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition and Head of His Majesty's Shadow Cabinet, have decided that we need to put the picture of His Majesty with His crown on the back of the shirts.

Whose Line

I Ryan's expression when he gets cards.  He's usually an animal or something extremely difficult to portray/guess.

I Can't Think of a Title

I have been having so much fun being the ASB  Vice President.  I love the Leadership class so much.  Words can not even express my feelings.  Things haven't been too busy, but they've been busy enough.  I try to do as much as I can.  It's better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.  I try to live up to that saying.  Things will start getting crazy in a few weeks, though.  I want to be in Speech & Debate, Metals, Green Club, and Knowledge Bowl.  I love all of those clubs, although I never did Green Club much last year and Metals is only available to me now because I'm in the class finally.  I absolutely adore Speech & Debate and Knowledge Bowl, though.

I was thinking of becoming a teacher after I graduate high school.  I think that I would like to go to WSU very much.  I would love to go there, actually.

Be sure to check out the Song of the Day!

My Dog is Awesome

I have a golden retriever and her name is Penny.  I first met Penny when she was about eight weeks old.  Maybe it was six but I'm pretty sure that it was eight.  She was the reddest golden retriever puppy there and the second biggest.  She fell asleep on my lap after playing with me for a few minutes.  My mother wanted to get the lightest female puppy there and name her Lilly.  She had some weird obsession with that name at the time... we had a Persian cat named Lilly and she wanted the dog to have the same name.

My mother wasn't quite ready for a dog because we had an amazing golden retriever that had died a year or two before visiting the new puppies.  She told me that I ultimately had the final say in the puppy we were getting (only not really because she would have told me hell no if I wanted a puppy that she absolutely did not want, like a dog from the pound).  Of course, I wanted the little red one that was awesome.  She had a few trepidations about getting the little red dog, but I'm pretty sure it was just because she wouldn't be able to name a setter-red golden retriever Lilly.  Thank the good Lord.  I didn't want another animal named Lilly.  It's bad enough that the cats original name was Licky and she hated it so much that she needed to change it.

The dog whined the entire way home and my mother kept complaining about how our first golden didn't do that and how she was nothing like her.  No shit, it's a different dog.

Well I trained her well enough so that she listens to me and does what I say/ask.  I love her and I am so glad that we got her.

Analogy

The new blogger layout has discouraged me from writing posts, however I liked this photograph that I found online enough to sort through  this mess of a website to put it on here.

Summer is Almost Over

My summer Chinese exchange student and sister to the left of me.  I'll let you figure out who is whom.

(side note:  less than an hour prior to this photograph being taken, the exchange student slammed my middle finger in a car door on accident.)

I'm a bit worried about the upcoming school year, but being with my fellow scorpion wolves, I am quite positive that this year will be quite smashing.

Also, I just watched the trailer for Charlotte's Web.  I almost started crying.  I haven't seen it in over ten years.

This Sucks.

I have been playing Skyrim lately.  I really enjoy the game.  I have two files.  I made one when I first started playing it a week or so ago and another about four hours ago.  To tidy up, I decided to delete all of my recent saved except for the one and save over it (all of the saves except for one on my new file).  What I did was I loaded my second save (when I had been playing for maybe ten minutes).  I lost all data.  Words can not express my rage.


does not even begin to describe my anger.  At least I have my old file that is almost finished, but still... four hours.  Gone.

Wood Project

Erin finally gave me a photograph of the name... thing... that I made.  Next to her fruit.  Excellent.

Fishing

I have been fishing lately.  It is something that I have always loved.  Recently, however, I have made a friend.  His name is Duane.  He took these photographs for me.  I caught a big fish for the lake that I was at.  It was a 16 inch triploid, and it was really pretty.  It was awesome to reel it in and not lose it.  It was even more awesome to one-up this real prick that was yelling and swearing at a man I believe to be no older than twenty-five.  The younger man, originally from Ukraine, had just cast his rod next to the jerk (who, I will admit, had an impressive beard) and the guy starts yelling at him for being near him.  Long story.  Anyways, it was a beautiful day and I had a lot of fun.  Fishing usually allows me to meet new people that are kind and more than willing to help, even if you do not ask.  They see that you are confused and offer as much help as you need.

(Natalie to the left and myself on the right)

(Tara to the far left, then Natalie, and then myself)

Guest: Erin

     For the past two years the divine Ms. D has been pestering me to write a guest column. I always had an excuse…work, kid, coaching, etc. I recently ran out of excuses and realized that I probably procrastinated on writing a piece because I couldn’t think of a topic. However, inspiration struck this morning on my way to school. As I listened to the radio, I convulsed with laughter and cried real tears as I listened to the interviews of a real super hero and a real super villain. Over the past two years I heard snippets about a group of called The Rain City Super Heroes—a group of rogue vigilantes that dress up in skin tight, brightly colored leather to patrol the streets of Seattle fighting crime. Phoenix Jones recently made headlines for spraying May Day rioters with pepper spray as he tried tirelessly to protect the Seattle courthouse. This ridiculousness always made me smile, but today Rex Velvet—“The People’s Villian” declared himself to be Phoenix Jones’ new arch nemesis—HILARIOUS! If Seattle can have a super hero, why can’t it have a super villain??? To truly appreciate the hilarity of this situation you must first read Phoenix Jones’ Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Jones, followed by this news cast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AANmw2Oiyg. True mirth will then be found when you watch Rex Velvet’s you tube video http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/05/02/real-life-super-villain-rex-velvet-terrorizes-seattle-with-aweso/. Please watch, enjoy, and laugh!

Vice President!

I am the new ASB Vice President.  Again, I would not have been elected if my speech was not as witty as it was.  The credit all goes to Erin.  I had ideas and she helped me organize them.  I am so excited to serve my people.

Unrelated:

I am so excited to see Motley Crue and KISS this summer.  My uncle told me that the only condition to taking me was that when Tommy Lee gets out his camera I can't flash the camera.  My cousin was offended, saying things such as: "Like I'd ever do that!" and "Me?  Yeah right."  Then they both look at me.


ha.. yeah... like I'd ever do that...

Needless to say I will be monitored as long as I am within sight.  Again, needless to say, I will be escaping as soon as possible and as quickly as possible.

ASB Speech/Thanks

I gave my speech today.  I am running for ASB Vice President against a very popular fellow.  I gave my speech and they laughed at the right parts and then clapped halfway through because they were all laughing a lot.  I just... I feel good.  Inside.  And I feel well.  I don't feel sick and I feel elevated.

Erin--this is all because of you.  I came to you seeking advice and you gave it to me.  And you helped me even more than I could have ever imagined.  You told me to make it flow--so I did.  You told me to use songs that people knew--so I did.  You were there for me.  I owe it all to you.  Thank you so much.  I can't even put it in to words how thankful I am.

Photographs

I will have to be taking a senior photograph soon...(-ish).  I was thinking about skipping that and just using a photo from Mayhem, which was last year.  It was this school year and I  look the same as in the photograph, but I am not a senior.  This is the photo.  I like it, as far as pictures of me go.  I don't know about this whole growing up business.  I would not be a good adult.  I will not be a good adult.  Let's see... I would not do taxes.  Yeah, let me start with that.  I would never do that.  Why not?  Well, that's simple.  The internet would be too seductive for me to get away long enough to have a job and do taxes!  It's one or the other.  To be able to have access to the internet on a regular basis (and not in public where laughing excessively and/or watching extremely odd videos would get me strange looks) I would have to have a job.  Sorry, taxes, looks like I'm dead.

Allow me to quote Leslie Hall, singer of Tight Pants / Body Rolls (the song I am listening to riiiight now)

Watch out.. this song is about forest people who dance in tight clothes. be sure to stick around for about 2:18 those are slow motion body rolls. study those abs.. i'm isolating and really getting good for live show entertainment i plan to bring it. I'd like to comment on my skin tone. That is Iowa see-through skin. while indoors watching tv and crafting you tend to form a shade of pink - white- then pale - then followed by a clearness with blue veins running every which way. The costome seen in this video is my mom's KILL BILL insperationed. Because its been playing on tv latley. she had to get a colonoscapy and so she watched them and relized maybe I had the power to kill bill. ( in dance form of course).

So, yes, welcome to my world of adolescence.  I welcome it freely and with open arms.

Plus, being an adult means being responsible.  I don't really think I'm that.  So, allow me to apologize in advance for being a prick that, although I am loathe to live in this time period, can really enjoy a few hours of surfing "le interwebz."

I Have A Friend Besides Colin and Alex

Wednesday and Thursday I hung out with a friend before track practice from 10 in the morning, going to practice with her from 2:00-3:30, also.  I will be doing this on Friday, as well.  It's a lot of fun.  We are going to make something for Jenna on Friday because she said that she didn't even want to think about us hanging out together.  It will be wicked awesome.

Video For Learning New Dance Moves

http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/#Ronaldmcdonald?messageID=2&name=Sigop%7E&videoType=3&ID=&upload=
My friend made me a happy meal... message.  I laughed.  It was most unexpected.  I sent her one in return.

Looking Over Things

I love wood working.  I have converted my garage into a makeshift workshop.  I made a few eating utensils, a spoon, a coaster, and a fish for my niece since my conversion of the garage.  I looked over my earlier projects (i.e. the penguin)  and they are really quite risible.  Glad I have awesome tools now instead of my large pocket knife to work with!  It is a really enjoyable hobby.  Is that a good word for it?  Sure, why not.

Maple

I love javelin.  I will be saying this more times that is necessary because I would like to get the point across how much I love it.  I would go to a shitty college if it meant that I got to throw on the team.

Remember that project that I was working on a while ago for Erin?  Well, I finished it and I am currently waiting for a photograph of it from the new owner so that I can make a complete post about it.

Anyways, I made it out of maple.  Maple is an extremely expensive wood for someone on my budget.  It is both difficult to find in and out of town.  I am going to purchase some from... a friend and then start on the next project.  It will be the same as the one I previously worked on but with different names.  The original names that I wanted to use.  This will be an excellent specimen.

Aerosmith Is Awesome

Aerosmith, Americas best selling rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million albums worldwide, 66.5 million albums in the United States alone.  They also happen to hold the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group.  Aerosmith kicks ass, to say in the least.

Some people said some nice things about me lately.  It meant a lot to me.  A friend on the track & field team told me that I am the sweetest person that they know.  How nice of them was that?  Warms my heart, it does.

Erin also told me that I was really nice.  Coming from her that means a hellova lot.

I am almost finished with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.  It is, hands down, my favourite series.  I am going to buy the series when I finish reading it.  Hardcovers, for sure.

I have also started reading about a French philosopher and his ideas.  They are very interesting.  I get to read an "old" college textbook with notes from the former student, and they are also very interesting.  I'd say that, so far, I am enjoying it very much.

I AM NOT FINISHED!

I did not complete my essay.  I think I am dying.  I may or may not be hallucinating a little.  I threw up once and it was very unpleasant.  I think I was dehydrated.  I drank like 10 ounces of water and then threw it up.  It was disgusting.  This essay is a pain in the ass.  I don't even know why I signed up for AP English.  Oh well, I already did.

I'm "Working"

I am taking a small break to let the internet know that I am, in fact, going through with what I have said that I would be doing at this moment.  I still have one hour and forty-seven minutes.  Joe Walsh is playing as background music to my idiotic procrastinating essay write.

So, my fellow human beings, this is the good life and I welcome it whole-heartily.

Drinking black, old, slightly thick, extremely bitter coffee and going through tooth picks as though they were cigarettes.  Because, well, let's face it, I can't smoke in my living room.  Tisk tisk.  That would smell up the house and make everyone inside really pissed off.

I really do love what I do.  Sleep?  Unnecessary.  Keith Richards has been awake long enough for two lifetimes.  I really recommend his autobiography, Life.  Great read.  Back to the essay for now...

Now I only have one hour and forty-two minutes.

UPDATE:  It is 3:13 now.  I am still working on my essay.  I just wanted to update and say that I have gone over my predicted deadline.  Oops...

An Egg

http://www.randompics.net/?p=19398
      I thought that this was... interesting.  I finished the book that I was reading and I am now on to the next book.  I watched the Swedish and English movies.  I will be watching the Swedish film for this book after I finish it, but not a day sooner.  They are quite interesting and almost inspiring.

     I have to write a synthesis essay by Tuesday.  I have had a week to write it.  Tomorrow I am going to help a friend pick out glasses and then play video games with them and another friend until about five in the evening.  I will then go to another friends house and watch Attack of the Puppet People.  Then home around nine at night and then strait to the computer, where I will work until three in the morning, falling asleep on the couch after completing my half-assed essay, only to wake up at six forty three in the morning, giving myself seventeen minutes to shower and get all of my school items, leaving me with another fifteen to ride my bicycle to school.  I have given myself ample time to accomplish everything and get full credit, be on time for school, and be unreasonably tired.

Any questions?

Reading Late

I stayed up reading this book until around 5:45, 5:50 on Friday night.


I didn't even finish it.  I had  left about thirty pages to read later that day.  I was told that we would be going to the library.  Awesome, I can read the next book.  Family arrived and any hope of going to the library before five was washed away with the chaotic, eclectic miniature family reunion.  My uncle, not seen for ten years, was visiting.  My mother was preoccupied with fussing over every little detail.  Things that didn't even matter.  Well, anyway, I have to wait a while to get the next book.  I am going to try to watch the Swedish film and not get in trouble with my parents.  I will get found out eventually, though, so why bother covering my tracks?

I Love The Internet

I found this picture online and just thought that I would share it with all of you wonderful people.

Which brings me to this next picture...

Tedious Tasks

I put too much tape on a few posters of mine for my speech and now I have the not so pleasurable task of removing every piece of tape from my boards.  There are literally hundreds of pieces of tape.  Thankfully the razor blade that I am using is sharp enough to be able to remove the tape without much hassle, but it is still a very long and tedious task.  It is 2:14 in the morning right now and I am taking an internet break because everyone else in my house is asleep and the internet has a lot of funny things on it.  And I wanted to share with the internet community of my experiences.  Check out the Song of the Day!

Reddit Post

I made this a few minutes ago.  I used Google translate and it tried telling me that "a lot" is not correct, but that "alot" WAS.  Are you kidding me.  I submitted this to Reddit and it deserves an epic tale.

Like Society, I Do Not

Today it just seems like people don't care as much as they used to.  There were less people, yes, I understand, but they seemed to care more about each other.  "Yes sir," "no sir," and "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" were much more common.  Think about the flower children.  They loved almost everyone.  Things were... easier.  Schools and jobs were less competitive.  I understand that this meant that many people were not reaching their "potential," I'm not that thick.  In the 1950's, for example, you could drop out of school and get a good job.  At this point in time you could be a CEO at a large company.  Awesome, right?  I really loved school until the work started piling up.  That isn't the point.  The point is that things appear to be better forty, fifty, even sixty years ago.  I would give up everything that I have here in this life that is technological to live back then.  The great musical revolution; we have never seen so great a musical revolution since then, and even before.  Rock n roll was a key piece in shaping the older generation of today.  From Dead heads to Aerojunkies, from Led Zeppelin die-hards to Alice's cult-like following, the music fan of that era were different people than the fans of today.  In their own ways, they loved and were loved in return.  They got to experience the feel.  For the longest time, the only way to know what Led Zeppelin actually looked like was to go to a show.  They didn't do photographs for magazines.  They also didn't do interviews.  Led Zeppelin never had a publicist.  Now, many people have a smart phone that they can look up anything and see anything whenever they want.  The media plasters the "musicians" of today all over everything.  Virtually nothing is a secret.

Can you do something for me?  Can you take a day to not use your phone for a good part of the day, not watch the telie, and even try to avoid the computer?  Listen to some old music in the sun, in the grass, under a tree, anywhere.  Please, it would just... make the world a slightly better place.

Impromptu Break

There was sort of a break last weed due to the snow.  No school for the entire week, although Monday was because of Martin Luther King day.  The rest of the week was because it snowed.  What I did over this fancy little break was not very uncommon.  I played video games (Gears of War 3 and Mario Brothers for the GBA) and played in the snow.  I made a snowman with my fathers help.  The day after we made the snowman I turned it into Gandalf.  I did not get to finish the Gandalf-izing process because the snow was very difficult to pack on the second day.  I gave it my best effort, though, and got this:

I didn't give it eyes or a mouth (or eyebrows...) but this is my Gandalf snowman, in his full glory.  Equipped with cape and thin staff.  Note the duck tape on the staff.  Later that evening, around eleven, some little punk ass bitch ran through our yard, knocked the head off of the snowman, breaking the upper portion of the staff in half.  I put the head back on the next day because my mother would not allow me to mend it that same night.  I was livid and the assholes that knocked the head off drove very pedophile-like, not once, but twice.  I watched the window for a few hours before I was told to go to bed (or I would be in trouble).

New Project!

I have been working on another project.  It has taken me many days, and I have put my blood, sweat, and tears into this.
Allow me to explain.
At first (and for quite a while) I had put none of these things in.  I had not cut myself, cried, or even sweated.  It was about 18 degrees where I did a good portion of my work, so it was too cold to sweat.  I was being very careful, so I had not cut myself.  Crying... Do I even need to give a reason for not crying?

The first to come was tears.  I was in the cold weather, so I had to wear something over my face (a scarf) to cover my nose and mouth from getting too cold, making me retire early.  I would breathe and my glasses would fog up.  I took them off.  Sawdust... so... much... sawdust...  In my entire life if you combined the amount of sawdust that I have gotten in my eyes, it would not have even been half of what I got from the initial encounter during this project.  Not even fine sawdust, big ass chunks of wood pelting my eyes!  It scratched my eyes and I had to rinse my eyes out a few different times.

The next was sweat.  I was in a heated garage and I wore a long-sleeved shirt and a flannel jacket.  I got too warm.  Much too warm...

Blood was the last to come.  On Saturday  I stabbed myself in the left thumb.  I may or may not have hit the bone, I'm not sure, but I am leaning more towards may have hit the bone.  I was using a wood carving knife with my right hand and holding the wood with my left hand (the table was shaped too awkwardly for clamps to work) and I hit a particularly hard patch of wood.  The knife slipped because I was pressing with much force and I stabbed myself on the knuckle at the base of my left thumb.  Enter blood.  Shortly after this incident, I got a blister from using the knives in the palm of my right hand.

My back is sore from leaning over my work and my head is swimming from the combination of the lack of sleep and the glossy seal.  I will be waking up at 3:45 to sand the project and apply another coat of the glossy seal, but then it will be finished.  Pictures will come shortly after.