tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51556548374699481292024-03-19T08:38:07.379-04:00(25) Days of SummerMy list. My life. My summer.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-56967834774452645952010-08-11T11:06:00.008-04:002010-08-11T13:06:19.206-04:00Number 10...THE ENDWatch the sunrise...<br /><br />I can't believe this is it.<br /><br />A few days ago, or maybe it has been a week at this point I don't even remember, my best friend Marie and I decided one night (at about 10 PM) that we were going to go to the beach.<br /><br />That is what I love soo much about Marie. She is willing to be crazy spontaneous with me whenever I want! <br /><br />Anddd soo we went to her house and she got everything she needed and put on her swimsuit (at least for the beachy look) and then we headed to my house. <br /><br />I put on my bathing suit, got a sheet for us to sit on, and we both got our music collections.<br /><br />We decided to leave my house about 2 and head for the beach. First, of course we stopped at Sheetz and we both got energy drinks and snacks.<br /><br />Then we hit the road...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAktgrw_vokaCx2apZNXP6A1MuyNgEbkzFri1SCyovbNbGPUS-o9W-EBJPpzcKsI5lPmrBtvFN3HErT5UkSV3hZP3Of7v3t_v_Y3SARwrVoR7eSGuj94oLS8To8CDuhz9irpkfdtWxgUY/s1600/Finishing+up+001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvAktgrw_vokaCx2apZNXP6A1MuyNgEbkzFri1SCyovbNbGPUS-o9W-EBJPpzcKsI5lPmrBtvFN3HErT5UkSV3hZP3Of7v3t_v_Y3SARwrVoR7eSGuj94oLS8To8CDuhz9irpkfdtWxgUY/s320/Finishing+up+001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504172200630586978" /></a>The drive was a blast and we listened to all our music and rocked out hardcore. The trip was our attempt to feel "infinite"<br /><br />We pulled up to the beach and got out and it was so beautiful so late. You could see all the stars and hear the ocean. It was quite hypnotic.<br /><br />We first decided to go up and sit in the lifeguard stand...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0G5G3WjvrGJZvrcF-_LfDvb7z2yMGX4izNx621UKf-ysoM8v0z4kXz6ha23784JXJf8h2JnFvCvxTd381DzqDDRd_5L4Sig2buFzXw3FPG2HwxjG-1K1LiEuzAgtXj1Lib0mRhyx77lx/s1600/Finishing+up+002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF0G5G3WjvrGJZvrcF-_LfDvb7z2yMGX4izNx621UKf-ysoM8v0z4kXz6ha23784JXJf8h2JnFvCvxTd381DzqDDRd_5L4Sig2buFzXw3FPG2HwxjG-1K1LiEuzAgtXj1Lib0mRhyx77lx/s320/Finishing+up+002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504172211653464322" /></a>...but that got kind of boring so we decided to move down onto the sheet<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxe9MtEqab8zlxpr9un2TIqphRHEweAvrf5zxZHsesgMsNe4yzU61M2QY8EL9jQWyDR5aORB4FV-F2pe6u6hHnVZRspPePljPuUDqcoZN9yPpt6neAGgGGqBsloYhmq5eFER6R7Sk6bhI/s1600/Finishing+up+006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxe9MtEqab8zlxpr9un2TIqphRHEweAvrf5zxZHsesgMsNe4yzU61M2QY8EL9jQWyDR5aORB4FV-F2pe6u6hHnVZRspPePljPuUDqcoZN9yPpt6neAGgGGqBsloYhmq5eFER6R7Sk6bhI/s320/Finishing+up+006.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504172217974381106" /></a>We sat for awhile and just talked about everything in our lives. It is crazy that we are about to be sophomores in college and we are still best friends. Marie has been there for me since we were eight. We bonded and talked, and talked and bonded.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4M31q89MY_XP1AByd50BsyknHhUKLEWSnrg0JmMSj_ZHzD8oSmGbx_ksfdyasYo2dNQOSX7pi4dO0TTIDyybpne1oqFMkpJ5OnPXxJvKM7a5e7UqM2gxUa0hsgbE6yzlIyijkh6MeUAdp/s1600/Finishing+up+009.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4M31q89MY_XP1AByd50BsyknHhUKLEWSnrg0JmMSj_ZHzD8oSmGbx_ksfdyasYo2dNQOSX7pi4dO0TTIDyybpne1oqFMkpJ5OnPXxJvKM7a5e7UqM2gxUa0hsgbE6yzlIyijkh6MeUAdp/s320/Finishing+up+009.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504172223800284690" /></a>Then we decided to get into our bathing suits and go for a walk. I really wanted to go swimming but Marie was positive that I would get attacked by sharks so I didn't go in past my knees. It was so beautiful out there. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtzAVS-kykKgJIzT4KcDav0TkGat9UcAH3zKoAkIFZOkLpAri6EJ9FU8l68j1OVFbeJsTZVjEGa0ymWU0VjHTDbmpAD54JTOFbCQ9CNxGwSpYAoFCtwInIBAOyi0TZNNrT8dGwJ4vKgMi/s1600/Finishing+up+010.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtzAVS-kykKgJIzT4KcDav0TkGat9UcAH3zKoAkIFZOkLpAri6EJ9FU8l68j1OVFbeJsTZVjEGa0ymWU0VjHTDbmpAD54JTOFbCQ9CNxGwSpYAoFCtwInIBAOyi0TZNNrT8dGwJ4vKgMi/s320/Finishing+up+010.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504172238075374354" /></a>Ok, ok I know i'm going a little picture overkill but it's my last post and I'm kind of emotional about it.<br /><br />Finally, the beach slowly started to get lighter.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKecPyWc0QMe_w444AqmaEqz2dpAerTFA1BwpL1yjUE1t-AUHeTgWj0Er4aAf_cw_4mjiaiG-pxmqpQr7Z16u7Wo_OHWB_uvkOGmgYTEItCLI3hmRasV74QUTHqXE1eR68hwU_-MhRU2f-/s1600/Finishing+up+013.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKecPyWc0QMe_w444AqmaEqz2dpAerTFA1BwpL1yjUE1t-AUHeTgWj0Er4aAf_cw_4mjiaiG-pxmqpQr7Z16u7Wo_OHWB_uvkOGmgYTEItCLI3hmRasV74QUTHqXE1eR68hwU_-MhRU2f-/s320/Finishing+up+013.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504178848794587794" /></a>It was only about 5:15 AM so Marie and I couldn't tell if we were going crazy or if the sun was already coming up. This went on for almost an hour. It just kept getting lighter and lighter with no signs of the sun.<br /><br />I decided to pass my time by feeding the seagulls some Cool Ranch Munchies.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPs6jcbWu_8uqZg6AO8DtwBF9cMfx-GSYxSFi-AqwNg2lRDZqiLMAQClUATD84KBDlueAiZuFCAsKBj1aR98j8wu5GaSB5buQBpqfnx_Cf330XpTsNAFK9lVQKOVkB5wfYG6t7EQNtIoPz/s1600/Finishing+up+017.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPs6jcbWu_8uqZg6AO8DtwBF9cMfx-GSYxSFi-AqwNg2lRDZqiLMAQClUATD84KBDlueAiZuFCAsKBj1aR98j8wu5GaSB5buQBpqfnx_Cf330XpTsNAFK9lVQKOVkB5wfYG6t7EQNtIoPz/s320/Finishing+up+017.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504178859164670722" /></a>Marie was not very happy at all. She ran half way down the beach screaming and threatened to go sit in the car. Apparently, she has a bird phobia...who knew?<br /><br />Finally, we turned and could see the place where the sun was starting to come up.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MycnJPN3GJk_CjU92fhlpdhOpzXZvTquXKkmxFFfklMfnkVvBjNlIGk70_gaJTFcX1p0tJQE2eiDyT21EeRqdrUqVyvzG1zODnk3cDvSoGnZoSaAoMUy5_xGYC1s2yGoXulizUkDUrWM/s1600/Finishing+up+027.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3MycnJPN3GJk_CjU92fhlpdhOpzXZvTquXKkmxFFfklMfnkVvBjNlIGk70_gaJTFcX1p0tJQE2eiDyT21EeRqdrUqVyvzG1zODnk3cDvSoGnZoSaAoMUy5_xGYC1s2yGoXulizUkDUrWM/s320/Finishing+up+027.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504178865723261122" /></a><br /> It was just over these little houses (I was kind of upset because I was hoping it'd rise over the water but such is life). We watched it and took pictures.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCJRBISNnHWhZzAmMBT19Z9qILnhi4SuLnq_bHF02aAt7-9Hxz-L0zLBuL0nfyHex6AbuMi4ia0x4GMXO-uHkAUKMVnrhY1hLfnF9a4tNxThySGE5WzhCnPv-4SWCwlCENarnurKM07_j/s1600/Finishing+up+039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCJRBISNnHWhZzAmMBT19Z9qILnhi4SuLnq_bHF02aAt7-9Hxz-L0zLBuL0nfyHex6AbuMi4ia0x4GMXO-uHkAUKMVnrhY1hLfnF9a4tNxThySGE5WzhCnPv-4SWCwlCENarnurKM07_j/s320/Finishing+up+039.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504178875257992514" /></a> <br />It was honestly one of the most magnificent things i've ever seen. It is soo crazy how it happens, and so fast too. One second there was no sun and then less than five minutes later it was up.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGN6zjTrKMSTLXDGuLdeF6CA8qU33UwjvFcGZEit0LwPKgef5cZw14x6mEpkT5BWcwCL4gDLMtALjflcBLyM7g972tyEDiBXdsoYyvMHuOSSnincr_dL8SMV43ynCkfTxrsul_BZg7G2K/s1600/Finishing+up+043.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGN6zjTrKMSTLXDGuLdeF6CA8qU33UwjvFcGZEit0LwPKgef5cZw14x6mEpkT5BWcwCL4gDLMtALjflcBLyM7g972tyEDiBXdsoYyvMHuOSSnincr_dL8SMV43ynCkfTxrsul_BZg7G2K/s320/Finishing+up+043.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504178882358063138" /></a>We finally left and headed home. We were both extremely tired and ready to get into bed. <br /><br />We made a safe drive home, said goodbye to each other, and then slept the day away.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOkOEJUBEisuKDuQ3tWZpnlNmueJEnsPPFCG9SoMF5l3rPhhaAxgZCuTDGPYg08yE-EkwsYNU31xCrX5wJNB8ADQbG0eWD6zOQJcIEWHNedL38830fYWZ2tf1Vfecxh6dM_agx9XcjaGL/s1600/Finishing+up+044.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeOkOEJUBEisuKDuQ3tWZpnlNmueJEnsPPFCG9SoMF5l3rPhhaAxgZCuTDGPYg08yE-EkwsYNU31xCrX5wJNB8ADQbG0eWD6zOQJcIEWHNedL38830fYWZ2tf1Vfecxh6dM_agx9XcjaGL/s320/Finishing+up+044.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504181133618356994" /></a>...and number 10 was completed. <br /><br />And just like that, I'm done. I'm finished. It is so hard for me to even comprehend. It seems like just yesterday when the idea popped into my head.<br /><br />It has been such an incredible summer. I appreciate everyone who has read this so so much. I have had a blast and am so thankful I did this. Thank you to everyone who helped me in any of the tasks. <br /><br />I made this video sort of as a scrapbook of my summer. It is basically the entire blog put into about 3 minutes. It is my way of remembering everything.<object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/m9JsXCgAwIo/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m9JsXCgAwIo&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m9JsXCgAwIo&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /> I finished it.<br /><br /> MY LIST<br /><br /> MY LIFE<br /><br /> MY SUMMER<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzhqwxLoLLIxWqLTeMzCQVCTA2gC348t9p5dGxdtSu6nkANXkZB12OOpwyiETbdItPo4kOMdtWcukELATVdK_1RiaLq-21qFgjfDaU-cCw_Hb6gFpPFS9_ixxZiMRDY_WXeXrIHwGu-ZR/s1600/Finishing+up+029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKzhqwxLoLLIxWqLTeMzCQVCTA2gC348t9p5dGxdtSu6nkANXkZB12OOpwyiETbdItPo4kOMdtWcukELATVdK_1RiaLq-21qFgjfDaU-cCw_Hb6gFpPFS9_ixxZiMRDY_WXeXrIHwGu-ZR/s320/Finishing+up+029.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504181144210863218" /></a>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-18520092330723234912010-08-07T12:43:00.004-04:002010-08-07T12:51:36.910-04:00Number 14Start training to run in a half-marathon...<br /><br />Can we begin by noticing the word "start"<br /><br />This task is more something that is going to be completed as I go into the fall. I'm not really sure what to write about it honestly. <br /><br />My dad ran in the Outer Banks marathon a few years ago and that is when our family really was introduced into the whole marathon thing.<br /><br />Since, he has also ran in a half marathon in Myrtle Beach (holla pops, i'm giving you a shout out).<br /><br />I hate running. So, when I was thinking about what to add to the list I decided i'd put something that would be out of my ordinary.<br /><br />Why did I pick this? I'm not sure.<br /><br />I started running and let me just tell you that I couldn't even run a half mile. No lie I was about to fall over dead.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBogptEX6IPOU1N2PP3Xe8BANzFiGiVMNr7a_0hEsQLI2ypq0YUKm60wvy8iZjrDtu8W2ztnE88d9xxNqOf4sfoP0kcKPP0pfzsiur69dED0v3ch8PMtOo2Tw2Za5hpbWvozpAU0ryFY1/s1600/Finishing+up+046.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLBogptEX6IPOU1N2PP3Xe8BANzFiGiVMNr7a_0hEsQLI2ypq0YUKm60wvy8iZjrDtu8W2ztnE88d9xxNqOf4sfoP0kcKPP0pfzsiur69dED0v3ch8PMtOo2Tw2Za5hpbWvozpAU0ryFY1/s320/Finishing+up+046.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502711002758425570" /></a><br />Now, I'm running about three miles and hoping to continue to improve.<br /><br />The only reason i'm not overly stressing about this is because the Outer Banks half-marathon (if I choose to do it) is in November so I still have months to prepare.<br /><br />I have actually learned to enjoy the running aspect (as long as i have my ipod) and it's been a nice way to have some alone time.<br /><br />I have been doing lots of research about different training techniques and all this stuff I don't really understand. I'm trying to figure it all out but for now I guess the best thing is to just keep running and hope that one day i'll reach my goal.<br /><br />Number 14 is done...(at least the "start" part)<br /><br />ALSO, Harvey opened this weekend so everyone should come out!<br /><br />Go to the Magnolia Arts Center website for more information. It is a really great and fun play. Hope to see you there!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-26380798711696164542010-08-04T20:49:00.003-04:002010-08-04T21:03:05.249-04:00Number 5Buy lemonade from a neighborhood stand...<br /><br />Ughh this one was sooo hard. Every time I would drive through any neighborhood I would look but could never find one. <br /><br />About a month ago, I got a call from my parents saying they had found one and so I got dressed and rushed to the place they said it was...and nothing.<br /><br />Then earlier this week, I got a text from my brother's girlfriend Whitney saying she had seen one. I get in the car head to where it was...and it was gone...again.<br /><br />I was starting to get really frustrated until my savior texted me.<br /><br />Allison is amazing and told me that her daughter was setting up a lemonade stand the next day and I should stop by, and I did!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQidLRXJTkqBrKacZe6It6VAUpYiyNvAd7XlIs4p9VRv5pm8WdEPShlK2TBWnVRYwL9rhmaioWvd_skhHlKIabES8pbwDajKb55FOPPZKsC33oa0ll4j6isDHF0nTWEzwRHL3cUJ6pC7h8/s1600/Finishing+up+048.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQidLRXJTkqBrKacZe6It6VAUpYiyNvAd7XlIs4p9VRv5pm8WdEPShlK2TBWnVRYwL9rhmaioWvd_skhHlKIabES8pbwDajKb55FOPPZKsC33oa0ll4j6isDHF0nTWEzwRHL3cUJ6pC7h8/s320/Finishing+up+048.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501723209674957426" /></a><br />T.D. and Allison were my youth pastors in high school. They have two daughters and one is the perfect age for lemonade stand-ing?<br /><br />I stopped by, got my 25 cent cup of awesome, and loved my life to finally cross it off.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTCfk9PfQgWenAos9ia553We8BGFzKHtv8hHoKSgnOCYIERSSssueXLB3_G9kWYKSZhyn9gh1fMoogYN4qxexmdwRzu5qradxq5VljnJ6gWzNW3BPFaDyHIFu1HGTusEMoatqpCXR5DEm/s1600/Finishing+up+049.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFTCfk9PfQgWenAos9ia553We8BGFzKHtv8hHoKSgnOCYIERSSssueXLB3_G9kWYKSZhyn9gh1fMoogYN4qxexmdwRzu5qradxq5VljnJ6gWzNW3BPFaDyHIFu1HGTusEMoatqpCXR5DEm/s320/Finishing+up+049.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501723220975193938" /></a><br /><br />Thank you so much T.D., Allison, and most importantly Isabella!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-62532351784679541462010-08-01T09:25:00.008-04:002010-08-01T10:28:02.669-04:00Number 3 and Number 4Have my 15 minutes of fame...<br /><br />Jump into water fully clothed...<br /><br />I have been so excited about these. When I first added have my 15 minutes of fame, I was worried about whether it would be possible or not. I knew I didn't want to use my plays because they were used for another specific task. <br /><br />Soooo I started contacting people right away telling them what I was doing. I actually got one e-mail from a woman saying she was interested from The Daily Reflector and then about two hours later I got an e-mail from a different woman saying she was interested from The Daily Reflector. I e-mailed them both back and then they talked to each other and we worked something out.<br /><br />Kristen Day is my hero. She is the one who wrote the article, interviewed me, and put up with all my stuff for probably about 6 weeks.<br /><br />We have been e-mailing back and forth almost all summer ironing out little details and trying to come up with ways to get the article together.<br /><br />We decided that it would be cool to have me do "jump into water fully clothed" for a picture for the newspaper. After a few issues on where to do it, Kristen e-mailed me and told me that she had talked to the people at North Campus Crossing and they would love for us to do it there.<br /><br />Wednesday, July 21st, we set the day and time to meet for our interview and to do the big jump. I brought Pat (my little sister) along to video me because I knew I'd want documentation myself.<br /><br />I met Kristen outside and we sat at a table and began our interview.<br /><br />1. Kristen is possibly the nicest person I know in the world<br />2. I was so nervous and felt like I talked in circles<br />3. The interview lasted close to 45 minutes <br /><br />After that Pat and I ran to the gas station for a drink (we had about 30 minutes until the photographer was showing up) and Kristen went to run an errand.<br /><br />We all met back up for the big jump!<br /><br />I was pretty nervous because I was going to run and jump into the North Campus Crossing pool with all of my clothes on in front of probably about 30 peers. <br /><br />I told Kristen that I was silently hoping they were all drunk enough not to be aware of what was going on.<br /><br />For the jump, I wore a white collared shirt and a teal undershirt (I wanted something summer-y looking for the paper) and shorts and rainbows.<br /><br />After some planning out about where I should jump, we settled for through the waterfall underneath the pirate ship.<br /><br />The rest can be seen on the video...<br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/JLLvf4IVlY8/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JLLvf4IVlY8&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JLLvf4IVlY8&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />After the initial jump, the photographer wanted to take a few pictures just in case so we staged me kind of falling into the water backwards...<br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/IsYHYrFQGMo/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IsYHYrFQGMo&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IsYHYrFQGMo&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />After, I got out, attempted to dry off, said goodbye, and headed home.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMuPVMYMs9G5BQJEJryxAurYKaC87gz2LW8Uep234sxK2HEf1vpB5RtXfPdO8wagxAhAjExYMOZKaD5SIpmo-j6rAaLOTfnmpzvbG1j-dZ7-xDuD0F2GcGjDvDzhM4MJG4bpYFXNhDqPmN/s1600/3+and+4+021.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMuPVMYMs9G5BQJEJryxAurYKaC87gz2LW8Uep234sxK2HEf1vpB5RtXfPdO8wagxAhAjExYMOZKaD5SIpmo-j6rAaLOTfnmpzvbG1j-dZ7-xDuD0F2GcGjDvDzhM4MJG4bpYFXNhDqPmN/s320/3+and+4+021.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500441011645123122" /></a><br /><br />Then came the fun part...waiting for the article. <br /><br />I had a good 10 days to wait until it would be published.<br /><br />I did, however, have a few things to help.<br /><br />In the interview, Kristen had asked if she could talk to one of my friends, so I set up a phone interview with her and Marie for that Monday (July 26)<br /><br />That helped quench my nervous/excitement a little<br /><br />AND then<br /><br />On Friday, the 30th I woke up to a picture message from her showing me what the front page would look like.<br /><br />I was bouncing around all day showing just about everyone I could the picture.<br /><br />Alas, today came (Sunday, August 1) and my article came out.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Xben6j0w8QaG-jLY1y7ewdklaXFSnh_mhyphenhyphentYrQgwqx9HvFOdIi0vJCi1OtRwrDfW-gAbx-YbExjUzroxZnoqSeSE-Vrbu9c81uL0kLCDcQTNJMVPp7qQ0Z_BNrnKEcaOz5cvFRk5vjf2/s1600/15+minutes+of+fam+002.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Xben6j0w8QaG-jLY1y7ewdklaXFSnh_mhyphenhyphentYrQgwqx9HvFOdIi0vJCi1OtRwrDfW-gAbx-YbExjUzroxZnoqSeSE-Vrbu9c81uL0kLCDcQTNJMVPp7qQ0Z_BNrnKEcaOz5cvFRk5vjf2/s320/15+minutes+of+fam+002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500441990095265106" /></a><br />I woke up at 6 and ran to the mailbox only to see that it hadn't come yet so I went back to sleep for a few hours and finally saw it!<br /><br />Here is a link to the article for anyone that wants to read it...for some reason it won't let me make it a hyperlink so just copy and paste it.<br /><br />www.reflector.com/features/done-and-done-43261<br /><br />I am so so happy and so thankful to Kristen and everyone at The Daily Reflector!<br /><br />Also, if maybe you stumbled across my blog from the article or something, leave a comment. I would really appreciate hearing from you!<br /><br />All you guys that have been faithful readers, I love hearing from you too!<br /><br />Number 3 and 4 are done!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-60493288478073592242010-07-28T17:54:00.003-04:002010-07-28T18:06:40.820-04:00Number 8Fly a kite<br /><br />Ahhh alas a task to take me back to my youth<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkI5m_apjtd1mbwfZir_PHjh-O9mdNsaDKrMOFpS5ab_k3xtbWsWZPD2x6JWY6AfBskGGQzccT5nEOfdI0umxsikuTIiAdX-ae-oRBjwVqiIdZAvg551UrBrBkvad_qjXfSUISo0Bqac7/s1600/Fly+a+kit+002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkI5m_apjtd1mbwfZir_PHjh-O9mdNsaDKrMOFpS5ab_k3xtbWsWZPD2x6JWY6AfBskGGQzccT5nEOfdI0umxsikuTIiAdX-ae-oRBjwVqiIdZAvg551UrBrBkvad_qjXfSUISo0Bqac7/s320/Fly+a+kit+002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499081418069428546" /></a><br />We decided to drive to New Bern to fly the kite because we knew there would be some wind coming off the water.<br /><br />It was beautiful weather (apart from the six million degree heat)<br /><br />I got out and took off running and before I knew it BAMMM there was all sorts of crazy kite flying going<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuI4cI3SbVf6MT8xt-ek0GZB6x62HA__o-dcgDzgs9RcKuWzywBGzVcehDtE32vgCMDEIvv1RxWvXsaDS0ZT8ln7597FCTpN01OvEyWjpaMqv81iTHWyIKnn2gSJhEQizuHNguw7XzY6p/s1600/Fly+a+kit+006.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuI4cI3SbVf6MT8xt-ek0GZB6x62HA__o-dcgDzgs9RcKuWzywBGzVcehDtE32vgCMDEIvv1RxWvXsaDS0ZT8ln7597FCTpN01OvEyWjpaMqv81iTHWyIKnn2gSJhEQizuHNguw7XzY6p/s320/Fly+a+kit+006.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499081426910066514" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj946ewXjXiG9E1Sq_vdwcDOQgXIal6W8DsReXilc5cHm7lJf2ci5dvNtz3iafIwiKnKY6jf3fFv06u_Bd1O9Nev-UfFFiz27CEUzWElA3Qc4IJi7p9rRJpZ_wEYcb-Ri_zFR5zbrZOp8Z1/s1600/Fly+a+kit+007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj946ewXjXiG9E1Sq_vdwcDOQgXIal6W8DsReXilc5cHm7lJf2ci5dvNtz3iafIwiKnKY6jf3fFv06u_Bd1O9Nev-UfFFiz27CEUzWElA3Qc4IJi7p9rRJpZ_wEYcb-Ri_zFR5zbrZOp8Z1/s320/Fly+a+kit+007.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499081438662445586" /></a><br /><br />After a few minutes, we packed up and headed to lunch.<br /><br />It wasn't the most life-changing task, but it was fun!<br /><br />I'm wrapping up the list and just have a few small requests...<br /><br />IF YOU SEE A LEMONADE STAND PLEASE TEXT ME<br /><br />Also, stay tuned because some exciting ones are coming up!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-44788978269832615482010-07-21T18:33:00.004-04:002010-07-21T18:56:26.795-04:00Number 11Go on a camping trip...<br /><br />I'm not outdoors-y. Let me begin with that.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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).<br /><br />It was pouring and wind was crazy and blah blah...I ran into Anne Michelle's house to get the tent and was soaked.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I arrived at the campsite, checked in, and then decided I would try to set up my tent before the storm hit.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdHsImarrpMi8KSF9IO9XEUPOMxt0fxPJnJHp9he4mzop53DP6ihbXv6-iiwEPFzFum2Xa1Ts-nH56zhahv55UttEhZ41AlD-PrX7MWp_ElRTwetUbcBPS6Ioh5IQYp3sFTaqoOIRI2ZF/s1600/3+and+4+004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdHsImarrpMi8KSF9IO9XEUPOMxt0fxPJnJHp9he4mzop53DP6ihbXv6-iiwEPFzFum2Xa1Ts-nH56zhahv55UttEhZ41AlD-PrX7MWp_ElRTwetUbcBPS6Ioh5IQYp3sFTaqoOIRI2ZF/s320/3+and+4+004.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496493935773907314" /></a><br />I did...I'm amazing, I know!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RaH9G-hrHSFYR0yyi0pRIemaPrk5jENsatj9ck2-prr4R6UKXrYRRz6YRLxo_ZPZAlDvekoNTIxNQaoV6epHn9_9H838gsN-uAo43UcPy-IrkCqdt0BF0PX0bMkmqYu28ZAF7IULdSgW/s1600/3+and+4+005.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RaH9G-hrHSFYR0yyi0pRIemaPrk5jENsatj9ck2-prr4R6UKXrYRRz6YRLxo_ZPZAlDvekoNTIxNQaoV6epHn9_9H838gsN-uAo43UcPy-IrkCqdt0BF0PX0bMkmqYu28ZAF7IULdSgW/s320/3+and+4+005.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496493943074856082" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />I sat and waited out of the rain for about 45 minutes.<br /> <br />Once it stopped raining, I got out and finished unpacking the car.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />After a nice shower (thank God for clean bathrooms) I decided to start on dinner. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpRj3he5KOvKyZUgBPddXWREcnkZxsSERnSEny1kkmwBCRpAR9GDczGpC5uwLn1tLlSyA1Qyi7yAnRUtOpd7u3htKE-fl_I4c1WybN4IhChi3Xza06YKBMR0cr9OmhBZUgwDVZwjFtXuhI/s1600/3+and+4+014.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpRj3he5KOvKyZUgBPddXWREcnkZxsSERnSEny1kkmwBCRpAR9GDczGpC5uwLn1tLlSyA1Qyi7yAnRUtOpd7u3htKE-fl_I4c1WybN4IhChi3Xza06YKBMR0cr9OmhBZUgwDVZwjFtXuhI/s320/3+and+4+014.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496493967107480802" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />After dinner, I cleaned up and decided to get in the car and head into the city of New Bern.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfol9njLHkkT1zhZX0Xy1sTjFyP3PF6OnoA4QWLDudvd8mEk4k26mHIW_cTJO45khaHERCreO5Z2mTuxScvwMMEXTLgFVYFc6HvlUfWj4hix5duM1RxJwzRaSvtuXDv2P35pXFAgwGD4jv/s1600/3+and+4+008.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfol9njLHkkT1zhZX0Xy1sTjFyP3PF6OnoA4QWLDudvd8mEk4k26mHIW_cTJO45khaHERCreO5Z2mTuxScvwMMEXTLgFVYFc6HvlUfWj4hix5duM1RxJwzRaSvtuXDv2P35pXFAgwGD4jv/s320/3+and+4+008.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496493953536164482" /></a><br /><br />The next morning, I woke up and packed everything up and left early.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGCF2RbzenJ4ucFhs97YG5O3wLta7ngBFErCNYfxYTvmEeLdHqF2u2HVmCzeAjSIR0K4gbH5CGbR9wA7Hq0U0E7dcPGtk3CWGDXa_mrdMc3X9JzvdSCvLJ58F6dFsp0gRjqXLAtbNoKhn/s1600/3+and+4+002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheGCF2RbzenJ4ucFhs97YG5O3wLta7ngBFErCNYfxYTvmEeLdHqF2u2HVmCzeAjSIR0K4gbH5CGbR9wA7Hq0U0E7dcPGtk3CWGDXa_mrdMc3X9JzvdSCvLJ58F6dFsp0gRjqXLAtbNoKhn/s320/3+and+4+002.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496493974103358930" /></a><br /><br />I slept better than I thought I would have but those dang birds started chirping soo loud so that woke me up too early. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />Camping was great and I actually had a much better time than I would have thought.<br /><br />I call it my Man Vs. Wild Vs. Nature experience.<br /><br />Number 11 is doneeeeeJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-10192565805207444882010-07-17T11:13:00.002-04:002010-07-17T11:52:03.814-04:00Number 20Change a bad habit...<br /><br />This one was hard because I don't have any bad habits...i'm kidding.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Stop gossiping...<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Sooo it began, and it was hard, especially with my best friends.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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! <br /><br />Sooo exciting.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Number 20 is done(ish)...and by -ish I mean i'm going to continue working on it everyday!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-55043587204466262112010-07-12T16:45:00.007-04:002010-07-12T21:46:16.758-04:00Number 23Ride on a train...<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />We got there almost two hours early because we wanted to make sure we could find everything in time...<br /><br />It took us ten minutes...and we sat.<br /><br />For a long time.<br /><br />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. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgIPdEYXK7qg6ZqzLkrE8X7F2r7sANbhcyVlFmZck2_W-5B2FCns7opVfwGV0b4L5WDJwLDNp8QREb5vjMjIn42tHxEM5FPnaeu2giEqCYK6QdJz5OJ9u42p9LbPYNf5NuAdBC6fsMk4A/s1600/Ride+a+train+017.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgIPdEYXK7qg6ZqzLkrE8X7F2r7sANbhcyVlFmZck2_W-5B2FCns7opVfwGV0b4L5WDJwLDNp8QREb5vjMjIn42tHxEM5FPnaeu2giEqCYK6QdJz5OJ9u42p9LbPYNf5NuAdBC6fsMk4A/s320/Ride+a+train+017.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493127434822878898" /></a><br />Climbing on was actually a pleasant surprise.<br />The interior was similar to that of a plane (two rows of two with an aisle in the middle) except even more roomy. <br /><br />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.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03CxfX0pc38NILqX-9mE5X97x4dUNtueXRyhmV0rrCnTZOwMa6GPbVJQQr9Yyy_bGtycpZ-d5brC7Bvqxi51eAfWXBXVaQEhfG6jC1mNeZf8ZMjMUPSTJVAh9xBgyNO-jkj6ADucDWGLb/s1600/Ride+a+train+020.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03CxfX0pc38NILqX-9mE5X97x4dUNtueXRyhmV0rrCnTZOwMa6GPbVJQQr9Yyy_bGtycpZ-d5brC7Bvqxi51eAfWXBXVaQEhfG6jC1mNeZf8ZMjMUPSTJVAh9xBgyNO-jkj6ADucDWGLb/s320/Ride+a+train+020.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493127445839876338" /></a><br />The novelty of the train ride wore off rather quickly, and we were stuck with about five hours with not much to do. <br /><br />I occupied myself by...<br />1. Annoying Marie<br />2. Drawing a DC picture/poster/awesome<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoK4Esnw0-HuOyxyUeuT6LQc8Ub_4SNsrpJvyAMIOeJprAVpgi6IRm8y8I8VGgu3fFBGzcXH_r-0gVu1aNEFDTRv0Fij_D_VzKldDfwf_EM94Vb5UEu2-KVwaGkGuIkOwX6XbnUfE_RFQk/s1600/Ride+a+train+021.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoK4Esnw0-HuOyxyUeuT6LQc8Ub_4SNsrpJvyAMIOeJprAVpgi6IRm8y8I8VGgu3fFBGzcXH_r-0gVu1aNEFDTRv0Fij_D_VzKldDfwf_EM94Vb5UEu2-KVwaGkGuIkOwX6XbnUfE_RFQk/s320/Ride+a+train+021.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493199368141511410" /></a><br />3. Learning lines for Harvey (do I ever do anything else?)<br />4. Going to the cafe car (they had sweet booths and stuff)<br />5. Playing with my Blackberry/Marie's iTouch<br />6. Annoying Marie<br />7. Making obnoxious "choo-choo" noises<br /><br />After a long wait, and many many stops we finally pulled into UNION STATIONNNNNNNN<br /><br />I practically ran off the train (ok, i'm not going to lie the entire weekend I basically ran everywhere).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QHBNPUy797HiWGPFnpUAOoHEmO5zqx0h49XmkXhj84DOnOysxs7jicWopjqzCXkt12RA6qjaUypqMDxmtuGA01oLZH5I440VpTFXu3wYa8FuEQ7zRuFmLBxwLSkwgTWpwDfvLma8X7RD/s1600/Ride+a+train+034.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6QHBNPUy797HiWGPFnpUAOoHEmO5zqx0h49XmkXhj84DOnOysxs7jicWopjqzCXkt12RA6qjaUypqMDxmtuGA01oLZH5I440VpTFXu3wYa8FuEQ7zRuFmLBxwLSkwgTWpwDfvLma8X7RD/s320/Ride+a+train+034.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493127448152411218" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />Marie got a hold of Nicole on the phone and she told us to meet her down at the metro station within Union Station.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.)<br /><br /><br />Finally, the big moment came where we got onto the metro. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwD0tmDffeL_lOn0mMXzP_ndLy76oN3r7tdBHlgkmQYaIlQ73qXa9eNnyIeQbbdH0XhUe7Ey4XlJ1qFAaMNJy-ODEFITdHDyDP8r1M72-A4unoR5ShapbgfVy8bCJOY5JDlPDnwQ4aMgEi/s1600/Ride+a+train+039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwD0tmDffeL_lOn0mMXzP_ndLy76oN3r7tdBHlgkmQYaIlQ73qXa9eNnyIeQbbdH0XhUe7Ey4XlJ1qFAaMNJy-ODEFITdHDyDP8r1M72-A4unoR5ShapbgfVy8bCJOY5JDlPDnwQ4aMgEi/s320/Ride+a+train+039.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493133418056735474" /></a><br />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."<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOBw3cuPH7bUwxNTPXXjW5c6Bsislps8uTj4DpSt_-DCbkkUpR_f__pl5BKqRSwdrKBWudPPHWLs7qzogUtw1kePnThvy6eHywfjiAeRPNbMla7oLtFlEoAlSY1oGpRBp3UdFWemsQqlp/s1600/Ride+a+train+040.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOBw3cuPH7bUwxNTPXXjW5c6Bsislps8uTj4DpSt_-DCbkkUpR_f__pl5BKqRSwdrKBWudPPHWLs7qzogUtw1kePnThvy6eHywfjiAeRPNbMla7oLtFlEoAlSY1oGpRBp3UdFWemsQqlp/s320/Ride+a+train+040.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493127456640407570" /></a><br />My metro ride changed my life. I wanted to ride it everywhere!<br /><br />We took it to Friendship Heights and got off and walked to Nicole's apartment.<br /><br />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.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ0-fNjttmphJUavOuq6kqGAnUGt7s0aXVuDATZTNoUlm9zQTLXXg8dJqcsM7YAE6V9kI1yYaT34KSmE_0_3qrZH3jT0MOZPu47v1JUFqzfMz27jTTeBIcGwV4OUzJQPxmYc8mNNCICo5C/s1600/Ride+a+train+041.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ0-fNjttmphJUavOuq6kqGAnUGt7s0aXVuDATZTNoUlm9zQTLXXg8dJqcsM7YAE6V9kI1yYaT34KSmE_0_3qrZH3jT0MOZPu47v1JUFqzfMz27jTTeBIcGwV4OUzJQPxmYc8mNNCICo5C/s320/Ride+a+train+041.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493198889418483490" /></a><br />Saturday was the big day. We woke up...it was raining...we didn't care.<br /><br />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. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqckaBfl36mtLAQNRmlfV3QFfr64JlW1bvAMpu9dzUGecErpyjR4J_8ZwXGc2ZPQvrnfzCIZnrkk51mGj1LiWoKoym0RHEn9gQalWAcDn-yhnMjEQ4Sc9vok3afLevwPvnxS-fOovvLlt0/s1600/Ride+a+train+066.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqckaBfl36mtLAQNRmlfV3QFfr64JlW1bvAMpu9dzUGecErpyjR4J_8ZwXGc2ZPQvrnfzCIZnrkk51mGj1LiWoKoym0RHEn9gQalWAcDn-yhnMjEQ4Sc9vok3afLevwPvnxS-fOovvLlt0/s320/Ride+a+train+066.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493198898976313138" /></a><br /><br />Here are some pics from Saturday...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqw7GRldr4AnjgYTSYjIWGdQqgS3nmD6rRlR_N74tFYP_LgbT2y6x2cdo_MrloShks2AqWpSbGuBqfYaPMahhNYh5YnAhbut_hNlCg-JYQt9XoGyzJM4UaSgNVej6znoIr7HAJZVg4iEe/s1600/Ride+a+train+055.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqw7GRldr4AnjgYTSYjIWGdQqgS3nmD6rRlR_N74tFYP_LgbT2y6x2cdo_MrloShks2AqWpSbGuBqfYaPMahhNYh5YnAhbut_hNlCg-JYQt9XoGyzJM4UaSgNVej6znoIr7HAJZVg4iEe/s320/Ride+a+train+055.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493127469436095474" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1zOb_zj_I3l5t8leAhzTWCLicaJWJAlLdLsR3V5n2N8nMh7JeeUjsy-Y8BTY9LyTYqmxXLku1PO6PZJGqM672AKgNrD6r-8YisAygEqz_P4uLFv6MNOPuajor5rOAe-XFtwRqWMcB2r3/s1600/Ride+a+train+061.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt1zOb_zj_I3l5t8leAhzTWCLicaJWJAlLdLsR3V5n2N8nMh7JeeUjsy-Y8BTY9LyTYqmxXLku1PO6PZJGqM672AKgNrD6r-8YisAygEqz_P4uLFv6MNOPuajor5rOAe-XFtwRqWMcB2r3/s320/Ride+a+train+061.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493133454692347746" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG2R3Lu8hjxXKuipwe9YiVTZg2v9pDtAhhvqSkgkv6jkX707qAFuu8HVvY773WwnvfhULNj7DURODn6xBB65tRidNJZ3vrj6-NQcUpWNtLdID4jIZcqsigAnYHUqdNY7zA-qQIsM3g2LOl/s1600/Ride+a+train+058.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG2R3Lu8hjxXKuipwe9YiVTZg2v9pDtAhhvqSkgkv6jkX707qAFuu8HVvY773WwnvfhULNj7DURODn6xBB65tRidNJZ3vrj6-NQcUpWNtLdID4jIZcqsigAnYHUqdNY7zA-qQIsM3g2LOl/s320/Ride+a+train+058.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493133437665029954" /></a><br />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. <br />This is about half-way through our walk.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ3Yn7RkgBXd3iNSSryrvymGODrY8qehbA8g7sAraMes0BrNgJkWZGxacBECQvmsuvPIm1q8yRqh4IKX4jbtco1toyKwrSxeUuaewhcxtgPNdPHo2aIuswM8Yi_s9CUJBK4BGX5f_uqqo/s1600/Ride+a+train+065.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQ3Yn7RkgBXd3iNSSryrvymGODrY8qehbA8g7sAraMes0BrNgJkWZGxacBECQvmsuvPIm1q8yRqh4IKX4jbtco1toyKwrSxeUuaewhcxtgPNdPHo2aIuswM8Yi_s9CUJBK4BGX5f_uqqo/s320/Ride+a+train+065.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493133443380226322" /></a><br />Sunday morning we woke up, took the metro (by ourselves) back to Union Station, got on the train and rode home.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl1k2aOORPzvE0fMqYJZ7hzm0PYQVaUMKsLEG9k94xI1ozs3Dz0iIFWAVhKmeVBCAQVVbCS59WmzuX9-sNCTZ67x4xo8ns5iTWl7hRGXRz17H-GlyOHAf1mNkNjO7C-mS4glNjgQ9Q2s40/s1600/Ride+a+train+067.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl1k2aOORPzvE0fMqYJZ7hzm0PYQVaUMKsLEG9k94xI1ozs3Dz0iIFWAVhKmeVBCAQVVbCS59WmzuX9-sNCTZ67x4xo8ns5iTWl7hRGXRz17H-GlyOHAf1mNkNjO7C-mS4glNjgQ9Q2s40/s320/Ride+a+train+067.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493198902923029106" /></a><br />A successful trip...another task completed.<br /><br />Number 23 is finished!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-36455558379781319712010-07-08T16:34:00.002-04:002010-07-08T16:50:00.035-04:00Number 16Prank someone...<br /><br />I was really excited about this one when I put it on the list. <br /><br />Then time came when I decided to do it...anddddd my mind went blank. I had no really good ideas about what to do.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I went with the well known "rubber band on faucet sprayer" prank. I knew that I could get my family to fall for it.<br /><br />Enjoyyyyy<br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/ki4Dr3o8bVw/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ki4Dr3o8bVw&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ki4Dr3o8bVw&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/2jHZY6oj0QI/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2jHZY6oj0QI&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2jHZY6oj0QI&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Humorous...I know!<br /><br />Number 16 is done!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-35119791227489001862010-07-04T13:54:00.003-04:002010-07-04T15:09:37.249-04:00Number 9Learn every word to Bohemian Rhapsody...<br /><br />Great...<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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). <br /><br />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. <br /><br />Enjoy the video! I 100% understand if none of you ever want to talk to me again after seeing this.<br /><br /><object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/qwjGLTtHqWQ/hqdefault.jpg)" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qwjGLTtHqWQ&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qwjGLTtHqWQ&hl=en_US&fs=1" width="425" height="344" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />Number 9 is finisheddddddJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-67141505418747172862010-06-30T05:38:00.009-04:002010-07-01T16:53:11.019-04:00Number 19Stay up for 24 hours...<br /><br />Doesn't this one just sound like so much fun...yeah, it's not. I remember when it used to be so cool to pull all-nighters. You would go to sleepovers and whoever made it through the night wins some unspoken prize. Well, I haven't done that in about five years. I love sleep.<br /><br />I figured I'd put it on the list because it would be something fun that would kind of make me feel like a little kid again. Also, in all honesty, I didn't think it would be that hard.<br /><br />I have been putting this off for awhile, but I finally set a date and decided I would do it then. Since I have already marked off see a movie at midnight, I figured I would do my "stay up for 24 hours" on the night of the Eclipse premiere. <br /><br />My friend Marie and I bought tickets about 2 weeks before the movie and were set to go. Here, I ran into a few complications. I work Monday-Friday 8-4. This means that I would be up at 7 on Tuesday morning then my 24 hours would be completed by 7 Wednesday morning...BUT there is a problem because I still would have to go to work Wednesday. Sooo in all honesty, this stay up for 24 hours really became more of a "stay up for 32 hours." <br /><br />I woke up Tuesday morning already tired and was wondering how I would get through it. Work was sooo long and my kids could tell I was tired. Work ended and I went home for dinner and then had my first event of the evening.<br /><br />My second play of the summer, Harvey, had its read-through. I went to play practice and was there for about two and a half hours working on the details for the show. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZQTFboInSOWWLuIYVVNTPRXu3QtwZgonBsAU7VT8nYuD1a6zYQPf6INzwKLAYWvBgV4wOtc_wQX2dn36GPZxZxKPvvh75mTHbKEyM6VafvriFOe8Vsfd5nA_mjkCz5dBpoOCzZf2blR-/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+005.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZQTFboInSOWWLuIYVVNTPRXu3QtwZgonBsAU7VT8nYuD1a6zYQPf6INzwKLAYWvBgV4wOtc_wQX2dn36GPZxZxKPvvh75mTHbKEyM6VafvriFOe8Vsfd5nA_mjkCz5dBpoOCzZf2blR-/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+005.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489038498101833266" /></a><br />After, I went to my friend's house where we chilled until about 10:30 when we headed to the theater. When we got there the place was already packed! We walked through about 7 different theaters trying to find a seat (all the theaters were sold out) and after fifteen minutes of looking (please, keep in mind that we were already there over an hour early) we found two seats in the top row.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jBUvYN348wfGSQm2EGmhhQoAw-ThLSLUshILxaeoR1AyOUaFZqdNbRe76h26DRwH5yCeuBTVV10fGo2CPDigt1ybhi-XDeufy-X9XUoRZzotn1ZlfV5QMD_ETKUTy_nRZ0nSWmsl5v7f/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jBUvYN348wfGSQm2EGmhhQoAw-ThLSLUshILxaeoR1AyOUaFZqdNbRe76h26DRwH5yCeuBTVV10fGo2CPDigt1ybhi-XDeufy-X9XUoRZzotn1ZlfV5QMD_ETKUTy_nRZ0nSWmsl5v7f/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+007.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489039224975837826" /></a><br />Marie and I settled down and talked until we were visited by a few of my friends from high school (this is my shoutout Kayla and Camber).<br /><br />Finally, the movie started and I began getting tired really quickly. Eclipse was a little over 2 hours so it was about 2:15 when we got out. I asked Marie (she drove) if we could stop by Sheetz on the way home. She agreed because she's awesome like that and I got two Red Bulls and one Five hour energy shot thingy. I knew I would need some ammunition because I was already almost asleep.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_y5vc57cOwm6BwN0ql-3ssabzmgJ1WkGUk2YS8y-TQm6Ga9zRQJhSUF0xTBb1FDhePdlgdEwqb2lc3uUlNp6ItCoEDPGUf0Y1ErPNMZc7VJlvUfKzNnatpoVWbZVRa779l2Z-tu8UpZwq/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+010.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_y5vc57cOwm6BwN0ql-3ssabzmgJ1WkGUk2YS8y-TQm6Ga9zRQJhSUF0xTBb1FDhePdlgdEwqb2lc3uUlNp6ItCoEDPGUf0Y1ErPNMZc7VJlvUfKzNnatpoVWbZVRa779l2Z-tu8UpZwq/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+010.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489040037740775442" /></a><br />We got back to my car, and Marie went inside to sleep and I went home...<br /><br />and time slowed down...<br /><br />a lot....<br /><br />I got on facebook. My blog. My online banking. Facebook. Anything to keep me awake. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjiTWb_kKeqqFZ1m4LkKlpb20yixjdosjPzhZV5YRD_8eKJKZlc0aO9PAACcWCoefgt9k5LGhpQR0zCDN_pSVjQGXJml78UxpQxt_rwE6Z-rqj2AMKUGAVliLDoWUzsez3_bT3dJmiFB7/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+013.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKjiTWb_kKeqqFZ1m4LkKlpb20yixjdosjPzhZV5YRD_8eKJKZlc0aO9PAACcWCoefgt9k5LGhpQR0zCDN_pSVjQGXJml78UxpQxt_rwE6Z-rqj2AMKUGAVliLDoWUzsez3_bT3dJmiFB7/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+013.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489040848718529874" /></a><br />I then knew it would be best to go ahead and drink my first Red Bull. It actually helped considerably. I decided I would do something constructive with my new found energy and hit the script hard.<br /><br />I have quite a few lines in Harvey and need to get them down, not to mention that the director borderline trashed me at the read through so I need to prove something now. I worked on that for about an hour and learned around 50 lines (let's remember it is really late/early). <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXn_bLPt1MD4vLyXiui0V5fjroyRxrXelqwl4G-kJxU-VnAbNd_qCR3E5efUd7cIK6Y7jjjJa7BRf5KjJK2XrwGVWIfVYpqxjq3JycFj5yJzyeEPB3IS8BynRDFTnaOQQGhxLKyarPRHW5/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+015.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXn_bLPt1MD4vLyXiui0V5fjroyRxrXelqwl4G-kJxU-VnAbNd_qCR3E5efUd7cIK6Y7jjjJa7BRf5KjJK2XrwGVWIfVYpqxjq3JycFj5yJzyeEPB3IS8BynRDFTnaOQQGhxLKyarPRHW5/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+015.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489041664368675106" /></a><br />After that, I went downstairs to feast on some doughnuts my parentals had gotten for me then came back upstairs for more facebook, blog, whatever.<br /><br />I decided to open the second Red Bull because I felt like I was about to fall asleep, however, my stomach was not wanting more sweet sugary drink. With two Red Bulls and two doughnuts in my stomach, I felt quite sick...I guess it was better than tired?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fvPovAmWpuXSYJus81N910r4GUfYH_2BlRmDIXsgG0RUhXHt63jnQc4ZqsC0m-AyryT27TYphtMVn0MSCTg55_9P6sXui-2Hi2hPht44ZQSnaQ43Rr8m25F92GVS-Kr5xTtB1uhRaCdG/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+017.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fvPovAmWpuXSYJus81N910r4GUfYH_2BlRmDIXsgG0RUhXHt63jnQc4ZqsC0m-AyryT27TYphtMVn0MSCTg55_9P6sXui-2Hi2hPht44ZQSnaQ43Rr8m25F92GVS-Kr5xTtB1uhRaCdG/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+017.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489042554736780210" /></a><br />At this point, it was only about an hour until 7 so I turned on the tv and watched MTV (it was just showing music videos)and chilled.<br /><br />FINALLY, it turned 7, I took a picture with the clock haha...and DID NOT go to sleep but instead got in the shower to head to work.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C0M_l9NIgo-Ox2Iw53flIlVDu04O-13RG3XfLO4_ooWoCODWQftyLaL4LbFFWv_d6trPGdUCzLsTKJa5iv4L6yROb5S8GenqFwJBNQ8giIggi9j5nfzkf605V232yDDRIAJoaLEx6S1X/s1600/Stay+up+for+24+hours+019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C0M_l9NIgo-Ox2Iw53flIlVDu04O-13RG3XfLO4_ooWoCODWQftyLaL4LbFFWv_d6trPGdUCzLsTKJa5iv4L6yROb5S8GenqFwJBNQ8giIggi9j5nfzkf605V232yDDRIAJoaLEx6S1X/s320/Stay+up+for+24+hours+019.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489043459335960178" /></a><br />Work was interesting seeing how I was completely delirious not to mention my three runs to the bathroom gagging from my energy drinks. I dried heaved many times that day. Those things messed me up and my stomach hurt so bad all day.<br /><br />I made it through and am back on a semi-normal sleep schedule.<br /><br />Another marked off...goodbye number 19!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-21715546496486960142010-06-27T09:10:00.005-04:002010-06-29T17:34:51.665-04:00Number 24Start writing a book...
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<br />In the beginning, I thought this task would be pretty easy. I have always enjoyed writing and have many different half-finished books on my computer. Throughout high school, I would be able to sit down and just simply write. Back then, I felt like I was halfway decent too.
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<br />Soo I first try to come up with a story or something I want to write about. I toyed with an idea sort of resembling my blog. I thought about a kid whose best friends becomes involved with a drug dealer. A lot of different stories went through my head, some I even sat down and tried to start writing, however, the result was always little to no success.
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<br />One night last week, I found that I had a few hours one evening and so I sat down, locked my door, turned on my itunes (The Beatles...of course)...and started writing.
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<br />Right now, I am about 6000 words into it which is about 25 pages in an actual published book. I do have an outline planned, and plan on continuing with the story. I know where i want it to go and feel like i'll be able to get it there if i work at it.
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<br />Synopsis: A boy, Trent (I am not sold on the name), is from a very rich family up north. He has always been the highest on the socioeconomic scale, but he is the black sheep within his family. One day, he decides to leave and go on a mission to "find himself." He catches a train to New York (I mean really where else would I have him go?) and on it he meets Chuck. They talk blah blah blah they become friends(ish) and Chuck takes him to this place where he lives. The place is the back parking lot at an old gym. It is a society that is hippy/con-artist-esque place with 7 other people living there. They form a kind of dysfunctional family...and the story goes from there.
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<br />I'll put a small section of it in here for everyone. I know that I don't have any pictures but I didn't know what they'd be of...I mean who really wants a picture of me sitting typing on my laptop.
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I didn’t have a place but more a feeling I was searching for. I was not sure what that feeling was or where I would find it. The whole time he merely smiled and nodded at the appropriate times. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I was rambling on when Chuck stopped me. “We should probably get off before the train leaves the station.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I looked up to see that we were sitting in Penn Station and new passengers were boarding. “Oh crap.” I jumped up, threw on my book bag and began getting off the train.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Umm hello? Slow down please.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I turned to see Chuck struggling to keep up with me as I jumped off the train onto the platform.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh, my bad. It was great meeting you and I appreciate you listening. I really do.” I smiled, turned, and walked way.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style=""> </span>Penn Station was packed and I had to zig and zag out of people’s way. Finally, I found the stairs and managed to climb them into the city. The noise hit me before the scenery did. The sound of people talking, taxi’s honking, street venders screaming. It was then I looked up and realized I was in the heart of New York City. I had never been there before and I felt so overwhelmed. People kept bumping into me as I just stood at the top of the stairs smiling. Suddenly, I couldn’t hold it in any longer and just began laughing. I wasn’t sure what came over me but I was in hysterics in the middle of the city, doubled over in laugher. I managed to get out of people’s way as I stumbled over towards a nearby vender. He gave me a look like I was insane, but hey, maybe I was. The euphoric feeling didn’t pass I just stood there taking in the scene. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style=""> </span>After a few seconds, I took my first steps into my new life. Sadly, my first steps were directly into the path of an oncoming taxi. I felt a strong pull and was ripped out of the path of the vehicle at the last second. I stumbled to the concrete and landed hard unable to catch my fall. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style=""> </span>“Crap” I said as I tried to connect what had just happened. Confused, I slowly sat up when a familiar hand reached out to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style=""> </span>“You are never going to survive in the big city without my help” Chuck’s sarcastic smile was welcomed and I appreciated a small sense of familiarity in the foreign city. I grabbed his hand and he helped me up. I opened my mouth to say thanks but he just shook his head and started walking off.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style=""> </span>“Where are you going?” I screamed after him.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;">He turned and began walking backwards, “Well, you can stand there in the city and become a taxi’s hood ornament, or you can follow me and find out.” My options seemed limited so I decided to follow him. It was my first big decision and I stuck with it as we began weaving our way throughout the people. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I was ok with it.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: normal;">
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<br />Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-45559923261381459542010-06-23T19:48:00.011-04:002010-06-23T22:06:33.097-04:00Number 22Read five books...<br /><br />I love reading. It is possibly my favorite thing in the world! Sadly, during this past school year I had basically no chance to read at all. Since I was deprived during the year, I decided to put this task on the list. I knew it would be fun and enjoyable!<br /><br />I started off by going to the library and getting four books. I read two of them. I am VERYYYY picky about what I read. It has to be either really famous, have a cool cover, or be about something really weird.<br /><br />My first book I read was <span style="font-style: italic;">The Crazy School</span>...I almost put an exclamation point there but let's be real, this book did NOT deserve an exclamation point. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6LNJP86PKnq98Y2H6bnG4QwtYgF7NFfKz-a2nKTvX0JcUyl8YRmHt1tuQ7c9Et5BHU1jhuP42OeSpjSVJHdxbXDFjUf1k4oXvm41k2ugaVSrbD858kPllMfTQSFL5C1ieywTY7GEtdgb/s1600/Karaoke+002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA6LNJP86PKnq98Y2H6bnG4QwtYgF7NFfKz-a2nKTvX0JcUyl8YRmHt1tuQ7c9Et5BHU1jhuP42OeSpjSVJHdxbXDFjUf1k4oXvm41k2ugaVSrbD858kPllMfTQSFL5C1ieywTY7GEtdgb/s320/Karaoke+002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486120683790222930" border="0" /></a>This book gets a pretty solid thumbs down. When I first picked it up, I was sold on it....and then I started reading it. The book is about a women who is a teacher at a school for mentally crazy teens. Sounds good right? WRONG! I just kept reading hoping at some point it would stop being boring...it didn't. Hate my life. Waste of time.<br /><br />The next book I read was <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dark House.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATuXum8Cp1cydQZZ-zLweJXH6Zbw2v_5QWYpCo5kdK-AYuXBihypZIsYA-MvZQIszJ5aXoYYXpFrk_S1l3COcWclt2YGexHL0yV7Xw4aZ4idobYRp1PejsE9jUX9GcI2salhBst-IMAa_/s1600/Karaoke+005.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATuXum8Cp1cydQZZ-zLweJXH6Zbw2v_5QWYpCo5kdK-AYuXBihypZIsYA-MvZQIszJ5aXoYYXpFrk_S1l3COcWclt2YGexHL0yV7Xw4aZ4idobYRp1PejsE9jUX9GcI2salhBst-IMAa_/s320/Karaoke+005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486121337376412210" border="0" /></a><br />Thank God this book was a million times better than the last one. I actually found this book really entertaining. It is about a man who is stuck in the monotony of life so he decides to start following cars. One car leads him to a house where a mystery begins unfolding involving the disappearance of his cousin. The book kept my attention so that is always a plus. It wasn't my favorite book in the whole world especially towards the end but I would still recommend it.<br /><br />That was my first two books. I then returned my books to the library and decided I had no idea what I was going to read.Soo...HELLO AMAZON. I was sitting at Building Hope one day (let's be real that is like everyday) and my mind wondered to online shopping...next thing you know BAM three books show up on my doorstep.<br /><br />My third book I read was <span style="font-style: italic;">The Perks of Being a Wallflower.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYW6pC4o7VIIp_NyKXmu5JRmDrZ5H0sNgJqvAN-xgwQ6j5NF4f3qElcM2st8tvbCtop0ZUkZn34JT4I6BTjQNkwheuXwHHp_WEC85QsFTeeMsBmxIRBMNDes9uZMMBMsjokeVEi9uvpsZ/s1600/Theme+Park+004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYW6pC4o7VIIp_NyKXmu5JRmDrZ5H0sNgJqvAN-xgwQ6j5NF4f3qElcM2st8tvbCtop0ZUkZn34JT4I6BTjQNkwheuXwHHp_WEC85QsFTeeMsBmxIRBMNDes9uZMMBMsjokeVEi9uvpsZ/s320/Theme+Park+004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486122050248771618" border="0" /></a>I had heard a lot about this book but really had no idea what the plot involved. The title makes it sound like it is a chick flick teenage blah blah blah...but in fact it is the most beautiful book in the world. I am slightly addicted to this book. The story is told by a young boy named Charlie. The entire book is written as though you are reading letters that he wrote to an anonymous person. In short, it is a very coming of age book. This book is literally a laugh and cry type book. It is perfect and tragic. Basically, it brings out my artsy adjectives. Although it is pretty graphic sexually and verbally, it is perfect. I love it. Two thumbs up fo sho!<br /><br />Book number fourrrr... <span style="font-style: italic;">Island</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6vgEwV88xnPI7URP7fJPEjBCR8BK6FZxP6d6F-4e9oBiLP740V1qJ5srHLWKoIRr9NrzjI5FYT3gRCnqSwvNexM-iKchYb98NiI3faCJ3gjW7AaDRiBNClTA3KdV5qDZS6pRKFzPYUnSk/s1600/Theme+Park+011.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6vgEwV88xnPI7URP7fJPEjBCR8BK6FZxP6d6F-4e9oBiLP740V1qJ5srHLWKoIRr9NrzjI5FYT3gRCnqSwvNexM-iKchYb98NiI3faCJ3gjW7AaDRiBNClTA3KdV5qDZS6pRKFzPYUnSk/s320/Theme+Park+011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486122764771456834" border="0" /></a>I love any book that has the world island in it (no lie three books just popped into my head). Soo when I was cruising around on Amazon I decided to go for it and i'm glad I did. The story is told as though a boy wrote his story about being stranded on an island with a family in his journal. The family is eventually hunted and people start dying one by one. It is kind of a trashy horror/romance/sci-fi/guilty pleasure. The book is long but it doesn't take much brain power to read and so i finished it pretty quickly. You know how some books are like emotionally draining? Yeah, this one wasn't like that. I still enjoyed the book though and give it a thumbs up!<br /><br />The third book I got from Amazon is called <span style="font-style: italic;">House of Leaves</span>...I honestly can't even explain it. Literally when it arrived, I thought it was a text book. It is HUGEEE and written so weird. Some pages the writing is vertical, some horizontal, some one word a page, and others diagonally. If that isn't confusing enough, every page had either a footnote or endnote. Sooo I took the easy way out and the book is still unread.<br /><br />So what is book number 5 you ask? I'd really, honestly, rather not tell because it is quite embarrassing but what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't air my dirty laundry. Here it goes. I'm a Twilight fan. Yeah, I know, they are girl books whatever, BUT I was reading them years ago...2007 to be exact. Soo about a month ago (maybe?) Stephanie Meyer (the author of the series) released a short book called <span style="font-style: italic;">The Short Secret Life of Bree Tanner. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqZdRWAon0JHAWZQH6usNixN3fQSQPgorXLqtFbK09K-z14Sng39WQNLEdFEIhx-NQDpCT_0qCwwa_kWVBRkIJ7onyPpYY3g7cpSmSZwlnrxi6aTGmrxCnrIkN3uOO3Br3U59M7iiOFEu/s1600/bree-turner-book.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqZdRWAon0JHAWZQH6usNixN3fQSQPgorXLqtFbK09K-z14Sng39WQNLEdFEIhx-NQDpCT_0qCwwa_kWVBRkIJ7onyPpYY3g7cpSmSZwlnrxi6aTGmrxCnrIkN3uOO3Br3U59M7iiOFEu/s320/bree-turner-book.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486128303834922562" border="0" /></a><br />The book is kind of a "look behind the curtain" at one of the characters from the third Twilight book, Eclipse. In my defense, I did not go to the library or buy this book. Stephanie Meyer put the book online free for all her fans (ehh, I guess that's me). I honestly had no intention of reading it at all but...things change. I pulled up the website just to look at it and next thing you know I'd been reading for a few hours and finished the book. Yep, embarrassing! It was cute (that is what you say when you like a "little kid" book) and an easy read.<br /><br />There you have it folks, five books DONEEEE.<br /><br />Glad to have it marked off.<br /><br />Number 22 is done. Hecka yeah!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-67847263253661968402010-06-19T12:25:00.012-04:002010-06-19T13:33:22.070-04:00Number 2 and 21 "Officially" completedEat a whole box of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">oreos</span> in a day...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5M4OR6mPYycGDUK6yWu3FAsizO1av9Qh7dyTFLl1yXRDkcaO-xXVhtZOYHcvoqAUg4US-6qyPNtHH-XslwDA5IiMjwepo-7rJTAFuyRd52P25hpqlvGhwtgvJlLXjhIsvbioqrFrCHXn/s1600/Oreos+001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY5M4OR6mPYycGDUK6yWu3FAsizO1av9Qh7dyTFLl1yXRDkcaO-xXVhtZOYHcvoqAUg4US-6qyPNtHH-XslwDA5IiMjwepo-7rJTAFuyRd52P25hpqlvGhwtgvJlLXjhIsvbioqrFrCHXn/s320/Oreos+001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484524576982289538" border="0" /></a><br />I can not begin to tell you how excited I was about this one. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Oreos</span> are my favorite thing in the entire world. I got the idea for this one day when we had <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">oreos</span> at the house and I ate like 8 or 9 and hated that I had to quit. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Soooo</span> in order to give myself a reason to be a glutton, I added it to the list.<br /><br />I bought the box probably about 3 weeks ago but decided I wouldn't do it until there was a slow week and I needed an easy task to complete. I always would get an urge for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">oreos</span> at like eleven at night but I knew that I couldn't do it because <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">i'd</span> need a little more time.<br /><br />Wednesday morning I woke up and I decided that it would be the day for me to do it. I was so excited and couldn't wait to start! I poured myself a glass of milk and sat down at the table ready to start. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKWN7c9UnWMRPtyCJOIJ5_S1DjtNort1G1T-Zi-rkL746ZhuodILiu25rUvSPGwN49E1tHA1igbS4sHhkh2nu-HOTaknCAIOiPQPX1Cf_RbbMR5ATI5O7Dub-53uJK_W-MYpmvTqs4R4N/s1600/Oreos+002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKWN7c9UnWMRPtyCJOIJ5_S1DjtNort1G1T-Zi-rkL746ZhuodILiu25rUvSPGwN49E1tHA1igbS4sHhkh2nu-HOTaknCAIOiPQPX1Cf_RbbMR5ATI5O7Dub-53uJK_W-MYpmvTqs4R4N/s320/Oreos+002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484525279600844242" border="0" /></a>The first five, even ten, went down amazingly and I was enjoying every second of it. Things changed very quickly!<br /><br />I had to stop after finishing the first row. I thought I was gonna be sick, my stomach hurt and I was so full. I decided to have a third done was pretty good and I could finish the rest later.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFR2qk18WdpQl1cOtZ1X9B1M4jY6PxHDPOyDtPoSsg88xeQveglkqU82lgpx1rk40Zlpt7G3Ad6WvlbAU6420SaqLI2HfI-MNjcJvbBd8hjdEAOJPLOdc-xTmaaS4iORhUsGrUdC3a210r/s1600/Oreos+003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFR2qk18WdpQl1cOtZ1X9B1M4jY6PxHDPOyDtPoSsg88xeQveglkqU82lgpx1rk40Zlpt7G3Ad6WvlbAU6420SaqLI2HfI-MNjcJvbBd8hjdEAOJPLOdc-xTmaaS4iORhUsGrUdC3a210r/s320/Oreos+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484526635920522258" border="0" /></a><br />About five hours later, right when I was finished with dinner, I finished another half a row. It was bad, I couldn't finish anything else. I headed off to play practice and just told myself that I would finish the other row and a half when I got home that night.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg31TccppnYy-lSRRVuEmQarskBbIQ83Pvq6EGkvyVTmifRSdalQrUeHn_UAIK_XpKcVOqN-FYhtzYjCo6lEVtNpEJdJXaVA0bikmfH-sLj4WHq9hq_x3Jh7bQykGh-20J7W9tfRI_5_Ld/s1600/Oreos+004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg31TccppnYy-lSRRVuEmQarskBbIQ83Pvq6EGkvyVTmifRSdalQrUeHn_UAIK_XpKcVOqN-FYhtzYjCo6lEVtNpEJdJXaVA0bikmfH-sLj4WHq9hq_x3Jh7bQykGh-20J7W9tfRI_5_Ld/s320/Oreos+004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484527633483183394" border="0" /></a><br />Play practice ends. I pour another glass of milk and sit down in the family room and watch <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">tv</span>. I decided that if I didn't think about it maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It was bad, no, it was awful.<br /><br />I felt like I was on some sort of sick Man vs. Food challenge. Finally, I finished off the last one and literally thought I was going to throw up.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLw3WFo2UJvYpWqWGpQuTOg44FZCpWUjJ6FcxiaYJj3cE1ZcFbVZiD-quIm0nKKpafci-ip9r3zwgqJmlejhbZGsPVGGSoXvxijD6YGBCUVWL4D1H14dN3jMn4O-mEk3tgkjtcdfPztaI/s1600/Oreos+007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTLw3WFo2UJvYpWqWGpQuTOg44FZCpWUjJ6FcxiaYJj3cE1ZcFbVZiD-quIm0nKKpafci-ip9r3zwgqJmlejhbZGsPVGGSoXvxijD6YGBCUVWL4D1H14dN3jMn4O-mEk3tgkjtcdfPztaI/s320/Oreos+007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484528244231856450" border="0" /></a>My stomach was killing me and I just was hoping that it would pass, it didn't. All that night and all the next day I was in pain. My stomach and body hated me.<br /><br />That box of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">oreos</span> had 45 cookies and 2400 calories.<br /><br />For a few days, my body was whack!<br /><br />Today, Saturday, is the first day I've felt completely back to normal.<br /><br />Sadly, I am not a huge fan of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">oreos</span> anymore :( I am hoping that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">i'll</span> be able to come around at <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">some point</span> but right now just thinking about them makes me want to die.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOZUTFhwXyCBGiGCkosN16jZvJPpF0_I950ol59ceI7-gBKF-r_HsLIuApdBZimRHwaKVPggD-pYl9ho7eUSXEJY_CyQwRButo01NNnxxgb-mBi3e3WdyWsd-4p6Y28MulRu_8r1EbTBj/s1600/Oreos+008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOZUTFhwXyCBGiGCkosN16jZvJPpF0_I950ol59ceI7-gBKF-r_HsLIuApdBZimRHwaKVPggD-pYl9ho7eUSXEJY_CyQwRButo01NNnxxgb-mBi3e3WdyWsd-4p6Y28MulRu_8r1EbTBj/s320/Oreos+008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484528821498435570" border="0" /></a><br />Number 2 is D.O.N.E.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">ANDDDDD</span>....my lovely play, 12 Angry Men, opened last night and it was a raging success!<img src="file:///C:/Users/John/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg" alt="" /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGx-ALxd7OgZ9SKWwF31_VJ2mlEAY9HwqkYyZihcbRTtCm5gU28xLGw-DvpRu_hHRwNx9g-NILPKdVhbiJXE1HaUtT_O7Xb03XD4yNjY0mnTs62y_dGwPecjI_TnonfKws0Yu3tpAc0Vg/s1600/36083_762329084463_22207815_42299761_4062275_n.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbGx-ALxd7OgZ9SKWwF31_VJ2mlEAY9HwqkYyZihcbRTtCm5gU28xLGw-DvpRu_hHRwNx9g-NILPKdVhbiJXE1HaUtT_O7Xb03XD4yNjY0mnTs62y_dGwPecjI_TnonfKws0Yu3tpAc0Vg/s320/36083_762329084463_22207815_42299761_4062275_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484529256215515186" border="0" /></a><br />You can look here at the article in the paper!<br /><a href="http://www.reflector.com/features/justice-seen-through-jurys-eyes-38783">http://www.reflector.com/features/justice-seen-through-jurys-eyes-38783</a><br /><br />I am going to officially mark that task off my list since it is no longer "In process"Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-63379540705997841202010-06-14T22:17:00.017-04:002010-06-15T11:17:03.483-04:00Number 25 and UpdatesGo on the best date ever...<br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDWTh4OSfTfhyphenhyphenVPAIIWpEgAdd0OU5bnZNrui1_P6aNpP_l0PxMMUa5VG4HppDiBrpvmTW1sg6380JpJMS75VGdKsqAroSKIdtSrrhvgzoPSyOx0QAg_O9H50vt6prKgpXQeycx5t6KJ3up/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482824537537880690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDWTh4OSfTfhyphenhyphenVPAIIWpEgAdd0OU5bnZNrui1_P6aNpP_l0PxMMUa5VG4HppDiBrpvmTW1sg6380JpJMS75VGdKsqAroSKIdtSrrhvgzoPSyOx0QAg_O9H50vt6prKgpXQeycx5t6KJ3up/s320/Best+Date+Ever+003.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />I knew that this would be a fun task!<br /><br />I'll begin at the beginning.<br /><br />Over 2 years ago, I auditioned for Christmas Carol. I was cast as Fred (Scrooge's nephew) and the young Ebenezer. When I arrived at the read through, I met for the first time Belle (Ebenezer's fiance) and realized it was a beautiful girl named Madison. We hit it off! It ended up not being too difficult to play "love interests" in the play.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZi00xQfPPLS7O0hbnKPZQYBIY_Dzd_i_t0liyyjG2pKnVTPZV3Ky626DWwlT1bqAwJNWgvEhOxVe7Y4xcpx9tfrB7r-MGrwOq1muuP2k6hFmSHAZGpJqAn-kmjKnNwsIV9-vns5KcynvO/s1600/n675368720_276786_8497.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483016379793282770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZi00xQfPPLS7O0hbnKPZQYBIY_Dzd_i_t0liyyjG2pKnVTPZV3Ky626DWwlT1bqAwJNWgvEhOxVe7Y4xcpx9tfrB7r-MGrwOq1muuP2k6hFmSHAZGpJqAn-kmjKnNwsIV9-vns5KcynvO/s320/n675368720_276786_8497.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Fast forward some and we begin dating...and break up.<br /><br />Fast forward a few more months and we begin dating...and break up...again!<br /><br />Fast forward to present.<br /><br />Madison and I have been able to stay very close. She is a brilliant actress and a few months ago she and I went on a date pretending to be married (it was for character work for one of her school's productions). I knew that she was in debt to me and so I used this to my advantage.<br /><br />I asked Madison out on a date because I knew it wouldn't be overly awkward and we'd be able to have a great time. I decided to buy two tickets to a Tony's party at Chef 505.<br /><br />Sooo June 13 I picked her up and we took some pictures together. She looked beautiful!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2xZsXdd-5iFyyaOqnCe_20hS_WGWAjzXAQCTvhJIj78zgnpm1Lfp4msSAqzSNdRM6grW-Jsnf2c5HnU_ltR5YF24BQBcMNeeYcWy-4uToRw-ZEH1idIf1_FnGF4fbxTUbx4M55uvp1XA/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+005.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482825194416112978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2xZsXdd-5iFyyaOqnCe_20hS_WGWAjzXAQCTvhJIj78zgnpm1Lfp4msSAqzSNdRM6grW-Jsnf2c5HnU_ltR5YF24BQBcMNeeYcWy-4uToRw-ZEH1idIf1_FnGF4fbxTUbx4M55uvp1XA/s320/Best+Date+Ever+005.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />We drove to Chef 505 and went inside to start the fun. There were many people there that we both knew so we were instantly pulled apart by two different groups. Throughout the night, we did our best to mingle and enjoy ourselves. There was a great live band playing and amazing hor d'oeuvres . The Tony's started and we found some seats to watch. Madison and I are both into acting so we were very entertained. At every commercial break, some local people would perform different songs from popular musicals. </p><p><br />At one point, I saw a sign advertising my first play for this summer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMRBQq3VPhQieYyoKPsPsETCJBIS6OTJ1TCZf-BVvz2l37hMQEFk0eXsEo4IRXmNzg972-O7FVZCl1KpOkDc3l-m5I6ZAb-VDWdUI1sz8AAhjvwSW9rcDesgRbHsAHfsr-fzcxa97XnzQ/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482826210145500850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMRBQq3VPhQieYyoKPsPsETCJBIS6OTJ1TCZf-BVvz2l37hMQEFk0eXsEo4IRXmNzg972-O7FVZCl1KpOkDc3l-m5I6ZAb-VDWdUI1sz8AAhjvwSW9rcDesgRbHsAHfsr-fzcxa97XnzQ/s320/Best+Date+Ever+008.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />12 Angry Men open THIS FRIDAY!!! I would love for any and everyone to come. We have been working so hard on it and it has really come together. The dates for the play are June 18-20 and 24-26. Here is the website where you can go and buy tickets online! <a href="https://www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?theatre=mac">https://www.ticketturtle.com/index.php?theatre=mac</a><br /><br />After a few hours, Madison and I decided to go ahead and leave. We were enjoying ourselves but just agreed that we were ready to have a chill night. We headed to Cookout and then went to Blockbuster.<br /><br />Since when does Blockbuster close at 10?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vEzBB7heuPgl0PlFFKdpeo3nUWAkTqFaPVBQqahF4ZPkV3brRLayQAGb3IUxtQyHi9qcphzeXnP4qWdbc5SbgZh00nwGUnli9LxMdFyZeowagqtneen8QHHYGdV7tlkBUdWu7Gq7VTVS/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+011.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482826916914184642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vEzBB7heuPgl0PlFFKdpeo3nUWAkTqFaPVBQqahF4ZPkV3brRLayQAGb3IUxtQyHi9qcphzeXnP4qWdbc5SbgZh00nwGUnli9LxMdFyZeowagqtneen8QHHYGdV7tlkBUdWu7Gq7VTVS/s320/Best+Date+Ever+011.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Redbox came through for us though and we picked up Shutter Island (I had seen it and loved it, she hadn't).<br /><br />We pigged out on greasy fast food, watched the movie, and then I took her home.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEhXHkEOU_t4ArVfcCQIOCUswKRrcH88d42Ea-SWXva-QwvlYlLJTMlgnqE4Aa09Le-BLv4UMLh39x_ILbBnH0F0mlShaR1KnGcoSTlUwPxcKG6Lj-yOkPIFZSwakAeQSIXkzwgMNC-8O/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+013.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482827494124785330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEhXHkEOU_t4ArVfcCQIOCUswKRrcH88d42Ea-SWXva-QwvlYlLJTMlgnqE4Aa09Le-BLv4UMLh39x_ILbBnH0F0mlShaR1KnGcoSTlUwPxcKG6Lj-yOkPIFZSwakAeQSIXkzwgMNC-8O/s320/Best+Date+Ever+013.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Was this the best date ever?<br /><br />Most definitely!<br /><br />Madison and I are amazing friends and get along great. I could relax and have a fun time. I feel like I've learned a lot from this night though. Sometimes it is great to dress all up and go out for the night, but at the end of the day, fast food and a good movie can make a night even more memorable. Also, if you go to The Daily Reflector website you can see more pictures from the event. I am in some!<br /><br />NUMBER 25 DONE....BUT WAIT!!!<br /><br />GUESSSSSS WHATTTTT IIIIIIIIIII GOOTTTTTT TODAAYYYYYYYYYY<br /><br />I got a letter from one of my penpals in the mail today!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJ9256OIn7j2bzh08YkSeJ3W3vURhF8vmR50S9hERAIjaUrl_QOKh1Qmi2XTsf6cnCJMFavqe1he-RxQfFdAmyZjWrIDwL7wx7KYyKGVsJGAncKbcoDuxYdqBdbc9FzDCNpr_Ad5top4X/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+017.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482829758138944658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJ9256OIn7j2bzh08YkSeJ3W3vURhF8vmR50S9hERAIjaUrl_QOKh1Qmi2XTsf6cnCJMFavqe1he-RxQfFdAmyZjWrIDwL7wx7KYyKGVsJGAncKbcoDuxYdqBdbc9FzDCNpr_Ad5top4X/s320/Best+Date+Ever+017.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />I was chilling at the house today when my dad walked in with the mail. He did a "Guess what you got James?" I walked over to him and he was smiling and then he handed me my letter.<br /><br />I jumped...and screamed...and did a little happy dance. I'm not proud of it.<br /><br />The letter was from Alexandra in St. Petersburg, Russia.<br /><br />It was in a beautiful envelope and she sent it with a letter and a picture of her city.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZ48BlUOHoirg7KKFdOcV5bxFKXLORAkknLfMHJauO9R7oP43VxJIO_gfRcII5rN28Nsr5gTyEN6p8qRaCw3DdDewtxwmELbBLu0bIW7oBNs_b1YDDA4q3a-DUfEW3JMnTGdwP6xgUDU2/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+019.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482830413097433970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZ48BlUOHoirg7KKFdOcV5bxFKXLORAkknLfMHJauO9R7oP43VxJIO_gfRcII5rN28Nsr5gTyEN6p8qRaCw3DdDewtxwmELbBLu0bIW7oBNs_b1YDDA4q3a-DUfEW3JMnTGdwP6xgUDU2/s320/Best+Date+Ever+019.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />She wrote me a quite long really sweet letter. It meant a lot to me. She asked lots of questions and told me about herself. She is a student studying sociology. She loves dancing, traveling, and reading. I am still so excited about all of this and can't wait to write her back!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLnvA0ikcZzVIngaOFyEiJPw3cqEDUniXJABTIi0aNdntEb3gH088K31otJARsacsDBplsqdv4jmjQUkJLGHfYD3gpqVd2lY-h9-iGigFH0FotIrSMYuEfFsmJpEP6PTEOxfdyGbgfkVA/s1600/Best+Date+Ever+020.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482830948755920402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLnvA0ikcZzVIngaOFyEiJPw3cqEDUniXJABTIi0aNdntEb3gH088K31otJARsacsDBplsqdv4jmjQUkJLGHfYD3gpqVd2lY-h9-iGigFH0FotIrSMYuEfFsmJpEP6PTEOxfdyGbgfkVA/s320/Best+Date+Ever+020.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Life is soooo good right now! I'd appreciate comments if you are still one of the few readers haha</p>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-68860115523450911072010-06-12T11:07:00.011-04:002010-06-12T12:09:53.216-04:00Number 12Capture a picture worth a thousand words...<br /><br />When I first thought up this idea, I imagined that I would go on some nature walk and take some overly artsy picture of a flower or landscape and say it was worth a thousand words. My thought process slowly evolved, however, as I considered it more and more.<br /><br />My first change I decided was that the word "capture" did not necessarily mean that I myself had to take the picture. I would rather set up a scenario and be able to be a part of it.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/"> </a><br /><br />I was sitting at work one day...<br /><br />Ok, let me back up. I work at Building Hope Community Life Center. I am a Project HEART member which means I am required to work 900 hours over the course of a year. I got placed at Building Hope because my church works with the program. Back in August, I started my year. I was placed in a classroom as the 4th grade teacher.<br /><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoXax1HihOh85b6mlzk5NOAHSV7HJV1HNl9fuHe2P0Gdprv1WMp8QOSwXeTJJ9W4YBmus01-CmxMoiVl95gZ7E_egcgSzH4WYIbJxMy8JOUAcBSnZFLO5skfs85BjmWXq1obidbt5dUTC/s1600/Picture+worth+1000+words+012.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481916268234751778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKoXax1HihOh85b6mlzk5NOAHSV7HJV1HNl9fuHe2P0Gdprv1WMp8QOSwXeTJJ9W4YBmus01-CmxMoiVl95gZ7E_egcgSzH4WYIbJxMy8JOUAcBSnZFLO5skfs85BjmWXq1obidbt5dUTC/s320/Picture+worth+1000+words+012.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)">Latifah!!! She is HILARIOUS!</span><br /></div><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYdrOs06e6QbPrutCtHrN_vYpPNi2ATaw-RWmq6u7QzC2AdveeK4gYc96wh0YrjE7t0NMPf0eGm28XDRCUFZYa7rxamwtO6CMVwTk8aJacRNINego5T_bWTwsONUHnUacQkVm1vj6Vsf2/s1600/Picture+worth+1000+words+007.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481913112983869042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYdrOs06e6QbPrutCtHrN_vYpPNi2ATaw-RWmq6u7QzC2AdveeK4gYc96wh0YrjE7t0NMPf0eGm28XDRCUFZYa7rxamwtO6CMVwTk8aJacRNINego5T_bWTwsONUHnUacQkVm1vj6Vsf2/s320/Picture+worth+1000+words+007.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)">Demarcus and Jalen swinging</span><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilfOVELFZIU9tl87PZp8hCyJA5iGmBTl3gBy0MUBfCeNrbz2nCRtW7dSPfKY9UYzeK0xNVCQsIJKYJR7WbSrVgr6XS_fADiHNWRIvl0MRloRYfJghNwHYrrDMpr9gh06pVfNwXhXerFRP/s1600/Picture+worth+1000+words+016.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481916952712414210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilfOVELFZIU9tl87PZp8hCyJA5iGmBTl3gBy0MUBfCeNrbz2nCRtW7dSPfKY9UYzeK0xNVCQsIJKYJR7WbSrVgr6XS_fADiHNWRIvl0MRloRYfJghNwHYrrDMpr9gh06pVfNwXhXerFRP/s320/Picture+worth+1000+words+016.JPG" border="0" /></a> <div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: rgb(204,204,204)">Jalen showing his love for me...can't you tell?</span><br /></div><br />Now that you have some background information and a few visuals, I will continue.<br /><br />I was sitting at work one day and I was talking to my kids about my blog. They were eating up every little detail I told them and made me describe a few of my tasks (I had just finished ghost hunting so of course they wanted to hear all about it...they were basically terrified by the end). As I was telling them about it, they were so quiet and fascinated by everything I was saying.<br /><br />That night I went home and just couldn't stop thinking about my kids. I knew that I wanted to be able to include them in my blog somehow because they all have been such a huge part of my life this year. It then hit me that I would use them as my "picture worth a thousand words." It wouldn't be artsy or nature-y but somehow it meant so much more.<br /><br />I sent home permission slips with my kids. I decided I shouldn't just put up random pictures of kids on the internet without parental consent. Low and behold, three kids brought them back signed. I have eight kids in my classroom so having three fourth graders remember was pretty good...I guess?<br /><br />I was kind of upset that I wouldn't be able to do a shot featuring all the class but it would be fine.<br /><br />Finally, we set the day and I had a fellow staff member snap some pictures.<br /><br />I know it is not a perfect picture and many people may not think it is worth a thousand words, but to me it is worth so much more than that. These are the greatest kids in the world. I love them so much and would literally do anything for them.<br /><br />To me the thousand words represent a thousand laughs, a thousand math problems, a thousand snack times, a thousand races, a thousand hugs, a thousand conversations, a thousand play times, and almost a thousand hours spent together.<br /><br />Last Tuesday I had to say goodbye to my kids. It was possibly one of the hardest days of my life. They have accomplished so much and proud doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. I know that they will accomplish incredible things in their lives and I hope to be able to experience it.<br /><br />I am not doing Project HEART (even though my kids begged) next year. I plan to stop in frequently though to see my kids.<br /><br />As I was leaving Building Hope that Tuesday I kind of laughed to myself about the year.<br /><br />I was sooo sad and I had a very Sandra Bullock-esque feeling come over me from The Blind Side. People always tell me that I am changing kid's lives but it kind of hit me that day as I left that they really did change mine.<br /><br />Here is my picture worth a thousand words. I hope it can mean as much to you as it does me.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNeLIg2tjsFtlswRKWEK-j9ytRGt88QknbkP2GD5uwv6h3RmxwclkETM1oNeBBLVygUS9oRorNIQ5jh6BSsQ3T9nCGWY3tLQrJC2MptHSZ6GD1Gc0otDoZpC_su6QLI3UvgofxgDzM1xxZ/s1600/Picture+worth+1000+words+edit.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481912043357409090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNeLIg2tjsFtlswRKWEK-j9ytRGt88QknbkP2GD5uwv6h3RmxwclkETM1oNeBBLVygUS9oRorNIQ5jh6BSsQ3T9nCGWY3tLQrJC2MptHSZ6GD1Gc0otDoZpC_su6QLI3UvgofxgDzM1xxZ/s320/Picture+worth+1000+words+edit.jpg" border="0" /></a>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-51360777710982114582010-06-07T10:37:00.006-04:002010-06-07T11:20:53.104-04:00Number 18See a movie at midnight...<br /><br />Gotta love going to see a movie at midnight the night it opens. Originally, I had thought that I would see Eclipse since that is the big movie of the summer, however, plans do change.<br /><br />I was at work with my beautiful friend Delilah and we had been talking about the movie Splice for a couple weeks. We decided that we wanted to see it together so just jokingly we mentioned how we should see it at midnight (note: this was mentioned the day of the midnight premiere). Being the crazy, reckless, spontaneous people we are, we decided to do it!<br /><br />Eleven-thirty rolls around and we show up at the theater and I make Delilah pose for a picture with me!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NjeV1nGa5WE7OGIIKeJMg-yMuIF5bP9s8FVGaAZgbatc0b7dINtap6OLCpnvEYG6b9XHQXk_FO8gevpu440jT5h_jtoYLMR7JIoV2gptG6Q1PiWqnpmgsOILBWbwYkMqNdmnB6ucZ6E6/s1600/Splice+001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_NjeV1nGa5WE7OGIIKeJMg-yMuIF5bP9s8FVGaAZgbatc0b7dINtap6OLCpnvEYG6b9XHQXk_FO8gevpu440jT5h_jtoYLMR7JIoV2gptG6Q1PiWqnpmgsOILBWbwYkMqNdmnB6ucZ6E6/s320/Splice+001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480042910152072770" border="0" /></a><br />For those of you that don't know, Splice is a "horror" movie about cloning. I put horror in quotes because sadly it wasn't very scary. I'm jumping ahead of myself though.<br /><br />Go to watch the trailer if you don't know anything about it<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6o_Vl2f07Q">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6o_Vl2f07Q</a><br /><br /><br />After a stop at the snack stand, we head into the movie!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ZxZFlqUuLBv6H_Ru23dX5VxlzJ0DSQijFAdFRuGGuoAt440CJGlfAXLiJ7pQREeLyr7Zw5KkrsXLw4WAUsFqNVzAjBD5l4UcE5RUcNxpJUKzeYWSb-AWXdOR1oaJIswCIr1wXbF48Bk/s1600/Splice+002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL0ZxZFlqUuLBv6H_Ru23dX5VxlzJ0DSQijFAdFRuGGuoAt440CJGlfAXLiJ7pQREeLyr7Zw5KkrsXLw4WAUsFqNVzAjBD5l4UcE5RUcNxpJUKzeYWSb-AWXdOR1oaJIswCIr1wXbF48Bk/s320/Splice+002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480044032138397730" border="0" /></a><br />The theater was kind of empty when we first got there but by the time the movie started there was a good number of people. We joked around and took a few pictures annoying the people with the bright flash.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2nq6ggboWleh7bBGGLiFbFsW6TYxFu974yMv1hDBhgbo9K_hX0EvPLQI1RL_4hryuSvecxVpzxWkiQouKw6i8ZHobUAybbrVjIFMqFkaNKrCH53BKE66PS200kBmAXEPG9nlC09TtN18/s1600/Splice+003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2nq6ggboWleh7bBGGLiFbFsW6TYxFu974yMv1hDBhgbo9K_hX0EvPLQI1RL_4hryuSvecxVpzxWkiQouKw6i8ZHobUAybbrVjIFMqFkaNKrCH53BKE66PS200kBmAXEPG9nlC09TtN18/s320/Splice+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480046098505191778" border="0" /></a>I decided right before the movie started that I wanted to take a picture of the opening screen. This was a problem mainly because I was terrified that someone would see me and think I was trying to film the movie. The last thing I wanted was to end up being arrested for trying to film illegal copies of the movie. Going to jail is not one of my tasks.<br /><br />The movie started and I hid the camera down really low and snapped a picture. It didn't turn out great but the heck if I was gonna take another. I wasn't wanting to press my luck.<br /><br />Don't hate on my picture...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJhR9SHwtOCz6pMwImAjQJcVXABa3l02uHK_8Yq1hEvySH4q_-WEFLeQO2pczsEaEjd4s4H0KoAWnEtpMtjS_bNaL9pZoQJYaf2BYvHUdB5Ez7l7cHEmbZlKiU9vmhVZFgqUp4_Y5z11e/s1600/Splice+004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJhR9SHwtOCz6pMwImAjQJcVXABa3l02uHK_8Yq1hEvySH4q_-WEFLeQO2pczsEaEjd4s4H0KoAWnEtpMtjS_bNaL9pZoQJYaf2BYvHUdB5Ez7l7cHEmbZlKiU9vmhVZFgqUp4_Y5z11e/s320/Splice+004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480049365181798850" border="0" /></a>The movie was a six out of ten. It wasn't very scary but I'm a sci-fi fan so I enjoyed the whole clone concept. There were definitely some disturbing elements to the movie that I could have lived without seeing.<br /><br />All in all the night was fun! I'm glad I got to see it with Delilah and have a great night.<br /><br />Number 18 is doneeeeJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-66678084878180490002010-06-03T21:29:00.018-04:002010-06-03T22:41:07.905-04:00Number 1Go to an amusement park...<br /><br />It's about time for a fun one!<br /><br />I knew this task would require some planning with my hectic work/play practice schedule. Eventually, I picked a day that I figured would work well and bounced it off Marie, John, and Whitney. Everyone said it would be a good day for them so after asking off work, everything was ready to go!<br /><br />I knew that I wanted to go to Kings Dominion because I had never been but had heard that it was the best for the intense rides. I wanted the intense rides!<br /><br />Once I had picked the day, the next order of business was to figure out the weather because I didn't want to buy the tickets if it was going to rain all day. When I first looked 9 days before we were going to go, there was a 60% chance but as the days passed it slowly lowered until it was only a 20%. It was then that I decided to go ahead and buy the tickets.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkfpJjYsh7na88PG3BDK2RbjLypFwEFnXpxslEJcrhnuKkh2a4jhQi3QpH-1cxcxA7uQXb2uqOK2_Wuq8OWtj6VO-Kue5B0TXPOLlpnPJLfpDrCI27CrIM01A1hkjMZGsO4H39fILyWXl/s1600/Theme+Park+007.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkfpJjYsh7na88PG3BDK2RbjLypFwEFnXpxslEJcrhnuKkh2a4jhQi3QpH-1cxcxA7uQXb2uqOK2_Wuq8OWtj6VO-Kue5B0TXPOLlpnPJLfpDrCI27CrIM01A1hkjMZGsO4H39fILyWXl/s320/Theme+Park+007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478728454868403138" border="0" /></a><br />Wednesday, June 2 finally arrives and we all wake up at the crack of dawn and pile into my mother's van which she so generously filled with gas for our road trip. We left at 8 and after a quick pit stop at my sister Anne Michelle's house to take care of her dogs, (the rest of my family had decided to take off a few days to hit the beach) we hit the road!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkW07ph52G775gFttdOiRslie-WE-lM4i16mE62czK_4j9D5uGhH5jZuS6Ezi5iTheBqB6254mA_gfsN7NUk-Mmfs3Vpr5GKtFNw3k4s58oWxT6XSPGxaTPpQe3vJb9AFpb8LdN1IfzP0/s1600/Theme+Park+015.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjkW07ph52G775gFttdOiRslie-WE-lM4i16mE62czK_4j9D5uGhH5jZuS6Ezi5iTheBqB6254mA_gfsN7NUk-Mmfs3Vpr5GKtFNw3k4s58oWxT6XSPGxaTPpQe3vJb9AFpb8LdN1IfzP0/s320/Theme+Park+015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478733135279627026" border="0" /></a><br />We drive...<br /><br />...and drive...<br /><br />...and make stupid videos...<br /><object style="background-image: url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/uy_I_9lrVMQ/hqdefault.jpg);" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uy_I_9lrVMQ&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uy_I_9lrVMQ&hl=en_US&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />...and drive...<br /><br />...and sing-a-long to glee songs...<br /><object style="background-image: url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/eEqFdPUQsnA/hqdefault.jpg);" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eEqFdPUQsnA&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eEqFdPUQsnA&hl=en_US&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />....and drive...<br /><br />...and stop at Wendy's for lunch...<br /><br />...and drive...<br /><br />FINALLY, WE ARRIVE!!!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaqaix4SbwBTznxq7KRpYYF2Um6yVtBXTFbJIajACUlI8K8O_8kM627H62JvyMk0-CnJwguiqNoIfdnCbrlZhiLAn271JE7OHKMrqw7RNMr0RRt5TCvnaywwbnA1MdXr77djsVqT9TBSe/s1600/Theme+Park+019.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbaqaix4SbwBTznxq7KRpYYF2Um6yVtBXTFbJIajACUlI8K8O_8kM627H62JvyMk0-CnJwguiqNoIfdnCbrlZhiLAn271JE7OHKMrqw7RNMr0RRt5TCvnaywwbnA1MdXr77djsVqT9TBSe/s320/Theme+Park+019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478734981267043010" border="0" /></a><br />We park the van and hop out at our destination!<br /><br />My beloved friend, Whitney, made me a gnarly sign (I paid a few thousand for it) to hold up in front of the park for my nifty blog. It was at this point that I figured I would leave my camera in the car...sad, I know.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOIyKZ9NZPaJvCm9rU7Cn8_Q59TZS_AMHTjwHopV2FXrRtoTYhjmXcBREa3D_gS-wJEQO8Dor-rRbirM6zn5gylUNwMyuV4k3E05LjDcGRGxk_tbouYZBwj8hh9AfcWnFmlpTQOtbKh4k/s1600/Theme+Park+020.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOIyKZ9NZPaJvCm9rU7Cn8_Q59TZS_AMHTjwHopV2FXrRtoTYhjmXcBREa3D_gS-wJEQO8Dor-rRbirM6zn5gylUNwMyuV4k3E05LjDcGRGxk_tbouYZBwj8hh9AfcWnFmlpTQOtbKh4k/s320/Theme+Park+020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478733745563203298" border="0" /></a><br />We go in the park and look around some and head straight for our first coaster....The Dominator! Since Jesus loves me (this I know), the entire park was basically empty. Dang this economy! HOWEVER, this worked to our advantage so well. The whole day the longest we waited in line for any ride was maybe 5 minutes. It was amazing!<br /><br />I obviously can't describe every second I was there and every ride I went on because that would take a long time and as soon as I finish this i'm heading to cross off another task on the list. Don't you wish you knew what it was!<br /><br />Anyways, I will tell two different stories that stand out in our journey.<br /><br />The first one was ironically annoying.<br /><br />You know how when you ride a roller coaster you get off and see the pictures they took while you were riding? You know, the ones where you are making those crazy, stupid, terrified faces? Basically, that is like 50% of the fun of riding the coasters. So we get off the first roller coaster and head to look at the TV's displaying the pictures and you can see everyone but for some reason it gets too dark and you can't see my face. We make a small joke and move on to another ride. We got off that ride and run to look at the pictures, and John's hand was covering my face (he was sitting in front of me and had his arms in the air). The next ride we get off and make jokes about "I bet James's face will be covered again"...IT WAS! The number of the picture was covering my face.<br /><br />Hate. My. Life.<br /><br />The second story was intense. Ok, let me give a little background. Kings Dominion has this new roller coaster called The Intimidator 305. Being the tallest coaster at the park, I was obviously way stoked. The night before we left, I was watching Youtube videos of it and this coaster "expert" said that he had ridden it 4 times and blacked out every time. I was more than skeptical. I have ridden a bazillion roller coasters and never blacked out. So, on the ride up I told everyone about what the "expert" had said and everyone was also skeptical. We saved that ride for last. We get on it, go up the hill and then hit the drop. At the very bottom of the drop, you hit this turn so hard.....and I blacked out. It was the weirdest feeling in the world. Everything just started going really grey, almost like your eyes were closing, and then it was just like BAM nothing was there and then BAM I was on the ride again. I knew there was no way I had faked it because as soon as I came to there were some guys sitting behind me and they started screaming "Oh my God, I just blacked out!" When we got off the ride, I went to tell everyone but John and Whitney told me that they had blacked out before I even got the chance to tell them I had. Marie was the only one who didn't, but then again she had her eyes closed the whole time so she had no way to tell.<br /><br />We rode almost every ride and some more than once. I think it ended up being eight or nine roller coasters and about four other rides. It was incredible! I loved the drop tower. It is basically just a 275 foot vertical drop. It was crazyyyy. Also, it was pretty fun smashing four people into the log flume. It was sooo hot but we got soaked a few times so that helped.<br /><br />All in all this trip was epic and amazing and I'm so freaking sore from it still.<br /><br />I had a blast!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z63m4aUNw8sDPIXy9-iNEBAN-g0pB8-inOXKvP3Htkbf7LGqcW1XX3jNcA_uZ7AZFTuhJiqfXXefTkmdtJdKEVyd-TeKK0lDf3rS93Rm-PFaLvPz-rXyPUyCbfJPh0WzrSXqKtPT5tuG/s1600/Theme+Park+016.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z63m4aUNw8sDPIXy9-iNEBAN-g0pB8-inOXKvP3Htkbf7LGqcW1XX3jNcA_uZ7AZFTuhJiqfXXefTkmdtJdKEVyd-TeKK0lDf3rS93Rm-PFaLvPz-rXyPUyCbfJPh0WzrSXqKtPT5tuG/s320/Theme+Park+016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478735682321850098" border="0" /></a><br />Number 1...DONE!<br /><br />PS: I had the number 1 written on my hand in honor of my blog. I wanted Marie to take a picture with it but she either was not wanting to be in a picture, or thought I was going to hit her...both are likely!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-25215041557181072922010-05-28T00:37:00.008-04:002010-05-28T01:57:45.433-04:00Number 7Sing karaoke...<br /><br />This. Was. The. Worst. Thing. On. My. List.<br /><br />Where do I even begin...I guess at the beginning.<br /><br />Sing karaoke was not on my original list. After looking over my first list, I decided a few needed to be changed. For some reason, I decided to add this to the list.<br /><br />This single task alone has haunted me. I have been so so so so nervous about it that I can't even concentrate sometimes. Literally, I have lost sleep over this one. I am not quite sure why but I'm assuming it is because I do not have a good voice and I think it has always been an insecurity of mine. Being an "actor" (I use that term loosely) there are many times you have to be on stage and put yourself out there. I have no problem with that. However, being an actor comes along with an unspoken assumption that you have some booming Broadway voice...I don't.<br /><br />This blog is not here for me to be all "I don't have a good voice" and people to be all "Yes, James you do." I'm not fishing for compliments. Fact is fact. I am not a strong enough singer to ever consider any kind of musical theatre. This is where I assume my insecurity comes from. SOOO I decided to sing at Ham's karaoke on Thursday night.<br /><br />Now, karaoke is quite the blessing and curse for 2 reasons<br /><br />1. Drunk people can be your best friend (cheering, clapping, singing along)<br /><br />2. Drunk people can be your worst enemy (Booing, cussing, heckling)<br /><br />I was afraid.<br /><br />First, I had to pick a song. Great.<br /><br />I wanted to sing an upbeat fun song. Not one sung on glee before or by anyone overly talented.<br />My lovely friend Rachel got me the American Idiot soundtrack for my birthday and I have been rocking out to it lately. I decided I would sing Holiday because the chorus was fun and I could apply it to my blog. The chorus says "I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies, this is the dawning of the rest of our lives..." I thought that was cool and applicable. It'd be perfect.<br /><br />WRONG.<br /><br />Hams didn't have that song. They had about ten Green Day songs but not that one...of course.<br /><br />Let me back up by saying that I was joined by a group of extremely attractive young ladies. Rachel, Marie, and Isley.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5U1_Um0qR9WmILQOcSOhSFkhXxgM1D2kLs5YKx7fDtolfe0Quvz5paYdEDy5jL2SNpLXjojKVjxlnJ3YJVjwdPJqyGbx8su0cSWGZ1Kq_OUgmfkdul4tv_VP5v8d-MTSVb9PKoCDUd-WB/s1600/Karaoke+010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5U1_Um0qR9WmILQOcSOhSFkhXxgM1D2kLs5YKx7fDtolfe0Quvz5paYdEDy5jL2SNpLXjojKVjxlnJ3YJVjwdPJqyGbx8su0cSWGZ1Kq_OUgmfkdul4tv_VP5v8d-MTSVb9PKoCDUd-WB/s320/Karaoke+010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476184968585343666" border="0" /></a>Soo we get there and i'm borderline shaking. I was terrified. We get the notebook of songs and to my dismay Holiday isn't on there...blah blah blah. We flip through the book about six million times. Just so everyone knows it is hard to find an appropriate, fun song for people that aren't very good singers.<br /><br />At last, we settled on Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard. I write my name on the little slip and we wait.<br /><br />...and wait<br /><br /><br />....and wait<br /><br /><br />.......and waitttttt<br /><br />They don't call my name. It was over an hour. At this point I was ready to go and overly nervous and about to die.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Wx4kwFAK44SAm_gt5joViT0ccXZAZoYjBW-iQv1ZTHiNWzAluFe_bswW-5hBgc0L8BRiAdrBoe_PFvpiAN-Gzirvi04ocOoQFeWVaAAo_8NAnvNuS7kb5zyHOtSjwSXPaQrz5EOs1b2E/s1600/Karaoke+008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Wx4kwFAK44SAm_gt5joViT0ccXZAZoYjBW-iQv1ZTHiNWzAluFe_bswW-5hBgc0L8BRiAdrBoe_PFvpiAN-Gzirvi04ocOoQFeWVaAAo_8NAnvNuS7kb5zyHOtSjwSXPaQrz5EOs1b2E/s320/Karaoke+008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476186058325941442" border="0" /></a><br />Marie and Isley then went and beat up the man who was in charge and grabbed the mic from him (or asked him nicely if I was soon). He said yes and we waited.<br /><br />Thennn the moment of truth occurs and he calls James.<br /><br />Now, I had a great speech planned in my head about how I was going to say something about how I was doing this for my blog and some beautiful sentimental lines. It was that time that I saw another guy obviously intoxicated walking up as well.<br /><br />His name was James. Great.<br /><br />He grabs the microphone and looks at the screen as my song starts playing. He drops a few choice words as I explain that it was my song. He walks away after glaring at me. To make things even better, all his friends start booing.<br /><br />Wonderful.<br /><br />I sing.<br /><br />I realize the song is way to high for me.<br /><br />I finish.<br /><br />We leave.<br /><br />We take picture of me being glad to be done with number 7.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUoM7ysvPLZ7jciPtVI7ekKCVELwGNVeKpNn06Ei-bVV2pG9IZ4PagW0HkUtClfuH9KZ8_wIpur_MaYQOrdzs2gz0iC8rDe_ObLnfdii2Mu70dhebRQH-KP-M3mOL4NyKESITo_0TOph6/s1600/Karaoke+013.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUoM7ysvPLZ7jciPtVI7ekKCVELwGNVeKpNn06Ei-bVV2pG9IZ4PagW0HkUtClfuH9KZ8_wIpur_MaYQOrdzs2gz0iC8rDe_ObLnfdii2Mu70dhebRQH-KP-M3mOL4NyKESITo_0TOph6/s320/Karaoke+013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476186672942812610" border="0" /></a><br />Now, being the great blogger I am, I realize that people would not be pleased with only pictures so I decided to throw my remaining pride I had to the wind and post it.<br /><br />It is dark and I'm sorry that you can't see that well...such is life!<br /><br /><object style="background-image: url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/jYl5Zqb9aIo/hqdefault.jpg);" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jYl5Zqb9aIo&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jYl5Zqb9aIo&hl=en_US&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Number 7 is done!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-69453120117656863902010-05-21T19:34:00.008-04:002010-05-21T23:18:07.562-04:00Number 15Do something 100% selfless...oh gosh<br /><br />This task on the list was one of the few that after adding I thought to myself "why do you hate yourself?" In theory, it is great. I would love to be selfless all the time or atleast more than once a summer, but then it started dawning on me what exactly that entailed. Doing something 100% selfless is doing something to help someone without any expectation of return or any personal reasons. Well, seeing as though I was attempting to do this to mark it off my list, I knew this already messed me up because I was doing it to accomplish something for myself. I was screwed!<br /><br />On top of this, I struggled with the fact that even if by some remote chance I felt as though I accomplished this task, how would I write about it? If I blogged exactly what I did, it would be bragging almost and totally go against the entire point. I struggled with this one for a really long time. I talked to my family and continued asking for advice. It was at this time my sister reminded me of a very special episode of my favorite show. FRIENDS.<br /><br />I am not sure how many avid fans of FRIENDS read my blog but if by chance you are one, perhaps you remember this episode. I cannot specifically remember the entire plot, but it involves Phoebe attempting to do a selfless act. Joey then argues with her that there is no possible way that it can be done. Throughout the show Phoebe trys to do selfless acts but continues receiving something in return. She eventually has this discussion with her peeps.<br /><object style="background-image: url(http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/3dna8VzQoUg/hqdefault.jpg);" width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3dna8VzQoUg&hl=en_US&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3dna8VzQoUg&hl=en_US&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I FELT!<br /><br />After battling with what I was going to do, I finally just gave up and decided that maybe something would happen and it would all work out.<br /><br />Here is where it gets kind of interesting...<br /><br />I am going to give a short summary of what happened and why I am crossing this off the list. I am not going to give any specifics and am honestly going to try to keep it as vague as possible. In all honesty, I feel stupid writing about it because it is personal and I don't feel like I need to "brag" about it, however, I knew it wouldn't be fair to just cross it off without any explanation. So here it goes...<br /><br />This week has been a crazy week. I feel like I have grown up a lot especially within one certain circumstance.<br /><br />Earlier this week one of my friends had a very personal situation occur. It was a very intense and I was put in a position I never had been in before. This person needed me to do some favors for them and encourage and support them during a difficult time. I love this person and am very close to them so of course I agreed without any hesitation. I was thinking nothing of this list at all. Throughout the week, the issue has continued to be dealt with and I've been there for for the person as best I could.<br /><br />After the situation that one day, I was filling my brother in on everything and he stops while I am telling him the story and says, "Dude, you just did something 100% selfless. Cross it off!"<br /><br />It was in that moment that my jaw just kind of dropped. At first, I just wrote it off but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was probably right (or at least the closest I would get).<br /><br />I really hope this doesn't make me sound bad or boastful because that was not the intention at all. I would never even have thought about using said scenario if an outside person hadn't stopped and told me that this was my number 15.<br /><br />I am sorry there are no pictures or anything extravagant. Obviously, I am protecting someone's identity and it's not like I was preparing for any of this.<br /><br />I know that this task put a lot of things into perspective for me. Sometimes it is so easy to just be focused on everything in your own life that it is hard to step back and look around at the people around you. I feel naive that it took a stupid task to make me realize how often I can act selfish. I'm hoping that through this, I can learn to put myself second and really focus on others more.<br /><br />I am marking number 15 off!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-22119019837042121282010-05-18T22:07:00.006-04:002010-05-19T11:45:25.964-04:00Number 6Another one bites the dust...<br /><br />Sooo this one was a harder decision than I would have thought. I watch a lot of tv and am addicted to a lot of shows. Every show I have a desire to watch, i do. So when it came to watch a whole season, I was stumped. It was just when I was about to head to blockbuster to just scan the shelves that I remembered something. My brother's roommate (Trey) had some seasons of Dawson's Creek.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVRztAowLF7nAPfQuYotATKCaRjsiTaMfRS3jCZuzUVHbgiSHTS68x6x_MdGWvgE7SfGrvQsldUUfK7j4GW0kf3rgT7m4KTOUuVtJgeueNHL8BJXefT3-E3OoZZHyw4fRbxR0HSPK45yN/s1600/dawsons-creek.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVRztAowLF7nAPfQuYotATKCaRjsiTaMfRS3jCZuzUVHbgiSHTS68x6x_MdGWvgE7SfGrvQsldUUfK7j4GW0kf3rgT7m4KTOUuVtJgeueNHL8BJXefT3-E3OoZZHyw4fRbxR0HSPK45yN/s320/dawsons-creek.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472806249325820738" border="0" /></a><br />I am not sure what you all know about Dawson's but I knew very little. It was airing in the late 90s so I was about eight or nine, aka not what I would have been watching at the time. I asked my favorite brother in the world if he would see if Trey would let me borrow a season, and low and behold he did!<br /><br />Now, this summer I'm working, going to play practice, and working on this blog (trust me it is a lot more work than you'd think), so I was so confused to when the heck I would do all this. It was then that my brother informed that he was probably going to be spending the weekend at the house since his gf, Whitney, is in Italy for a few weeks studying abroad. Knowing that he was going to be pitiful, I decided we would have a hardcore Dawson's marathon. I'd keep him company and he'd help me mark this off my list, everyone wins! ANDDDD it was filmed in Wilmington which just makes it a bigger win!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFsA00v-R_z4s_f9AxHL8RONOR4S7D2eZ2jaJB6Vu1P4C4u768xfQYqRbgI74C9KtsmaCZmYcqTaK1rrw9QQUZCV94w7PL_YlsDyKek54JS47m6hN3Q5drJyxRWZFW4olnoXbjcLZqjzK/s1600/062.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFsA00v-R_z4s_f9AxHL8RONOR4S7D2eZ2jaJB6Vu1P4C4u768xfQYqRbgI74C9KtsmaCZmYcqTaK1rrw9QQUZCV94w7PL_YlsDyKek54JS47m6hN3Q5drJyxRWZFW4olnoXbjcLZqjzK/s320/062.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472801824583580674" border="0" /></a><br />Soo Friday night rolls around and we pop it in. I know very little about Dawson's. All I know is 1. Katie Holmes is in it. 2. They have a freaking awesome theme song...or so I thought.<br /><br />We started the first episode and I was expecting to hear/see this...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raGFI8pUau0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raGFI8pUau0</a><br /><br />BUT NO...freaking after season 1 and 2 they changed the theme. Oh well, life goes on. I was depressed<br /><br />John and I went hardcore all Friday and a lot of Saturday. Sadly, he went home and I was forced to finish alone on Sunday and Monday. I am done though and enjoyed it for the most part. The show is a classic teen drama only with a lot of 90's attire and oldies music attached.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-HV-2lYGVQUnUSvZs1d0Cc-jwcJYNF0foUo2fJ4fAYlCqLbBX8AY_DrVWWuQJfKxy6FpXOkl4WrXtu9kAByhDptDEigw9slqM60bHr6rs_z98YOcsXGmAWdj_y5PNU6a5_gbA4w91E_U/s1600/059.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-HV-2lYGVQUnUSvZs1d0Cc-jwcJYNF0foUo2fJ4fAYlCqLbBX8AY_DrVWWuQJfKxy6FpXOkl4WrXtu9kAByhDptDEigw9slqM60bHr6rs_z98YOcsXGmAWdj_y5PNU6a5_gbA4w91E_U/s320/059.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472802441128167234" border="0" /></a>Glad to have another one finished. My summer is starting to pick up!<br /><br />Comments are appreciated and encouraging! Don't give up on me, I know sometimes there are breaks in between for awhile but I have a lot of "in the process" ones.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"I don't want to wait, for our lives to be over..."-Dawson's Creek</span>Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-49846768193083265092010-05-11T22:38:00.000-04:002010-05-11T23:43:28.630-04:00Number 17<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CQUjKWm1NOjMmvzTvBapTWDaAsyFPFdFh_IUOYoA9PMqCwPJ0Q5t3UurEkeaYARiZzSX2eBu6n0jU2PiBH8KpwBp6QYLrBAkM2NIdwcoQIGEZ53XT5ha4hbrd0ZUbp74ZnDMYyn4CR4T/s1600/ghosthunters_logo-746059.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 125px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7CQUjKWm1NOjMmvzTvBapTWDaAsyFPFdFh_IUOYoA9PMqCwPJ0Q5t3UurEkeaYARiZzSX2eBu6n0jU2PiBH8KpwBp6QYLrBAkM2NIdwcoQIGEZ53XT5ha4hbrd0ZUbp74ZnDMYyn4CR4T/s320/ghosthunters_logo-746059.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470218031747691490" border="0" /></a><br />This has been a pretty good week so far! I have already crossed off two tasks. Ok, so let me fill you in on my ghost hunting adventure.<br /><br />Soooo Monday night I was at Barnes and Noble helping a friend of mine study for an exam when I got the brilliant idea to go ahead and try to knock this one off the list. I texted my friend Marie and she said she was game and then we decided to invite our other friend Isley. We decided we would leave around 10ish.<br /><br />I went back to my house and did some preparatory work. I only knew of two places I had heard of that were haunted at all. The first was acid park. I looked it up on the internet, found the legend and directions, and then we set off! We made a rule that no music could be on during the car ride there (it is in wilson if anyone wanted to know) and that we would tell scary stories the whole way.<br /><br />After about 30 minutes into the drive, I ways already freaked out because we were driving and no one was around and it was going on 11. We had told a million scary stories so then I figured it would be time to fill the girls on "the legend" (I had previously withheld the information until we were close enough to get really freaked out). I'm going to use my handy dandy copy and paste to show everyone the summary of the legend...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8UGQPeFkmaKSrz8ES8OINA5xEpk4Lhetph4FRXLOGSvx8kc6J4_YEdXS7RkgvnKNrZYBMQGgSeLpww-T4S_3l4cdxn7PEo67z4Kd2rQBb7Vcpisch6fbZQSpBVik55O5_hIcN8l_GxDV/s1600/DSC04583.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8UGQPeFkmaKSrz8ES8OINA5xEpk4Lhetph4FRXLOGSvx8kc6J4_YEdXS7RkgvnKNrZYBMQGgSeLpww-T4S_3l4cdxn7PEo67z4Kd2rQBb7Vcpisch6fbZQSpBVik55O5_hIcN8l_GxDV/s320/DSC04583.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470212656694875554" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">On prom night, Carol Simpson and boyfriend decide to enjoy the night tripping on acid. Driving home, they approach the five-way intersection on Wiggins Mill Road. With the boyfriend driving at high speeds, the car turns the tricky corner, spins off the road and hits a nearby tree. The daughter dies instantly, but somehow the boyfriend survives and tells the father what happened and what he saw. Windmills now encompass the site of the accident, and were built for CarolSimpson posthumously. While Vollis Simpson's true inspiration of his creation is debated, the legend has it that Mr. Simpson created Acid Park, a collage of unique and unusual windmills and whirligigs, from the description of the boyfriend in his high state of mind. The park is filled with tiny little reflectors that give off an eerie glow when passed by car at night. Also, the car that was crashed that night still remains lodged in its place where it took a turn for the worst.</span><br /><br />Soo we read this and I began telling them about all the different things I had heard about going there...Apparently, some people had the dad of the daughter chase after them with a shotgun. Another person claims that the girl was by the car and telling them to "save her."<br /><br />Needless to say when we finally turn down the road around 11:15 we are terrified (I only remember the time because it was 11:11 and Marie said "make a wish" and I said "don't let us die"...slightly melodramatic, I know!) You travel down this old country road for like five minutes. It is pitch black and we are the only cars around. We finally come around a turn and start seeing all the mirrors and reflectors. As we get close we saw the tall windmills and mirrors covering everything. The headlights of the car bounce off them and everything is at once illuminated. It looked like a creepy run down carnival. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitr02N9_VbzXZammuxFfkfKYkEaRnISj0gniCIKfnLLiX9fbddkY9rt2ZE_Bt_F3m316Kh2MfMwmYsnvrNYrxR_7pTvTC8dmGyF00NwZc46jiSE7vpVtdTc9DkO9Hosgwp4BGMWAB5aue3/s1600/DSC04586.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitr02N9_VbzXZammuxFfkfKYkEaRnISj0gniCIKfnLLiX9fbddkY9rt2ZE_Bt_F3m316Kh2MfMwmYsnvrNYrxR_7pTvTC8dmGyF00NwZc46jiSE7vpVtdTc9DkO9Hosgwp4BGMWAB5aue3/s320/DSC04586.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470213287476928018" border="0" /></a>I began slowing down as we were passing to see if I could see the car that was crashed. I then remember reading that you had to go down a dirt path to find the car, so as I am slowing I see a dark opening and realize it has to be where the path is...of course at this point we are all shaking and so freaked out. Just as I am about to turn down the path, I think I see something moving and I slam on the accelerator and start screaming. Keep in mind that I am the man in the car so as soon as I lose my composure, it is all over. For probably about 10 seconds we all just screamed at the top of our lungs. It may or may not have been the most intense moment of my life.<br /><br />I'm realizing that this is getting rambly so I'll try to speed it up. We passed back and forth like 3 times before we actually got the courage to turn down the dirt path. At first, we didn't see the car but on the way back...there it was, smashed into a tree.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_H65o6azwHsYURU7ug4ls9FLyLe1iNoBPHqUvPfqjZjC1nzuXa54aTKg1KXkIuNHPrI6kyJz_0rAm3X_sq2J-z-wYB1fTlfPB3Id2PzEQywjDzrMH_JPZx12CvoGgrEBvTwrEW0MrGdPj/s1600/DSC04589.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_H65o6azwHsYURU7ug4ls9FLyLe1iNoBPHqUvPfqjZjC1nzuXa54aTKg1KXkIuNHPrI6kyJz_0rAm3X_sq2J-z-wYB1fTlfPB3Id2PzEQywjDzrMH_JPZx12CvoGgrEBvTwrEW0MrGdPj/s320/DSC04589.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470213968577937826" border="0" /></a><br />We freaked out kind of a lot. Isley and I wanted to get out and take a picture with it but at this point Marie was really scared and just kept saying "I want to go guys." We decided to just keep driving and pulled out on the main road and just took pics in front of the reflectors instead.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5QT-3INro-a2x8Nledb7LcQ6UkNle3DLrI42H5UX0xfNwwtpChJhL6zOX8mHh7a0rmgEIVJq1jgL32fq7g3_mJ7L3GVhhiL3ZHbLQ0UUzpuV-RVzU7UocN50QjeGq7cbaMJzxXmzBUfHX/s1600/DSC04585.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5QT-3INro-a2x8Nledb7LcQ6UkNle3DLrI42H5UX0xfNwwtpChJhL6zOX8mHh7a0rmgEIVJq1jgL32fq7g3_mJ7L3GVhhiL3ZHbLQ0UUzpuV-RVzU7UocN50QjeGq7cbaMJzxXmzBUfHX/s320/DSC04585.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470219683569424690" border="0" /></a>We were shaken and Isley was about to wet herself so we made a pit stop at some rundown gas station complete with a scary homeless man and a huge 18 wheeler (we were freaked out ok...ever seen the movie joyride?). Amidst our break we decided that we weren't going to give up on our ghost hunting yet and wanted to go to Pactolus Lights.<br /><br />To cut down on length i'll just say that it took us almost two hours to finally get where we were going. We got lost...a lot. Highway 30 is a tricky one to find. At this point it was about 1:30? We are crazy, I know. Here is "the legend" of the Pactolus Light for all interested.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The story begins sometime in the early 1900's. A young man rode his horse from Greenville to Pactolus. Pactolus is a small community east of Greenville. At this time, there was a train station in existence in the Pactolus community. The purpose of this trip was to surprise the young man's fiancee by meeting her train. Unfortunately, the train was extremely late this particular evening and the young man was soon alone in the dark. Of course, he really was not alone. His horse was very impressive and caught the attention of three men who were walking along the train tracks. They decided that this was a perfect opportunity to catch a ride rather than walk to their destination. The three men hid in the brush surrounding the train station and as the young man rode by, he was ambushed and killed. The three men hid his body in the thickness of the woods. However, the horse was frightened away and returned to Greenville two days later. The family feared the worse after the horse returned without his rider. They searched the train station and the surrounding area only to find nothing.The young man's ghost is seen walking beside the train tracks. The form he takes is a single light floating beside the tracks. Sometimes the light floats at waist level (as if he is walking beside his horse) and other times the light floats above the head, as if he is riding his horse). The young man uses the light to let his fiancee know that he was there to meet her.</span><br /><br />Soo we finally get to the road you are supposed to turn down and it is pitch black. At this point i'm about to have a nervous break down and Isley thankfully says she'll drive for me. So we go down the road and pull into the first dirt road. Park the car and flash the lights three times...nothing. We did this probably about 5 different times and different paths and nothing...the ghosts were not chilling in Pactolus.<br /><br />The weird things though weren't really the light but a few other strange occurrences. The first was when we first turned down the road, Isley was driving and a HUGE bird flew out and just kept flapping its wings, hovering just facing the car. We screamed...a lot. After that point all three of us were in the front seat. Don't let the happy faces deceive you...we were on the verge of losing it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0EigJ3DDA4DOdctsyWTU_L6vBXp6tlxYWfCkpiBUi0J_O4CX1SKs4hNQgDMFXMMq1EV7L50exMH7j1SXKev0Ym9cRCCbU8kKQNuW9F34IspBey8X3vASYSH7dWLmHDeS9nJM_4JZjhyphenhyphenw_/s1600/DSC04592.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0EigJ3DDA4DOdctsyWTU_L6vBXp6tlxYWfCkpiBUi0J_O4CX1SKs4hNQgDMFXMMq1EV7L50exMH7j1SXKev0Ym9cRCCbU8kKQNuW9F34IspBey8X3vASYSH7dWLmHDeS9nJM_4JZjhyphenhyphenw_/s320/DSC04592.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470216144202506930" border="0" /></a><br />Probably the weirdest thing that happened that night though was when we were actually trying to leave. The directions for the path had said that you pass a run down shack and some power lines...we remembered passing them a few times as we had gone back and forth across the road. However, on our last trip back, we couldn't find them. We looked everywhere for this little shack and it wasn't there anymore. Let's not forget that it was around 2 in the morning at this point and we could have been delirious but I promise that I looked at exactly where it was supposed to be and couldn't find it.<br /><br />I'm marking this off the list because although we may not have found any ghosts...it was definitely a terrifying experience and we had more than a few strange things happen. we got home around 3 healthy and thankfully alive!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SAd80qaDIwDpTQQgVs0m1uTBMkJNXxEA_BlIgI0RYtv4bRS8R-uJVifiljA2Bm4vtr874aFdliVEzWykadjHJqmqXTmyApc9t8BygZpG28tLyrjXpzA_y4eNlrFitk_GyY1JfsS-h2Z5/s1600/DSC04593.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4SAd80qaDIwDpTQQgVs0m1uTBMkJNXxEA_BlIgI0RYtv4bRS8R-uJVifiljA2Bm4vtr874aFdliVEzWykadjHJqmqXTmyApc9t8BygZpG28tLyrjXpzA_y4eNlrFitk_GyY1JfsS-h2Z5/s320/DSC04593.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470217860649416626" border="0" /></a>Five hours of ghost hunting, a million scary moments, an incredible memory.<br /><br />Number 17 can now be marked off.....cue The Twilight Zone musicJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-15882086197517371632010-05-10T18:51:00.001-04:002010-05-11T14:27:29.118-04:00Number 13Find and write to a pen pal...<br /><br />Ok, so let me start off by saying that this one was a lot harder than one may think. When I first put it on the list I thought it'd be a fun easy one to mark off. Then, as I started thinking about it more I decided that I wanted it to be an international pen pal. So then it struck me that it wasn't as simple as just writing a letter to a person.<br /><br />I started on this task probably about a week ago. I began by cruising around on the internet and googling every possible thing I could think of. Most of the sites just wanted you to e-mail with people across the world and I was not interested in that. The others wanted you to pay money and they would go through some long application process to match you with a perfectly compatible pen pal. So, I finally found one site and registered for it!<br /><br />A few days later I went on it and you could search through countries and different ages to write to people. The only problem then was most people didn't put up their address. Alas, I found two people who had up their addresses and found a third to give me a mailing address.<br /><br />Today I sat down and wrote the letters. The first one was to Mary. She lives in Greece. The second was to Alexandra and she lives in Russia. The third was to Sanjog and he lives in India.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfVt4aNWpJxjizs3BMo-A_Prc9V9aYmtSp-etlpHkg3k_Cxhjhley8Lf2s6tUbDhjm6DVO5ayABG5C5W6zySrgfaJANNqYA1TmnoXhT_qHLky6IKV0twvci8WpL6UoP60Xoif2A53xwNK/s1600/IMG00107-20100510-1222.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfVt4aNWpJxjizs3BMo-A_Prc9V9aYmtSp-etlpHkg3k_Cxhjhley8Lf2s6tUbDhjm6DVO5ayABG5C5W6zySrgfaJANNqYA1TmnoXhT_qHLky6IKV0twvci8WpL6UoP60Xoif2A53xwNK/s320/IMG00107-20100510-1222.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469781614639773602" border="0" /></a><br />I wrote them all letters and told them what I was doing and even gave the blog site address so they could come look at it. If any of you guys are reading this please leave a comment, that'd be awesome!<br /><br />I went to the post office (because apparently for international mailing you have to do that...nobody tells me anything) and mailed them away.<br /><br />Now, i'm crossing this off my list because in all honesty, I cannot control whether or not any of them write back. I would love for all of them to but it's out of my hands. I've done my part and just hope that I will hear back from them!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP68sTj9gT4E2-WTz7vC6-xr2Z0ICWHi17fGwC74Vp2IOsPeT1rsoFUJSsw_TdeSw9GCOeJsbbCnwuzoHf3A9bXMwA5ydv8qxwYrkfwIkeP7Psroj3ZcTStBAdtXhknLB3OtsmrJW96cl/s1600/IMG00116-20100510-1228.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP68sTj9gT4E2-WTz7vC6-xr2Z0ICWHi17fGwC74Vp2IOsPeT1rsoFUJSsw_TdeSw9GCOeJsbbCnwuzoHf3A9bXMwA5ydv8qxwYrkfwIkeP7Psroj3ZcTStBAdtXhknLB3OtsmrJW96cl/s320/IMG00116-20100510-1228.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469781290042073458" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In other news...I know I hadn't updated in awhile but it's not because i've forgotten. I am working on quite a few of the other tasks doing research or taking steps to complete them! Don't give up because i'm really working to finish them all!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-53438764017315552162010-05-04T22:50:00.000-04:002010-05-04T23:02:58.110-04:00Number 21...and so my summer begins!<br /><br />Exams are done which is the best thing that has happened to me in a while. I'm stoked to be done with classes and get on with summer/the list.<br /><br />First item crossed (ish?) off my list is "Be in a play." I am not gonna lie I kind of cheated on this one because I was cast before my summer officially started but oh well get over it. I am going to be juror 5 in 12 Angry Men! Rehearsals started this week and are going very well. I'd like to officially cross this off but won't until the play opens.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58zKxFLk7LAcnhlqbfTwR28eu6I5kRGVHHUt7WxbrY-lJXibwca4mPobG4YkCzfbxR4pMOJIvFloUVKkL_h_hrCI1AIv0ldfKvhSSSV6BGNAczHMn-hNYq0q0xDUyPtIQv5YLFZpp_60y/s1600/IMG00103-20100504-2245.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58zKxFLk7LAcnhlqbfTwR28eu6I5kRGVHHUt7WxbrY-lJXibwca4mPobG4YkCzfbxR4pMOJIvFloUVKkL_h_hrCI1AIv0ldfKvhSSSV6BGNAczHMn-hNYq0q0xDUyPtIQv5YLFZpp_60y/s320/IMG00103-20100504-2245.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467614269271602130" border="0" /></a><br />I also was cast in Harvey! Rehearsals for that go up once 12 is over, around the beginning of July. I feel like in theory I should get to cross off two items if i'm going to be in two plays but apparently that's not how it works...(says myself?)<br /><br />Excited to be working on one of the bigger tasks and have plans to start on a few others soon.<br /><br />Wish me luck and hope you're enjoying the first days of summer!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155654837469948129.post-75993062050690163242010-05-02T22:01:00.000-04:002010-05-02T22:19:36.797-04:00(25) Days of Summer ExplanationFor awhile now I've been <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">contemplating</span> what I was going to do this summer. My first year of college I felt like I grew up so much (not necessarily a bad thing) and fell into a routine of work and school so quickly. With this in mind, I decided that I wanted to do something a little different this summer than just continue on in a day-to-day routine. That is why I have created this blog. I thought up the idea a few weeks ago randomly and for some reason I haven't been able to get it out of my head. I decided to make a list of 25 things I wanted to get done this summer that would be fun, exciting, and spontaneous. My blog is a combination of (500) Days of Summer (hence the name), The Buried Life (except alone, in Greenville, and more PG-rated-ish? aka no playboy parties), and The Bucket List (without the whole dying part).<br /><br />Some items on the list are going to be very easy to accomplish while others are going to take some planning and research. Who knows if I will get all of them done or not, and in reality that is not the point. The point of all of this is to set a map for this summer to memorable and exciting. I am going to do my best on getting every task done as best as I can. The blog is going to be updated anytime I have either crossed off one of the items or have made progress towards crossing one off. It is not, however, going to be used just to blabber on about my life.<br /><br />Tuesday, May 4 2010 is my first day of summer and that is when this blog will officially begin. Hopefully, I will be able to start soon after and begin knocking things out. When able, I will take pictures of me accomplishing tasks, but if not you will just have to take my word for it.<br /><br />I'm excited to start and hope I can stay motivated! Feel free to leave comments with any suggestions in regards to the tasks, or for encouragement!<br /><br />Thanks guys!Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04945784865774663966noreply@blogger.com5