Back at School

I finished packing up my stuff this morning and moved back into my dorm room this afternoon. My folks helped me carry stuff up the three flights of stairs to my room. After unpacking and getting everything put away I found out that I forgot my backpack and flip flops (because you know I was going to forget something). Hopefully I won't need my backpack right away. Maybe I can get P. to bring it down for me. She has day classes this semester. The bunk beds were on the other side of the room this time so now I can see the t.v. from bed. Unfortunately there's nothing on so I'm going to call it a night and get some sleep.

Ren Fest Rocks, Etc.

Let's see, what have I been up to for the past week... I went adventuring with dad to international falls. We had giovanni's pizza and looked around this antique store some guy had turned his house into. For some reason it gave me a really creeped out bad feeling. I practiced some more archery and managed to get four arrows in the black and my middle finger is still slightly numb after four days. I did some laundry at some point as well and managed to get everything I need for school packed in my car. The main event of the week was going with K.R. to the cities and attending the Renasiance Festival.

We got a bit of a late start on Friday because K.R.'s class ran late. The costumes weren't finished either and we had to wait an extra hour for her mom to finish sewing the sleeves on K.'s costume. When we left the cloaks still hadn't been hemmed. I drove the first part of the way down and we switched off and Hinkley (where we also got white castle for dinner). The trafic actually wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be (but that could have just been the fact that we didn't get to the cities until eleven thirty at night). We crashed on the couch at my auntie J.'s house. I got woken up at around seven in the morning by the dog and cat, K.R.'s alarm went off at eight. Jane came down and helped us fix out costumes a little bit. We didn't sew anything but we did cut off the cloaks so they were even. My cousin A. went with my uncle and them to the state fair. K.R. and I went and picked up J.F. at her house. J. had enough canned food for two discount coupons but the guy gave us three anyway.

The Festival was Awesome! Totally the best thing ever! Though I didn't actually get really excited while I was there. We got complemented on our costumes quite a bit as well as asked where we got them and we were even mistaken once for workers/performers (Just like my aunt said we would be). I got more complements for strangers at the fest then I have gotten the entire rest of my life (if you don't count people who are related to you). There were a ton of booths and stores and shops around. There were armories selling all sorts of weapons. I would have gotten a sword but they were really expensive, I mean four hundred bucks cheap expensive. You could get just about anything immaginable made out of leather, including braziers (one even had spikes all over it as well). The pickle man was full of innuendo ("everybody likes my pickle") and there was a guy walking around selling "insults, get your insults! For a small contribution I will insult you, a friend, or a family member. I also do compliments of the flowery variety. Insults! Get your Insults!" There was another guy with a board strapped to his back on his hands and knees in the middle of the street and his sales pitch was "Place to sit! Place to Sit! Rest your weary bones a while, Place to sit!" Not to mention everybody in costumes of all sorts and the many different stages with shows going on and musicians playing at crossroads and corners. It was Amazing. We saw one show called Puke and Snot that was hilarius, though when he did his republican joke only one person in the audience clapped. I was surprised. J. and I saw a glass artist and he made a little unicorn on top of a marble. We also saw some minstrels who pulled people from the crowd to play a princess, a prince and a dragon. They sang a song and had the people act out the story. At the end just when the prince charged in to save the girl "the dragon fried him to a crisp, 'cuz sometimes the dragon wins!" It was great. At the end of the day I got a very nice walking stick for my souvinere. We left just before it started getting dark, stopped at noodles for dinner (the macaroni was the best), and dropped J. at her house just as the sun was completely set. When we got back to Aunt J.'s house we watched some t.v. with my uncle L., J., and my cousin A. L. made frying pan popcorn but put too much butter on it for my taste. We made fun of my dad for eating popcorn with a spoon (too bad he wasn't there to hear it, not he would have been able to hear anyway what with his bad hearing and all). We went to bed around ten, ten thirty and slept until ten thirty this morning.

We packed up the car and hit the road but only made it a few blocks before we had to go back because A. had forgotten something. K. drove most of the way back. We stopped at Tobies for lunch/breakfast. We dropped A. off at my grandma's house in brit and I drove the rest of the way home. I left my costume with K. and her mom since it still needs to be hemmed before I wear it for anything else. The edges are so scraggily looking now. I've been reading a book by Steven R. Lawhead called Hood. It's pretty good. It's an alternate version of Robing hood and it's supposed to be a series. If it keeps my interest all the way to the end I may even buy the next one in the series.

The clouds on the way home looked like the scottish flag after a jet flew by.

A street at Ren Fest.

One of the little model houses in the enchanted forrest at Ren Fest.

A close up of my arrows in the black.

Addicted

Finally going to bed after getting hooked on Mafia Wars for three hours, I'm addicted for sure. I spent the last few days sitting around and watching t.v. and playing games. I stopped by my grandma's house to pick up a book and show her my scotland pictures but really, nothing much exciting went on. I decided to take my bow out and get some target practice in. Twenty One out of Twenty four shots actually managed to hit the paper on my target. Also, I did finally get the batteries charged for my camera so there will even be a picture of it. Enjoy!

I'm finally going to bed now. I did my laundry today and still haven't put the sheets back on the bed. By the time I do it will be tomorrow. Oh, well. What can you do? I had a chat with P.'s sister D.B. while I was on mafia wars. She says there's nothing better than crawling into fresh sheets. I sure hope she's right!

Planning

Didn't do a thing but watch t.v. all day. I did talk to my aunt on the phone and my friend K.R. and my other aunt as well. The plan for the Renasiance festival is for me and K.R. to leave friday evening and stay at Aunt J's. Saturday will be spent at the ren fest, we'll pick J.F. up on the way. We'll come home on Sunday and we'll be bringing my cousin back with us. She'll be staying at Auntie J's that weekend as well while her folks are off on some trip. Other than that I sat in the comfy chair and did nothing all day. Boy is doing nothing exhausting.

Binky, Ha!

Yesterday I went into town with my brother. He had to pick up some books for school. I dropped off some old paperbacks at the book exchange. We got arby's for lunch and they forgot my curly fries. I was almost ticked enough to make my borther turn back but we were already out of the city limits. I played assassin's creed for six hours straight when I got home.

I finally finished taking out this year's student loans today. My life is going to be miserable for the next twenty years. Unless I join the military (I am not going to be a marine). I had steak for dinner at the shack with my mom and dad and my dad's friend. My dad's friend let me shoot his .22 ruger mach III pistol. I knocked over six gophers and hit four swinging targets. It was really easy once I knew what I was doing. I played a little assassin's creed, about three hours and then I watched the new Psyc on USA. Binky, Ha! After that I got hooked on Mafia Wars on Facebook for a couple hours. Hopefully this post makes it in before midnight so I can go to bed tonight and not tomorrow.

Comic Book History?

I went to Duluth with my dad today, he had a doctor's appointment and I had to stop at UWS to pick up some school books. I totally broke the diet and had chicken nuggets and fries and a huge thing of diet coke for lunch. With a side of ketchup (though it did rain all day long so there was water). I did some comparing and found I could get most of my books cheaper on Amazon so I only got four of them from the book store. Surprisingly one of the books I got for history is a comic book, sorry, a "graphic novel". Who new? And just think of all those mother's who rag on their kids and tell them they can't read comic books and play video games and have it count for school. Apparently they can (I saw a special on t.v. about people who play video games for a living like pro sports people). Of course, this whole thing could also be an exercise in the dumming down of the education system so that nobody gets left behind, no matter what their elementary reading level happens to be. My dad blames the liberals. I blame karma. After carrying around the complete works of william shakespeare in one volume all of last year (talk about a workout), I figure it's about time I get to do a little light reading.

Goofy Goggle Glasses and a Side of Water

After cleaning the kitchen with my mom and then the basement, and then the living room, I went into town with my mom. We stopped at grandma's house to give her one of my sister's airforce pictures. I'm a little jealous of the picture but that changed tonight when I saw the other one of her with her goofy goggle glasses whe she couldn't wear her contacts. Ha! We got some picture frames at target and had arby's roast beef for lunch.

Today I slept in. Then I watched t.v. Then I went into town with my mom again to check those rail cars. We stopped at the super one and bought healthy stuff. Me and my mom decided to go on a healthy diet. We bought bananas, pears, peaches, yogurt, milk, deli turkey, and deli co/jack cheese. For dinner we had spinach, chard, mushrooms, and toast. With a side of water. The garden has gone totally nuts. It's like a jungle. The lettuces are waist high and everything else is huge too. Except the tomatoes. Still no ripe tomatoes, just ones that look like green grapes. The grapes are doing well as well. We went to visit P. at the lake. I broke the diet and had a soda and ground sausage burger. Yay for meat!

Great Scary Something in the Woods

After being woken up by first the cat, twice, and then the beagle, twice, I sat around all day and watched t.v. I did take the beagle on a short walk around the corner. We almost caught a black vole thing but it scurried away in the grass and I didn't feel like chasing it.

It rained again for the third day in a row. I orderd a pizza for me and my brother for dinner. I watched more t.v. My folks called at ten pm to say they would be home at 2 am. I still think they're nuts for driving home toninght. Why don't they wait untill morning? I ran the dishwasher but everything else is gonna be a mess. I guess tomorrow will be my cleaning day.

I took the cat out for a walk around the the house and she got all puffy and scared. There was a great scary something in the woods with glowy eyes. O.k., so I didn't really see any glowy eyes but there was definetly a largish shadow where there shouldn't have been one.

She Smells Like Soap

The rail cars did finally show up yesterday morning, which was good. There shouldn't be any penalty fees for us since it was the railroad's fault the cars were two days late. I stopped at target on the way home and got the latest Keith Urban CD. It's pretty good. I got taco stuff from the short stop and made tacos for my supper (which is important as the leftovers made up all three of my meals today).

I did a load of laundry today but I haven't gotten around to folding it yet. I checked the railcars again this afternoon, so far three out of eight are loaded. I stopped at grandma's on the way home, said hi to grandpa and the puppy, then climbed through a thorn bush to hang up grandma's new flag. After that I headed home for more leftover tacos and some random t.v.

There was a Jean Claude Van Damn movie on that was pretty good although, I always wondered where he got that bumb on the head. It's always there at the beginning of every one of his movies long before he ever gets into a fight. It drives me crazy. There was also a special on animal planet called the heart of a lioness about a wild african lion who adopts a baby gazell(?). She took care of it for a month and a half until some mean old man lion showed up and ate it. It was so sad.

The beagle was outside in the rain, (funny how it always waits to pour and thunderstorm the day after I water the garden) so I gave her a bath. She smells like soap now.

Again

The railcars were not there when I went in early this morning. They are still in keenan because the federal government was running some sort of inspection on everything and the railroad wasn't allowed to move anything. Apparently this happens every once in a while. Isn't it just my luck they picked the week I was in charge of stuff. I had to call all the guys and let them know. I spent the rest of the day watching t.v. and being lazy. I did turn the airconditioner on for a while so that helped. Today was the second 90 degree day in a row and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. I made hamburger helper for supper. I watched a special on animal planet about that lion named christian. It was pretty good. I remember seeing the book somewhere. Anyway, I will have to get up early tomorrow, again, so I'm going to bed.

Kayaking Beagle

After waking up at six this morning and forcing myself out of bed, I grapped a quick breakfast of rasberries and cream and drove all the way into town to check the rail head only to find out that there cars weren't there. I got some Mcdonald's to go and stopped off at my grandma's on the way home to give her a jar of rasberries I picked the other day. I even said hi to Grandpa and the puppy.

After I got home and rested for a while I got in touch with the head honcho in charge of this railcar thing and found out that the cars were still in Keenan, which is one 7 miles from the railhead and exactly where they were yesterday morning. They won't be at the siding until tomorrow morning. I had to call all the guys and let them know, one got realy annoyed (not at me thank God).

I had a t.v. dinner for lunch and then I went with the beagle and my friend K.R. to my mom's friend's cabin at the lake. We went kayaking around the bay for a while. I even got the beagle to get in with me. She seemed to enjoy it once she conquered her desire to jump out. We swam for a bit. I told beagle to jump off the dock and she did. Unfortunately she didn't expect it to be that deep and panicked, K. and I had to haul her back out. And my dad said that dog could swim and had jumped off docks before. I left her on shore after that. We dried off in the sun (it was still over eighty five degrees when we left the lake). I stayed for dinner at K.'s house and then went home in time to catch the last half hour of the new episode of Leverage on TNT. Unfortunately, since those railcars didn't arrive today I get to get up early and check again tomorrow so I really should get to bed.

Mwha ha ha ha ha!

The folks left this morning and the house is now mine! Mwha ha ha ha ha! I went for a walk with the beagle. I should have gone earlier when it was still cool out but by the time I went it was at least eighty degrees out and rising. I watched some t.v. and did nothing for pretty much the rest of the day. I did run into town to check the rail car siding this afternoon and there weren't any cars. This means I get to get up early and go check them at six tomorrow morning. Yay me! (That was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it without hearing the voice to go with it.) My Brother made banana milkshakes for a snack and they were really good. I'd share the secret recipe but it's so simple no one would believe it. In the meantime I'm going to try and get some sleep. I tossed and turned all last night for some reason. Here's hoping tonight will be better.

Ha!

Today I did some shopping in town with my friend L.G. I didn't actually do a whole lot of buying. There was this jacket at Target that I really wanted only I don't have any pants to wear with it and I would have had to buy pants and a hat to go with it and it would have been seventy bucks for an outfit and it just wasn't worth it. I wound up getting a copy of the old movie Cool Hand Luke for fourteen instead. I just love the bit where the warden says to Paul Newman's character "What we have here is a failure to communicate" in that really annoying southern accent. It's a classic. After that we walked over to the mall and didn't find anything there. We had a light lunch at Grandma's. I had soup and L.G. had salad. There was also a breadstick involved which we split.

After I got home I just wound up going right back into town with my dad. He had to pick up a few things for his trip to Texas to see my sister graduate from Airforce Basic training next week. I helped him pick out a shirt. We got Dave's pizza on the way back. I probably shouldn't have eaten so much of it because I think I gave myself some kind of indigestion. I took some pepto bisol and I'm fine now. I was going to watch Cool Hand Luke but got sucked into the draining the ocean's thing on discovery channel my dad was watching. Apparently deep see shrimps survive by eating their own armpit gunk which is full of bacterias (yeah, that'll cure indigestion).

I'm going to bed now but I feel like I should mention the miraculous miracle I performed. I just snatched a mosquito right out of the air in front of me and killed it in one try. Ha! Beat that Mr. Obama!

The Deer Ran Away When I Got Too Close

Aside from buying a new pair of boxers the other day I did nothing at all worth posting an update about for the last few days. Well, I also went and saw that Proposal movie with my friend K.R. It was pretty good. Today I started reading the book People of the Sacred Oak. So far it's really intersting. Sad, but intersting. I'm halfway through it already.

I saw a deer eating grass on the other side of the road while looking out the window so I went outside with my book and walked over by the apple trees to get a better look and it ran off. I think it was a doe. It didn't have any antlers anyway. After that I sat down under the biggest apple tree in the grass and read my book for a while. My cat Monster came by and rolled in the grass which I noticed had ants in it. I ran my fingers in her soft sun warmed fur. Then I got bored, went inside, and took a nap until dinner. Ma made rice a roni and hamburger. Then I watched the new episode of Psych on USA. It was awesome. Finally, I watched a few random reruns and now I'm going to bed.

It Is a Walk In Closet

After a breakfast of diet Dr. Pepper and a turkey t.v. dinner (I'm still mad at my dad for eating my other turkey one) I went with my dad to check on the railcars in town. After that we stopped at his friend P.'s Dad had coffe I had a pepsi. I showed them my picture of the whiskey bottle our tourguide got us in the highlands of Scotland. My iPod then froze and was stuck on that picture. After P.'s house we went to L&M for bird seed and ammo. Then we stopped at some berry farm so my dad could talk to another guy. After that we went home.

I finally finished cleaning my closet. I vacummed the floor and everything. I lined up all my shoes and got my bags organized in a box. There was even a hook leftover for my cloak. Turns out it really is a halfway decent walk in size once it's cleaned up a bit. I even had time to watch a few acts on America's Got Talent. I really liked the magician, even though I totally know how he did it (that's what happens when you watch magic's biggest secrets revealed). I don't usually vote for t.v. shows but I'm tempted. Maybe if the magician makes it to the top ten I'll vote. In the meantime I think I'll sleep on it.

Oh, and before I forget, I did get my iPod unfrozen (I'm still thinking about getting a new one, maybe once my mom figures out the whole cell phone plan thing I'll get an iPhone) and while I was consolodating some boxes I found my original iPod cord. Sad to say the one I borrowed from my sister for my trip is still missing. I guess that's just how these things work though.

Walk in Closet?

I spent most of this moring cleaning out my closet and the floor in my room. I got everything off the floor and found out my iPod cord went missing. I guess I'll just have to borrow my borther's till I get a new one. I took everything that was on the floor in my closet out and started sorting it. Surprisingly I have 34 pairs of shoes. They are now occupying all the carpet space on my bedroom floor. I threw out a whole nother bag of trash and organized my winter hats, scarves, and mittens. I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with all the bags I found. Backpacks, sacks, a fanny pack, etc. Maybe I should put up some hooks. On the bright side, all I have left to do is vacuum and put everything back in the closet. It's actually a pretty decent walk in size once it's cleaned up and all the stuff is off the floor. Keeping that way is gonna be the hard part.

I went with my mom to the grociery store. We had steak and sweet potato fries for dinner. Delicious. After dinner I went for a four mile walk with Lucy/Maggie/Molly. At least, my dad said it was probably four miles. I just went in a big square. My dog said hi to K.R.'s dog. I did a little facebooking and now I'm going to bed.

Kettle Corn for Breakfast

Today I didn't get up untill eleven at which point I had leftover kettle corn for breakfast and again later for lunch. I spent pretty much the entire day on the couch watching movies on the telly. I did eventually do some laundry and I managed to fold and get it all put away while watching some old reruns of 7 Days on Slueth channel. That Frank Parker character is just so funny. I threw out that takeout box after I ate the chicken so it looks like I won't be posting that plane picture. I did find the camera in my suitcase which, I'm pleased to say, is almost completely unpacked from that weekend trip to the cities to see J.F. Now that all my clothes are put away I can work on cleaning up the rest of the floor. By the time I have to leave for school again my room will be clean.

Meet Me in St. Louis, Lois, Meet Me At the Fair

First, a quick recap of the past two days. I went to the VA with my dad. We had a four hour drive down, a three hour wait at the hospital, and a four hour drive back with a stop at the old country buffet for lunch. I had green beans, corn, steamed carrots, sweet potato, some kind of mellon, watermellon, salad (o.k. so it was taco salad and had some meat in it), and corn bread. I never new a veggie meal could be so filling. We also stopped at the outlet mall on the way back and I got a couple t-shirts and a pair of pants for school. Yesterday I spent watching t.v. I did compose a poem about the wave pool to the effect of 'I never knew quite how it felt to be a drowning rat'. It can be read at White Foxx: Silver Crow and my page at Fifteen Minutes of Fiction.

Today I got kind of bored so I stole H.'s hightops (isn't it nice when you and your siblings have the same size feet) and went to the St. Louis County Fair with my mom. We went inthe animal tent and I composed a little fair ground ditty titled "All the Bunnies Bite and the Pigeon Laid an Egg" because, honest to God, all the bunnies had "I Bite" signs and one of the pigeons laid an egg. Also the Llama peed and there was a cowboy Napping with the goats in one of the pens. You can read the whole thing at White Foxx: Silver Crow and Fifteen Minutes of Fiction. We went for dinner/lunch after at this little place across from the Hibbing Airport called the Airway Inn. Our waiter was from Jamaica and he was really nice. My mom's friend and my pseudo aunt P. made me compose a poem. It can be read at White Foxx: Silver Crow and Fifteen Minutes of Fiction. There was also a little sketch of a plane I drew on the takeout box. If I remember where I put my camera I may post that as well.

We watched the movie "Swing Vote" at P's house. I noticed the democrat kept changing his position to win the vote and the republican didn't. I got the impression the democrat was a sellout. I don't know if that's what they were going for but that's what I got out of it. We did make it home before midnight, barely, so I should get some sleep.