Because nobody cares about the rest of it anyway. :)
First off, the short one: I wanted to check up on two TV shows to see when they would be on next, Prison Break and Jericho, but I kept forgetting, so I wrote a note. I was feeling a bit lazy, and the note was for me, so there was no danger of forgetting what it meant, so I abbreviated everything. After writing the note, I realized I had written to check up on "PB and J".
But what happened TODAY was even funnier. Doctor's offices are generally really boring, and getting the employees to do anything in a timely manner seems to require you to either die on the premises, or take hostages in one of the waiting room, and cut off their fingers each minute that your name doesn't get called.
Such measures aren't necessary at the chiropractor, people get in and out more quickly and the mood is generally more helpful. Also the waiting room has a large window facing the street, making it easy for snipers to shoot you if you try to take a hostage. However, sometimes they're still not as fast as they could be...
When you're in the waiting room, there's not much you can do about it but glare at the secretary and insist that 'that's all right' every time she apologizes for the delay, but when you get sent all the way down the hall to the back room to get a scan, there are more options.
Thermal scans check muscle tension in your back to see where there is strain or imbalance so the chiropractor can adjust you accordingly. Though the scanning process seems quite simple, it is actually incredibly difficult and all the nurses do their best to get out of it. (This is only a hypothesis, based on the amount of time it takes for a nurse to come to give you your scan, and may or may not accurately represent the opinions of the nurses.)
So you go back to the cold, quiet room at the end of the hall, exchange your shirt for your hospital gown, and wait after opening the door. (They tell you at the front desk that opening the door signals the nurses that you are changed and ready for your scan) They let you keep your pants, which makes sense, because most people don't keep their spine in their thigh.
Anyway, you change, sit down on their little wheeled swivel stool, and wait...I am a patient person, and when someone whose job it is to know these procedures tells me to do something, I do it, but after a while, I started to realize that nine times out of ten, the nurse at the front desk would neglect to tell the other nurse to go back and scan me, or they would just forget I was there entirely. I only came to this conclusion AFTER they sent some strange woman in while I was waiting, apparently so SHE could get HER scan. Rather than changing and sharing the stool with me, she elected to go back to the front desk and ask them why there was a boy in a hospital gown in the scanning room.
So I decided to stop being patient. I'd go back their, change, open the door, and start being cold until about five minutes were up. Then I would get creative. While waiting, I noticed that the phone in the scan room had many different lines within the office, including on labeled 'front desk'. As I expected, when I picked up the phone and pressed this button, the echo of a ringing phone came to me down the hall, and it was answered by the nurse at the front desk, telling me that it was: 'a great day at House Family Chiropractic' and asking me: 'how may I help you?'.
I explained that I was feeling cold and unappreciated in the back room with no one but the x-ray machine for company. She sent someone back and got me scanned.
But alas, this immature and lazy behavior didn't stop. Their lazy and immature behavior. Mine didn't. Because the next time they left me back there, which happened to be the next time I was sent back there, I called them again. This time they noticed the flashing red light on the desk phone that told them that they were being called from the back room. (I wasn't being super annoying, this was a few months later) They answered in a rather annoyed manner and sent someone back.
So now we finally get to today. I was feeling a bit random, so I dug through the pile of clean hospital gowns and chose a rather nice pink one, put it on, and sat down on the wheeled swivel stool. Much to my non-surprise, no one came. I was bored with phones, so I began to wonder to myself, what would happen if I rolled the stool out the door and down the hall, out into the waiting room and asked the nurse face to face why I was being neglected. The office had such nice wooden floors...I thought about it...ran it through in my head...double-checked to be sure the gown I was wearing was in fact, pink, and set off. Out the door, down the hall.
The doors to all the adjustment rooms are left open so people can watch each other be adjusted, so all the patients saw the kid in the pink gown scooting past. I stopped by the room my parents had been sent to and explained my plan to them, then off I went. The people in the waiting room all started laughing a bit, and I pulled around behind the desk right up to the nurse there. "You forgetted me." I explained. "I forgetted you?" she asked without looking up from some paperwork. (this was a different nurse than last time, and I must say, she has a better sense of humor) "You forgetted me." I repeated, then turned and started wheeling back to the scan room. She turned and caught just a glimpse of the pink gown before I was gone.
Back in the scan room, a few seconds later she sticks her head in. "Were you really wearing the pink gown? Oh wow, you really are..." and she left again, laughing.
Within thirty seconds the nurse showed up to give me my scan. Apparently she'd been 'on the phone'.
Later as I was getting my adjustment, the chiropractor said I could roll in the hall any time I wanted to. Then he said "And I thought I was going crazy."
"Sometimes you just need a crazy kid in a pink gown to put things in perspective."
In other news, the Michigan government shut down on Monday from lack of funds.
Seriously. They ran out of money, so all the officials are just staying home.
The sad part?
No one can tell a difference.
I'm curious as to what services will remain and which will disappear. Are prison inmates being fed? Are there still 911 dispatchers waiting to answer my call and send the fire department to the next street over if my barn explodes in the middle of the night?
Will they still be expecting the state taxes? Will all the toll roads be free?
Does Michigan even have any toll roads?
SOTD: Er...hadn't thought about it really. How about: Dierks Bentley - Long Trip Alone (not linking anymore for now, router being a pain)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
The Flags And The Sheds
Why bother writing constantly...with school most things have gotten both predictable and busy.
The highlights of the week have been painting the garage floor with rubber paint so it won't leak and building a garden shed.
I got to use a roller. Plus I was just getting over my cold, so I couldn't smell the paint fumes at all. Some might consider that a bad thing, but I was alright with it. Plugged the trusty MP3 player into some speakers and Dad asked a bunch of questions about my trip to PA next summer. He seems to fine with everything.
As for the garden shed...can you ever have too many outbuildings? We'd made a model of the framing on the computer, but then Dad changed the dimensions and threw off the roof angle, so that became pretty useless. We spent the evenings all week preparing the foundation and floor frame, then over the weekend we built the walls. Our loft is like a Home Depot lumber warehouse, we were able to get all the wood we needed from there and barely made a dent in Dad's stash. Got lotsa blisters from hammering.
Then they all got popped in a very energetic game of Capture The Flag at youthgroup Sunday night. Was a junior high/senior high collaboration, and those events are generally very cool.
The junior highers are all really slow, and my team had more adults. Adults like to pretend they're planning war offensives, and they actually listen to each other and work together. Me being the speedy one, between a group of maybe four of us we could stage a run all through their territory without getting caught, and did so probably five times. Couldn't find their flipping flag. We got it in the end though.
What made it interesting was instead of tagging someone to capture them, everyone had two flag football flags on a belt that they wore. If both their flags got ripped off, they were out for the rest of the game. It was alright for the 'dead' players too, 'cause they could take a break.
The downside was the playing field was narrow, so getting through their borders was a trick.
Played percussion at church this Sunday. Small congregation, most people seemed really bored, but it was fun. Got to play more than I usually do. Bongos, clicker sticks, shaker, tambourine, tom, and xylophone. And a stool that sounded cool when hit with a drumstick.
Two weeks until my PSAT. Going to take the practice test this weekend, then the real deal next one. Good luck to me.
SOTD: Mathew West - You Know Where To Find Me (Don't listen to Mathew West a lot, but he's got some really great songs)
The highlights of the week have been painting the garage floor with rubber paint so it won't leak and building a garden shed.
I got to use a roller. Plus I was just getting over my cold, so I couldn't smell the paint fumes at all. Some might consider that a bad thing, but I was alright with it. Plugged the trusty MP3 player into some speakers and Dad asked a bunch of questions about my trip to PA next summer. He seems to fine with everything.
As for the garden shed...can you ever have too many outbuildings? We'd made a model of the framing on the computer, but then Dad changed the dimensions and threw off the roof angle, so that became pretty useless. We spent the evenings all week preparing the foundation and floor frame, then over the weekend we built the walls. Our loft is like a Home Depot lumber warehouse, we were able to get all the wood we needed from there and barely made a dent in Dad's stash. Got lotsa blisters from hammering.
Then they all got popped in a very energetic game of Capture The Flag at youthgroup Sunday night. Was a junior high/senior high collaboration, and those events are generally very cool.
The junior highers are all really slow, and my team had more adults. Adults like to pretend they're planning war offensives, and they actually listen to each other and work together. Me being the speedy one, between a group of maybe four of us we could stage a run all through their territory without getting caught, and did so probably five times. Couldn't find their flipping flag. We got it in the end though.
What made it interesting was instead of tagging someone to capture them, everyone had two flag football flags on a belt that they wore. If both their flags got ripped off, they were out for the rest of the game. It was alright for the 'dead' players too, 'cause they could take a break.
The downside was the playing field was narrow, so getting through their borders was a trick.
Played percussion at church this Sunday. Small congregation, most people seemed really bored, but it was fun. Got to play more than I usually do. Bongos, clicker sticks, shaker, tambourine, tom, and xylophone. And a stool that sounded cool when hit with a drumstick.
Two weeks until my PSAT. Going to take the practice test this weekend, then the real deal next one. Good luck to me.
SOTD: Mathew West - You Know Where To Find Me (Don't listen to Mathew West a lot, but he's got some really great songs)
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Goats And The Skids
Last blog was...Friday, so picking up on Saturday. Built a goat-milking stand, and a very sturdy one it is. Mom got some measurements and left 'em with Dad, and he made some upgrades...when he builds things he tends to make them at least 75% stronger than they need to be. If we ever decide to try, say, milking dwarf elephants, we won't need a separate stand. I'd bet money that you could drive on the thing if it were big enough.
Then Mom showed up with a window that she wanted put in the goat barn. (that's ex-horse barn, by the way) So Dad put that in whilst everyone else helped restack the hay that had been unstacked after being...stacked, because apparently it wasn't dry enough and so the bales needed to be spread out.
I sort of ran between everyone, as, with the allergy medicine that I am now allowed to take, I can be in the barn with the hay for ten or fifteen minutes without trouble, but after that it gets uncomfortable.
Did a lot of recording, but didn't actually get anything we were happy with. I need drum heads, and our recording equipment is lousy, add to that the fact that we can both sing, but neither very well, and the fact that with one mike, we can't actually play the song together, we have to play it track by track, one instrument at a time, which ruins the rhythm. Ah well. It's a start, and it is fun to be able to hear ourselves played back.
Sunday...Church. During the Sunday School hour was a ministry fair in which all the ministry groups at work in the church tried to get volunteers. No one actually signed up for anything, as the percussion and sound equipment teams table can attest.
Sunday night was a visit to Peace youthgroup. Don't know if it's for me yet or not. Definitely fun, the lesson got really long though...sitting on the floor for an hour is rather uncomfortable, especially with the trusty back. It doesn't like to stay in one position for a long time, sitting or standing. The platform jousting was great. I might go so far as to say that mine was the most spectacular. While everyone else would just whack each other repeatedly in the same spot, the kid I was battling had a bit more variety in his style. The secret seems to be to hold the...thing near one end, hitting with the long end and blocking with the short one. Did all right. He fell first, and that's the point, so I'm told. Was surprised when the Sentry lost so quickly to some skinny girl.
Tuesday Dad brought the company truck home with a bunch of rejected wooden skids, picked me up and took off to some guy's house to drop it all off. Skids are interesting because they're all different sizes and different kinds of wood. The pine ones you can just snatch up and throw with one hand, but the oak ones take a lot of effort to get over the sides of the truck.
I think fall officially starts today.
Political Rant
So in my government class, I came across a rather long quote from Abraham Lincoln, the shortened version of which says that because the US is big and rich and populated by free people, the rest of the world combined couldn't take it by force, and if destruction be our destiny, then it has to come from the inside. We have to weaken and destroy ourselves.
So then this morning on a political blog that I read regularly there was a bunch of info that the media neglects to mention, basically how an Islamic brotherhood, and a rather large one...basically sounds like every Islamic terrorist in one big convention, released plans fifteen years ago to infiltrate our nation and our government with their people.
We're not known for our ability to prevent unwanted immigrants from...immigrating, and we ARE known for the ease with which a foreigner can climb the ladder of power by screaming 'racism' at everyone who gets in the way.
We saw the results on 9/11 when the hidden terrorist cells living in our country started joyriding airplanes into buildings and lonely Pennsylvanian fields.
It's just scary to see it all put together like that...we're being weakened and destroyed by foreigners...from within.
Governments like money, and immigrants will give it to them if the politicians make laws to make life fair or even more than fair for immigrants.
End Political Rant
SOTD - Nickelback - Far Away
Then Mom showed up with a window that she wanted put in the goat barn. (that's ex-horse barn, by the way) So Dad put that in whilst everyone else helped restack the hay that had been unstacked after being...stacked, because apparently it wasn't dry enough and so the bales needed to be spread out.
I sort of ran between everyone, as, with the allergy medicine that I am now allowed to take, I can be in the barn with the hay for ten or fifteen minutes without trouble, but after that it gets uncomfortable.
Did a lot of recording, but didn't actually get anything we were happy with. I need drum heads, and our recording equipment is lousy, add to that the fact that we can both sing, but neither very well, and the fact that with one mike, we can't actually play the song together, we have to play it track by track, one instrument at a time, which ruins the rhythm. Ah well. It's a start, and it is fun to be able to hear ourselves played back.
Sunday...Church. During the Sunday School hour was a ministry fair in which all the ministry groups at work in the church tried to get volunteers. No one actually signed up for anything, as the percussion and sound equipment teams table can attest.
Sunday night was a visit to Peace youthgroup. Don't know if it's for me yet or not. Definitely fun, the lesson got really long though...sitting on the floor for an hour is rather uncomfortable, especially with the trusty back. It doesn't like to stay in one position for a long time, sitting or standing. The platform jousting was great. I might go so far as to say that mine was the most spectacular. While everyone else would just whack each other repeatedly in the same spot, the kid I was battling had a bit more variety in his style. The secret seems to be to hold the...thing near one end, hitting with the long end and blocking with the short one. Did all right. He fell first, and that's the point, so I'm told. Was surprised when the Sentry lost so quickly to some skinny girl.
Tuesday Dad brought the company truck home with a bunch of rejected wooden skids, picked me up and took off to some guy's house to drop it all off. Skids are interesting because they're all different sizes and different kinds of wood. The pine ones you can just snatch up and throw with one hand, but the oak ones take a lot of effort to get over the sides of the truck.
I think fall officially starts today.
Political Rant
So in my government class, I came across a rather long quote from Abraham Lincoln, the shortened version of which says that because the US is big and rich and populated by free people, the rest of the world combined couldn't take it by force, and if destruction be our destiny, then it has to come from the inside. We have to weaken and destroy ourselves.
So then this morning on a political blog that I read regularly there was a bunch of info that the media neglects to mention, basically how an Islamic brotherhood, and a rather large one...basically sounds like every Islamic terrorist in one big convention, released plans fifteen years ago to infiltrate our nation and our government with their people.
We're not known for our ability to prevent unwanted immigrants from...immigrating, and we ARE known for the ease with which a foreigner can climb the ladder of power by screaming 'racism' at everyone who gets in the way.
We saw the results on 9/11 when the hidden terrorist cells living in our country started joyriding airplanes into buildings and lonely Pennsylvanian fields.
It's just scary to see it all put together like that...we're being weakened and destroyed by foreigners...from within.
Governments like money, and immigrants will give it to them if the politicians make laws to make life fair or even more than fair for immigrants.
End Political Rant
SOTD - Nickelback - Far Away
Friday, September 14, 2007
Minesweeper: The Movie
Friday seems to be movie day. Today was 'Apocalypto'. About Incas or something. Very long, very boring. I realized quite quickly that if I put the movie in fast forward I can still read the subtitles, and since everything is in whatever it was the Inca spoke, there was no point in listening anyway.
'Red' is still growing on me. Friday is also 'commandeer the stereo' day, so I listened to that for a bit. Cleaned the pond pump again.
SOTD: Red - Already Over (Yeah, I'm gonna go back to linking songs. It's not as if this page is read by the masses...and it's not as if the masses don't have plenty of better places to download music. The links will die automatically after a while anyway.)
'Red' is still growing on me. Friday is also 'commandeer the stereo' day, so I listened to that for a bit. Cleaned the pond pump again.
SOTD: Red - Already Over (Yeah, I'm gonna go back to linking songs. It's not as if this page is read by the masses...and it's not as if the masses don't have plenty of better places to download music. The links will die automatically after a while anyway.)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The Wind And The Echo
I think is was Tuesday that was really windy...bike riding was interesting into the wind. Even when coasting down a hill, the wind could bring you to a standstill. I love it. Fall is the perfect temperature, the days look warm, but not glaring, there's always a breeze, the colors are nice, but I like the green part of fall best. Don't get all technical and tell me when fall starts. I say it's fall.
Bethany and I have been recording some music. Right now having a mike on her guitar makes her nervous and she exchanges her sense of rhythm for some sort of temperamental roller coaster. It's getting there.
Other than that things have been pretty routine. Started science this week. It's not bad. I'm not enthralled by it, but it's necessary, and I don't know nearly enough about it. I'm dreading the PSAT.
Went careercruising. There is no such occupation as a voice actor, and I'm not stupid enough to try to get a job as an actor. There are plenty of wannabes standing in line for that as it is. Looks like my second choices are recording technician and chiropractor in that order. As a recording technician I could still possibly get a chance to do some voice work, but I can do what I already know and am good at: mix audio. Would also be involved in the music industry without being in a band, because, as with actors, their are enough bands lined up wanting to be famous as it is. As a chiropractor I could go to school for eight years and then become a doctor without being in intense or high-responsibility situations. I don't want to have someone's life in my hands, and eye/ear doctors and other things like that seem pretty boring to me. Chiropractors basic job of adjusting backs and necks is pretty simple, really, but it counts as a doctor, and everyone loves doctors.
So the point is, I can't voice act to put spaghetti-o's on the table, so I'll never be truly happy in life. :-)
And now I'll just stop because none of us keep up with these things as closely as we used to be able to.
SOTD: Red - Breath Into Me (Wow, these guy remind me of Skillet. They grow on you and they scream with style.)
Honorable mention: Trace Atkins - Every Light In The House Is On (Same old country song. Guy loses girlfriend and complains for a few verses, with a chorus stuck between them.)
Bethany and I have been recording some music. Right now having a mike on her guitar makes her nervous and she exchanges her sense of rhythm for some sort of temperamental roller coaster. It's getting there.
Other than that things have been pretty routine. Started science this week. It's not bad. I'm not enthralled by it, but it's necessary, and I don't know nearly enough about it. I'm dreading the PSAT.
Went careercruising. There is no such occupation as a voice actor, and I'm not stupid enough to try to get a job as an actor. There are plenty of wannabes standing in line for that as it is. Looks like my second choices are recording technician and chiropractor in that order. As a recording technician I could still possibly get a chance to do some voice work, but I can do what I already know and am good at: mix audio. Would also be involved in the music industry without being in a band, because, as with actors, their are enough bands lined up wanting to be famous as it is. As a chiropractor I could go to school for eight years and then become a doctor without being in intense or high-responsibility situations. I don't want to have someone's life in my hands, and eye/ear doctors and other things like that seem pretty boring to me. Chiropractors basic job of adjusting backs and necks is pretty simple, really, but it counts as a doctor, and everyone loves doctors.
So the point is, I can't voice act to put spaghetti-o's on the table, so I'll never be truly happy in life. :-)
And now I'll just stop because none of us keep up with these things as closely as we used to be able to.
SOTD: Red - Breath Into Me (Wow, these guy remind me of Skillet. They grow on you and they scream with style.)
Honorable mention: Trace Atkins - Every Light In The House Is On (Same old country song. Guy loses girlfriend and complains for a few verses, with a chorus stuck between them.)
Friday, September 7, 2007
The Spartans And The Persians
You'll never guess by the title what I'm blogging about...
Watched the movie '300' today. It wasn't what I had expected, but that's all right, because I had expected far less. It was a pretty cool movie, though not for the usual reasons. As a sort of opening comment though, I'm not recommending it. Whenever there was blood, there was a lot of it, and whenever there was a beheading (and there were a few) you get a very gruesome angle of the inside of their head, with their jugular spurting blood everywhere. Also, whenever they can think of a reason to flash boobs, they do so; when they can't think of any reason, they flash them anyway. It's hard to tell for sure whether that's a problem or not, as most of the men look very womanly with their long curly hair, black leather panty-things that seem to make up approximately 10% of their uniform (the other 90% are their capes), and beards. Plus they call the queen a warrior all the time.
It's a historical movie, so the plot's no secret. The directors waste no time on it. They just start out with some killing and keep cranking up the size of the opposing parties until everyone dies. It's a war movie. That's what they're supposed to do.
But at about this point, whoever was in charge took a look at the list of things a historical war movie was supposed to contain, said 'What the...', and beat it senseless with his shield.
The music in the dramatic bits is some sort of overdriven guitar and drum kit rock music. Which is sweet. I've had enough of the whiny Arab-sounding music that usually go into the dramatic parts of such movies. (though they gave in and played a bit at the end)
There were virtually no sets, the entire thing minus the actors (and not even all of them) was pretty much computer-generated. The only color ever really used is brown. Everything is always brown. The rocks, the sky, the grass, the water, the elephants, and the beards. Except for that guy who got his eye stabbed out, his was more of a yellow-ish tan color.
The combat scenes switch in and out of slow-motion rather quickly, but it's a cool effect overall. I've always liked action movies that mixed high-speed and slow-motion shots. Am I the only one who starts laughing in 'The Patriot' when, after ten minutes of dramatic battle, Mel Gibson is still running and screaming and killing and waving flags about in slow motion? Quite.
And there's blood everywhere. Lots and lots of blood. No more of this whimpy 'stab people and the camera conveniently misses most of the gory bits', every time someone gets maimed again, you get to see it in detail. It was kinda cool.
The best part of the entire movie was the sarcasm though. Sure, everyone saw the bit on the commercials where, after a Persian Emissary says 'Our arrows shall, like, blot out the sun and crap, yo?' one of the soldiers (no one every remembers the names of anyone in war movies) says 'Then we shall fight in the shade', and it's generally outrageously cool, but they say stuff like that all the time in the movie.
After battling since sunrise, the two generals meet:
Xerxes: "I find Spartan culture so fascinating. We could be great allies, and share much with each other. Join us. It is your destiny."
The Spartan King Feller (Leotardis or something. All Greek names sound the same to me): "Haven't you noticed, we've been sharing our culture all morning."
It really is quite funny. Sentry especially, you'll get a real kick out of all the sarcasm.
Oh, and the Persians had grenades.
Nothing I can say would sound cooler after that.
What I did today besides watch 300: Play Skillet on the big stereo while everyone shopped. The kitchen floor isn't nearly as stable as I had previously believed it to be.
SOTD: Skillet - A Little More
Watched the movie '300' today. It wasn't what I had expected, but that's all right, because I had expected far less. It was a pretty cool movie, though not for the usual reasons. As a sort of opening comment though, I'm not recommending it. Whenever there was blood, there was a lot of it, and whenever there was a beheading (and there were a few) you get a very gruesome angle of the inside of their head, with their jugular spurting blood everywhere. Also, whenever they can think of a reason to flash boobs, they do so; when they can't think of any reason, they flash them anyway. It's hard to tell for sure whether that's a problem or not, as most of the men look very womanly with their long curly hair, black leather panty-things that seem to make up approximately 10% of their uniform (the other 90% are their capes), and beards. Plus they call the queen a warrior all the time.
It's a historical movie, so the plot's no secret. The directors waste no time on it. They just start out with some killing and keep cranking up the size of the opposing parties until everyone dies. It's a war movie. That's what they're supposed to do.
But at about this point, whoever was in charge took a look at the list of things a historical war movie was supposed to contain, said 'What the...', and beat it senseless with his shield.
The music in the dramatic bits is some sort of overdriven guitar and drum kit rock music. Which is sweet. I've had enough of the whiny Arab-sounding music that usually go into the dramatic parts of such movies. (though they gave in and played a bit at the end)
There were virtually no sets, the entire thing minus the actors (and not even all of them) was pretty much computer-generated. The only color ever really used is brown. Everything is always brown. The rocks, the sky, the grass, the water, the elephants, and the beards. Except for that guy who got his eye stabbed out, his was more of a yellow-ish tan color.
The combat scenes switch in and out of slow-motion rather quickly, but it's a cool effect overall. I've always liked action movies that mixed high-speed and slow-motion shots. Am I the only one who starts laughing in 'The Patriot' when, after ten minutes of dramatic battle, Mel Gibson is still running and screaming and killing and waving flags about in slow motion? Quite.
And there's blood everywhere. Lots and lots of blood. No more of this whimpy 'stab people and the camera conveniently misses most of the gory bits', every time someone gets maimed again, you get to see it in detail. It was kinda cool.
The best part of the entire movie was the sarcasm though. Sure, everyone saw the bit on the commercials where, after a Persian Emissary says 'Our arrows shall, like, blot out the sun and crap, yo?' one of the soldiers (no one every remembers the names of anyone in war movies) says 'Then we shall fight in the shade', and it's generally outrageously cool, but they say stuff like that all the time in the movie.
After battling since sunrise, the two generals meet:
Xerxes: "I find Spartan culture so fascinating. We could be great allies, and share much with each other. Join us. It is your destiny."
The Spartan King Feller (Leotardis or something. All Greek names sound the same to me): "Haven't you noticed, we've been sharing our culture all morning."
It really is quite funny. Sentry especially, you'll get a real kick out of all the sarcasm.
Oh, and the Persians had grenades.
Nothing I can say would sound cooler after that.
What I did today besides watch 300: Play Skillet on the big stereo while everyone shopped. The kitchen floor isn't nearly as stable as I had previously believed it to be.
SOTD: Skillet - A Little More
Thursday, September 6, 2007
The Wheelchairs And The Hills
School has gotten almost as difficult as it's going to get all year. Still don't have my science books yet, but otherwise, everything's going smoothly. I've got lots more free time than I've had in previous years.
Math hasn't bothered with reviews this year, which has been slightly difficult, but it's coming back pretty quickly. Trigonometry. It's like an old friend. The kind you hope doesn't recognize you.
Classical languages is both fun and easy. Learning Latin and Greek roots is really useful, because with them you can work out the meaning of just about any big word you come across. Any English word anyway. You can also make up words for things that sound real and have actual relevant meaning.
I don't care for the History book's slant. If Christians were terrorists who killed everyone who didn't believe, the author would be their king. A tad too fanatical for me. I'd rather have an objective history book than a Christian-biased one. Just as with any biased history book, they tend to go overboard and only tell half the story.
Drumming is drumming. Getting fast on the bass-pedal, which always sounds sweet, and usually makes up a good portion of professional drum solos, but losing a bit of coordination with fills and time-keeping.
Government and Economy is crazy fun. That's my summer subject. Bought the books for myself and read many of them on my own time. Now I get to keep doing it and get credits for it. How cool is that?
Hair cut on Wednesday morning. Decided I've always wanted to try shaving it all off and going Vin Diesel. Perfect time of year for it, won't get sunburned, won't freeze.
So I did.
So far I really like it. Not so warm, though if I plan to sweat I need to definitely wear a hat. It'll grow back before the winter gets really cold, unless I decide to keep it this way, which is quite likely. It's great.
Stopping by the neighbor's every afternoon after school to push their daughter's wheelchair up their driveway. Sentry, you remember the McBrides, right? They live right next door, see, and I'm not sure what was the deal, but their daughter is growth-stunted, can't talk, and doesn't seem to have a whole lot of motor control. One of her parents is having back problems and the other has had some sort of massive triple-hernia surgery, so neither of them can push her wheelchair up the hill to her house. It's fun to wait for the bus with her dad though, he's really smart. Showing me how he built the hydraulic lift for her wheelchair to get into the house, or explaining ways to make environmentally-safe insecticides, or giving examples of different systems of well-pumps. It's cool.
Then yesterday Tim called up and wanted some help moving. I'm not even going to try to make sense of the mechanics of his life, but from what I could pick up, we were moving his hunting and fishing stuff from his old girlfriend's house to his new girlfriend's house, who lives across the street from me. Other than all his landscaping equipment, pretty much all he owns is hunting and fishing stuff, but he's got boatloads of it. Luckily he packs things mostly in plastic tubs, so it was really pretty easy. Hour and a half later, ten bucks richer, plus ten from last time I worked for him. He pays sporadically.
The most exciting bit was when I was backing his truck up. Was doing just fine, going slow because he loves his lawn, had it all under control, he decides to start directing me. Okay, fine, it's his house, his truck, he says keep going backwards I'll keep going backwards, it looks all clear, though one of his side-mirrors has been broken for months. So up into the garden I go, and he's still nodding like a bobble-head and waving me farther back.
Then I hit something.
He keeps directing me back for a second, then stops, smiles and nods, and starts unloading.
What the heck?
So I jump out and head to the back...he directed me directly into a large rock in his garden. Luckily for him it was the tire that hit, so no damage was done to the truck, the rock just got shoved back a bit.
He's not the sort of person I would hang out with by choice, but I don't mind his money. :)
Skipping back to Monday, drove into town to pick up some huge lava rock a guy from Dad's work wanted to be rid of. Well I've never seen a lava rock this big. If it was hollow, you could probably fit two people in it. Or one average American. It was heavy, and sharp. Dad, being the maniac he is, had to be reminded by someone to put on gloves so he didn't slice his hands apart. No one else was around to do it, so that was me. Lava rock is sharp. We still both ended up with some scraped-up arms, Dad's being by far the worst, because the guy who lived there kept trying to help and getting in the way. Between Dad pushing as hard as he could and this guy sort of stumbling around, I felt safer and more useful clearing stuff out of the way as they rolled it to the truck. The guy who lives there is cool, and really nice, but not much good at moving rocks, it would seem. Big chore getting it into the truck, ended up using ramps to roll it on.
Then once we were one the road Dad got down to the trivial business of figuring out where he's going to put it. lol. Stopped for Frosty's at Wendy's on the way home. We picked out a nice spot by the hot tub for the rock.
I'd post the really good stuff, but I'd rather y'all just be driven crazy with suspense wondering what it could be.
FTTDOTD: Walmart undercuts the American economy by carrying merchandise manufactured entirely overseas, which it can then sell for lower prices than other stores whilst still making a profit. Great idea, business-wise, but screwing the world's greatest superpower while they're at it. (Mom is a major conspiracy theory hunter, and she dug all this up) Anyway, so here's what you do. Walmart carries everything, right? So put on a black coat and sunglasses, grab a cart, and fill it with wire, wire-cutters, needle-nosed pliers, clocks, rubbing alcohol, toilet-cleaner, bleach, duct-tape, light-switches, and remote-control car parts if you can find any. Wheel the cart over towards the checkout, but don't get in line. Start digging conspicuously through the cart and fiddling with things. Make sure that at some point you start a nice loud clock ticking. Then yell 'CRAP!' and run out the door, abandoning the cart where it sits.
PS: Don't really do this, unless you LIKE jail.
SOTD: Deirks Bentley - Long Trip Alone (Cool song, sticks in your head.)
Math hasn't bothered with reviews this year, which has been slightly difficult, but it's coming back pretty quickly. Trigonometry. It's like an old friend. The kind you hope doesn't recognize you.
Classical languages is both fun and easy. Learning Latin and Greek roots is really useful, because with them you can work out the meaning of just about any big word you come across. Any English word anyway. You can also make up words for things that sound real and have actual relevant meaning.
I don't care for the History book's slant. If Christians were terrorists who killed everyone who didn't believe, the author would be their king. A tad too fanatical for me. I'd rather have an objective history book than a Christian-biased one. Just as with any biased history book, they tend to go overboard and only tell half the story.
Drumming is drumming. Getting fast on the bass-pedal, which always sounds sweet, and usually makes up a good portion of professional drum solos, but losing a bit of coordination with fills and time-keeping.
Government and Economy is crazy fun. That's my summer subject. Bought the books for myself and read many of them on my own time. Now I get to keep doing it and get credits for it. How cool is that?
Hair cut on Wednesday morning. Decided I've always wanted to try shaving it all off and going Vin Diesel. Perfect time of year for it, won't get sunburned, won't freeze.
So I did.
So far I really like it. Not so warm, though if I plan to sweat I need to definitely wear a hat. It'll grow back before the winter gets really cold, unless I decide to keep it this way, which is quite likely. It's great.
Stopping by the neighbor's every afternoon after school to push their daughter's wheelchair up their driveway. Sentry, you remember the McBrides, right? They live right next door, see, and I'm not sure what was the deal, but their daughter is growth-stunted, can't talk, and doesn't seem to have a whole lot of motor control. One of her parents is having back problems and the other has had some sort of massive triple-hernia surgery, so neither of them can push her wheelchair up the hill to her house. It's fun to wait for the bus with her dad though, he's really smart. Showing me how he built the hydraulic lift for her wheelchair to get into the house, or explaining ways to make environmentally-safe insecticides, or giving examples of different systems of well-pumps. It's cool.
Then yesterday Tim called up and wanted some help moving. I'm not even going to try to make sense of the mechanics of his life, but from what I could pick up, we were moving his hunting and fishing stuff from his old girlfriend's house to his new girlfriend's house, who lives across the street from me. Other than all his landscaping equipment, pretty much all he owns is hunting and fishing stuff, but he's got boatloads of it. Luckily he packs things mostly in plastic tubs, so it was really pretty easy. Hour and a half later, ten bucks richer, plus ten from last time I worked for him. He pays sporadically.
The most exciting bit was when I was backing his truck up. Was doing just fine, going slow because he loves his lawn, had it all under control, he decides to start directing me. Okay, fine, it's his house, his truck, he says keep going backwards I'll keep going backwards, it looks all clear, though one of his side-mirrors has been broken for months. So up into the garden I go, and he's still nodding like a bobble-head and waving me farther back.
Then I hit something.
He keeps directing me back for a second, then stops, smiles and nods, and starts unloading.
What the heck?
So I jump out and head to the back...he directed me directly into a large rock in his garden. Luckily for him it was the tire that hit, so no damage was done to the truck, the rock just got shoved back a bit.
He's not the sort of person I would hang out with by choice, but I don't mind his money. :)
Skipping back to Monday, drove into town to pick up some huge lava rock a guy from Dad's work wanted to be rid of. Well I've never seen a lava rock this big. If it was hollow, you could probably fit two people in it. Or one average American. It was heavy, and sharp. Dad, being the maniac he is, had to be reminded by someone to put on gloves so he didn't slice his hands apart. No one else was around to do it, so that was me. Lava rock is sharp. We still both ended up with some scraped-up arms, Dad's being by far the worst, because the guy who lived there kept trying to help and getting in the way. Between Dad pushing as hard as he could and this guy sort of stumbling around, I felt safer and more useful clearing stuff out of the way as they rolled it to the truck. The guy who lives there is cool, and really nice, but not much good at moving rocks, it would seem. Big chore getting it into the truck, ended up using ramps to roll it on.
Then once we were one the road Dad got down to the trivial business of figuring out where he's going to put it. lol. Stopped for Frosty's at Wendy's on the way home. We picked out a nice spot by the hot tub for the rock.
I'd post the really good stuff, but I'd rather y'all just be driven crazy with suspense wondering what it could be.
FTTDOTD: Walmart undercuts the American economy by carrying merchandise manufactured entirely overseas, which it can then sell for lower prices than other stores whilst still making a profit. Great idea, business-wise, but screwing the world's greatest superpower while they're at it. (Mom is a major conspiracy theory hunter, and she dug all this up) Anyway, so here's what you do. Walmart carries everything, right? So put on a black coat and sunglasses, grab a cart, and fill it with wire, wire-cutters, needle-nosed pliers, clocks, rubbing alcohol, toilet-cleaner, bleach, duct-tape, light-switches, and remote-control car parts if you can find any. Wheel the cart over towards the checkout, but don't get in line. Start digging conspicuously through the cart and fiddling with things. Make sure that at some point you start a nice loud clock ticking. Then yell 'CRAP!' and run out the door, abandoning the cart where it sits.
PS: Don't really do this, unless you LIKE jail.
SOTD: Deirks Bentley - Long Trip Alone (Cool song, sticks in your head.)
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