Number 8

Fly a kite

Ahhh alas a task to take me back to my youth

Sooo last Saturday (July 24) we (my family and I) woke up and went to Family Dollar or Dollar General or something and picked up an awesome kite.

I didn't originally plan on it having any particular picture or design on it but when I saw the Spiderman one I knew it would be perfect...plus it was only a dollar!

We decided to drive to New Bern to fly the kite because we knew there would be some wind coming off the water.

It was beautiful weather (apart from the six million degree heat)

I got out and took off running and before I knew it BAMMM there was all sorts of crazy kite flying going



After a few minutes, we packed up and headed to lunch.

It wasn't the most life-changing task, but it was fun!

I'm wrapping up the list and just have a few small requests...

IF YOU SEE A LEMONADE STAND PLEASE TEXT ME

Also, stay tuned because some exciting ones are coming up!

Number 11

Go on a camping trip...

I'm not outdoors-y. Let me begin with that.

Why did I put this on my list? I knew that I wanted to be able to have a time where I did something by myself and I thought going camping would be perfect.

I had no idea when i would do this so when I woke up last Saturday (July 17) and realized I had nothing to do all day or Sunday, I decided I better go ahead and do it while I have time.

I called KOA campground in New Bern and they said they had a site available so I made a reservation and began planning my day.

I packed up my car up throughout the day and ran to Food Lion with Pat to get some food, dropped pat off, then headed to Anne Michelle's to get the tent. It was when I was on my there that the world decided to come to an end...and I am not being melodramtic (ok, maybe a little bit).

It was pouring and wind was crazy and blah blah...I ran into Anne Michelle's house to get the tent and was soaked.

I was not going to be stopped easily though and headed to New Bern. I drove through the storm and actually got on the other side of it.

I arrived at the campsite, checked in, and then decided I would try to set up my tent before the storm hit.

I did...I'm amazing, I know!

I got the tent up (by myself) in about fifteen minutes and not a second too soon. The storm went crazy and I jumped in my car.

I sat and waited out of the rain for about 45 minutes.

Once it stopped raining, I got out and finished unpacking the car.

I set out everything and was getting ready to cook dinner and then...it started raining again. I had to pack everything up in the car again and sat again, and waited for an hour.

I was annoyed at this point...in fact I sent a text to my dad along the lines of "It's hot and rainy and I hate camping" to which he replied "boo." He's a man of few words when it comes to texting.

When the rain finally stopped, I was soaked and sweaty and bug-spray-y (you know what I mean) so I decided to take a shower and get cleaned up before dinner.

After a nice shower (thank God for clean bathrooms) I decided to start on dinner.

It was amazing if I must say so myself. I gots me some grilled ham and cheese and some cool ranch doritos and a water and just enjoyed myself.

After dinner, I cleaned up and decided to get in the car and head into the city of New Bern.

After about an hour in town, I headed back and snuggled into my tent with my laptop (ok ok don't judge me) and watched some movies then hit the sack.



The next morning, I woke up and packed everything up and left early.


I slept better than I thought I would have but those dang birds started chirping soo loud so that woke me up too early.

After packing up, I decided to head to the beach since I was close and the weather was beautiful. I rolled down the windows and turned up the music and had quite the moment.

Camping was great and I actually had a much better time than I would have thought.

I call it my Man Vs. Wild Vs. Nature experience.

Number 11 is doneeeee

Number 20

Change a bad habit...

This one was hard because I don't have any bad habits...i'm kidding.

I actually thought about this one awhile. I mean I knew I could do like no soft drinks or eating healthy or biting finger nails but those don't really affect my life. I decided to go with something a little bigger.

Stop gossiping...

Before I even begin to start, let me say that I am not sure it is possible to not gossip at all. My goal was to just cut back considerably.

I didn't want to tell anyone about it when I decided this is what I was going to do. I was going to see if it was something that maybe people could pick up on.

Sooo it began, and it was hard, especially with my best friends.

You don't even realize how much you talk about people until you're trying to make a conscious effort not to. (Look, I know how bad that sounds but i'm just trying to keep it real). It is not always in a bad way just random little things. It's hard to just not say anything back when somebody makes a comment.

There is no way I can show any proof of improvement but feel free to test me. Come up to me and just be like "James, did you know blah blah blah" Hopefully, I'll smile and nod and try to steer the conversation away.

Feel free to ask my friend Marie, she is probably the one who could be some form of testimonial (at least I hope). There have been multiple times where I'll start saying something and then pull a "Oh, nevermind" and then she'll catch on.

I actual feel really good about this one. This is something that will definitely change me for the better in the long run and I plan to keep this up. I don't think there is ever a time that I'll be able to say that this habit is completely changed because I think I'll have to make an effort on it everyday. It is something that will hopefully allow me to mature and allow me to become a bigger person.

Another little added bad habit I feel I am breaking is that I usually never finish anything I start. This blog may actually be an exception! There is a finish line in sight and I really think it's going to happen, I really think I can finish it!

Sooo exciting.

Sorry this was kind of a vague entry but it is more personal and something that I feel is seen better in person than something I can write about.

Number 20 is done(ish)...and by -ish I mean i'm going to continue working on it everyday!

Number 23

Ride on a train...

I was soo excited about this one. When I first put it on the list, I knew it would be a stretch but I wanted to make it happen. I have been planning this one for awhile.

My lovely friend Marie has an amazing sister who moved to Washington D.C. recently. With this in mind, we began planning an epic weekend.

We bought our train tickets online about three weeks ago. The tickets were from Wilson to DC's Union Station. We left on July 9 and came back the 11.

Words cannot begin to describe how excited I was about it ESPECIALLY because it was my first vacation of the summer. We woke up early Friday morning and with all our belongings headed to Wilson.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little discouraged upon arrival because the Wilson Train Station is quite unimpressive. I did, however, find some encouragement from the parking attendant. I went up to ask her if it was fine to leave our car there for the weekend and she said, "Honey, you can park wherever you want with those pretty eyes." Yep, my life is amazing.

We got there almost two hours early because we wanted to make sure we could find everything in time...

It took us ten minutes...and we sat.

For a long time.

Finally, we heard the train coming and ran outside to wait for it. The train stopped and there was a mad rush to get aboard.

Climbing on was actually a pleasant surprise.
The interior was similar to that of a plane (two rows of two with an aisle in the middle) except even more roomy.

Marie and I took our seats and before we knew it, we were off. It was a pretty crazy experience because it felt almost like the beginning of a roller coaster or something. Almost like the take-off for a plane, except it never takes off. It was a smooth ride though and we got comfortable really quickly.

The novelty of the train ride wore off rather quickly, and we were stuck with about five hours with not much to do.

I occupied myself by...
1. Annoying Marie
2. Drawing a DC picture/poster/awesome

3. Learning lines for Harvey (do I ever do anything else?)
4. Going to the cafe car (they had sweet booths and stuff)
5. Playing with my Blackberry/Marie's iTouch
6. Annoying Marie
7. Making obnoxious "choo-choo" noises

After a long wait, and many many stops we finally pulled into UNION STATIONNNNNNNN

I practically ran off the train (ok, i'm not going to lie the entire weekend I basically ran everywhere).

I took off into Union Station and was running all around looking at everything. It was very airport-esque (I try to throw a "esque" word into every blog if you haven't noticed yet) and I am in love with airports.

Marie got a hold of Nicole on the phone and she told us to meet her down at the metro station within Union Station.

Ok, let me just explain how big of a deal the metro is for me. I have (had) never been a metro before in my life and it embodies city life to me. If you know me at all, you know that I can't wait to move to the city.

Nicole got off the metro and we ran and hugged and blahhhh. She then taught us how to get our metro cards. I am such a nerd like I'm not sure I have been that excited in my life. I wanted to seem such like a city-mouse. I swiped all my things and put my ticket in and grabbed it out and then walked through. I was the junk, or so I thought.

Nicole taught us the escalator etiquette (If you want to stand, stand on the right. If you want to walk, you walk down the left. I am a walker. I love face-paced life.)


Finally, the big moment came where we got onto the metro.

It was so above and beyond any expectation I had. The station was perfect, the noise and hustle and bustle was like a drug. When the metro came up with the lights and it rushed passed me, the wind was blowing and I felt like my life was complete. No lie, I am very tempted to begin using some "artsy adjectives."

My metro ride changed my life. I wanted to ride it everywhere!

We took it to Friendship Heights and got off and walked to Nicole's apartment.

That night, we went out with some of Nicole's friends to a nice restaurant called Chadwick's. We then just went back to the apartment and talked some before going to sleep.

Saturday was the big day. We woke up...it was raining...we didn't care.

We went to some nice little bagel shop and then hit the metro (love my life) for the middle of the city. We went to the Holocaust Museum, the Natural History Museum, walked to a billion monuments, saw Nicole's work place, ate at Luigi's (My mom's favorite hangout from when she was in her teens), got Hello Cupcake, rented movies and got lots of junk food. We walked sooo much I can't even begin to tell you how much.


Here are some pics from Saturday...



On the metro on Saturday, we did have a mini adventure. We were headed back to Nicole's apartment after a very long day and there was this loud BOOM. The metro came to a stop and the lights went out. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty terrified. We sat like that for a minute and then the doors opened and we had to get out...and walk. I am not sure how many stops early it was, I think like four or five.
This is about half-way through our walk.

Sunday morning we woke up, took the metro (by ourselves) back to Union Station, got on the train and rode home.

A successful trip...another task completed.

Number 23 is finished!

Number 16

Prank someone...

I was really excited about this one when I put it on the list.

Then time came when I decided to do it...anddddd my mind went blank. I had no really good ideas about what to do.

I finally decided on something that would be easy. You have no idea how busy I have been lately. It has been so hard to find time to do anything. Right now, I am writing this, uploading the videos from youtube, preparing for another thing on my list i'm doing this weekend, need to shower, have play practice, and just came from an eight hour day at work. I am not trying to complain but instead say that I didn't have time to plan out some huge elaborate prank. I was very pleased at how this one turned out though.

I went with the well known "rubber band on faucet sprayer" prank. I knew that I could get my family to fall for it.

Enjoyyyyy






Humorous...I know!

Number 16 is done!

Number 9

Learn every word to Bohemian Rhapsody...

Great...

I knew this would be pretty difficult because there are so many words and the lyrics are kind of a whole lot of crazy. I told my parentals that I wasn't going to make a video I was just going to write about it and take a picture of the lyrics or something...they did not approve.

Sooo since I have no pride left, I made a very middle-schooler-esque music video of me with a remote as a microphone and sweet sunglasses. Please do not judge me for anything you see...especially my dancing skills (or lack thereof).

There is one part in the middle I mess up at, but I didn't feel like rerecording the entire thing. I promise I know the words though.

Enjoy the video! I 100% understand if none of you ever want to talk to me again after seeing this.



Number 9 is finishedddddd