"Dammit Beta"

Made the longest post in the history of this blog. Lost it. Dunno how, dunno where. It's like misplacing an elephant in a closet.

To summarize:

Ze opened up the ORG again. I'm starting a pack called "Fowl Play". To join head to http://www.zefrank.org/. This especially applies to those involved in the duckie incident. You know who you are.

Confused? Blame beta, it deleted the explanation.

"Santa knows me well"

Gifts under the tree

More than just sweaters and socks

Two words: Buddha Board

"Time to draw the line"

With new platforms entering the world and old ones leaving it behind, it's time to find out where people's loyalty lies. Xbox? Playstation? Nintendo? Atari? Sony? It's up to you.

I, for one, have spoken.

"If Toma can do it..."

Like toma, I too have some free time in class today. Not that I don't enjoy survey of engineering. It has some truly shining moments. This just doesn't happen to be one of them.

On an unrelated note, I almost chopped off sukriti's finger with a spoon today. Sorry about that, girl. I hope the rice crispies bar made up for it.

"Beta? Like the Fish?"

That's right, Blogger has succeeded where thousands of Mormons have failed. It converted me.

So far beta feels a lot like alpha, and I totally know what all the buttons do.

"It's like a bad painting without the fumes"

I dunno. Toma mentioned microsoft paint in a comment, so I decided to make "forest". This thing didn't load very well, though. The figure at the bottom is pretty much gone.

Anyway, this reminded me of the "end-of-the-school-year" countdown I did on my home computer with ghetto paint pictures. Maybe I'll try it again for winter break (except they're gonna have to be slightly less ghetto if someone other than me is going to be looking at them).

"Male - face down and head first"

Surprisingly enough, this quote is from my mother. I working on a newspaper project for US History when I asked her how I should flip the paper in order to print on both sides. After her answer, my face looked something like this 8 [

She just shrugged it off, saying now I'd never forget how to do it.

And damn it, the woman is right.

"NOOOO!"

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=8622

"Happy Thanksgiving"

My family traveled to my grandparents' farm in Bluegrass, IA on Wednesday and returned home about an hour ago. As far as Thanksgivings go in our family, it was pretty subdued. Food was good, cousins were fun, and the weather was beautiful.

In fact, the only downer was getting thrown from a horse onto a gravel road.

This year, I'm especially thankful for not landing on my head : )

"18 hours, 55 minutes, 56 seconds until break"

But who's counting?

I found this (http://okaydave.com/) online today and thought it was kinda neat. I'm don't think I have a future in this field, but graphic designs have always interested me.

I especially liked the bit about "Cadence of Seasons"

"What's a Pink Elephant?"

Ah, nothing like a weird-ass weekend to get me geared up for the holidays. I did broaden some of my horizons, though. I saw Borat on Friday and I highly recommend it (definitely not one for the parents, though. Their little selves couldn't handle it). I also read a graphic novel, Persepolis. That's right Kyle, I read it and liked it. I picked the title from a list of books for a World Lit project. As usual, I procrastinated on this one and was looking for a quick read. Interesting story, though.

I think that's all for this post. I've been up for 36 of the past 38 hours, and I'm kinda pooped. If anybody has some crazy stories from this weekend / plans for Thanksgiving, feel free to post 'em in the comments.

"The Christian force was composed mainly of Poles"

It's gonna be a late night for homework. Something about studying alone for a long period of time made these quotes from my history book extremely amusing.

"Each member had the power to close to conference, known as 'Exploding the Diet'. Famine Followed"

That reminds me of this little gem originally linked by Toma. http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=2792

If you like 'em, be sure to post a comment on Toma's blog.

"Ewww"

So I was surfing the internet this afternoon when I smelled something. Something foul and disgusting. Something so rank I was afraid my eyelashes would fall off. Only one thing could create such a stench: A Dead Blog. That's right. I had been sitting only a foot or so away from the resting place my blog. Naturally I tried to clean it up and bury it, but the intangible object kept slipping out of the trash bag. In the end, I knew the only way to get rid of the smell was to bring it back to life.

And pick up the dog crap.



It's good to be back.

"Dammit Blogger"

I created a really beautiful post a few days ago, but no one got to see it. Apparently Blogger thought the "publish post" button was the emergency "crash my computer and make the wall paper all funny" button.

Bummer.


To compensate, I'll just plug the Baker's Dozen Auditions

Workshop: Monday, October 2, 3:30
Auditions: Tuesday / Wednesday, October 3/4, 4:00

Bring a skit, music optional (but recommended...for the comfort of all)

"mmm...weekend"

First things first: Homecoming. Yes and I went together along with two other couples, Joanna + Tom and Blake + Hannah. We met at Blake's for pictures, ate at Bogey's in Glen Oaks, and had a pretty kick ass time at the dance. If you haven't already heard about the "riot", check it out.

Mime show also went very well. See Toma's blog for a full description.

This weekend was surprisingly pleansant. Instead of meeting at raccoon river, the CC team went to Grey's Lake (very pretty in the morning). The BD roadshow was as successful as it could have been. I still love my job. And, to top it all off, I drank the best blue Icee of my life.

Here's to weekends. May their aftertaste linger 'till wednesday.

"Do you guys realize we have a show tomorrow?"

Yup, it's that time of year. No, not Christmas. Or Thanksgiving. Or even my birthday. This is better than all three combined.

Fall Night o' Mime

September 21, 7:30

Valley Auditorium

I had a crazy good time at homecoming, but more on that later. Right now I have to study for 2 tests, create a presentation, and find my little lycra tights.

"Hehe, this feels so risky"

I normally make an effort to avoid posting at school. The idea that everything on these computers is trackable and therefore available to the administration used to concern me. Then I finished my paper and got bored with paper footballs.

If you have a moment, take a gander at this site: http://www.improveverywhere.com/

"Shitaki Mushrooms will have to do"

Yesterday Tomamama showed me an interesting "how-to" article online. It explained the steps one must take to stop swearing. Some old favorites showed up (i.e. giving to charity every time you drop the f bomb) along with a few ridiculous ones (every day you don't swear eat a donut). I don't have enough money to do follow either of those programs, but the challenge intrigued me. So Tomamama, Yes, and myself came up with our own criteria. See the comments on this post for more details.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else remember Ursula turning people into mounds of poo in the Little Mermaid? Somebody back me up here, my sanity is at stake.

"Just let me catch my breath"

No posts recently on account of a new school year. The first 3 days I had at least 3 hours of homework each night after cross country, followed by 10 hours of work on the weekend, tutor on Sunday morning, and 3 baker's dozen meetings. It really wasn't too bad, though. I knew the first week would be a bit crazy, so I did my best to keep things running smoothly.

There's no doubt this year will be the toughest yet. I've never balanced work, school, BD, and athletics simultaneously. I've come to think of it as a round of tai-kwan-doe between me and what I must do. Graceful, timed moves will both protect my well being and defeat my opponent (tonight, this opponent was 15 pages of AP Euro reading).

It's official. Junior year is here. Have you got your game face* on?


: ) <--- That's my bad ass game face*

"Crap"

This is the 103 rd post. I was going to say something about it when I reached 100, but I forgot. There was going to be a party. And cake. And ice cream. And you would have been there. And it would have been great. *sigh* does anyone around here count in base 103?

"What do you mean? I love kids. Can't get enough of the little bastards."

I needed volunteer hours for the silver cord award, but hadn't volunteered all summer. The IPTV booth at the fair features Clifford, so they needed people to wear the suit. This gave me the chance to earn a lot of hours very quickly. I signed up for 6 shifts, each lasting 4 hours. The job entails wearing the Clifford outfit, greeting children, and maintaining one's sanity...simultaneously.

I've complained enough already, so I'll just try to sum things up.

(2) hours of cross country training before commute
(45) minute drive to the fair grounds
(25) dollars spent on parking (would have been thirty, but I ran out of money on the last day and ended up parking a mile away)
(7) people sharing sweat in one suit
(9,600) children greeted during my shifts
(12) children who sneezed on me through the eye holes of the suit
(12) failed attempts at willing myself to die


Needless to say, I'm a little bitter towards the young ones right now. But at least I had (1) back rub that made everything better.

"At least he doesn't sleep in the nude"

My curfew is midnight. This means I usually pull into the driveway at around 11:59. I then jog up the stairs (silently, mind you) and check in with my mom in the guest room. I swear my parents are cool, they just can't use the same mattress for their backs.

Anyway, I followed the same routine on Sunday night. I poked my head in the bedroom and whispered "mom" a few times to try to wake her up. When this didn't work, I called a little louder. No response. I didn't want to startle her by turning on the light, but I didn't want to yell either. So being the intelligent person I am at that hour, I decided to bounce on the end of the bed until she woke up. Still no response. At this point, my cell starts to vibrate so I bolt across the hall to my room to silence it. When I came back, my sister asked me what the hell I was doing. I told her our mom was in a coma. This is when my mom comes from the master bedroom and asks what's going on.

Errr...?

Apparently my sister's boyfriend from bettendorf was staying the night. When he awoke to some girl bouncing on the end of his bed calling him mother, he decided not to say a word and just pray to god she fell and hit her head.

Breakfast couldn't have been more interesting.

The words, man, they're everywhere

I know the last couple posts have been unusually lengthy. I don't know what's gotten into me. I apologize if it was more than your attention span could take. Here, try a smaller size. It might fit better in your head...

I'm reading a WWII book for AP Euro. I'm volunteering to wear the Clifford suit at the fair. Thus, I was reading "Hitler & The Final Solution" when they IPTV people came to put me in the suit. Needless to say I had some explaining to do before they let me interact with the kids.

This way we can avoid the topic in conversation

0 Spanish III - Cooley

1 Pre calc C - Muenzenmay

2 AP Euro - Thornton

3 US History - Hinton

4 Free

5o Survey of Engineering - Ripperger

5b PE - Thornton

6 World Lit - Perry

7 AP Chem - Beckman

8 Free

"I need some, uhh...stuff"

This was what Troy said when he walked into Active Endeavors today. I've only been working there for a few weeks, but I know enough about our stock to realize this requires a follow up question.

"What kind of stuff?" wait, was that what my manager called the inventory?
"I need some stuff to keep me from dying on a two day hike in the Grand Canyon." Good, good. He's trusting me with his life. Way to build a customer relationship.

"Do you have shoes?" I asked.
*we both look at his adidas* "No"
"Ok, we have shoes"
"Yes"

And with this stunning display of people skills I showed him the wall of men's hiking boots. He looked things over for a bit, then asked me "Other than price, what's the difference between these two?" I've never hiked in fancy boots, been educated on footwear, nor worn men's shoes (except for that one time). But this man's life was at stake. I'd better come up with some bull shit fast.

"One is green...(I tell it like it is)...because of the different material used" Nice save, now we're up to 3 syllable words.
"Ah, can I see this is a ten?" Troy, darling, you can see anything with your imagination. When your feet return to Iowa covered in blisters and snake bites, you can imagine I sold you the right pair of boots.
"yeah, I'll be right back" To the bat cave!

I returned with the shoes and sat down to help lace him up. The only problem was the boots didn't have laces, they had draw strings.

"It's kinda handy actually. This way you don't have to worry about tripping over your laces and falling off a cliff...heh heh heh." I'm sure he was laughing on the inside.

After he strolled around the store for a few minutes, he decided the boots would work for him. I boxed them up and asked what else he would need.

"You guys sell tents?"
"We don't have any in stock right now. They were all bought in the sale last week" We both reflect on this for a moment.
"Wow, so many more people have tents now than before" Whoa, Troy, I can't even get my head around that. I don't think either of us is up to philosification today.

And with that, we headed to the register. It occurred to me that based on my deep understanding of this customer and the nature of his purchase, he would spend two days streaking in the grand canyon wearing nothing but hiking boots. He would have to survive by eating the little tab on the draw string.

"Will that be all for you today?"
"No, wait! (I need a light weight sleeping bag, some dried food, a flame cooker, one waterproof jacket, a brown tilley hat, and an emergency snake bite kit!..he seemed to say) I'd better grab some chapstick."
"Oh, right." Good call, Troy. It'd be so embarrassing if you had chapped lips when they find your body. I rung him up and bagged his items.
"Thanks. I'll be back for the winter sale!" He said as he walked out the door.





God willing, Troy. God willing.

Lest we forget

I know we've all seen this, but you know what these things do to me. I laughed so hard I damn near had a hernia. http://youtube.com/watch?v=TH0rS4hyJzg

Trippin'

The wisdom teeth came out yesterday. After the laughing gas, the nova cane, and whatever the hell they put in the IV, I was miles away. At first, the gas didn't do anything because I was so congested. Then the nurse messed up the IV on my right arm, so they had to switch to my left arm. All the while they've got a bunch of pulse/ heart rate/ blood pressure things hooked up to me. Between the lack of laughing gas and the excess of messing with my veins, those things were beeping like crazy (yeah, it was impossible to fain comfort). But as soon as the doctor came in, he cranked the IV waaay up. That's when things got interesting.

I looked down at my left arm and noticed it was made of ice. Then my head started floating towards the ceiling. On the ride home, I discussed the secrets of the universe with my dad - not realizing I had gauze in my mouth. Apparently I was just speaking gibberish. He told me to stop trying to talk, so I settled for doing disco moves in the passenger seat.

As soon as I got home, I yelled "I'm OK!" a bunch of times as I stumbled up the stairs. As my mom helped me into my bed, I mumbled something about the Chinese, then fell asleep. I woke up about 10 minutes later and noticed my lower lip was gone. I spent a couple of minutes trying to find where I had dropped it before falling asleep again. I dreamt I had worms inside of me.

Most of the stuff had worn off by around 1:00, but my mind wasn't really 100% until this morning. I kept repeating myself and bumping into things (side affects from hydrocordone). The cool thing is that little 5 MG pain killer knocks me out in exactly 8 minutes. Every time!

So for anyone worried about the surgery - don't be. The scary part isn't painful and the painful part isn't scary.

In fact, the entire procedure is wimp-proof.

long post. sorry guys

Around Thanksgiving I was told I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed. My parents and I agreed to do it over winter break so I wouldn't miss any training for cross country. Things happened, relatives showed up, and eventually we forgot about it. July rolled around and the topic came up in conversation. A phone book happened to be near, so I guess that's when the appointment was made.

I know it seems odd, but I feel like this is a mile stone. A right of passage, if you will. This entire summer has been one big leap into adulthood. Now I have a car, a job, and a wallet that actually contains important stuff. I have a greater responsibility to my family, my team, and myself. Even the Baker's Dozen is becoming more important to me. Could it be that I'm...*gulp*...growing up? AHH! When did that happen? Was I too busy playing with duckies to notice?

This revelation scared the crap out of me. It came out of no where. I was eating Capt'n Crunch while reading the comics when I reached over for the business section. I stopped halfway there, realizing what I was doing. I had one of those long flash backs where one usually stares out into space for a good 3 minutes. This is the conclusion I reached:

A) Yeah, I'm getting older. But I'm also getting wiser -that's right, hand shake buzzer device. You've fooled me for the last time.

B) More responsibility = More privileges -I smell a road trip

C) I'm getting closer to independence - curfew? c'est que se?

Anyway, the reason I included the bit about my wisdom teeth was to illustrate my point. Don't grow up too fast. The teeth have gotta come out, but the doctors only pull one at a time.




And I'll be drugged.

"One day I'm gonna marry a Frosty Malt"

I went to a baseball game tonight and saw a bat fly. Not those small, winged things, but rather those large, aluminum things. The crowd's reaction was brilliant, though. We tried to stop the bat with Telekinesis and ancient chants - which sounded a lot like "ooh uuh ahh ouah owwah!". The bat didn't speak our language, though. Ironically, the only man injured was the batter's father.

Anyway, Valley beat Mason City 10-0 in the semis and moves on to play Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the finals tomorrow night (8:00 pm @ Sec Taylor)

Yeah, guess who discovered the title bar?

I probably shouldn't be posting right now. It's late, I'm tired, and no one in their right mind is going to check this thing 'till noon. For some reason, though, I feel obligated to update. Sometimes I play this fun game where I try to stay awake for no apparent reason only to show up to cross country training completely drained at 7:45 am. I don't know about you guys, but I like fighting to remain conscious while driving. Hehe, good times. Anyway, I started working for the man on Monday. It turns out "the man" is a thirty-something skinny white guy with an interest in the outdoors and a tendency to say "you know" after every other sentence. I call him Jason and he manages Active Endeavors, a local retailer selling the equipment and clothing necessary for active endeavors. Unless, of course, your endeavor of choice is streaking. Then you've already got it covered. Or rather, uncovered. err...

Enjoy this: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/

One of the members of the Baker's Dozen (the "secret society" referenced in about me) has been in Boston, MA for the last couple of weeks studying at MIT. Naturally, we've all been e-mailing her since she left, but tomamama took it a step further. On Thurday him and Yes came over with the idea of making a video-letter thingy for her (like in blues clues...not that I've ever watched that show). Anyway, us + camera + nothing better to do = errr. You can see some of Tomamama's stuff at http://youtube.com/results?search=tomamama&search_type=search_videos. The clip at the bottom is from Thursday, but I promise that's not the real fruit of our labors.

I don't have to explain myself

This blog will now be titled "Some Assembly Required". I think it's far more fitting than controlled chaos. My life is not chaos, I do not face death on a daily basis (hmm, then again I am a crappy driver...). My identity has also been changed. I am no longer Passing For Sane, err, that is my name is no longer Passing for Sane. I mean, wait...go away leave me alone!


Henceforth I will be known as Junebug. That is all

When I have nothing better to do I often fiddle with the paint program. New rule: These little "gems" (hehe) count as posts.

My sister's boyfriend, Evan, is coming into town tomorrow. He seems cool enough, I guess. We both seem to enjoy running long distances, but that's where the similarities end. He's a year younger than Sarah and about the same size, so I guess she could take him down if she needed to. Either way, this total stranger will be sleeping in the guest room across the hall from me. I can only hope we don't get up at the same time to take a pee in the middle of the night. *shiver* so awkward.


In other news, remember when I said I thought this summer could be very interesting?


hehe, told ya so :)

*sane crawls out from under a rock, stretches, and turns to the computer*. Hello again. I'm not lazy, I just didn't have internet access. I was in Chicago with my parents. I hate explaining trips to people, so I'll keep it short. STUFF I SAW: second city, 25th annual putnum county spelling bee (musical), white sox game, chicago institute of art, northwestern university. STUFF I ATE: steak, cereal, burger, ice cream, veggies, fruit, coffee, cookie, etc. STUFF I STOLE FROM THE HOTEL: washcloth, 4 bottles of shampoo, lightbulb. But enough about me, how are you?

YouTube - Coke and Mentos #816 (Toma = gray, Yes Maybe = Red, Me = the one who's not a guy)

I took the car out on Saturday night. I was having a jolly good time, and was still in a great mood when I came home at 12:25 am. My parents, on the other hand, were not. Apparently they had been trying to call me for the last half hour to see if I was still alive. They were really irked when I didn't answer despite the following facts A) 12:30 was the agreed upon curfew B) I'm not suppose to talk on the phone while driving C) I had to give two people a ride home. In the heat of the moment, my dad changed the curfew to 12. I know it's not a big deal, but generally the most fun occurs between 11:30 and 12:30. Not to mention I came home at 1 last week, but I guess I was so much wiser and more responsible then.

*cough* I might add that the reason I didn't hear my phone was because I was blaring Linkin Park.

Anyway, I figure I'm just a foot rub away from a later curfew.

Three big changes today (1) I am 16 (2) I have my license (3) I have a car. The significance of these events hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm sure after a good night's sleep (*cough* erinjoannajordan) I'll be in shock and awe. My baby is a silver 2004 Nissan Sentra. It's not usually a first car, but it can last a long ass time (I'm might have this past age 30). To put the icing on the cake, just in case a new car didn't do it, my sister gave me an iTrip to go with it. I can't believe how lucky I am. No one deserves this kind of thing at 16. Then again, maybe that's why parents do this. I'll need to earn it in the next couple of years. But no matter how much the pressure builds, I suppose I can always relax with a leisurely drive.

Damn it feels good to be out of school. Some people beg for freedom like this for months, then complain of boredom when it finally comes. I am not one of those people. I am of that special breed that can be entertained by anything or anyone. I played "throw the tennis ball on the roof" yesterday and only got it stuck in the gutter twice! But there's no need to worry here, I promise I go out at night. It's fun to see everybody and then try to be stealthy like a ninja when I come home. "Swift as the wind blowing, quiet as a leaf falling" (this is what I chant as I try to find the door to my room). Anyway, I hope everyone's summer is as relaxing as mine. My dog is giving me very odd looks now, he's probably wondering where the hell his tennis balls are.

When school finally finished on Friday, the drama types headed off for Chicago. "Wicked" was really entertaining and "Spamalot" was (dare I say it?) scrumtrulescent.

There was also plenty of entertainment outside of the theatre. Think love triangles are complicated? Well I myself prefer squares. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. 4 different people, 4 different agendas. Heh, aren't shapes funny?

Anyway, something tells me this summer will be very, very interesting.

I am two tests away from summer. Two tests away from getting my license, getting a car, getting the responsibility that comes with it. Two tests away from a minimum wage job, studying for the National Merit Scholarship test, training for cross country. Two tests away from AP Euro homework, mosquito bites, and sunburns. And yet, I would rather have a mosquito bite my sunburned ass than have it sitting in a desk. Here's to summer.

Just a reminder to all you restless underclassmen...

So my sister got a fish today. She calls it "Flutter", I named it "The Phantom Banshee" (this thing is really demented). This led to my sister looking up a picture of a banshee, which led to her finding the movie listing for a 9:30 show. I wanted to go, so I rushed to finish my homework. While using the AltaVista Babel fish translator for Spanish, I stumbled upon this: http://addictinggames.com/tusota.html. For anyone who has ever played Toma's video game with the tylenol pill that grabs things, I think you'll recognize the music.

I went to the Valley improv show last night. In my opinion, it was as good as high school improv can be (at least, it was far better than anything I could do). This morning was really bizarre, though. I had to wear the tiger suit for a mascot race at WHAMM (Windsor heights annual...something something). I was up against Twinkie the Kid, Cy the Cyclone, Cubby the Bear (I-cubs), the Menace soccer ball, some mammal from State Farm Ins, and the parrot from the Buccaneers hockey team. Cy lost a shoe within 10 meters and I managed to elbow the state farm mammal. I thought I had the race in the bag, then that damned twinkie caught a second wind and edged me out at the end. Granted, he didn't have a 25 lb head to deal with, but that's no excuse. I'll be crying in the corner with a box of hostess cup cakes until further notice.

I've never been on acid, but I imagine it's something like this http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

I was looking through my e-mail today and happened to notice a comment from this blog. I was amazed, not only because I was distantly related to the person, but also because I had forgotten I even had a blog. I clicked on the URL and sure enough, the fruits of a seventh grade fad lay before me. The myspace trend has become increasingly tempting, but something tells me signing up would be like opening pandora's box. Maybe I can resurrect this old site yet.

At least until something shiny distracts me.