Well, for me, it's summer break. You know what that means?
A) I get to stay up late.
B) I get to sleep in late.
C) I have *nothing* to do.
The problem with being homeschooled is that, a lot of the time, you get done with school early. Now, I know that sounds awesome (and don't get me wrong - I'd rather do nothing than do school ANY day) but when nearly all your friends are still in school, being off for break can be kind of inconvenient.
Of course, it does give one ample time to catch up on sleep and laugh at his or her friends who are still slaving away in some concrete building somewhere. But the fact of the matter is that you have to find some way to occupy yourself that isn't hanging out with friends.
So, for example, you might write a blog post after writing absolutely nothing for roughly two weeks. You might get the 10-day trial for World of Warcraft and spend an inordinate amount of time killing random things. You might craft an elaborate plan to take over the world using trained forces of intelligent donkeys and armadillo suicide-bombers. You might go back and read all your favorite blogger's bingats, starting from the beginning, and comment on each telling him how wonderful he is. You might even try to practice subliminal (and, in some cases, extra...bliminal) messages to get people to do what you want.
Where am I going with all this?
Why, nowhere at all.
In other news, Red is coming to town. If you live in the Huntsville/Athens/Decatur/Tennessee area, you should check out SoulStock 2011. It's at Point Mallard Park, and it's free. And did I mention Red is gunna be there? As, like, the final band? Meaning they're, like, the main feature?
Yeah, it's worth checking out.
James
Who was bored.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Random Gripeage.
So, right now, I'm supposed to be writing an English paper - which, of course, means that I desperately wanted to write a blog post. What about? Not a clue. I just kinda wanted to roll over here and ramble... maybe grumble a little... and most of all, not write in a pre-set, confining, constricting, boring template.
I've gotten really sick of English papers this year because we're always required to write them the exact same way. You start with your exordium (a fancy, evil-languaged word for "hook") then your introduction (where three sentences are first X was Y because, second X was Y because, third X was Y because...)...
It's maddening. Oh, sure, it teaches you structure, alright. Thing is, basic English is where you study and learn structure. I just finished my second book. I'm just a tad bit past basic English now. Ergh.
What's worse is that I'm having to write about the Red Badge of Courage - my second least favorite book. Well, third. No, fourth. Well, my least favorite book after the Old Man and the Sea and anything Herman Melville ever wrote. So, you can see why I'm kinda ticked about that. Well, that and I walked into Math this morning and the teacher was basically like, "Surprise, you've got a test tomorrow even though we haven't met for two weeks because of those storms that killed all those people!"
Ok, so it didn't go down exactly like that. But, you know, same general gist.
I just can't wait for summer to be here, so I can laze off in peace. You know, instead of lazing of in turmoil. Like I am right now.
Bleh, that's all I have to say for right now. Sooner or later I'm going to come up with a funny list. Because lists are funny. The problem is, I can't think right now... maybe I'll come up with something later.
Or maybe I'll keel over from exhaustion. This whole "doing school" business is really taking its tole...
Sincerely,
James
Who Hasn't Used the Word Sincerely in a While.
I've gotten really sick of English papers this year because we're always required to write them the exact same way. You start with your exordium (a fancy, evil-languaged word for "hook") then your introduction (where three sentences are first X was Y because, second X was Y because, third X was Y because...)...
It's maddening. Oh, sure, it teaches you structure, alright. Thing is, basic English is where you study and learn structure. I just finished my second book. I'm just a tad bit past basic English now. Ergh.
What's worse is that I'm having to write about the Red Badge of Courage - my second least favorite book. Well, third. No, fourth. Well, my least favorite book after the Old Man and the Sea and anything Herman Melville ever wrote. So, you can see why I'm kinda ticked about that. Well, that and I walked into Math this morning and the teacher was basically like, "Surprise, you've got a test tomorrow even though we haven't met for two weeks because of those storms that killed all those people!"
Ok, so it didn't go down exactly like that. But, you know, same general gist.
I just can't wait for summer to be here, so I can laze off in peace. You know, instead of lazing of in turmoil. Like I am right now.
Bleh, that's all I have to say for right now. Sooner or later I'm going to come up with a funny list. Because lists are funny. The problem is, I can't think right now... maybe I'll come up with something later.
Or maybe I'll keel over from exhaustion. This whole "doing school" business is really taking its tole...
Sincerely,
James
Who Hasn't Used the Word Sincerely in a While.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Day of Mothers
So, as it turns out, my mom is not the easiest person to shop for.
Generally, when you're getting someone something, the *easiest* way to avoid either A) Getting them something they don't want B) Getting them something that offends them C) Getting them something that ends up bringing calamity on the universe or E) Getting them something that's... well, just downright lame, is to go up to them and say, in a very clear manner, in the language said person natively speaks, "What do you want for X?" (where X is replaced by the event in question. Asking people what they want for X is a guaranteed way to get weird looks, unless you have a reputation for being weird. Then you'll just get normal looks.)
The problem is that my mom always answers with either "Oh, I don't know" or "You could make me something." So eventually we just quit asking.
Once upon a time, I made cards with little drawings in them. They were horrible drawings, but moms aren't allowed to dislike any wholesome creation made by their children, so they passed. But, you see, I'm really not good at drawing - and I also don't really like it. I realized that after I wrote and illustrated a 56-page children's book for an English assignment in 9th grade.
But now, see, little children, I have a nearly-world-famous blog. (Only 5,999,999,964 more converts until world domination!) Which means that I can just create a post about mother's day, and it counts!
Woo-hoo!
So, anyway, I am pretty sure I've got one of the awesomest moms in in the world. I mean, sure, she's not exactly technology-savvy, and I highly doubt she'll ever give up on this "clean is good" phase, but hey, she raised me. And she has to deal with Marie. And, she's, like, still alive.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to top that. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's downright impossible.
So, Happy Mother's Day, mom - and let the record show that I did, in fact, do something for Mother's Day.
James
Who Wishes to Wish a Happy Mother's Day to All Mothers, but Only For Today. Because Wishing Happy Mother's Day on a Day that Isn't Mother's Day is Just Downright Weird.
Generally, when you're getting someone something, the *easiest* way to avoid either A) Getting them something they don't want B) Getting them something that offends them C) Getting them something that ends up bringing calamity on the universe or E) Getting them something that's... well, just downright lame, is to go up to them and say, in a very clear manner, in the language said person natively speaks, "What do you want for X?" (where X is replaced by the event in question. Asking people what they want for X is a guaranteed way to get weird looks, unless you have a reputation for being weird. Then you'll just get normal looks.)
The problem is that my mom always answers with either "Oh, I don't know" or "You could make me something." So eventually we just quit asking.
Once upon a time, I made cards with little drawings in them. They were horrible drawings, but moms aren't allowed to dislike any wholesome creation made by their children, so they passed. But, you see, I'm really not good at drawing - and I also don't really like it. I realized that after I wrote and illustrated a 56-page children's book for an English assignment in 9th grade.
But now, see, little children, I have a nearly-world-famous blog. (Only 5,999,999,964 more converts until world domination!) Which means that I can just create a post about mother's day, and it counts!
Woo-hoo!
So, anyway, I am pretty sure I've got one of the awesomest moms in in the world. I mean, sure, she's not exactly technology-savvy, and I highly doubt she'll ever give up on this "clean is good" phase, but hey, she raised me. And she has to deal with Marie. And, she's, like, still alive.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to top that. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's downright impossible.
So, Happy Mother's Day, mom - and let the record show that I did, in fact, do something for Mother's Day.
James
Who Wishes to Wish a Happy Mother's Day to All Mothers, but Only For Today. Because Wishing Happy Mother's Day on a Day that Isn't Mother's Day is Just Downright Weird.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Victory!
Wow, two posts in one night. You know that means some serious crap went down...
As I'm sure all of you know, Osama bin Ladin (Usama? They've started spelling it differently...) is now dead. And not just we're-pretty-sure-we-blew-him-up dead, it's yeah-we-shot-him-in-the-face-and-have-the-body-to-prove-it dead.
And that's awesome.
Assuming that Al Queda works the way we think it does (I don't honestly have much knowledge aside from, you know, TV...) then bin Ladin was, like, the spider at the middle of the web. Everything trickled down to the people who actually carried out the actions came from him (theoretically. It's possible that there's some other mastermind hiding in the shadows, I guess, but I'll leave that one up to Tom Clancy). Without a central leader, the terrorist cells can't really get their orders.
What we're hoping for here is a war of succession. Whenever a head gets eliminated from a body, a bunch of people (usually) who think that they're all the best qualified to take up the reigns start to fight over the leadership position. If we're lucky, Al-Queda will destroy itself.
'Course, I've been rather lax in keeping up my contacts in the CIA, so I'm not 100% up-to-date with all our intel...
Oh, yeah, and I've gotta say something else. I mean, I shouldn't even have to say it, it's so obvious. But apparently I do...
Bin Ladin's death is cause for celebration. It's justice. It's the government actually doing what it's supposed to do. It's the end of an era. Hopefully, it'll also be the end of one of the most terrible organizations of our time. So, yeah, we're gunna celebrate the death of a madman. Or a very depraved man. Take your pick.
James
As I'm sure all of you know, Osama bin Ladin (Usama? They've started spelling it differently...) is now dead. And not just we're-pretty-sure-we-blew-him-up dead, it's yeah-we-shot-him-in-the-face-and-have-the-body-to-prove-it dead.
And that's awesome.
Assuming that Al Queda works the way we think it does (I don't honestly have much knowledge aside from, you know, TV...) then bin Ladin was, like, the spider at the middle of the web. Everything trickled down to the people who actually carried out the actions came from him (theoretically. It's possible that there's some other mastermind hiding in the shadows, I guess, but I'll leave that one up to Tom Clancy). Without a central leader, the terrorist cells can't really get their orders.
What we're hoping for here is a war of succession. Whenever a head gets eliminated from a body, a bunch of people (usually) who think that they're all the best qualified to take up the reigns start to fight over the leadership position. If we're lucky, Al-Queda will destroy itself.
'Course, I've been rather lax in keeping up my contacts in the CIA, so I'm not 100% up-to-date with all our intel...
Oh, yeah, and I've gotta say something else. I mean, I shouldn't even have to say it, it's so obvious. But apparently I do...
Bin Ladin's death is cause for celebration. It's justice. It's the government actually doing what it's supposed to do. It's the end of an era. Hopefully, it'll also be the end of one of the most terrible organizations of our time. So, yeah, we're gunna celebrate the death of a madman. Or a very depraved man. Take your pick.
James
POWER!!!
Well, I don't know how many people will actually be able to read this (seeing as I have a fan base that lives almost 100% in Huntsville) but I finally got stinkin' power back.
For the record of history (and everyone who will read this after I become insanely famous) we all live in Huntsville, AL. Last Wednesday (the 26th... I think) North Alabama got hit by literally many tornadoes (really, really strong tornadoes) in the space of one afternoon.
Basically, a lot of people died (we're still waiting on the final number) and we've been without power since Wednesday afternoon. Most of North Alabama is still without power - something like 97%. We got lucky that we're on the same grid as a bunch of "high-priority institutions" (aka gas stations), so we got power back late last night.
All in all, my family was lucky. We had literally no damage... a few twigs came down, but nothing else. But, anyway, before the third wave of the storm on Wednesday, me and my little sister (Marie) went out looking for open stores. 'Cause, you know, we didn't know there was gunna be a third wave... and we needed flashlights. And mom told us we could.
Anyway, we took a few videos (which are quite entertaining) so I'ma put them up here.
Yeah, I know, they're horrible quality. They were taken with a phone. That's just the way these things work.
Yeah, I know it was incredibly stupid going out in the storm like that. But you know what? I'm alive. And it was fun. So we're all good.
Anyway, on a little more serious note, our prayers are with everyone who lost people/suffered damage in the storm. Like I said, we're one of the 3% of Huntsville that has power now, so if you're from here and you need to charge some stuff, or just take a hot shower or whatever, drop by.
More fun stories to come,
James
Who Survived Being Without Power, But Has Power Now, Which Makes Him King of the World, etc., etc.
For the record of history (and everyone who will read this after I become insanely famous) we all live in Huntsville, AL. Last Wednesday (the 26th... I think) North Alabama got hit by literally many tornadoes (really, really strong tornadoes) in the space of one afternoon.
Basically, a lot of people died (we're still waiting on the final number) and we've been without power since Wednesday afternoon. Most of North Alabama is still without power - something like 97%. We got lucky that we're on the same grid as a bunch of "high-priority institutions" (aka gas stations), so we got power back late last night.
All in all, my family was lucky. We had literally no damage... a few twigs came down, but nothing else. But, anyway, before the third wave of the storm on Wednesday, me and my little sister (Marie) went out looking for open stores. 'Cause, you know, we didn't know there was gunna be a third wave... and we needed flashlights. And mom told us we could.
Anyway, we took a few videos (which are quite entertaining) so I'ma put them up here.
Yeah, I know, they're horrible quality. They were taken with a phone. That's just the way these things work.
Yeah, I know it was incredibly stupid going out in the storm like that. But you know what? I'm alive. And it was fun. So we're all good.
Anyway, on a little more serious note, our prayers are with everyone who lost people/suffered damage in the storm. Like I said, we're one of the 3% of Huntsville that has power now, so if you're from here and you need to charge some stuff, or just take a hot shower or whatever, drop by.
More fun stories to come,
James
Who Survived Being Without Power, But Has Power Now, Which Makes Him King of the World, etc., etc.
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