72 in Columbus

Today is my last day at home. I still need to pack. Most of my stuff is out and ready to pack, but I haven't actually packed yet. Hmm. I guess I better do that.

The DJ on RadioU today said, "...for Sarah, who requested a song actually yesterday and I totally butchered the name of her town. She requested another today and said, 'it's actually pronounced aw-gray, MI' and that it's french. (followed by the weird French laugh). You can tell I took Spanish and not French." And then they played the song I requested, Nate Sallie's Without You. Now they're playing Bittersweet by Falling Up. That's a good song and so is number 3 on Falling Up's CD.

Ross and I went shopping in Bay City yesterday. We tried to call Alecia, but her phone was busy. I got deodorant and pepto bismo. Ross got various things. We went to Wal-Mart, the mall, and Goodwill. I got a CMU shirt at Goodwill. I'm not sure if I should wear it at UM or not.

I was watching Yes, Dear last night and the ending was totally imitating the ending of Usual Suspects, the movie that Ross and Ryan and I watched with my cousin Jon before camp. It was fun.

Beat Dependent

Lol. Seriously, I'm laughing out loud. I requested Staple - POP on RadioU and I actually heard it, but the DJ said when they played, "...for Sarah, who probably lives in the weirdest town I've ever heard of, 'ow gress' Michigan. I think she's making that up..." Ha, it was humorous. I about busted.

General Thoughts of the moment:
My stomach hurts right below the left side of my ribs.
The tan that I got this summer was my best ever.
I'm leaving Wednesday.
I watched Veggie Tales - King George and the Ducky this morning... I never realized where this story came from until I was listening to the CD that has the songs from it a few weeks ago and I recognized the story that Melvin told King George.
I'm tired of hearing about the Ohio State Buckeyes on RadioU.
There were pictures of furniture on my camera.
Here goes everything.

Wednesday is the day of my removal.

Today was... different. They had a little party for me in Sunday school. It was nice. Our room looked new and refreshing. But it was sad because I'm leaving. It was my last Sunday unless I come home for labor day weekend, but I don't know if I will or even if I'd want to come home so soon. After church, Alecia and I went to my aunt's house. My aunt and uncle were having the annual family picnic thing for all the extended family on my dad's side. Alecia and I swam in their pool from 1:30 to 4:10 with a little break for lunch somewhere in there. We dove for the rings on the bottom and imitated the olympic swimmers... I'm sure we looked pretty stupid at times.

Tonight was the youth program at church. It went well despite the troubling news. The play was humorous. I liked the first "congregational" song we sang, but I don't remember what it was.

The USA officially won the medal race at the olympics... 35 golds, 39 silvers, 29 bornzes, and a total of 103. China had the second most golds with 32, but they had the third most total with 63. Russia (27 gold) had the second highest total (92). Australia came is fourth in golds and overall medals. ...I was just rereading that and "third most total" sounds quite weird. I suppose I could change it, but I won't.

"Welcome to the fallout: where the truth and the shadows have become blurred. This is the incompletion... and we are holding our breath. But look! The winds of redemption have come to within the confines of our frozen fists. 'Behold, I make all things new.' And in this newness there is hope for the hopeless, where the eternal lines of the heavens collide with our own humanity. In the divine comedy where up is down and down is up we lose ourselves to find ourselves. Love is the movement. This is the revolution."
- Switchfoot

"but I'm reconnecting"

There was some really loud thunder last night. What's the singular of thunder? It wouldn't really make sense to say "a thunder". ...Maybe a thunderclap, but no one ever says thunderclap... except maybe BethAnne.

I left my Dutch Blitz cards at Leslie's. Sadness.

How would one add a picture into this thing? It seems weird. Maybe I'll figure it out someday.

Yesterday, Alecia and Ross and I finished up the painting. After I picked up Ross at school, we went swimming and then we painted. The room looks nice. All that's left to do is the carpet. I'm hoping my dad can help with that because it would kinda suck if we messed it up.

So I'm talking to Vanessa and casually she tells me to visit her in WV now. And I quote:

Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
you should so come visit me
What? says:
when?
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
now
What? says:
yeah, ok
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
seriously
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
for a few days...before your school starts
What? says:
i'll just hop in my car, leave my parents a note, "hey, i'm going to west virginia... see ya sometime before i move to ann arbor, hopefully"
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
lol
What? says:
i move in on wednesday
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
no...ask them if you can go...and just come up for a few days
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
its only like 10 hours
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
you could do it easily in a day
What? says:
yeah, ok.
Calc to statistics....shoot me in the foot please says:
it would be so fun

So that's that. We came to the comclusion that it would be impractical to do that now... 4 days before I move to Ann Arbor.

The US totally swept the 200m metals at the olympics yesterday.

Last night's light show...

Well, my deodorant smells like dead animal. It doesn't really, but I'll get wiffs of it and the first thing I'll think of is dead animal. By the way, the deodorant that I'm wearing today is Degree.

We only got one coat of paint done yesterday because the paint was running out. It was a fun time though. So then we went to Leslie's and ordered pizza from Rainbow Gardens. While we were waiting, we played Dutch Blitz. Monica, Leslie, Alecia, Ross, and I walked to the Rainbow to get the pizza. When we got back, we watched Sweet Home Alabama and Alecia barfed. Fun times.

Today I am going to drive to Standish and buy more paint. Then I will be picking up Ross at school.

There was a lot of thunder and lightning last night.

Far, Far Away

Har har he he ha ha ha. You're all in school and I am not! Ah, yes, but it is a half-hearted har har. It is strange to not have to go to high school... and a little sad. As I sit here thinking about the past and the present, my fellow 2004 graduates join me on MSN... Patrick and G. Neither of them had to go to high school this morning either. Hmmm.

Painting today! Woohoo!

Jeremy Camp sounds like Mac Powell. Seriously. There have been various times when I have heard a song, thought "Hey, that sounds like Third Day", and then learned that it was not Third Day but Jeremy Camp.

I have to go get a menengitis shot today. :p yuck. Ehhh, the shots don't bother me much though, but I hate waiting forever in the waiting room.

I am such a procrastinator. Grrr. I've had this trumpet music all summer and had planned on copying it. But did I? Of course not. So that's what I'm doing right now so Ross can take it to school tomorrow.

The paint fumes have gotten to me.

Alecia and I took Sausage up to the Tawas vet yesterday. Sausage is so cute. She was playing in the back seat and sleeping and being adorable. While we were up there, we stopped at The Legacy to see Leslie.

Later in the day we drove to Pamida and bought some paint and primer for our Sunday school room. On the way back home, we stopped at Alecia's grandma's house to pick up some carpet. It was a good thing we had Alecia's station wagon because the carpet was rather long. I ended up sitting in the back next to the carpet. We got to the church around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. We had called Ross and Leslie but neither were home. First, we moved all the furniture out of the room and took down all of the posters. Then we began to paint with the primer. It seemed to take forever to do the first layer. At one point I was thinking, "Urg, what have we gotten ourselves into?" But then Ross showed up around 9:00 and helped us finish off the first layer. Leslie came just as we finished the first layer. We waited around for it to dry looking at old pictures until 10:00. Then we did the second layer. The primer was running out, so we only did the spots that really needed it.

I got home around 11:00... just in time to see the olympics high bar competition. That was interesting. The Russian guy, Aleksei Nemov, did really well except for the huge step and the judges gave him a low score, and the crowds flipped out for like 5 minutes until they changed his score. The new score was still lower than everyone else though. Paul Hamm got the silver, so that was cool, but I wish that Morgan Hamm would've gotten something. Aleksei Nemov should've gotten something too. I remember him from previous olympics. He's cool.

I had many weird dreams last night. One was about college... one was that I had to get my GED and part of it was tube racing... one was that Mrs. Gordon left and there was a new weird band director... one was about calling someone. The night before, I had a fun dream too. I dreamed that I was on the guy's 4x100 medly relay at the olympics and I had to do the breaststroke. I was really bad but on the second length of the pool, I just did the dolphin kick for half the pool and went really fast.

I now have another roommate... her name is Stephanie and she's from Birch Run.

Potter's Field

I thought I needed to buy a new color ink cartridge for the printer, but there was a new one in the drawer, so that was good.

Falling Up rocks. Buying that CD was a wise investment.

There really is nothing to say.

A few minutes ago, the DJ on Radio U said hi to "Alecia from beautiful Au Gres, MI" and he said that he'd been through "that town" a few times. And, sadly, that was the highlight of my day.

My head hurts, and I don't know why.

I am currently printing 2 inch tall pictures... for my nifty picture frame that BethAnne so thoughtfully got me for my birthday. I'm going to take it to college with me and it will be fun.

I want to call in to try and win the new 12 Stones CD, but that would require getting off the internet. Is it really woth the hassle?

I requested a song and I better hear it this time!

Today was fruitful. I made some satisfying purchases in Saginaw. First, we went to the Christian book store where I got two CDs and a book: Crashings by Falling Up, X2004, and Life On Purpose by JM Farro. It was difficult picking between the many CDs that were available. I was looking at Hawk Nelson, Building 429, Wow 2004, two separate Smalltown Poets, Grits, Burlap To Cashmere, Falling Up, X2004, Jeremy Camp, and others. There were a few that were on sale for $7 and the BTC was on sale for $4. But Falling Up was on sale for $8 and X2004 was $12, so after much deliveration, I went for those. Plus, I had a buy one thing get another 50% off coupon. So, that was fun. The book was pricey and brought the total up to $30.

After the book store, we went to the mall and enjoyed some Panda Express. I don't know how anyone can not like chinese food. It's just so good. Ross is insane. We got our usual... fried rice, orange chicken, and chicken and mushrooms with a free water on the side. We went to various places in the mall. Alecia got some shoes and I got some Bath & Body Works. After the mall we went to Michael's so I could get some hemp and black cord.

Wal-Mart was last on our list of stops. I was very disappointed that they didn't have any college-ruled composition notebooks. It really saddened me, and I had to settle for a wide-ruled. I also bought some college-ruled paper and a couple 3-ring folder things. We went to the watch section next because I had lost my watch. I found two that were nice... one that was exactly like my old one and one that was similar but different. I got the one that was exactly like my old one. Then we went to the blank CD section where I deliberated for a while... black, normal, silver, colored, 30 pack, 50 pack... it was a tough decision. Then we went to the check out. Alecia did the self check out but I found a nice old lady cashier and I was done before Alecia.

The ride home was relaxing... I don't remember most of it.

WooHoo USA!

Michael Phelps beat Ian Crocker in the 100m butterfly. I was rooting for Crocker because Phelps has won so much, and if Crocker won then he would be able to participate in the 4x100 Medly Relay. If Phelps didn't participate in the finals for the relay he'd still get a medal because he participated in the qualifications or something like that. So when Phelps won I was a little sad. BUT then he gave his spot on the relay to Crocker, and I was like, "awww."

I'm going to be going shopping soon. It's 10:59 right now and we're supposed to leave at 11:00, but lateness is typical and that's why I'm still on the internet.

Peace of Mind's "We Gonna Make It" and Grits' "Hittin Curves" are getting old. I've heard them so much. Also, I don't like Haste The Day (I think that's what they're called). I wish we had a good Christian radio station around here. But we don't.

My hand reeks of lotion. I can stretch my arm out as far as it will go and still smell the lotion. Thankfully, it's a good smelling lotion, but it's strong.

I've lost my watch, my beloved watch, and now I have to buy a new one. I better find one that's even better than my old one, because my old one rocked.

Yes, I am offended.

Yesterday was boring, but the Olympics is fun. I found out who won the women's all-around before it happened because I was listening to the radio and they were talking about it. I like Radio U's DJs better than any of the DJ's on any of the stations around here. Radio U's DJs are fun without being stupid and gross and retarded. Yes, I have been talking about Radio U a lot lately. It's because I rediscovered it one day when I was bored and hanging out on my computer, and I've been listening to it ever since... and I love it. I remember the first time that I heard of Radio U... it was in June 2002 when we were in Columbus, OH. Ah, the good old days. Radio U is great. It's like WIOG except with good music; it lifts you up instead of bringing you down. But anyway, moving on... Oh wait, before I move on, check out Radio U at www.radiou.com.

Alecia and I are planning on going shopping tomorrow. (When I typed "tomorrow," I accidentally typed it "tomottow" and it was like, "I say tomato you say tomottow.") I don't know where we will be going, but I'm sure I'll find some of the stuff I need wherever we go. Ross knows; he's seen my list. It's long and it keeps getting longer.

I think... I don't know what I think.

You know what?!? I hate junk mail in my email! It got so bad in my hotmail that I had to set the filter to exclusive and have the junk mail delete automatically. Now it's getting bad in my yahoo and it's making me angry. I used to get 1 or 2 junk mail emails a week in my yahoo and now I'm getting 7 a day. At least yahoo puts all of my junk mail into my junk mail folder... hotmail didn't do that until I set it to exclusive and then it would put a ton of good stuff in there too. Grrrr. I HATE JUNK MAIL! IT RUINS EVERYTHING!

My UMich email has a cool stamp-picture on it's front page. No new email today though. I guess that's a good thing with my UMich email, because when I do get new email there, it's usually telling me something I have to do.

I just posted a long response on the forums about the youth rally. Whoo, it wore me out.

A Side-Note

Yesterday when I saw the interview with Paul Hamm, I noticed that his voice sounded like he sucked some helium. Then just a couple minutes ago on radio u, the DJ said that he was watching it at like 3 a.m. and he saw Paul Hamm and how he was all buff and everything and then he heard him talk and it was like he sucked helium before he spoke. I thought, "Wow, that's exactly what I was thinking." Then the DJ guy said that it was like a trade-off... they get to have great bodies but then their voices are insane.

I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Two Beat Triplet...

I don't know what I'm going to do today.

The Olympics is freaking awesome. I love the Olympics. Paul Hamm is my hero... getting gold after falling on his butt almost on the judges during his vault. The US swimming relay team with Phelps and the one guy that held off Ian Thorpe to win it is awesome too. I remember back in 1996 when Keri Strugg stuck her vault landing to win the gold for the US. That was cool. The US is still behind China in gold medals, but we still have the most overall medals (barely).

Yesterday's Disney marathon was fun. We watched Cinderella, Pocahontas, The Jungle Book, Bambi, and Sleeping Beauty. I had never seen Sleeping Beauty before.

My roommate emailed me again today. She seems fun. She already ordered a little fridge, so that's cool. She's taking her printer and her stereo. I didn't even think of taking a printer. I will probably take my TV but not the VCR. She wants to make our room fun. That should be fun.

Brad from Lucerin Blue just called in to Radio U to request a Project 86 song. That was interesting.

Falling Up is a band name and a book

I took a picture of my cereal this morning. It was pretty... chex mix with milk, blueberries, and raspberries.

Did you know that Dave from Pax217 is also a plumber? I learned that this morning when I accidentally clicked on a link that changed the music I was listening to to an interview with Dave. But now I'm listening to the music again. It's 12 Stones - Far Away... good song, but I think I might like their old songs better.

Disney marathon today at 11a.m. They're late.

I've been less fond of rap/hip hop lately. I still like it, but I've been going back to my rock roots... or something like that. As a young music listener, I listened to dc Talk, Newboys, Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, and Audio Adrenaline. In fact, I believe my first tape was Michael W. Smith - Change Your World, back in 1992. I would've been 6. For years I listened to MWS, and then in 1996, I discovered Audio Adrenaline in my sister's music collection. Bloom was a wonderful CD and it helped bring me into my love of rock... I was 10. Around this time, I discovered Newsboys, dc Talk, Jars of Clay, and Third Day. I also got aquainted with Switchfoot and The Legend of Chin. And that was the beginning of my music life. Later I would listen to some Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, Smalltown Poets, Shaded Red... you know, expand my horizons a little. It wasn't until 2000 that I started listening to rap/hip hop (although, I did like the old dc Talk, when they had some). John Reuben's Are We There Yet? was my first CD of that genre, and the collection grew from there (Grits, KJ-52, Knowdaverbs, Ill Harmonics, etc). Now my collection includes 12 Stones, Kutless, Tree63, Pax217, Thousand Foot Krutch, Disciple, tobyMac, Blindside, POD, Pillar... you name it.

Techno Remix Of My Life

Disney marathon tomorrow! I got a graduation present today. I hit a dead skunk with my car's left front wheel. It smelled. I'm replying to my roommate now and I don't really know what to say. I watched the olympics for a little bit last night. The US guy's gymnastics team got silver. That was fun. The dumb Japanese got gold, but I'm not bitter because Mieko lives in Japan. Mieko is fun. CDs are fun. I've been playing my guitar a lot lately. My left hand's fingers are quite sore. A lot of my sentences start with "I". That one didn't and neither did this one.

So, I basically did absolutely nothing until Bible study. I was in a weird mood at Bible study. It was fun and I dumped water on Ryan twice. Sadly, Leslie wasn't there, but Monica was! Monica is fun.

What if someone took your life and made a techno remix of it?

Higher Ground?

Usually I have to switch the font to the one I like 15 times before it actually changes but this time it switched on the first try. Wow... I was impressed.

We have blueberries in our fridge, and so I ate some.

I hate it when I get randomly disconnected from the internet.

I'm kinda bored right now... I'm kinda boring right now as well. So I guess maybe I'll write more later.

The usual, I suppose

Alecia and I went to Tawas this afternoon. We rented Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, and Bambi for our Disney marathon that's coming up soon. After that, we went to The Legacy and talked with Leslie and Pete. And that was my day so far.

Um... I don't really know what to talk about. If someone would give me a topic, then I could talk, but I can't think of anything interesting right now.

I don't like John Kerry, and I need to register to vote (because I am so 18). I want Bush to win, not because I especially like Bush, but because I don't like Kerry. He doesn't seem trustworthy. Bush did alright, and no one will be a wonderful president. I kinda liked Dean before he got idiotic. I'm not a republican or a democrat... I think it's dumb to vote for a person just because of the party they belong to, and I will not dislike a candidate just because they belong to a certain party. But actually, I hate politics.

I kept thinking today was Tuesday.

We have raspberry plants in our garden. I think I knew that at one time, but I had forgotten.

That was one large piece of cheese.

The church campout was ok. Ross, Alecia, Ryan, and I slept in my house last night. BethAnne and Monica showed up last night and all 6 of us played a rip-roaring game of Dutz Blitch (as it was called that night). Vanessa called during our game, so I had to take a break to talk to her for a little bit. She will move into her dorm next week, I believe. I don't move in for a couple weeks yet. It's going to be so so sad being away from my friends for so long. But my spring break is the same time as their district band festival, so that is cool.

Alecia and I watched Angela's Ashes this afternoon. It was good. We are planning a trip to Tawas tomorrow to return movies, rent maybe a couple movies, visit Leslie at work, buy chocolate covered raspberries, and go to St. Vincent's. In Angela's Ashes the mother would go to St. Vincent de Paul's in Ireland where they were to get vouchers for food and furniture and stuff because they were so poor, and we're going to St. Vincent de Paul's in Tawas for the fun of it.

My mailing address for college is twice as long as my current one.... 4 line plus my name.

Monica and I had a nice little chat last night. I love you, Monica... you're my favorite 2nd-cousin... (don't cry, BethAnne. You're my favorite step-2nd-cousin).

I always forget to title these things.

It is so entirely chilly in my house. My feet are COLD! I wanted to put on some socks, but they're all the way upstairs and it's too early to go upstairs just for socks. I was reading my German Grammer book before I went to bed last night. It was actually entertaining.

Ben, Ryan, Alecia, and I went to Tawas to watch The Bourne Supremacy last night. The ride up was interesting. Alecia and I were throwing tennis balls at Ryan's head while he was driving. I randomly screamed at one point, and then I recreated my "going-down-the-hill-of-the-Millenium-Force-with-my-hands-up" scream. The movie was good. It took a few minutes to get going, but once it did it was good. The ride home was normal. "It's not that it's hot... it's just that we can't breathe." ...and if Ryan's mom asks, there was only one other person besides Ryan in his car.

Who's pumped for the church campout this weekend?!?!? I'm not. It has fun potential, but not a whole lot. I don't plan on attending the church service in the woods this Sunday. Maybe I'll go to Riverside instead.

I just wrote a long response to someone who was saying that The Count of Monte Cristo had a bad ending and that certain things were dumb. Pishaw... I think not. It was an excellent book.

Swartz was ranked #1332, .009% frequency in the US according to the 1990 census.
Downing was #1106, .011% frequency.
Huber was #987, .012% frequency.
Kauffman was #1732, .007% frequency.
Allen was #27, .199% frequency.
Freehling was #57229, .000% frequency.
Lutz was #1086, .011% frequency.
Moe was #3496, .004% frequency.
Sarah was #23, .508%.
Monica was #131, .166%.
Alecia was #1147, .007%.
Ross was #282, .050%.
Hannah was #367, .045%.
Isaiah was #635, .011%.
BethAnne was not found.
Ryan was #49, .328%.
Benjamin was #66, .270%.
Thomas was #10, 1.380%.
Leslie was #143, .154%.

I'm stopping now.... and Leslie has found the face of the earth again (I'm talking to her at this very moment!!!).

RC Is Nice

I was going to drink a glass of orange juice but then I saw the RC tucked way back in the fridge and I couldn't resist. Kinda like that time I bought a Pepsi for $2.75 when I was in line for the Magnum.

Yesterday I woke up at 1:00pm. I slept hard. Alecia and I went to Tawas and rented 6 movies for $0.33 each for 5 days. We rented Benny and Joon, The Man In The Iron Mask, Anna and the King, Being John Malkovich, Angela's Ashes, and Losing Isaiah. I like the name Isaiah. It's not a typical name but it's not weird either. We watched Anna and the King last night. Ross came over when we were halfway through it to copy music, and then he stayed and watched the rest of it.

I still meed to unpack my backpack from Cedar Point... CDs, CD player, sandles, hairspray, water bottle, movies, camera, Aleve, books... Cedar Point was fun.

Leslie has fallen off the face of the earth.

That was a long day...

It all started at 4:30 in the morning when my TV turned on and woke me up. I was surprisingly not very tired. After 40 minutes of preparation I was ready for the day's journey, and at 5:30 I left to pick up Ross. Ross came out to my car promptly and saved me from having to turn off my car, get out, and search for him in his house. We then went to McDonalds since Ross thought it was incredibly necessary to get 5 pounds of processed "convenient food" at 5:40 in the morning. He actually spent $9 at McDonalds... two McGriddles, one breakfast burrito, one cappuccino, and a water. We made it to the school at 5:45 and were the third ones there. After a few minutes everyone showed up and we got onto the charter bus that was driven by Norma. The first hour was uneventful... Ross sold Hannah his breakfast burrito after he discovered that he couldn't eat all he bought and we made a stop at the Pinconning McDonalds where I got a sausage egg and cheese biscuit. Next we made a stop at the Bay City Meijers to pick up more people. This stop should have been skipped. Those people were incredibly annoying. At first it wasn't bad but it got much much worse as the ride progressed. Zoolander was put in the VCR and so I decided I would listen to my CD player. Ross and I used my two-people-listen-to-the-same-thing headphone thing and we listened to band music for a while. I was kind of half looking at the TV screen until one of the Bay City people decided to switch someone and sit in front of me and block the TV with her large head. Surprisingly (since you all know how I am) that didn't bother me too much. The people next to me and Ross would keep standing up and they had a little girl who would constantly scream. Yes, that was a little annoying. As we were getting close to Cedar Point, the one Bay City guy with half of his head bleached decided to inform everyone in his Jeremy McKee voice basically that he had been to Cedar Point before and knew everything about it. It was obvious that he didn't when he said that the waits were 30 minutes to an hour... right, what Cedar Point are you talking about? In actuallity, the typical wait time was 1.5 hours, but they ranged from 15 minutes to 4 hours. But I didn't let any of the annoyances get to me. We got to Cedar Point a little before noon, sat around while Norma got our tickets, and then entered the park.

Ross and I headed directly for the Raptor and got there about 10 minutes before the others. The Raptor was fun and is always a good one to break you in. Next, Ross and I went to the Millenium Force. The line was long but we had fun. We made friends with the guy and girl in front of us after the guy left the line to go to the bathroom and then when he got back in line the security guy tried to kick him out but Ross and I confirmed their story that he was already there so it was all good. Throughout the wait, Ross and I were set on getting the front seats on Millenium Force but by the time we got there we were so tired of waiting that we ditched the front car idea and got in the front seats of the second car... close enough. We held up our hands on the first big hill and I screamed (Ross described it as "blood-curdling"). We bought out picture afterwards. After the Millenium Force, we saw Alecia, Hannah, BethAnne, and Ronnie and then Ross and I went to the Mantis. The line was long but we passed the time playing the game where you pick a topic and have to think of something related that starts with every letter of the alphabet. We were aobut 2 cars away from getting on (we were actually on the platform) when there were "mechanical difficulties". That irked me. We sat down and watched the workers climb the many stairs to the top of the hill where the ride was stuck. They got it running and tested a few and then had people get on. We ended up being on the first one after the break down with people because some people had left. I must say I didn't feel entirely safe. After the Matis, we went to the Power Tower and rode the green one where you're thrust down. We got to the top and then freaked out. That was fun. By that time we were starving since we hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was about 5:00. We walked and walked looking for someplace suitable to Ross. There was absolutely nowhere that he was pleased with... "It's too expensive...I don't want that...It'll have more than pretzels...Let's try by the Magnum...I don't like hotdogs..." by that time we had walked from the Raptor area past the Magnum far into wooden roller coaster land and that's when I told him to deal with it and that I wasn't going any farther. He settled for nachos and free water and I got mini corndogs, fries, and gatorade. We checked the time on the wait for Dragster but it was 4 hours. Then we went to the Magnum where we rode in the front seats. The Magnum is fun. After the Magnum, we went to check out the Wicked Twister but that wasn't running that day for some reason so we went to Disaster Transport. After Disaster Transport we did the penny thing on the Demon Drop. The people next to us did it with a nickel and when we were flipped right side up we could hear all the change clinking on the ride's metal... 7 cents. At that point we still had a few hours, so I sat down on a bench and Ross went to see the time on the Millenium Force. As I was sitting there, I saw Ronnie and Jim and then BethAnne. Ross came back and Ross, BethAnne, and I went to the Mean Streak. BethAnne freaked out on it... it was hilarious. Then we went to Magnum to finish off the night. On our way to the front gates, we saw a Dragster not make it over the top. Then we went back to the bus.

The drive home was very uneventful. I listened to my CD player the whole time. When we got back to the school, we saw that the Bay City people had left a huge mess behind. There were water bottles, PB&J sandwiches, half eated bottles of pringles, spilled onion rings, ketchup packets, and just general trash all over their area. Wow, what pigs (in the words of Lyne). I took Ross home and got to bed around 4:20 in the morning, 24 hours after I had woken up the day before.

I just want to hear Radio U!

We go to Cedar Point tomorrow. That should be fun. ...Millenium Force, WooHoo!

My computer is being dumbish. I want to do stuff and listen to Radio U (www.radiou.com) at the same time but it won't let me. When I try to do both, Radio U is choppy and the pages for the other things never load. I've submitted some of my photos to Jones Soda, and some have gotten good ratings. One has even been number 3 in the highest rated section (not that it will stay there for long). Maybe one of these days one of my pictures will be selected for a bottle label. That would rock.

I just sneezed. ...bet you wanted to know that.

I'm supposed to get a Hepititus shot today at 2pm in Standish. Fun, fun.

Well, I had a dream last night and it was weird. I think I've had one kind of like it before. I was running down an interstate type road and was keeping up with traffic. I met Susan at an exit onto another road and we ran back to her truck. She drove me, Andrew, Bobby, and Amber into Standish. A cop drove by and I was in the back with instruments and jazz band folders so I had to duck. Then we were all playing a card game in the back. Doc showed up and Bobby and Andrew ran away. That's about all of it.

There's not much else to say at this time. It bothers me when people don't use words correctly... to, too, two; there, their, they're; your, you're; our, are. But whatever floats your boat.

About Absolutely Nothing

BethAnne's latest post on her blog made me curious... and there is no further explanation on the forums like was promised! My mouth is burning from spicey leftover chinese food. Now my ears are burning as well. Speaking of burning, my sunburn is getting better and I'm peeling majorly. Xploya is in my CD player right now. I think it's a good CD. Cedar Point is coming up but for some reason I'm not too excited. One of my printers is out of ink and it's sad because I want to print stuff.

There doesn't seem to be anything to do today. Maybe when Alecia gets home... I don't know. I always feel like I need to be doing something but there's not much that seems worth doing. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Stupid Internet Connection!

So I was typing along nicely and the dumb internet decides to poop out on me. Grrr. I was talking to BethAnne but when I got back online she wasn't on MSN anymore.

My day was very eventful. First, I got up at 7:15 in the morning because I had to be at the school at 8:00 for the jazz band thing. Despite not having 6 people, we still sounded excellent. It was fun. Ross and I were the only hot trumpets. Sadly, it was my last ever high school band performance. After that, Ross and Jake and I went to Bay City so they could get fitted for their tuxes. Then we went to Herter's so Ross could buy his "trumpet bible." The bridge was up to let a ship through when we were on our way back out of downtown, so we got to sit there for a little while. We then went to Wal-Mart where Jake got some hot $3 sandals... kinda like mine. Fazoli's was next and we all got some kind of pizza. On the way home I suggested going up to the relief sale in Fairview and so we did, except I drove this time. After encountering many dumb slow drivers, Ross and I arrived safely at the fairgrounds. We checked out the shops and I bought a box from India. We saw Carol and Glenn and then met up with Hannah and Alecia. We got to hang out with Alecia's adorable new sausage eating kitten (who may or may not be named Sausage... Sausey for short). Around 7-ish, Ross and I decided to head out. On our way home, we stopped at McDonald's (apparently the hot Mio hang out spot) for food. The drive home consisted of conversations about old TV shows, cartoons, fruit, and bothersome habits. Raspberries are heavenly. We watched Sleeping With The Enemy at Ross's and then I went home. So, my day was a nice day.

I've been working on my imagestation camp '04 photo album. It's coming along quite nicely. If you have any nice camp pics you can email them to me at my yahoo or something. I would like to make a copy of the one of Noah with the shirt "My Daddy Eats Glue."

Perspectives

Well... my family is all gone now. They left this morning. Yesterday we went tubing down the Au Sable and it was fun, but I think I'm all tubinged out for a while. Canoeing would be fun though. The jazz band concert at the point was hot. I think we sounded good. After jazz band, Ross and I went back to the cabins. My cousins, Ross, and I went for a little walk along the beach, watched my graduation speech, and then finished off the night with Pit. It was a fun week.

My camp pictures... I love them. I wish I had had a better quality camera, but these turned out alright. There are 81 from my disposable cameras, 4 from my digital, and 5 videos from my digital.

Camp was awesome, but what now? Camp is over... Where do we go from here? What's next? Will anything really stay changed? A lot of people have been speaking of what happened in their lives at camp. Let me assure you, my life was not unaffected... I just have a hard time sharing things so very personal. The week was a journey for me, more so than most other years. But anyway...

I am sunburned.

Passion

So I was going to come home and go to bed but I got a letter from U of M and couldn't resist. I now have my address at U of M and my roommate's info. Her name is Rebecca and she's from New York. I'm excited.

Also, I got my pictures from camp back. They're hot.

Pit today with Ross and my cousins was fun. "Who has my flax????!!!" The waves were beastly... they would literally pick you up, drop you on the beach, and leave you sitting there. It was a great day.

...and I'm tired.

Let You In

I don't know where to begin this morning. I was going to write last night, but it was late by the time I got home and I still had to take a shower and stuff so I didn't. Yesterday was fun. After jazz band, Ross and I went out to the lake and hung out with my extended family. Others could've come too but Ryan had to play Halo with Ben, Isaiah apparently had some miscommunication, BethAnne and Hannah were doing something, and Alecia wasn't at jazz band. Ross and I played ultimate frisbee against my cousins Jon and Adrienne and we totally got beat into the ground. I think we scored a grand total of once. We floated on the lake in my newly acquired inner-tubes a few times throughout the day. Dutch Blitz was as fun as ever. I managed to bend my big toenail back and get sand under the nail when we were hitting around a volleyball. My sunburn is in pain. All in all a good time.

My car needs gas and I need to head out to the lake again, so I'll have to cut this short.

Sea of Faces

I am so sunburned. I spent almost the entire day at the lake with my cousins. We floated in the waves and played tetherball and walked down the beach and played dutch blitz... it was quite fun. But now I look like a lobster.

BethAnne got some of her pictures back. I can't wait to see them. I can't wait to see mine... tomorrow, the next day, or the day after that.

I can't get over camp and how great it was. Ask me anything about it and I'd be glad to answer and talk for hours about it.

...and once again, I am tired.

What? Who Called?

So... my cousins Michael, Adrienne, Jonathan, and I went for a walk along the beach tonight. We walked for over a mile one way, and it was tiring and sore-ifying but fun. The people that are here or still coming are my uncle John, aunt Lois, uncle Clay, aunt Rose, uncle Darren, aunt Kathee, uncle Kevin, grandpa and grandma Jantzi, my sister Steph and her husband Dan, my cousins Jonathan, Will, Adrienne, Michael, Derrick, and Crystal and her boyfriend Seth. The only one from this side of the family that didn't come is my cousin Deb. They're all staying out at the lake but I opted to stay in my nice comfy bed. We're going to go tubing and have all kinds of fun.

I've been majorly talking in an Indiana accent lately... like really bad. It's all fun though; it brings back fond memories of camp. My pictures should be in by mid-week.

I need to make this short because it's late-ish and I like to sleep. Camp rocked. God will never say, "I am so disappointed in you." People were watching a cartoon and the one guy said to the other that he was disappointed in him, and it reminded me of camp and what Joe said.