New iPod!!

I finally got my iPod! It's an 8-GB black iPod Nano. It cost me nearly 250 bucks, including the $30 replacement warranty. It's really cool, though, so it was worth it.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to use it, since my computer's fried, but my mom let me put all the music on her computer, so that's what I'm doing now.

But on the non-technological side, my friendships with Alysha and Emily seem to be getting stronger, whereas my relationship with Jenna may be in danger. It's not like I'd rather have the situation reversed, but I don't want things to go awry with Jenna. Oh well, hopefully we can work this out.

So yeah, that's it for now. More to come later.

School? I'm not ready yet...

I don't want to go back to school.

I realize that I've been in school for 4 days now, but I'm still not so sure I should be in school. It doesn't feel like school yet. I guess it takes a while to fall into the pattern. Hopefully by mid-September I'll be feeling like I'm supposed to be there.


So, Jenna's got mono, I don't know how, but she's supposed to be infected with it for about 6 months. Major bummage.

Emily's got herself a boyfriend, and they seem really happy together. I'm glad she's found someone that can make her happy.

I'm making new friends, talking more with old ones, and seeming to get more popular.

Oh yeah, this school year's gonna be great.

Holy. Crap.

I desperately need something to do this summer. I'm going mad with boredom.

So far my summer has consisted of going through webcomic archives, hanging out with my girlfriend, and playing video games. But now, entering July, I'm starting to get more desperate for entertainment. The other day, I got into a small argument with one of my friends over Neopets. That's the first sign that something is wrong. Add to that the fact that I'm constantly logged on to three websites at once, none of which have an update when I check every two seconds, and that the video games I play are those that I have owned for a while and mastered, and you've basically got your midsummer boredom equation.

Guess I should get started on that summer reading project.

17th Century porn, earthquakes, and Stickpigs, oh my!

These were the things that made up my trip to Chicago today.

We started our trip with the aquarium. We got to see a Caribbean reef exhibit, and there was an injured sea turtle. It got hit with a boat propeller and it gashed her shell almost to her spine. The incident affected her buoyancy, and her back end floated while the rest of her swam. In the same tank were several rays, one of which was very little, and kept following the diver that was in the tank around. It reminded me of Maddie, all "Ooh, what do you have? I want some! Hey, what's that over there? Wow, you got something good, can I have some? HEY, let's go attack that fish!"

Next up was the Field Museum. There was an exhibit on mythical creatures, which Aidan and Josh COMPLETELY ate up. Then we went into the ancient Egyptian part, which was pretty cool. Then we got to the natural disasters exhibit. It showed all kinds of stuff, like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, twisters, volcanic eruptions... there was a seismograph that picked stuff up from 8 feet away. It was so cool! We were stomping around the room, and we watched the line on the screen just JUMP.

Then, at the art museum, I started to ponder a question first posed in Calvin and Hobbes: If this is supposed to be great art, why does it all look like a bunch of naked people? That's when I thought, what if this is all just 17th century porn? Historians (and my mom) say that these artists claimed the human body was a work of art, but how do WE know that? We're basing our "facts" on what historians think they know. How do we know that this wasn't just an early way of selling porn?

Finally, on the train ride home, we got to discussing how much I'd eaten that afternoon. I had some mozzarella sticks, a big piece of garlic cheese bread, 4 and a half pieces of pizza, and a Cinnabon. That's more than anyone else had. My mom called me a pig, but that's impossible, seeing as I'm skinny as a rail. I'm a pig, but I'm a stick figure. Hence, the term "Stickpig": someone who eats a lot, but never seems to gain weight.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my whole trip today.

Hooray, sibling rivalry!

So today Josh(my 9-year-old brother) ran into the house from outside, crying and claiming that Aidan(my 12-year-old) hit him on the head with a tennis racket. Mom went outside and asked if it happened. Aidan admitted that he did, but tried to justify his actions by saying that Josh had called him names. Mom then went back inside and grilled Josh, who also admitted that he had done so, but tried to justify his actions by giving something else Aidan had done to him. Mom eventually stopped listening to their excuses and grounded them both for the day.

I swear, this kind of thing wouldn't happen if they both tried to get along. It's barely 3 weeks into summer vacation and they're already starting to hurt each other.

People are friggin' crazy.

Yeah, that's right. People are out of their minds. And it's completely awesome.

I just got back from Kelly's party, and man, those things are SO much fun. Barely 15 minutes into the party, Nick had already destroyed something. He gets so much air on the trampoline, and he took out part of the net around it. That was at about 4:40. The party officially started at 4:30. Yeah, that was fast.

Then, when we got in the pool, we had a fight with those little foam balls that you absorb water with then peg at people. It hurts after a while. And of course, no party is complete without Ryan Hodges and co. performing their little story involving a man who beats his wife, goes to work, has his car explode and dies, all the while splashing the patrons who are listening to the story.

Aaron and I went to go get Emily, so she could enjoy herself too. Apparently, Aaron's car is named Penelope, and they pronounce it like "peen-uh-lope" for short. I heard "penislope" when he said it, and so now, that is what Aaron's car is called. He got honked at, too, because his front left turn signal doesn't work, and he pulled in front of someone. Then we did a loop around the block, because Aaron's retarded and forgot where Emily lived.

Then when we got back, we got a game of Polish Golf going. It was Jenna and me (Team Jesusbitch) vs. Tim and Ryan (Team Awesome) vs. Aaron and Nick (Team Blueballs). I'll leave out the details and say that, despite much bad aim and bouncing of golf balls on the driveway, Team Jesusbitch won. I celebrated by catching lightning bugs and chasing Jenna around with them.

After that was a bit of freestyle volleyball, in which there are no real rules, only what's in and what's out. After the opening of presents, we were treated to a reenactment of Grease in Kelly's garage, followed by people lighting logs and calling them torches. And of course, no party is complete unless you can get 10+ people singing Bohemian Rhapsody, which, naturally, we did.

I spent the remaining half hour laying around with Jenna. That was the best part, in my opinion. There's nothing better than sitting on the trampoline watching fireworks, and looking at the stars with her head on my chest. I wish I could've stayed longer.

But yeah, going back to my original statement, this is what happens when you get a bunch of teenagers together. Madness. Nowhere near Sparta.

Ahh, the good old days...

I'm feeling nostalgic today, so I guess I'll just rant.

Who remembers Nickelodeon before they started showing Spongebob? Hey Arnold, Doug, CatDog, The Amanda Show, Invader Zim, Slime Time Live... Whatever happened to these shows? And then Cartoon Network; who remembers those old shows? Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Ed Edd 'n' Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog... This stuff made up my childhood.

And it seems like the older we get, the dumber cartoons get. I was watching a little bit of Cartoon Network the other day with my little brother, and I saw a commercial for Chowder. My first thought was Wow, that's stupid. I think it was my second and third thoughts, too. Yet my little bro couldn't get enough of it, and I just didn't understand why. Maybe that's how our parents felt when they were watching some of this stuff with us.

I miss those days. When we had nothing to worry about, nothing to do, no stress, no complications, just fun for the sake of fun. It seems like we've forgotten those days, those habits. Why can't we just take a step back from the world and relive our youth?

Maybe we should try that. If anyone needs me, I'll be outside, riding my bike down the street and letting go of the world.