Perfect!

Muhahaha.

For some reason or another I feel like annoying Eric and posting about the Patriots season-clinching game that just ended tonight before he gets a chance to.

>:D

Yeah, I watched the game. The whole thing. Well, except for about 5 minutes after half-time when my break took a little longer than expected. Anyway, I didn't miss anything important, and I went through the stress and anxiety of the first three quarters with the Patriots looking like they were gonna mess up their perfect season. I saw Brady beat Peyton Manning's record for touchdown passes and Moss beat Rice's record. And I am finding that I am developing that tendency of yelling at the TV.

Very strange.

This year has been strange for me, sports-related. I'm finally getting into it. I've never really cared about the Red Sox, or the Patriots. I'm not even sure if I watched a full football game before tonight, or a full baseball game before game 4 of the Red Sox vs. the Indians. And all of a sudden, for no reason whatsoever, I begin to care.

Yeah, maybe this seems not that strange to you. I mean, who doesn't like sports, right? Well, to be honest, I don't really. Thus, I never cared to watch any. But now I enjoy watching them, and I find myself wanting to learn more about them. I'm becoming a regular Eric!

Heh, just kidding. Not that bad of a sports nut. :P

So anyway, there's my little blurb about the Patriots 16- season, finished with this 38-35 game against the New York Giants. A blurb you would never, ever, have heard coming from me a few months ago.

I beat you to it Eric! >=D

Oh, and just for the record (and in case this didn't annoy Eric). Tom Brady is a pretty-boy!

Chapter 1 (Finally!)

Let me start out by saying I'm a zuzu.

A very busy zuzu, but a zuzu nonetheless.

I had scheduled the first chapter of Knights' Academy to be finished over two weeks ago. Yet it's not until now that I can say it's done.

Yeah, a little late, huh?

In my defense, there was a lot going on. Calculus homework (eek! some took 3 hours!), before-Christmas-break-tests, staying for basketball games at school so I could help my class (the seniors) sell stuff so we can raise money for our trip in April, Christmas shopping, teen activities, Christmas programs at school and church.

Not much free time.

Thus, not much work done on Chapter 1.

But, I still managed to eek in a little here and a little there, and today, after tacking on the final 2 pages of this 14-page chapter, I finished it.

Read it if you want. I will warn you though, I don't consider it in any way a work of art, and it has some areas that have potential to cause dangerous boredom. Areas that I hope are not as annoying to read as they were to write. So, read at your own risk.

Anyway, it's there now, I'm back now, and Christmas approaches. What more could you ask for? :D

Creativity Redirected

Whew.

Writing Knights' Academy is a lot of fun, but it sure saps my creativity from this blog. Thus, expect fewer meaty, fat & juicy posts here.

In fact, expect fewer posts in general, at least in the near future. If I plan to keep up with a chapter every two weeks, there will hardly be any time for writing anything else for fun. Writing can be fun, but it gets tedious if done in excess.

Anyway, just an apology in advance for not posting as often as I should here. Hopefully I'll make up for it in Knights' Academy.

Chapter 1 (10 pages, and growing) is due out tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Not my opinion of excitement a-la-mode, but hey, it's the start. Ya gotta introduce your story somehow. I promise Chapter 2 will be more exciting.

Knights' Academy

This post was gonna have to wait 'till after school to be written, but since today is a SNOW DAY (oh yeah!) I'll write it now.

You almost definitely don't remember this, but a while ago, in the post Busy, Busy, Busy, I mentioned having an idea I wanted to follow through with, but not having the time.

Well, now I have the time.

This idea is something that's been hatching for a while, but was finally given the inspiration it needed from Corey's blog (I'd put a link to it here but something seems to have happened to it and I can't get there anymore). One of the links he had was "Blog for a story me and a friend are working on." Now, there was only one post on the entire page, and that didn't contain any story, but the idea was there, and I'll give credit where credit is due and say that after reading that I thought, "Hmmmm, it would be fun writing a story, maybe I'll do that." But, alas and alack, I had not the time! And so my wonderful idea has not had the opportunity to be followed through with.

But now it does!

Thus, I have put my idea into action. I now have a new blog for the story, Knights' Academy. The story isn't completely new; I wrote a short story for school last year for a little class competition we had (the stories were all voted on by the ninth and tenth grade classes--mine won :D) that I decided to build on, giving the story backround and adding events in there. Actually, now that I've started writing, that short story is a very, very minor event in the grand scheme of what I'm planning. Anyway, what should be happening is that I will post a chapter every other week (I originally wanted to do it every week, but after Chapter 1 took me two weeks--it's 7+ pages so far size 12 font and double-spaced in Word, I expect it to be around 10 pages when I'm done--I figured it would be wiser to give myself more time.) So, if all goes well, I'll have a fun and constructive diversion that will last me a long time, and you'll have more stuff to read.

The first chapter should be out soon.

Hope this goes well, enjoy!

(Oh, yeah, I want to get some ideas for a more creative name for Sam Williamson and some ideas for a name for the kingdom he lives in. Comment here if you've got some.)

Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang (Zuzusmoosher Edition)

I finished my version of the well-beloved, classic blockbuster movie!

Finally. Yeah, I thought it would get done earlier, but I had more stuff I had to do than I thought I did. But now it's done!

I was gonna wait 'till John got his done, but he's being a lazy zuzu, and hasn't worked much on his edition yet. So I got authorization from him to post my version, with his coming out whenever he finds the time for it.

I gotta say, I'm almost wondering if it was a good idea to tamper with the original. I mean, the Zuzusmoosher Edition is cool and all, but why mess with perfection? Heehee. Well, here it is anyway. You can decide which is better for yourself.

And now, without any further ado, I present to you, the one, the only, Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang (Zuzusmoosher Edition)!



So, is the original better? Is this one any good? Feel free to leave any input. :D

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

AWANA Class

My church runs a Bible club for kids called AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) that takes place every other Friday night. Most of you probably know about it. Anyway, last year I had the awesome opportunity to teach the 9-12 year old class there. I still do it, except now another guy and I alternate classes. Teaching has been such a blessing to me (I think sometimes Christians use "blessing" to the point of cliché but I really mean it here); as I prepare the lessons I'm about to teach the kiddies I learn so much myself. I'll share the idea of last Friday's lesson here, as it is relevant to Thanksgiving. This isn't the way I actually taught it, it's sorta different writing it down as opposed to saying it, but all the important ideas are there.

**********************************************************

What do you want more than anything else? Now, what would you do if someone gave you that exact thing?

Here's a story about ten men who had that very thing happen to them, and how they reacted to it.

Luke 17:11-19--11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Leprosy is a terrible disease. Nerve endings die, flesh rots, fingers fall off, and extremely contagious. Not only did these men suffer from the actual symptoms of the disease, but the contagiousness of the disease meant that they were unable to be with their friends or families, and were forced to live as outcasts. I'd say the one thing these guys wanted more than anything else was to get rid of their leprosy. And guess what? They got it. Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest (God ordained the priests as the identifiers of leprosy--Leviticus 19 gives a detailed explanation of what the priest looked for to diagnose those thought to have the illness), and as they were on their way, "they were cleansed".

Now what did they do?

Luke 17:15-18 says that only one of the ten went back to thank Jesus. Only one. The others just took the blessing and ran off excited that they had just gotten their life back.

I find what the Bible says about that one leper and what he did interesting, and a good lesson for us. First off, in verse 15, it says that as soon as he saw he was cleansed, he returned. As soon as he noticed God's gift, he acknowledged it and went to thank Jesus for what He had done for him. Not only did he go back to thank Jesus in person, he "with a loud voice glorified God." Not whispered a thank-you to God for helping him, not secretly rejoiced in his heart about what had happened, but out loud, so that others could hear and know what God had done for him. That part there was the most convicting to me, as I tend not to talk much about what God has done for me. After praising God out loud, the leper who had been healed went straight to Jesus and worshiped Him. He realized the power of God because of what had been done for him and worshiped Him for it. And the last thing this verse tells us about this man is that he was a Samaritan. A man who, in the Jew's mind, was lower than they were and sinful. The other lepers were probably Jewish, but he, the Samaritan, was the only one who did the right thing.

And when Jesus saw that man, the only thankful leper, after He pointed out the fact that only the Samaritan had thanked Him, He told him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well." Now, I think we can say that He wasn't talking about the leprosy. The other nine lepers all were cleansed, yet none of them showed any signs of faith. The Bible doesn't tell us whether or not that man believed, but Jesus knew the man's heart, and since we see the man's outward signs of faith, it's very reasonable to say that that leper, once he saw what had been done, understood who Jesus was and believed. And his faith healed him from his sin.

Now, to draw some parallels from this story to our lives.

Here in America, we enjoy many, many blessings. We have freedom of religion, we have a safe place to live, we live in a place where all our physical needs can be met. But besides this, we have a blessing somewhat in common with those lepers. Leprosy and sin are much alike: they both cause much pain, spread, and result in death. But, if we have accepted Jesus as our savior, we have been cleansed from our sin, just like the lepers were cleanse of their leprosy. Yet, how often do we thank God for what He's given us? Do we glorify Him with a "loud voice" so that others know? And when new blessings come our way, do we acknowledge that they're from God, or just take the blessing and continue along our merry way, happy that our life is now better, without recognizing their true source or thanking God for it? And do we worship Him for His wonderful grace and power? I know that I, at least, don't do this nearly as often as I should.

As Thanksgiving comes tomorrow, let's remember not only to thank Him on Thanksgiving for what He's done for us, but also to thank Him as He gives us blessings.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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(In case you're wondering, this was done out of boredom/frustration/attempted escape from responsibility, and it's not all meaningless blahs. There's actually a secret message hidden in there. If you get it, feel free to say so, but let others try to find it and don't give it away. It shouldn't be hard, I didn't really put much thought in it. Oh yeah, no jokes saying that this is what most of my posts look like, I see those coming from a mile away!)

Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait en Montréal?

I'm glad you asked! (In case you're wondering what you asked, you asked what I did in Montreal) I'll try to keep it brief, there's alot that happened but I would probably be unable to write them all and yet manage to keep this post interesting.

The trip up to Canada was relatively uneventful. I manged to sneak in an hour or so of sleep to save up for the sleep I knew I was going to lose. Listened to my iPod, talked here and there when the others and I were awake. Got over the border with no problem, Canadians don't seem to care too much about who's getting into their country. Nothin' special. After entering Quebec, we stopped by a bank to change our American bucks into Canadian currency, discovering the awful truth that inflation is so high that the Canadian dollar is worth more than its Canadian counterpart. Ninety-one cents American equals one Canadian dollar. Pretty sad, last year we went it was one American dollar for a Canadian dollar and 14 cents. Anyway, after exchanging said dough, we stopped by a mall in Montreal. The mall was actually made up of about five malls connected by tunnels, which made for lotsa walking and lotsa looking at what was, for the most part, clothes. Blech. However, and the plus side, I got an awesome tee-shirt. The front side had the question, "What's the definition of a Canadian?" The back side said, "An unarmed American with healthcare.......heh heh heh." >:D Lol, I love it. Funny that you can buy shirts making fun of Canadians in Canada. Unless it was intended as a lame insult to Americans for not having an inefficient socialized healthcare and for actually fighting in wars? I doubt it, I don't think even Canadians could be so bad at insulting someone that they'd insult themselves. Heehee, just kidding. Anyway, after a while at the mall, during which we ate dinner, we left for our hotel. We had reserved two hotel rooms, one big and one not-so-big. The intent was for the girls to get the big room, as they were supposed to have more people, and the guys to have the smaller one. Well, one of the girls wasn't able to go on the French trip because she had gotten sick the day we left. So the number of males equaled that of their feminie counterparts. But, our French teacher, who so happens to be a woman, decided that since the girls were supposed to get the big room in the first place, they would still get it. And thus, we were split up to our separate rooms. The girls room was a few steps away from the registration desk; they snickered as they walked into our room. And we, the guys, climbed the stairs. Then we climbed another flight of stairs. Then another. Finally, we cam to our room, number 46. WE looked at each other in dismay. The door was tiny! It was half the size of all the other doors in the hotel. We opened the door, prepared to enter whatever size room lay ahead. And came face-to-face with a small spiral staircase. We climbed yet again. Upon reaching the top, we beheld a large, spacious room, with four queen sized beds, two large round windows, and a third window that could be opened. It was the best hotel room any of us had ever seen. This set us to wondering about how big the girls' room was. Turned out, our teacher had made a mistake; 46 was the big room, in fact, I'd say it was the biggest room in the hotel, as it was built into the attic. Our teacher felt bad making us move, since we all had settled in, so we got to keep it, and gloat over it every time our group congregated in the room. Those two windows were big enough to sit in, and thus me and another guy would regularly sit in what we called our "emo windows." Heh, I can't really describe it in any way that would make sense, I'll just leave it at that. Anyway, after devotions and bedtime, thus ended our first day.

The second day was packed with things to do, and since I don't want to bore you any more with details, I'll just say that we visited a giant cathedral, went to a few restaurants, walked around Montreal, etc. Oh yeah, I got this awesome Russian-looking hat. In the evening, we went to a giant indoor ice skating rink. This was only my second time ever skating, the first time being my first French trip, while I still had a broken toe (during which endeavor, I, going faster than I probably should have given my complete inexperience, I knocked over a girl from my class when she suddenly swerved in front of me while I was trying to pass her...I still don't know how to stop on the ice). I did decent, in my humble opinion, for a second time. The only time I fell down was because an attempt of kindness on my part. I had been skating behind a couple, and noticed the man's gloves drop out of his pocket onto the ice. I was unable to pick them up for him, but instead caught up to him to let him know (a difficult task, he was going pretty fast and there were lotsa little kids who unkowingly tested my dodging skills) I finally caught up to him, and tried to tell him in French that he had lost his gloves. But he didn't understand, probably because of my accent and the fact that I had probably used the wrong word for gloves. So I, passing him, tried to turn around to tell him again what I had said, and in doing so, fell over. A group of friends was conveniently taking a picture together near where I had tried to tell the man about his gloves' impending doom; and I, of course, fell right into their picture. Remind me not to try to help anyone anymore. Anyway, I told the man where he had lost his gloves, he thanked me, and snickered a little with his little amie. Oh well, can't blame them, musta been hilarious to see. And so I learned a very important lesson: never try to do do good deeds and speak French while skating without much experience. Oh yeah, when we went to a restaurant to eat, the place was full and we had to wait for our seats, which took a while. During that time, Andrew and one of his buddies went outside and pretended to be bums, making a sign that said "Donations will buy us a coat" and an attempt at "Give us money" in French, also using shot glasses they had bought to beg for money. Heh, immature but still pretty funny.

The third day, Sunday, was relatively uneventful. We went to a little French church in the morning, which was really cool. I didn't understand too much, the people kinda had funny accents (in French I mean), but it's cool to meet other believers in other countries. After church, we stopped by a restaurant called Boston Pizza (kinda ironic, ain't it?) and left for home. Uneventful trip down, until we stopped by this little Chinese restaurant in Vermont, and continued on our merry way. And now I'm back, it's good to be home.

Nuthin' quite like the sound of good ol' American English.

In Quebec

The girls lost, thus resolving my dilemma. We will leave half-way through the school day and come back Sunday night. Won't be around until then, so cya all later.

Go Team! No Wait, Don't!

I am faced with a conflict of interest. Namely, should I root for our school's girls' volleyball team, as they enter the second-to-last game of the regional tournament, a feat never before accomplished in the history of the team, or should I hope that they lose, and drop out before having to play the last game on Saturday?

Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it? Cheer on the team and hope-like-crazy that they win, right? Well, normally it would be a no-brainer, but as there currently are special circumstances influencing my judgment, it's actually a pretty confusing choice.

You see, if they win this game, then we will have to postpone our French class's annual trip to Quebec. "Why?", you may ask. Well, we're scheduled to leave tomorrow for Canada. However, if the girls pull this off tonight, then they will have to play the final game on Saturday. And, as my school is very tiny, the sports teams likewise, the girls on the volleyball team who are also in French II or III are very much needed. So, if the girls win tonight, then they'll be needing everyone for the Saturday game. Which means that we won't be able to go this weekend. Which means we'll have to go next week.

"So what?", you may ask, and rightly so. Well, it goes like this. We're leaving at noon tomorrow (assuming, that is, that the volleyball team loses) and coming back Sunday night. This is a long weekend, courtesy of Veteran's Day. Next weekend isn't. Thus, we miss out on the day of rest we would have had. "Eh, deal with it, you big baby." Well, I obviously would, but that won't make it comfy. "Why?" Each day of the French trip is packed with travel and activities from about 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. And it's not exactly a vacation either, true it's fun, but there's also a certain amount of work each student is obligated to do. Oh yeah, let's not forget the freezing-cold weather up there. So basically, in a nutshell, you come back from one of these said French trips pretty pooped. Rest isn't the only issue either. My teacher already made reservations and whatnot at hotels. Changing them will be complicated, and most likely messy. "Hmmm, maybe I see what you're saying now." And just so that nobody accuses me of being oh-so-selfish, the girls in French who are also on the volleyball team say that they hope they win but hope they don't at the same time. So yeah, it's not just me saying this.

Thus, I am faced with the dilemma of not knowing what I want. I guess my only option is ambivalence.

Oh yeah, I'm still working on my revised edition of Alpha Squad vs. Pickaxe Gang >:D. So far it's pretty good. The date of release will vary according to the resolution of said dilemma. Other than that, you will be hearing from me one way or another about the French trip, whether this Monday or next we'll see.

What Happens When We're Left Alone.

I took my SATs today. And afterwards, I was, and still am, a little brain dead. So, my parents, in their infinite kindness, allowed me to stay home with Andrew and invite John over whilst they took my sisters to visit some relatives. Heh heh heh, home alone from four to nine. Good stuff.

Anyway, needless to say, we had a blast. John, Andrew, and I pigged out on leftovers and such, and after playing some good ol' video games on this rainy day, we took some hilarious pics and John and I made an awesome movie--out of LEGO guys.

Good, good stuff.

Since I know you're absolutely dying to see it, I shall allow you to watch the uncut, unedited, and unrated version right here (don't worry it's completely clean lol). John, Andrew, and I plan to have an editing contest to see who can fix it up the best, more to come on that later. Any-who, without any further ado, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, young and old, it's time for the feature presentation. Please turn off any electronic devices at this time. Thank you, sit back and enjoy the show.



Heehee, good ol' nonsensical stupidity, I love it. Maybe John and I have a deranged sense of humor O_o Gimme some feedback so I can figure out if we're as deranged as I think we are ;D.

Red Sox!

YEAH!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! THEY DID IT!!!!!

A few weeks ago had you asked me who Pedroia was or Mike Lowell I'd be like, "Who?" Somehow, during game 4 vs. the Indians, I caught the infectious Red Sox Fever, as evidenced by my symptoms of lack of sleep and great happiness.

Today I found another reason to rejoice that the Red Sox won. Our principal mandated that the teachers of our 6th period class let us out early and the teacher of our 7th period class allow us to come late so that we could all congregate in the chapel and watch the Red Sox parade projected on the wall. Good stuff, although I must admit it was more fun knowing we were missing class than actually seeing the parade.

Just a question: Am I the only one who found the sweep of the World Series to not be as much fun as a nail-biter like their games against Cleveland? I mean, the Rockies didn't stand a chance. They got smooshed like zuzus, if you know what I mean. I almost felt bad for them.

Almost.

Yeah, I know I'm a bit late in celebrating this momentous occasion. But better late than never, right?

Busy, Busy, Busy

Pesky remains of college applications to take care of. Putting together a resumé. Sending e-mails to my doctor who is helping me procure a summer job in research. Getting ready for the SAT tests next Saturday. Keeping up with homework in Calculus, Physics, and whatnot. Trying to prepare for my black-belt test coming, hopefully, at the end of the year. And staying up late to follow the Red Sox in the World Series.

Yeah, I'd say I'm busy.

I can't wait 'till this is over, it's annoying to have so much hanging over your head. And, even worse, I got this really good idea that I wanna follow through with, but can't because of lack of time (more on that later). Well, the end is near! November 3 is the magical date for me, the day when my responsibilities slow down, in other words, when all my college applications are sent in, the Red Sox either win or lose the World Series, I've finished all the stuff I need to do to get that summer job, and I've finished my SATs. Can't wait.

Bear with me, not long now.

[Sir] Zuzusmoosher

I felt like posting right now, and since I sorta wanna get some sleep I'm gonna make this short. This'll be a short post intended for the sole purpose of short-term entertainment, not my more favored fat & juicy post.

You may or may not have noticed my profile pic. Regardless, here it is. I actually made it a while before I got my blog, and before I made it I had made a simpler version with the word "SMOOSH!" and the drawing of the boot and the little guy, nothing more. This was used for my "spray" for Counter-Strike Source, which you must have heard John talk about (if you haven't, check out this video here that he made of him pwning noobs in CSS), as my name for the game was "The Smooshinator". After getting Guild Wars I spiced it up, since I named my character "Sir Zuzusmoosher", I added the "Sir" and the explanations of the pic, and very educational explanations they are, heehee. Doesn't this picture speak wonders to your heart? This is true art, right here. (Yes, don't worry, I'm just kidding, as I said, this is just for kicks.) I've actually sent this pic to people I know from Guild Wars so that they can fully appreciate the derivation of my name. Well, since I'm referring to the legendary Sir Zuzusmoosher of Guild Wars lore (yeah right), I might as well post a picture of him. There he is, folks, the level 20 Air elementalist/mesmer, with an awesome skill build I worked hard to make. This guy's saved Tyria from the evil undead Lich, and is currently working on stopping Elona from falling into darkness and Cantha from being overrun by a plague that creates mutated and malicious creatures. Better not make him mad, or you may find a bolt of lightning in your chest before you can say "Sir Zuzusmoosher!" Heehee.

Anyway, that's my little entertainment there, it was more for my benefit than it was for yours, I need a break and blogging is quickly becoming a beloved pasttime.

When the Cat's Away...

Hey! Im back on taking a little break from my normal resposibilities/activities. I haven't had time to post too much, what with homework, college applications, Karate, and Red Sox games I suddenly got interested in this post-season taking up all my free time.

Anyhow, onward to the feature presentation.

My French teacher has been out all week, due to her father's death, and we've had a substitute the past four days. And I must say, we are a very good class to be a substitute teacher for. Two juniors and one senior aren't a very rowdy bunch (in case you're wondering how the class is that small, first know that my school is very small with only 113 kids from kindergarten to 12th grade, my class--the senior class--has only five people in it, French III and French IV are optional courses, and that since there were only two in French III and me in French IV, they combined the classes.). Well, somehow today, by some details overlooked by the administration, we had no teacher, no sub, and actually no monitor whatsoever. Initial reaction: KOWABUNGA! PARTY TIME! Final realization: I got a Geography test next period I haven't studied at all for. The others came to the same conclusion. I guess that's what comes of maturity, somehow responsibilities take the place of fun. Stinkin' maturity. Well, we didn't let maturity FULLY mess up our fun, we still talked a very little, albeit enough for me to revel in my more glorious past experiences in un-mentored situations at school. It actually happens quite a bit in my school, not so much as when I was in eighth grade, but with so few teachers to go around, it does happen. Since I know you all are absolutely starving for one of my succulent, plump & juicy posts, I shall recount a few here.

In eighth grade, I had one of the best study halls ever. Eighth period, with a friend, and almost always without a monitor. My friend and I used to sit in the corner near the windows and make paper airplanes and throw them around and stuff. Good times. Anyway, it was quite chaotic, since the study hall was comprised of the 7th through 9th grade (which was actually only 16 kids at the time), and, needless to say, many rambunctious deeds were performed. I'll only write the best one (heh heh "best") here. A group of seventh-grade scumbags (heehee, that's what my friend and I called the annoying ones) were fooling around, as usual. I dont remember all the details, but one of them threw another's books out the window. As the window was not high above ground level, the seventh grader leaned out to grab the books. Oh, by the way, don't feel bad for this guy, he was the biggest scumbag of the scumbags and when he was eventually expelled in eighth grade, the others actually went up a level in decency. While he was hanging half-outside, two ninth-graders grabbed his legs and, ahem, "helped" him by half-tossing the rest of him out. Now, this guy, like the numbskull he was, didn't just climb back in through the window he was tossed out of. Oh no, he had to walk all the way around the building to the back door, and in the proccess walked in front of the windows where a teacher was teaching. The two ninth-graders responsible got detentions, and that was the end of that little episode.

This same seventh-grade scumbag was very small. So small, he could cram himself into one of our teensy-weensy half-size lockers. He liked to showcase this talent. One time, after he had stuffed himself in one and shut the door, a tenth-grader came, held the door shut, and stuck a pen in the hole where the lock would go (notice this kid is hated by all the others: there's a reason for this, it's not like he's being bullyed, HE bullyed everyone.) So the seventh-grade scumbag rattled the locker and begged to be let out, and they let him out. He never crammed himself into a locker again.

Fast-forward one year.

By this time, that kid had gotten expelled for numerous offenses despite having had repeated chances to redeem himself, which he had refused. Anyway, I'm ahead a grade in math, so I was with the now-tenth-graders in Geometry class. We had one of the most boring and most unwilling-to-explain teacher. So we would goof off alot, and a couple guys would always get in trouble. Well, this teacher also so happened to be the principal of the school (he was teaching because there was no other teacher available and because he had taught Geometry before). He was a robot, seriously. Anyway, as he was the principal, he would often come very late to class, sometimes never coming at all. One day, when he was late as usual, one of my classmates came up with the brilliant idea of speeding up the class clock so that the teacher would think the class ended earlier (a useless idea anyway since we have bells which are unconnected to the clocks to tell us when the class is over) So he took down the clock, and sped it up by about five minutes, and then went to re-hang in on the wall. The only problem was that the nail had somehoe slipped into the wall, and try as we might, the clock was un-re-hangable. And then, to top it off, the lookout (we always had one guy who'd warn us before the teacher came) suddenly uttered the urgent whisper, "He's coming!" Frantic indecision ensued. What do we do? What do we do? A last quick attempt to hang up the clock, and then we all rushed back to our seats. The teacher walks in. And then, the guy who had come up with the idea and had actually really been the only one carrying it out, said, "Mr. Martin, this clock's too fast. We need to fix it." The teacher was grateful and said he would take care of it. And we all tried our hardest not to burst out laughing.

And so, after sharing all that, let me take the time to say this before some OLD PEOPLE throw a fit about me promoting such misbehavior. I did not actually have a part in any of these stories, I was merely a spectator, enjoying the drama played out before me. I do not consider any of these as right, but I gotta say, I sure am glad I could see them.

Hope this made up for my week-long inactivity, I should be back up and blogging at my usual pace soon.

I Shall Return!

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted very much.

Please bear with me, I am still in the process of college application, I should be done soon and back up and blogging.

I don't really have time for a nice, juicy, interesting post as of yet, but I still have a little snippet for those of you who are so bored as to be reading this right now. Mrs. B. may find it interesting, I'm not so sure the rest of you will though. Today's karate class was really interesting. Actually, about five minutes of it were REALLY interesting, the rest was interesting but not the above-average stuff (knife defense, cool, but not the mind-boggling concepts that I find so intriguing). I'm having a hard time describing it, so I guess I'll sum it up by saying we were introduced to the concept of moving in ways the other person can't really see. Yes I know that doesn't make sense, I really still don't know squat about it myself. My karate instructor himself doesn't fully get it yet I think, although it's certain that he knows enough to use it. He described being first introduced to it when he was working with one of his old karate instructors. He said he worked four hours straight with the guy, and no matter what he did, he couldn't touch him. And the only movement he'd see was his foot turning and stuff like that. So obviously, he asked him how it was done and he had it explained to him, and today he suddenly surprised us with the same knowledge, which he condensed into five minutes.

Anyhow, right now my brain is reeling with this newfound difficult concept, making me feel again that getting my black belt will only mean that I'll begin to truly understand karate.

Sorry that this wasn't that great of a post, I really don't have time for anything better right now.

But, fret not thou faint-hearted! I shall return, with more new and interesting posts to boot!

Until then, hang in there.

One Way Ticket

I need some help.

As my mom commented on my last post, I am currently faced with the daunting task of applying for college. One college, besides the normal essay, had an "optional essay" (in other words if you want to look good you do it). Here's their instructions.

"Tufts develops leaders who will address the intellectual and social challenges of the new century, and critical thinking, creativity, practicality and wisdom are four elements of successful leadership. The following topics offer you an opportunity to illustrate these various elements. We invite you to choose one and prepare an essay of 250-400 words."

The topic question I chose was: "5. Create a short story using one of the following topics:
a) One Way Ticket b) “Do Not Push” c) Toast d) The Back Seat on the School Bus e) Something’s Not Right…"

I chose "A"

Now here's where I need your help. Here's my story, tell me if you think it meets the criteria. Keep in mind that there are 2 other essays I'm writing that are serious and that this college looks for unexpected things to show up in your essays.

Ok, here it is.

******************************************************

How could this happen?

Jack replayed the events leading to his demise over and over in his head. Once he had had it all. Now he had next to nothing.

It was his own fault, he knew. It was his choices, his terrible choices. His overriding want for pleasure had swallowed up his life, and now it had brought him down to this.

Jack walked to the closet and pulled out one of his few remaining possessions: an old rifle his father had bought for him. They used to go on hunting trips together, and this had been his eighteenth birthday present. Now feeling suddenly determined, he loaded the gun deliberately and pointed it at his head.

This was to be his one-way ticket.

It would be his path out of disgrace, his escape from poverty. It would free him from his painful memories, his reminiscences of bygone happiness. It would estrange him from his enemies, distance him from the ones he had hurt. It would carry him out of this painful existence into whatever lay ahead.

A one-way ticket into whatever lay ahead…

Jack suddenly began to doubt. Where exactly was he going, to where would he be forced to stay? Jack knew enough to reason that he was not going to be able to go and visit and return, one-way tickets don’t cover round-trips. Would it really be better over there, wherever there was?

He lowered the rifle. What exactly did he hope to accomplish by taking his life? Escape from his burdensome reality, but would it really be an escape? What if there was punishment for the wrong choices one makes in life, what if his “escape” led him into greater torment? He suddenly remembered a near-forgotten lesson his father had taught him as a child, “Running from your problems never solves anything.” At that moment, he finally realized what he had missed most of his life.

If a bad decision could force you down, a good one could help you back up.

True, he would be forced to live with some consequences. But he could live, and he could live happier than he had before. Hard work gives purpose, and he certainly had much work ahead of him. But he would make it.

He unloaded the gun and put it back in the closet. He would wait for God to give him his one-way ticket.

****************************************************

How was it?

Comments...

I recently had some comments on Reminiscence of a Departed Friend brought to my attention. I personally find them hilarious. Check 'em out here. (the ones I'm talking about are the last few)

Heehee, I'm not fully serious in my second-to-last comment, but I couldn't resist. :D

If you have not yet read the post and would like to see what the others are commenting on, read it here. In my humble opinion, it is one of the more interesting posts, and well worth the time it takes to read it.

1 Year Later...

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend who moved to California.

We used to be in the same class. In a small school (there are currently 5 people in my class including me), you get to be very good friends with your classmates. This guy was no exception. He was really fun to have as he is extremely talented at art and very imaginative. During study halls (and, more often than not, literature class), he used to draw the coolest comics. And he used to make them excessively gory, which in a strange, perhaps sadistical, kind of way made them all the more funny. One such comic was a 24-episode series called Toothville. It spanned 8th to 10th grade if I remember correctly. To paraphrase the idea of the comic, it was basically about a lot of walking, talking teeth that did random stuff and somehow were filled with blood and guts which showed themselves profusely when they were injured or killed by nonsensical events. Good stuff. Another comic, called Rice, was about a guy who had such an intense craving for pork fried rice he stabbed another guy's eyes with chopsticks in order to get his rice. Upon arriving at the terrible realization that the guy with the rice had already eaten it all and the Chinese restaurant where the rice was purchased had run out, the guy with the craving ordered the other guy (that guy this guy: very specific ain't I? ) to barf up his rice. Instead of the rice the guy barfed up a small TV, something else I don't remember anymore, and a bunch of minature versions of the craving guy which attacked the craving guy and tore him apart.

Like I said, good stuff.

Comics weren't his only area of expertise. My friend was also the best person I knew at making movies. His movies tended to be, again, horribly violent. He even made a stop-motion animation Lego movie series. I'd make a link to the series here, but the X-treme violence (yes even with Lego guys) and the disturbing nature of the storyline hinder me. If you somehow are really interested in seeing it, ask me and I'll tell you where to go to watch it. But as a fair warning: it contains excessive, unneccessary violence, it's main character is a drug dealer, and it has a vicious ending. However it still makes you marvel at his skill at making the movie.

Oh yes, he also dabbled around with making video games.

Anyway, this talented guy was also very smart and could have done very well in school except for one thing.

He didn't care a thing about school or about anything other than what he found some enjoyment in.

His philosophy was, "Life is short, why waste it on responsibilities?"

And thus, as can be seen by the nature of his movies and comics, he was at times depressed.

And eventually, in the middle of 10th grade, he dropped out of high school.

And he moved to California where he works on video game reviews and edits commercials and such things. Last time I saw him was last December, and that was only for a day or two.

Until yesterday, when another friend and I found out he was here for a week and a half for his brother's wedding and set up a trip to the Topsfield Fair. And so we went with this guy to the fair and had a good time talking and buying overpriced food.

At least he's still the same guy after almost 1 year of not seeing him at all, a little happier it seemed but that might be due to the fact that he's finally able to be spending time with people around his age, which he never gets a chance to do in California as he lives with his older brothers and only gets to socialize with their 20-30 year old friends and co-workers.

Aside from stories about what it feels like to be high on this certain drug and on that drug and on this one (I was dismayed at the list of drugs he talked with experience about, some of which I hadn't even heard of) and stories about getting "drunk outta my mind" (his own words), I had a great time listening to him come up with hilarious and wierd situations his strong imagination actively cooks up. I'd explain what they are but for me to repeat some of them would only make them sound stupid as they aren't funny told by another person; you really have to see him telling them and hear how he says it for it to be funny.

Anyway, that's my little blurb about a friend who isn't around very much.

Who knows how long it will be until I see him again?

Aside from Monday as I might be doing something with him then. (Columbus Day is awesome! :D)

"...And I Could Not."

Jeremiah 20:9-Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.

This verse has been a huge conviction to me.

Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet to Judah. His message was not a very popular one; surrender to Babylon or be destroyed. As a result of his faithfulness in declaring what God told him to tell the people, Jeremiah was rejected, thrown in prison, placed in a pit to die, and many other such discouraging and unpleasant treatment. In Jeremiah 20, after again faithfully repeating what God wanted him to say, Jeremiah was thrown in stocks. He was getting sick of all this. Obeying God, he had been persecuted and rejected, and still no one listened. So he says in verse 9, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name." Can you really blame the guy for deciding that? I sure can't. Why keep speaking about God when no one listened and everyone persecuted you?

But Jeremiah couldn't remain silent.

He had a message, "But His word was in my heart like a burning fire," and he says, "I was weary of holding it back, and I could not."

He could not.

How could he remain silent when God had given him a message to give to the people? So what if no one listened, so what if they gave him a hard time. It was tiring Jeremiah out to hold back such a tremendous message! God had a message for him to give to the people, and he couldn't just shut up and let them go along their merry way not hearing it!

And he could not.

Jeremiah was mistreated and abused. He was rejected and he was forced to watch the people get punished for their disobedience. What a discouragement. And yet he still had to tell them. He couldn't hold it back.

We, as Christians, are a lot like Jeremiah. In one major way: God gave us a message to tell everyone.

Whether they will listen or not.

Whether they'll mistreat us or not.

Whether we are completely rejected or not.

And yet, I find myself not telling others for just that reason. They'll reject me. They won't listen. They'll give me a hard time.

But, how can I do this? I have a wonderful, liberating message. I have the good news of Jesus Christ! I have been told in the Bible the answer to life's problems, the assurance of life after death, the way to the peace that so many seek. It should hurt me. I should not be able to hold it back.

I can say that I have felt this way before when I talked with certain friends, although I have to admit I ignore it too much. And I can't say with a good conscience that I've felt enough the burning of the Gospel when it's held back. I've let friends slip by without telling them anything, even when I felt I should. I've brushed the feeling aside with the thought of how the Gospel would be recieved, not focusing on the urge to speak out about it. And at times I would refuse to even consider the thought of telling them

But, I should not.

Just like Jeremiah could not.

May we all feel the pain of the supressed Word and obey its urging.

No Ignoring My Posts!

I was on the verge of cooking up a nice, fat & juicy post for your minds to chew on and gain nourishment from.

Then I thought, "Hmmm, not everyone has read Reminiscence of a Departed Friend yet, and that's the best one! And how are they gonna be able to look at Guys vs. Girls and leave some input on it if they fill themselves up with a new post?"

So, I thought the better of a new juicy post and instead wrote this as a reminder to those of you who have not as of yet checked out the aforementioned posts.

Trust me when I say Reminiscence of a Departed Friend is worth the time it takes to read the hefty post, and also take my word for it that Guys vs. Girls will be very interesting once more opinions are shared. (Note the fact that there are THREE of each link, no excuses for not knowing where to look!)

But, as it wouldn't be fair to those faithful few who have both read Reminiscence of a Departed Friend and have shared their thoughts on Guys vs. Girls to completely not post anything new, I shall add in a little tidbit.

If random, utterly nonsensical stupidity makes you laugh, check out this Badger and this Llama music video (both will loop endlessly unless forcefully halted). And if you think you're capable of even more randomness and stupidity, watch The Evil Strawberry. If you haven't dropped dead by the stupidity of it all yet, check out my personal favorite, Forehead Shavecut (no it has nothing to do with foreheads or shaving). There is another even more random flash cartoon, but I refuse to put a link to it here as it has some mild swears in it. If you don't care too much and feel like wasting a literal half-hour of your time, ask me for the name and I'll give it to you. I've only watched that one once and it cracked me up (other than the swears), though I felt like I had wasted a ton of time.

And, again, if you have not already done so, obey my instructions and read/comment!!!!

Guys vs. Girls

Who would you rather have upset at you, a guy or a girl?

And, oh yes, they're really, really, REALLY angry with you.

Fightin' mad.

Tough choice? Maybe not, I know my answer.

In case you need some help, allow me to break down the behavior of each when fighting. And, in case you're expecting some deep philosophical delving into this subject, let me shatter your expectations and say that what I'm about to say is very unlikely something you don't already know, I'm just observing a few points we all see. But before you stop reading after learning that you know all this, may I be so bold as to say that sometimes it's enjoyable to contemplate the obvious for the simple reason we take it for granted. (Just a side note that probably only Mrs. B. will get, that whole paragraph is what my karate instructor calls "filler crap"; the unneccessary yet neccessary stuff. No, I don't really know how that works, but there it is.)

And now for the feature presentation.

You've seen it, you know. A guy pokes fun at another guy, that guy gets annoyed and fires back a more offensive remark, the first guy gets annoyed and spits out a worse one, the other guy gets angry and yells out something worse, the first guy...you get the picture. If it escalates enough, one guy will hold a grudge and then one day when they both meet and one will say something and the other guy throws a punch and a fist-fight breaks out. Ouch.

Quickly zap to a scenario with two girls fighting.

Again, you've seen it and you know. One girl does or says something another girl doesn't like. All of a sudden you notice that that girl is acting somewhat strangely around the first girl. Then you notice that the girl starts talking badly about the first girl. Then the girl starts trying to win her friends over to her side. The other girl notices and does the same. Before you know it, you have two groups of opposing opinions. The two girls in disagreement are shunned by the opposite group. And along the way there are tears, there are slanders, there are small psychological tortures such as ignoring the other girl and ostracizing them. When they talk about the other, to quote Alexander Pope, "At every word, a reputation dies." And so on, for a very long time, until a common enemy arises or the original problem is somehow resolved. As I said earlier about a guy fight, Ouch.

Now that we've reviewed the fighting techniques of each gender, which at times are reversed, did you change your mind? Considering the fact that you probably already knew all of what I said back there, there probably couldn't have been any reason for you to do so. Personally, I would much rather get in a fight with a guy than with a girl, possibly because I am a guy and thus would deal with the situation more naturally. But I actually have a good reason for my choice. When I fight with a guy, in most cases the fight is resolved at some point, normally not very long after the start, by either a good ol' yelling match or a few good ol' fisticuffs. And when you've channeled your anger into either of those, most of the time it dies down after that and you become friends with the guy you fought with. With girls, on the other hand, the fights are stretched for as long as every drop of malice can be squeezed out, drop by stinging drop. Add that to the fact girls tend to involve innocent bystanders/close friends into the fight, feeding them 'til they're fat with that particular girl's side of the story. And then there's the way they torture the other girl mentally. I've seen girls hurt really bad because of the psychological tortures of another girl. I think it's a lot easier to stop being angry at someone when you unleash it all in one burst rather than eak it out little by little.

Anyway, that's what I think, but now I want to hear from you.

What do you think is worse? And am I right in the way I look at the fights of each gender?

Posting comments is free, so don't hold back!

Team Fortress 2

Most of you have probably never heard of Team Fortress, much less played it. The original TF is a bit outdated by now, but the idea is one of the most fundamentally sound for multiplayer. The idea is a lot like Capture the Flag, you try to run into the enemy's base and steal their flag/top secret whatever-it-is. TF added a little twist however. You could choose to be one of a few different specialists. An engineer built defensive turrets to guard the flag, the heavy-weapons guy mowed down whole battalions with his giant gun, the medic healed injured team members, the spy could disguise himself to look like one of the enemy players, and so on. It was, in short, such a good idea many started using the same priniciples for their games.

Now, the makers are coming out with Team Fortress 2.

I have to admit, I was a little doubtful as to whether or not it was possible to remake a game like that. Then I saw the trailer.

I am SO buying this game once it comes out.

If you would like to see what convinced me, first watch this trailer to get an idea of what the different professions do (the engineer builds robot guns even though the trailer doesn't show that too much). Then, if you'd like a laugh, watch the interview with the Heavy Weapons Guy, the Soldier, and, my personal favorite, the Engineer. If you wanna see even more, check out this gameplay trailer (this one's the prime mover in my want to get the game, be warned: it's pretty violent). Trust me when I say these links are worth your while, I've seen them like fifty times and I still enjoy watching them (maybe I have a slightly sadistic sense of humor? O.o).

If you haven't played the original, you may not be convinced that this game is gonna be awesome. But as for me, I can't wait.

To Game or Not to Game?

I apologize for this random ranting that will ensue. It stems from a lack of a more interesting post. (read "Reminiscence of a Departed Friend if you haven't already, that'll be sure to be interesting)

We've all heard it before. "Video games are a menace to society! They turn our kids into lazy, unsociable, underachieving nerds who don't know how to interact with people when all they do is sit in front of a screen all day!" (yes I know it isn't worded like that, but that's what they imply!)

Well, I beg to difer.

It's true, video games give lotsa people a reason not to be healthily active. That much I will admit, although the Nintendo Wii helps that problem a bit.

But, video games prevent people from learning people skills? Garbage.

Whoever thought that one up isn't up to par with technology these days. Most of the popular games out there have something to do with playing online with other people. People you've never met, people you have to work with and organize if you want to win whatever it is you're doing. People who you have to communicate with if any of these goals are to be accomplished. Of course, some games require more interaction with those around you than others. A free-for-all deathmatch won't have much communication, everyone is just trying to ensure that their own head isn't the one blown off whilst they attempt to blow more heads off than the other guy. Not much talking required, other than the occasional accusation of cheating, the exclamation of annoyance at having one's head blown off fifty times in a row, or the exclamation of glee at having blown someone's head off fifty times in a row. But, may I remind you, this is limited to the free-for-all. Team fights are a different story, with organization neccessary for defeating the other team. Team deathmatches require only a little more communication than free-for-all's, capture the flag rounds require more, capturing and holding certain areas (king-of-the-hill) even more.

Then we get to MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), such as Guild Wars.
Part of these games is singleplayer, where the only actual human being playing is you. Obviously not much communication there. But a lot of the game requires the help of other players. In order to finish a cooperative mission, everyone has to communicate freely and often, and obey orders from the designated leader. You can't do your own thing if you want to make it. Some try, and they're not respected much. The missions alone teach you people skills and leadership, the knowledge when to follow orders and the experience to know when to take charge. If you know what to do, you're not gonna just follow what the leader thinks you should do, you lead the leader to show them what needs to be done. The missions are only a very small example. The real human interaction comes with the guilds.

In Guild Wars, you have the option to join a group of other players, called, as the name implies, a "guild". The guild can have a hall where they meet, a cape distinguishing its members from the rest of the hoi poloi, and a leader and officers who can help members with missions and quests they're having trouble with. Now, being a member, there isn't too much neccessary of you. You're free to join any guild that will accept you, you can leave that guild anytime you want, and you can get free help from the higher-ups trying to keep their guild large. It's a member's world out there. The real people skills comes with being an officer, and even more with being the leader.

Let me give a personal Guild Wars example.

John started his own guild. Of course he was the leader, I joined readily, got promoted to officer, and then i kinda just was there, not doing much and not requiring much. The guild grew, gained experienced members, and everything was goin' great. Then, after the 3rd Guild Wars came out and people completed it, many in our guild began to get bored with Guild Wars, John included. And, in all fairness, I can't blame any of them, there's only so much you can do in the game, I'm starting to get bored of it myself. Anyway, what with the leader not being around much to lead and the officers not being around much to recruit and the members wanting a more active guild, we lost a bunch of people. Our guild shrank from about 30 people to 20. Then to 15. Then 12. Finally, I, the dormant officer who was pretty much useless up to that point, woke up. We're gonna dissappear! So, I began recruiting. After I had recruited one or two, I realized I was gonna need help. So I offered an incentive to the members: bring me 5 people to recruit, and I'll promote you to officer. And whaddya know? They found people to recruit! And so some got promoted and some left and some stayed and we gained a few faithful members and we lost a few useful members, but we grew. Up to over 30 people. I felt I could relax a bit and just focus on my own GW character. But then, some officers who didn't feel like recruiting didn't, some members who wanted more left because our guild was going nowhere fast, and in short, we shrunk. Back to the painful proccess of rebuilding again. Offering incentives, starting activities in the guild, forming an alliance with other guilds, we slowly gained people's interest and grew again. Back to over 30 members.

And why, you might ask, am I wasting your time with a boring record of a video game you haven't a clue about?

Because, through all this, I learned some important business management skills. If you want people to accomplish anything, provide incentives. Keep growing, otherwise you'll shrink. Make sure to appoint trustworthy mangers who will obey you. Know what your customers want. Advertise. An apple a day keeps the doctor away (just making sure you're paying attention).

I learned this from a VIDEO GAME. And, actually, I know how to apply them to everday life. I could go on and on mentioning friends I've made, things I've learned from those people, oppurtunities to share the Gospel with those people, and so on. But, I think you get the idea.

Video games don't prevent people from learning people skills. They teach them.

Reminiscence of a Departed Friend

Heehee, sorry 'bout the title sounding like my friend is dead, I just think that title sounds way better than "Remembering My Friend Who Is Now in Texas for College", don't you?

Anyway, as the Deerfield Fair arrives (my school is going there tommorrow instead of our usual school day classes!), my mind takes a very short trip down Memory Lane (it'll have farther to travel when I'm old 'n' crusty :D ). Every year, Matt (the guy who's in Texas now), Jonny (a friend who is currently in California but is actually coming back tommorrow for his brother's wedding, he'll be staying for a week and a half so some other guys and I am gonna go to the Topsfield Fair with him), some assorted other friends and I would all go as a group after school to the Deerfield Fair. Honestly, I liked being with my friends much more than the actual fair itself; it was a great place to hang out but it was the friends that made it fun. So now, as I think about going to the fair without Matt this year, my rememberances of the great and crazy times we had pop up faster than zits on a teenager's face. ;D

One of my more recent and most noteworthy crazy, dangerous, and rather dumb thing that I did with Matt actually stemmed from diligence in doing a project for English class. Our class had just read Dante's Inferno, a really boring and dull book about what this Italian guy thought Hell was like. Anyway, after a week or two of painstakingly emptying the book of its boring contents, our English teacher assigned us a project. We had to choose a chapter of the book and somehow physically represent it. Each chapter was about a certain "circle of Hell", basically Dante's idea of the way it was divided. We could either make a model of it, make a movie, or whatever else we could think of. Matt and I teamed up to make a movie. As a movie with only two actors could get very messy and would not in all probability make very much sense, we wisely chose to use Lego guys for our actors. It was a good thing too, the chapter we chose had two groups of sinners, one that was constantly driven around a giant circular trench by demons and another that was sunk in poop (yes I'm serious). We dug a trench in a clearing in the woods around his house to film the action in, and selectively chose Lego guys suited to the various roles in the story. Anyway, to get to the crazyness/danger. Even though the book hadn't mentioned fire in this "circle of Hell", Matt and I were not so enthusiastic about a nonconflagrant Hell. So, to add a bit of realism/coolness, we decided to make little fires around the trench. My friend, whose family is big into all motorized anythings and had lots of gasoline lying around, suggested that we light some of the aforementioned fossil fuel for our fires. I readily agreed, and after pouring little puddles of gas into holes that we had set up in strategic locations along and inside the trench, we lit the gas on fire. The result was perfect, blazing fire with a thick, black smoke. It really added some "spice" to the movie, I gotta admit. There was only one problem: Gasoline burns up very fast. So, in the middle of shooting the film, our blazing Hell-fire started to die down. Not exactly helpful. We solved this problem with a very simple soution; we poured more gas on to our guttering flames. The only problem is, when you pour gas on a live fire, the fire just flares up, consumes the gasoline faster than I can consume a sandwich when I'm really hungry (believe me when I say that's fast), and then dies down again. Pretty annoying when you're trying to film a movie. Anyway, after repeated short dumps of gasoline on the dying puddles of flaming fuel, Matt began to get a little bugged by the uncooperative fire. Giving a grunt of annoyance, he let the gas pour out a little bit longer than he had before, with the intention of giving the fire a little more to burn. Well, needless to say, you don't wanna pour a continual stream of gas on a live fire. As he poured, I watched as the stream of gas lit up from the bottom and continued to burn up to the spout of the gasoline container (this was all in the course of 2 seconds of pouring btw). Matt noticed it too, and quickly pulled the container away, only to find that gas around the tip of the spout had caught fire. He quickly put it out with his hand. Phew, we were safe. Unfortunately we weren't smart enough to stay that way.

It happened again. The gas burned low, and instead of a blazing inferno we had smoldering wisps of flame. Did we learn from our 5-minutes-ago past experiences and let them burn out before pouring more gasoline on? Yes we did, and we were safe and lived happily ever after and never played with fire again. NOT!!!! We viewed the failing blaze with disgust and annoyance, a delay in a project we just wanted to get done. And, again, I shall ask, did we wait until it was safe to pour more gas and light it? Nope! Matt took the gas container, said "Y'know what? I'm sick of this!", and poured the gas onto the dying flames. This time, whether purposely or not I'm not entirely sure, he dumped it with more gusto than the previous times, allowing a greater torrent of fuel to dump out than he had before, and he held it there for about 2 seconds.

And guess what happened?

I watched as the gas lit (again), the stream of clear liquid turned into a pillar of fire, and this time the nozzle was set fully ablaze. Matt quickly jerked the container away, and in the proccess flung flaming gas all over the dry leaves and grass around him. The leaves and grass caught fire. The gasoline container was on fire, looking ready to blow up any second, ready to engulf us and the clearing around us in a giant ball of flame. Matt was in a state of panic such as I've never seen him before or since. "Oh man, this is not good! This is NOT good!" he exclaimed, running around frantcially, debating whether to flee the area before the gas tank exploded in our faces or to attempt to put out the flames before said catastrophe.

And what was I doing in the midst of the impending doom?

I, while Matt was running around attempting to solve our predicament......was on the ground laughing my head off.

LOL, just thinking about it is making me laugh, just picturing the moment when the gas tank caught fire and flaming gas splattered over dry leaves is making me want to burst out into loud peals of laughter.

No, it wasn't hysteria. It was really, truly, hilarious to see. Yes, I realize I should have taken the danger more seriously, but no matter how hard I try, I dont think i could possibly have not laughed. IT WAS SO FUNNY! It was exactly like one of those movies where the two main characters alway end up messing everything up and everything goes wrong around them. LOL I wish I had that moment on film!

For some reason, Matt didn't seem to understand the humor of the thing.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? HELP ME OUT HERE!!!" he yelled, amidst running to and from a pond nearby with a small pail that had holes in the bottom, dumping whatever remained of the contents on the fire that threatened to spread throughout the woods and blow us up at the same time. I, still laughing, attempted to help but ended up spilling more than I dumped on the fire with all my laughing. Somehow, we put out the fire on the nozzle, I still don't fully remember how, putting out the fire is something of a blur of urgency and the hilariousness of the situation. The leaves and grass were likewise doused before any significant damage had taken place. Upon finally relaxing, we payed closer attention to the nozzle of the gasoline container. We stared at the nozzle and looked at each other in amazement at our close call.

The plastic around the bottom of the nozzle where it connected with the container had melted. The fire had melted the plastic just before the gasoline inside.

Fortunately, the container had only been half full.

It might not have ended up so funny had it been completely full.

Anyway, to wrap up my little tale here, we finished the movie, being very careful of how we used the gas after that.

The teacher thought our project was the best out of the whole class and gave us both a 100.

And I learned of the good times you can have playing with fire. ;)

What's a ZUZU Anyway???

Glad you asked! To fully explain the meaning of ZUZU, I'll have to tell a little story...

One day, when me and my brother and two sisters were little (Peter wasn't born yet), we were all in the van, going to I-don't-remember-where. And, as was their way back then, my sisters were playing together. The game involved something to do with a TV show, and Grace, who apparently was running the TV, had decided it was time for a commercial break. The commercial went something like this...

"Have your kids ever played with...ZUZU?! Have your kids ever played with...ZUZU?! Have your kids ever played with...ZUZU?!....." etc.

Andrew and I looked at each other and laughed. What were our two crazy sisters doing now? Thinking to tease them a bit (I take my duty as the oldest very seriously), I asked them...

"What's a ZUZU anyway?"

To which Grace gave a sheepish grin and attempted to ignore me, embarressed at having her silliness pointed out. Well, Andrew and I didnt forget that, it was wierd even for her, and continued to laugh about ZUZU and what it was and stuff like that.

Oh yes, an important note: Joy was 3 at the time I think, possibly 4, and was annoyed at our making fun of what she thought was the best game ever.

Anyhow, as I mentioned before, I was not so quick to forget ZUZU. I would tease my sisters about it constantly: if I was walking past their room and saw them playing with dolls (a very common sight), I would barge in and snatch one up and say, "Is his name ZUZU? Is she ZUZU? How about this one?" And of course, they were none too pleased with this, in fact they were downright annoyed and I assume I was told on numerous times.

Back to my earlier statement about Joy's age.

Joy, being the youngest, never knew all the words we big kids used, and it frustrated her very much. If you called her something in a teasing way and she didnt know what the word meant, even if it was a compliment, she'd get very upset and go tell on the offender. My mom always found out about every little insult or annoyance, and I very often got into some sort of trouble for my share of name-calling, face-making, toy-snatching, and the like. And, due to my experience in such areas, I kept trying to find ways I could annoy without getting in trouble. A very difficult job, let me assure you. But, in dedication to my duty as the oldest, I made the neccessary sacrifices ;).

Now, zap back to the times I annoyed my sisters by asking if their dolls were named Zuzu.

I quickly learned that the nature of my usage of the word ZUZU brought some very negative connotations to the mind of my youngest sister. She took very serious offense at it. And so, at a time which I do not remember for an occassion that I forgot, I tried it on Joy. Of course, she took full offense, burst into angry tears, and stormed off to tell our mom about what mean old Nicholas just called her. The effect was something like this:

Joy--"MOMMY! NICHOLAS CALLED ME A ZUZU!!!!!!! WAH!!!!!!"
Mom--"Ignore him, Joy, Zuzu doesnt really mean anything."

If I could describe the joy that swelled within me at this newfound power, believe me when I say I would, but words fail me.

And thus, ZUZU was born.

Pretty soon, I extended my targets of the name from Joy to Andrew and Grace as well. They caught on, and soon they called each other ZUZUs. ZUZU came to mean anyone or anything stupid or unlikeable, and when something undesirable happened, it came to be called ZUZUish. My parents eventually caught on, and now they joke about ZUZU too. I taught John, now ZUZU is a part of his vocabulary. He taught some others, I'm not sure who exactly though I know Eric uses it, and I've taught people all the way from California. Oh yes, an interesting side note, Zuzu is the Arabic nickname for Joseph. We met a few Zuzus when we went to Lebanon, and that's people with the actual name, not just the ZUZUs. It was very hard not laughing when we were introduced to them (terrible, ain't it? :D).

Anyway, that's the story behind ZUZU, and the way that it's to be used.

So, with this enlightening knowledge, go out there and perpetuate the ZUZU legacy!

Become a ZUZU today!!!!!!

(a little) About Me

I'm pretty sure most of you visiting this blog already know me. In general, at least. John knows me better than most, as is to be expected considering we've been pals since we were old enough to realize we were the same age.

Before I go on, I'd like to say that the most important thing you can know about me is that I've accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, that He died on the cross for my sins, that He is the only way for my getting to Heaven, and that I am utterly incapable of doing anything to merit my admittance into Heaven other than believing this. For more details, see Isaiah 53, John 3:16, Romans 3:10, Romans 6:23, and Romans 10:9. Oh ya, I accept the Bible as my final authority, if you want to know why, ask me sometime, I'll be happy to explain.

Anyhow, assuming you all know all the general information about me, I'm just gonna delve into some stuff not too many know. BTW, this knowledge is being given out to minimize misunderstandings and confusions that will arise anyway. For one thing, I tend to think deep. I'm not saying this because I'm proud of it, but I'm probably gonna be posting some deep stuff on this blog, and I'd rather prepare people than have them wondering why I say certain things. The most common deep topics that will arise will be thoughts on why certain people react the way they do, how it's possible to read people's minds (no I'm not crazy), and the questioning of the purpose of certain things. Another thing you may need to know, I can be at times what some call brutally honest. Maybe rightly so. If I hear something I deeply disagree with, I will almost certainly say so, and give reasons for it too (don't worry, most of the time I'm not too blunt). I also tend to be a very unpleasant person to have angry with you. It takes a lot for me to get angry, and a lot for me to cool down. I get very vicious when I'm angry. Ask my siblings, I don't think John even knows the extent to which I get angry. An important thing to note: Never get a person who tends to be reserved (yes, I am reserved, despite the teasing of my cousins and the craziness around my friends) angry, because we have emotion bottled up inside us under high pressure. Unleashing that (a.k.a., making us angry) releases a torrent of angry thoughts and imaginations, which can truly be disturbing. Lol, this isn't a threat, but in the rare case I get angry at someone, you may be seeing this reflected in what I write. Also important: I value trust and honesty very highly, despise hypocrisy, get annoyed at egotistical actions, and can be really stubborn sometimes. May be useful to know.

Anyway, those are some tidbits of what people tend to not see in me, for general info I'll be updating my profile soon. Hope you learned something from all this.

Statement of Refusal

Ok, I got a blog, and I'm gonna make good use of it. But first I'd like to get a few things out of the way. This is a list of things i refuse to do with my blog.

1. I refuse to use this blog as an online diary. No prying into my thoughts for you! >:P
2. I refuse to get addicted to this. Well...maybe.
3. I refuse to use this blog as a place to describe my muscle-building/victories over certain people in arm wrestling/pictures of me flexing. (My targets of this lampoon know who they are! >:D )

These statements are subject to amendment and may be revised, removed, or added to. (how's that for fine print? :D )

I Got A Blog!

Yes, I got a blog. I never thought I would, but here I am, writing my first post, wondering how I finally decided on it. Hmmm not much to wonder considering I know what happened. I kept seeing friends websites/blogs, especially John's, and I began thinking that it would be fun to have a little place to post some thoughts and info. The idea of an online diary that everyone could read was appalling to me (and still is), and so I ignored the idea of a blog for that of my own website. When I asked my dad if it was alright with him (it was), he asked, "Why not get a blog? You can pretty much do the same things." He was right, and the fact that lotsa friends have blogs helped move me toward bloggy goodness. So now I'm here, and you can expect more from me in the future.