I feel like I should blog again some more.

I think I need to catch you up on my life, and all its many twists and turns.

Number one: College. Many of my younger viewers may ask, "Why, Clayton, how's college?" Of course, now I think about it, many of my older viewers and viewers within my peer group may be wondering the same thing. And my answer to you is: College is great! Here's a flash of my typical Samford week:

Sunday: Wake up, 8:30ish. Why I am up this early after likely staying up until one or two reading Harry Potter or watching college football highlights is beyond me. There is a knock on the door and there is a friend who I arranged to take me to church. The church in question is massive, as are many of the Baptist churches around Birmingham. The service was nothing remarkable, and then was Sunday School. I have not attended a Sunday School session outside of HFUMC since, oh I don't know, eight or ten years ago, probably. It was a very enjoyable experience, I think I might go back just for the Sunday School hour sometime. Arrive back on campus around 12:30, grab some lunch in the caf, then back to the room for an afternoon of NFL football. That's basically what Sunday consists of every week. Lots of football. Then to sleep for class.

Monday: My first class, JMC 200, begins at 10:30. I wake up at about 9 or 9:15, hop in the shower, head to the food court for a chick-fil-a biscuit breakfast, and head on over to class. Take some notes, fight some sleep, and then to Latin. Much of the same, although instead of the "take some notes" part, it's more "try to figure out what in the heck this thing means". Latin ends at 12:50, and that's class on Monday. After Latin, I hit up the caf for lunch, and head back to the room. Once back in the room, I open facebook (which will remain open long into the night), check emails, and get whatever work I have to get done. Today I'll get all my laundry done. I'm thirsty, so I walk to the mini-fridge and pull out a can of Canada Dry Ginger Ale. On this particular Monday afternoon, I pull up the 104.5 The Zone radio broadcast online, because Randy Moss is holding his first media meeting as a Tennessee Titan. I listen to 3hourlunch until 3, and then turn on the TV to NFLNetwork. I throw on my freshly-laundered band t-shirt, a pair of socks, and some tennis shoes, and head over to the band room. I then catch a ride to the gym because I'm playing for the basketball game. I play some music, shout a lot, and eat some pizza. Four hours later, I go back to the room, where I'll play on the computer, watch TV, and do some reading until I fall asleep at about midnight.

On Tuesday, I have one class. However, I am determined to make Convo this morning, even if I sleep through it. I get a can of lemonade from the room, and a chicken biscuit from the food court (I'm trying hard to cut down on my Bulldog Buck spending, I'm fast running out from my Chick-fil-A consumption), and head over to Reid Chapel for the Convocation. Today's convo speaker was surprisingly interesting, a United Methodist clergywoman and yet another great storyteller. Having not gotten my nap or the last four pages of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in, I go to my Tuesday/Thursday class, CP. I get that essay back that I slaved over on the previous Wednesday night. "This is surprisingly well-written," I find Dr. Putt has written on it. "First semester freshmen usually do not write this well. I even suspected plagiarism at first because it is so clearly written! Excellent work!" This brightens up my day immensely, even more than my first convo credit in two or more weeks did. I take about a page-full of notes about Gothic architecture and culture, and then we get out of class at around noon or 12:15. I head straight to the caf for lunch this day, and then after chilling back in the room for a couple of hours, go to band practice. It's our first Christmas band practice, and as I note to the facebook world, "I am fully aware of the irony of the fact that we're practicing Christmas music, and I'm wearing a tshirt and flip flops." The music is different, and moderately challenging. After dinner, I come back to the room, and Patrick is watching the new 30 for 30 film on ESPN about former superstar running back Marcus Dupree. It's a nice little piece, and I enjoyed it. After that, I make sure everything's ready for my Wednesday classes, read some Harry Potter, and go to sleep.

Wednesday is the day I buy my Harry Potter tickets. There's some finagling with Fandango, but eventually everything works out and I'm ready to go. Both of my Wendesday classes included getting tests back. My JMC grade, though not stellar, is still a solid B, which I will take. In Latin, I was expecting bad things from the test, but I end up earning a similar B. While in Latin, unbeknownst to me, there is a bit of a flash-mob rave dance in the caf in order to advertise tomorrow night's freshman class rave. Sadly, I miss it. After lunch, I head to the library to put in a couple hours of work-study time. In the end, I am not able to continue, and I end up staying for only an hour and a quarter. Dinner is yet another caf affair, and I return to the room with just enough time to watch yesterday's episodes of both Glee and NCIS. After my hour and a half of online TV dosage, I head to my small group meeting. It's a particularly good group meeting for me, and I do a little more reading before I go to sleep.

Thursday is a triumphant morning. For the first time in over a month, I am able to wake up in time to get to the caf for breakfast! I also make it to Convo, which is a very nap-worthy lecture about the church in China. Perhaps it goes too long, for I am still in a lethargic state when CP rolls around. The Renaissance is the topic of this class, and it goes until about 12:10, I think. I go back to the room for a 30-minute power nap (haven't had a good one of those in a while, either...) and then lunch in the caf. An hour and a half after I get done with lunch, and it's band practice time again. I'm not really feeling too well during practice, but I manage, and suffer through a small dinner just to keep my appetite regular. By the time I get ready to go to the aforementioned rave, I'm feeling much better and ready for a fun night of dancing. Well, except for the fact that after about forty-five minutes of constant jumping and moving, etc, I felt like my lungs were about to explode, so I headed back to the dorm for a couple puffs of the asthma inhaler and I was generally back to normal. Great dance, then I feel like staying up even later to get in some Harry Potter reading. I decide that I'm not even going to eat breakfast Friday morning, as I only have one one-hour class that day. I go to sleep, exhausted from an exciting day.

On Friday, I stumble out of bed a little before ten, take a shower, and find my way to my JMC class. It's a nice lesson about cable, I jot down a few key points, and class ends. I head to the caf, and have about an hour-and-a-half long lunch (not so much eating as the social aspect of lunch in the caf). After lunch, I spend a while in the room, before choosing to throw in a little bit of work-study in the library before it closes at 5. After I finish in the library, I run into Corey and Clayton playing frisbee. I play with them for a while, and then we all three head up to the caf for dinner. There we meet the likes of Patrick and Josiah, and after a nice evening meal, we decide to head up to the volleyball game, Senior night, at the gym. We are joined by Jamieson and Red Sea points leader Throck (it's a nickname, his last name's Throckmorton). We watch the volleyball girls fall to Georgia Southern 3 sets to 1, but in a valiant effort nonetheless. Some fingerfoods follow, and then Patrick and I so choose to head back to the room and chill for the rest of the night. I find myself, once again, in the midst of a very good Harry Potter Book (Goblet of Fire, which I've been working on the majority of the week) before going to bed once again.

Saturday gets a late start from me. I wake up shortly before 11, shower, watch some college football, and then head to the caf for brunch. There are some conspiracies regarding a birthday party, and I head back to the room. Corey comes in, I end up taking a run to Taco Bell with him and Zach. After we get back and while we are consuming our Taco Bell, Jamieson enters, detailing us about a certain prank to go down. I spend a large part of my afternoon on that effort after my weekly phone call to the parentals. After dinner, I anxiously await the next step of the prank, but we are foiled by someone close to a victim. I have a nice facebook conversation with this un-named source, and find myself compromised somewhat in the war of pranks that is happening throughout Samford. I suppose it feels a little like when countries entered the World Wars a while after they started. I await my just rewards. Meanwhile, I watch the fourth Harry Potter movie, and end up having to stop after a while, because it is so horrendous. I then watch the South Carolina-Florida and Alabama-Mississippi State games before catching the ridiculously awful ending of the fourth Harry Potter movie. Around this point, Patrick returns from the dorm lobby, and we watch SNL and some football and basketball highlights before he calls it a night and I turn to this, my blog.

Well, that's a sample week. Now that you know that, I'll just go on about some trivial stuff...

1. CUPCAKES. And I'm not talking about that thing that looks like a muffin but is much better. I'm talking about teams, like Louisiana-Monroe, like Georgia State, like the University of freaking Notre Dame, that college football teams play two, three, seven games against each season. Those ones that scream "easy win, let's get in here, play a little ball, throw our bench in, and get the hell out of here" on the schedule. It disgusts me. Every team in the SEC has played at least three, and while I'm a big fan of the SEC, I think they need to play easy-win teams that are a little more competitive by name, like Big Ten and ACC schools. Those of you that have been following all my crazy facebook action know my obsession with cupcakes and their complete lack of benefit.

2. We've got Randy freaking Moss!!!! Thats right, boys and girls, Randy's a Titan. Get excited, it's going to be a great ride in Nashville for the second half of the season, and--dare I say it?--playoffs?!?

3. Oh, I gots me a youtube channel now! You can find me at http://www.youtube.com/user/churdle76. I may or may not eventually be posting videos, but it's really just a thing for me to use for comments or liking videos or stuff like that.

4. And I've also gots me a tweeter!! Although I myself am not a twit, and do not tweet, I felt like I should get a twitty-thing to follow some other twits that like tweeting. So if you want me to add you to my followees, tweet me up @churdle76. If you want to add yourself to my followers (or, as I prefer, twitstalkers), just do whatever you do to follow a twitty type by searching the same tweetie-name.

5. What else, what else? Oh, I'm annoyed by Christmas coming before and above Thanksgiving again, I'm in the middle of a little No-Shave November action, and I get some more money in the bank this week. Also, my midseason NFL Picks are as thus: Titans, Texans, Colts, Jaguars AFC South; Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals AFC North; Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos AFC West; Jets, Patriots, Dolphins, Bills AFC East; Falcons, Saints, Bucs, Panthers NFC South; Packers, Vikings, Bears, Lions NFC North; Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, Niners NFC West; Giants, Eagles, Redskins, Cowboys, NFC East. Playoff seedings will be Jets, Steelers, Titans, Chiefs, Ravens, Texans in the AFC; Giants, Falcons, Packers, Rams, Eagles, Saints in the NFC. Wild Card games: Titans over Texans, Ravens over Chiefs, Packers over Saints, Eagles over Rams. Divisional games: Ravens over Jets, Titans over Steelers, Eagles over Giants, Packers over Falcons. Conference championships: Ravens over Titans (you don't know how much it hurts me to say that), Eagles over Packers. To keep to my original pick of Super Bowl Champion, Ravens over Eagles.

Oh, last but not least, congrats to the San Francisco Giants for bringing home the World Series championship for the first time since your west coast move over fifty years ago.

That's it for now, folks, I'll be back with more action sometime later.

-clayton

"I like your beard"

Yeah, too bad I shaved it.

Our next blog---one I’m just rolling with, I might have you know---will encompass moving, transition, and “New Directions” (not the McKinley Glee Club).

So, yeah, there’s been some crazy stuff going on this past month.

Guess really it all started a while ago, one could argue as soon as my great-great-great-great-great grandparents were conceived. (OK, I’m stretching it a little.) But anyway, I’m entering a rather exciting and interesting time in my life. And there’s lots and lots of change going on for that. In addition, on the homefront there’s been some major disruption of normal life, so to speak. We’ll just rock with it, and maybe there’s a moral at the end that I’ll come to.

So. Let’s start with the personal (It’s all rather personal, but we’re talking me being the person with the greatest effect). I’m in the process right now of moving into the other “slave” (aka not master) bedroom. I now live in the smallest bedroom in the house, and I’ve still got all the clutter of the last room (which is really what I should be working on instead of this blog, but, you know…). It’s also starting to hit me that I’m leaving Htown for the bright lights and rolling hills of Birmingham in only two weeks. I’ve been worried about when and how I’m going to get everything done that needs to be done before then, but now I’m stopping and thinking how much I’m going to miss everyone here. It really was a great run, and a blessing to have such great friends here. That kinda sorta brings me to my next paragraph.

So, it’s been an interesting month or so for the youth of HFUMC. When we got back from choir tour (a really falsely dramatic trip. Like, it wasn’t even funny how petty all these people’s “drama” was), Tiffany, our director, was fired. In this exact same meeting that they got rid of Tif, they told Gavin, our youth director, that he had ten days to make improvements, and after apparently changing their minds and not even seeing the improvements Gavin made, fired him the next Thursday. So, the church is in a bit of a transition as well. We are all trying to figure this situation out, and (this is strictly in my opinion) clinging to the past when we need to move on. It’s human nature, we can’t be blamed for it, but either way. So it’s tough. I’ve got a boatload to say about it; if you know me and are interested in what I have to say, feel free to call, email, or fb message me (there’s too much for text message).

But, yeah, it’s been strange. We’re all going in a bit of a different way now. I have faith it’ll all turn out for the better, because that’s just one of the things I believe fully.

Wow, that was intense. Cool. Well, on to more exciting things. Like, maybe some sports.

-c

hmmm...well I said I'd be getting back to this...

Oh well, a lot's gone on in the past two months.

First, I graduated (yay). That was pretty sweet.

The birds flew the coop within about two weeks. But it was fun watching them while they were here.

Chicago won the Stanley Cup, and nobody cared.

Christopher was in Grease, and did a phenomenal job.

VY got in a bit of an altercation while I was at Orientation. And CJ still needs to sign a contract.

The college football world began a conference shakeup, with Nebraska going to the Big Ten, and the Pac-10 taking away Colorado. Now the Big ten has 12, and the Big 12 has ten...confusing.

Choir tour was absolutely Gleeful and amazing. Will never forget the experience, or the new TV musical comedy addiction.

Went to an Astros-Giant game. Tim Lincecum beat Roy Oswalt in a 3-1 pitchers' duel.

I got texting. Pretty sweet.

LA won the NBA championship again. They beat my Celtics in a very intense series.

The Red Sox got over their April slump and are looking at the AL Wild Card spot if the season ended today.

Lebron James signed with the Heat. Hmmm...about time for football season, right?

Just got done with VBS. Great week, good fun.

Also, the fam is doing well with our flood recovery downstairs renovation.

I'll blog separately about a couple of these.

Get ready, cause here we go.

-cth

a very thought-provoking video...

in my drive group, we've been watching the movie "everything is spiritual" a rob bell video. I'm going to try to post it all from youtube not sure if its got all of it. be sure you have two hours to committ to watching before you start. my apologies for the spanish subtitles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFlkJkYNpNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpaYNeScbJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9E4gzbfPtw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G9CtaqxojU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgwwG8M8Lxg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkmBJmhmHww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=165CCqzEFkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM9QCay7BGI

That's all of them.

it's been a while...

happy march everyone! there's some stuff I want to talk about today...mainly sports, but hopefully some more important stuff too...

firstly, congratulations, william hayes, you're the titans' new starting defensive tackle! i think he'll do fine filling the hole left by albert haynesworth, who i'm still having trouble seeing in a redskins uni. cutlers mad at the broncos for trying to trade him for cassel, who the pats franchised away to the chiefs. speaking of franchised, the titans are still waiting to sign bo scaife, but as we all know by now, "wait" is mike riendfelt's favorite word during free agency.



in my top five list, we've resigned collins but lost haynesworth and brandon jones. we have not got anyone from anywhere else. so we're just losing players. what is mike riendfelts problem!?!?!?



so anyway, what else was i gonna talk about?



my life is pretty crazy right now...school, church, scouts, you know, the normal times about four. i actually have homework now, and i'm getting more piled on every night. it's not really good, especially since i enjoy putting stuff off as long as i can. latin and precalc are the big ones. hopefully i'll get it all taken care of soon.

just finished the latin outline...waiting for the printer to work...and for itunes genius to update...

so i should talk about all the stuff going on at church...everyone's getting excited about safe sanctuaries...well...mostly everyone. drive group's dwindling at best and once the policy's in place we will be in jeopardy of not existing at all. choir's getting to be easier than it's been in a while because we're just singing songs from five and six years ago which i already know for the most part, and because i'm getting alot better at reading, that helps too.

speaking of reading, i'm doing the pit orchestra for hello dolly @ jpII. the music is really easy, once i figured out, "hey, i'm playing in like six songs. and they're all in C# so i'm basically playing everything sharp. wow this is lame. but fun!" i did all county last weekend (was it really just last weekend?) and i'm ready for more extracurricular sax!

i alluded to something i did recently in the last paragraph, and practically alluded to another. the first would be all county the second (though not chronilogically) is bye bye birdie.

all county was extremely fun. there was alot of inside jokes that me christopher and brionna allude to twice or three times daily during band class. andrea also went, but she skipped out of band this semester to take accounting. swagger was a big inside joke, and so was the first chair tuba/downbeat/etc. oh and justin.

secondly, christopher and dad were in bye bye birdie last month and i was at six of the thirteen showings of it, i think most of any non-cast member, musician or director, other than mother. it was a really good show everyone who missed it missed a good one.

i don't think i've had a post yet this year...i lost my job and dad is officially unemployed as of last night so the economy's hitting us hard.

other than that, life's pretty much the same...

well consider this blog over.

later,

-cth

and another blog...

starting off...i'm pumped that the phillies will be winning the world series tonight. it serves the devils right for beating boston. also, code blue tonight for the titans game! i'm already wearing my light blue polo/long sleeve tshirt combo at school. calico jersey's going on as soon as i get home. GO TITANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! biggest game in titans history since super bowl xxxiv. only this time we're gonna DOMINATE!!!!!

so my weekend consisted of this
schs lost on a last second failed two-point conversion
vandy got smoked by duke (sure, it was only 10-7, but that's getting smoked when you play duke as badly as vandy did)
ut got destroyed (which i didn't really mind, they're not ranked, and bama's better anyway)
and some random nfl stuff

so really, all either disappointing or merely trivial games. didn't even care that i was watching the london game...didn't realize that that was this week anyway...guess it's always raining there...cause it was a pretty sloppy game last year too if i remember correctly. commish goodell wants a nfl team in europe i disagree...eight teams would have to travel oversees one week and one team would have to travel overseas eight weeks. so i dont think thats a great idea...sorry comish.

fall fest at church yesterday...nothing too extravagant, but i liked it nonetheless. think i forgot to mention in my last blog that i'm not too excited about the choir tour show this year, and we STILL don't know where we are going on tour! we performed a really cheesy song from vbs yesterday during the service...everyone in the congregation loved it...i can't stand it. but anyway, this week's gonna be normal outside of the game tonight...i'll get another blog out thursday maybe....

-cth

a blocked punt! to beat the cowboys in overtime! and other football stuff

to start off, I CAN'T BELIEVE that VANDERBILT lost to MISSISSIPPI STATE!!!!!!!!!!!! that and the red sox going up 1-0 over tampa in the alcs were the only news i had this weekend, thanks to being in the middle of nowhere at an amazing retreat (more to come on that). so anyway, po'd in one way, elated in the other. after the vandy game, the next football i got was at 1:30 pm sunday...cause i fell asleep while i was unpacking...so i watched a bit of indy destroying the ravens...and then the new york titans (still cant get over brett favre in navy and gold) defeating the woebegone (retreat memory!!!) cincinnati bengals 26-14. here's what marv lewis was telling his boys in the fourth quarter:

ok, we're only down six points. the other team's driving...lets' hold 'em to nothing defense, but don't use any timeouts cause we'll need them later..."

after the titan's td:

"well, we're down twelve now, but we can still come back...just don't use more than one timeout...cause we'll need them later..."

for what? the week 10 bye???? neway, enough for that game.

next game: falcons-bears.

just another reason the bears aren't playoff-worthy again...yet. they should've been defending all the receivers double-teamed but jenkins was able to get the catch made and out of bounds with one second left. and then more elam heroics...but really that's commonplace now...bottom line: good game, fantastic ending, and can't wait to see the falcons make the playoffs (whenever they do). matt ryan is the new face of the falcons franchise. he's a better player and person than mike vick.

texans-dolphins.

matt shaub is the best qb to ever play for the houston texans. not only did he set a passing record for the texans, but he got the game winning score rushing. pretty sweet. good game again.

cowboys-cardinals.

awesome ending! and that play in the first quarter where romo lost the ball after being called down...totally a fumble. whatever the refs were thinking was wrong. so that was sweet

rams-redskins.

congrats rams on your first win. firing linehan was probably the best move they've made for a while.

red sox

game 3 of the alcs tonight. series tied 1-1 time to come home to boston. can't wait to see my boys win it all. go red sox!!!!!

retreat

it was awesome. started out friday evening celebrating joes' big 6-oh. connecting with friends was great. then we had a good night's sleep.

saturday was great. "boom chicka boom" started the day, then a lot of activities. tossed footballs, frisbees, and flying rings. lots of discussion, both religious and non religious. then went to the nursing home in dickson. guy with demientia told us a story...twenty times...it went kinda like this.

"God said i don't know what you stole, but whatever it is both of you, you and the thing you stole, wherever i am, both of you will be also. it's written in red, and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page...and two women walked down buck nekked. and two minutes later, three more women walked down buck nekked. i had to put three cloths on 'em and take their shoes off. and i turned the page and one of 'em said well i don't want you to take my shoes off. and i said i don't care what you don't want, i've been demanded to take your shoes off and i'm gonna do just that. not later, but right now. and it was written in red and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page and whatever you stole, both of you wherever i am you will both there be also..." and on and on it went.

so after that we went back to garner creek and hung out and ate some more, then bonfire, and matt christopher and i played an awesome game of apples to apples. the favorite word/phrase was "my body." the first green card we drew while christopher was in the shower was "sensual", and the first red card was "my body". it just continued from there. the best play though was on the green card "temperamental" and i put down the red card "women" great cause it was all guys playing and we shared the same sentiment. so that was fun.

sunday morning was worhip. then we left and got home, football, and today. got a shot and blood drawn. not fun, but it was necesary. had an awesome time playing with the birch babies allie and aubrey, and the eaton twins josh and andrew, and judy jones' granddaughter sarah. all little kids. but also enjoyed some quality time with the youth at the retreat: christopher, matt, lyndsay, jonathan, and tristan. and the youth leader from rehoboth philip. so it was all good. until next time.....

-cth

it's been a long time...

well...i was at fall fellowship this weekend (any wa-hi-nasa arrowmen that missed it missed a great weekend)...and had a blast...almost got sick chugging root beer, but had a great time nonetheless...it's been a while since the last post, and i've got to comment on the titans 3-0 start, after dominating houston 31-12 about vy, well...let's just say i like kerry. but i wish vince the best and hope he can get back into the game and start winning for us. vandy's 4-0 after defeating ole miss i heard, and ut lost to the gators something bad. and the brady story!!!!! wow...i think that cassel's the new brady....he'll go down in the first game of the season six or seven years from now after winning an mvp or two and maybe a super bowl...and some new draft steal will get his shot...and so the circle will continue...as for brady, he'll be traded to a mediocre team for draft picks, and retire after journeying around the leauge for the next six years...with only the 50 td mark to his name...which will eventually be broken by brett favre when he gets an amazing receiving corps up in new york...i predict around 2028. maybe even in the 22nd century...but brett will break the record...and then win the super bowl after he has broken every other passing record he has yet to break. then finally he will retire and his jersey number will be the first retired by the entire nfl. which is what he's wanted all along...







but anyway, on a more serious note, and switching to baseball, it's really fitting to see that the yankees won the last game at yankees stadium. even as a red sox fan, i think i was pulling for a new york victory sunday night...i think everyone wanted them to win, even the orioles they were playing against. meanwhile, other teams are gaining ground on the sox in the wild card race, but i think that we'll get the spot after it's all said and done.





school's been going pretty alright. we made a commercial in multimedia advertising a fire extinguisher, and seth hearld played the part of billy mays. he was pretty embarrassed when the class watched it, but billy was his idea. anyway, we're working on a music video (probably) now, and we don't know what song we're going to create a video on



my newest frustration: limewire. there's a song i really want to download (all summer long by kid rock) but they don't have the right version on itunes, and whenever i try to get on limewire on my computer it opens up itunes...and when i go to limewire.com to download it again, the website is blocked. so basically, i'm having some problems and don't like it.



in other news, i just learned that matt millen got fired, and the sox made the playoffs!!!!!!!!! so it's all good.



drive group's going well, and i've got something printed out to be bashed at eikon tonight....but it's all good still! can't wait to share it. don't know what's for dinner tonight, but i won't be eating it for a while...the marathon known as PECAN SALES is about to start with a bang for me. i'm going forty pounds tonight...as long as david mccoy stays out of the race...i have christopher's stuff too but he doesn't realize.



so, we have this awesome new sub at mhms. we're not sure what her real name is, but she's been introducing herself mostly as annabell lee. apparently she's got seven masters' degrees and is three classes away from earning the rest of them...but that's just the start...we're not sure what's up with her, but there are plenty of speculations...we had an awesome time screwing around in band yesterday...because she didn't even know everyone was playing sharp, flat, or in a completely different key, and it took jake jones for her to realize we (the sax section) were going too fast. it was really hilariously fun! she says she practices guitar 20 hours a day, yet she can't play mr. clark's....because it has classical nylon strings...she is supposedly a great classical guitar player....messed up, man, messed up!



i'm a life scout now, so i'm thinking of ideas for my eagle project. any outside-the-box ideas, let me know!



and maybe matt cassel isn't the next brady..................

12 random journal entries

i had to type these for english class...just another way of gettin my views out i suppose...so here it is:

1. I am a big fan of football. Professional, college, or high school, I always thoroughly enjoy a good game of football. Some of my best art are offensive football plays I have devised. I send out weekly e-mails with my predictions for National Football League games to some of my friends, because that is another thing I enjoy to do concerning football. My favorite professional team is the Tennessee Titans, while I root for the University of Tennessee on the college gridiron and Hendersonville and Station Camp High Schools in their respective divisions.

2. My second favorite sport is basketball. I mainly like college and high school basketball, although I sometimes attend church league games and will occasionally watch a professional game. One of the reasons I am so fond of high school basketball is because I am a statistician for Merrol Hyde’s team. I also really enjoy the atmosphere surrounding the game of college basketball, especially surrounding the national tournament. My take on professional basketball players is that they are a bunch of jerks playing for the name on the back of their jersey instead of the one on the front, which is why I prefer high school and college ball better.

3. I am also a fanatic for baseball. However, unlike basketball or football, I concentrate solely on professional baseball. My favorite teams are the Boston Red Sox in the American League and the Chicago Cubs in the National League. If I had to pick between the two teams and leagues, though, I would go with the Red Sox and the American. My favorite time of year in baseball is October, especially when one of my teams is in Championship contention. October is the month in which the World Series is played. The thing I dislike the most about baseball is the steroids scandal. Despite the drugs, though, baseball still remains a pastime for me.

4. Two common breakfast foods are waffles and pancakes. While they have many similarities, the two menu staples have their differences. Thanks to these differences, one can determine which is better. Waffles can be square or round, while pancakes are normally just round. In contrast to the flatness of pancakes, waffles have grooves in them, which is better for syrup lovers. Waffles, with their grooves and ridges, are better capable of holding more syrup, but because of pancakes’ flatness, it’s not so easy for them to hold syrup. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that waffles are better than pancakes.

5. In this year’s highly publicized presidential election, the Democrats have nominated Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who is running with Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice-presidential candidate. I highly respect, and even somewhat envy, Senator Obama’s speech-giving capabilities, but I’m not sure if I agree with all of his views, nor am I sure if he will be able to deliver on his promises. On the Republican ticket, Arizona Senator John McCain is running alongside of his vice-presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. I am very intrigued by this election, and I am of now undecided. One thing is for sure, the road to Washington is a long and hard one for both parties, and whoever wins the election will be the President, and I will respect that person as such.

6. So far this has been a good school year for me. The classes I am in are English 1010, Chemistry, Interactive Multimedia, and Band. I am not failing any of my classes as of yet, and do not plan to be failing at any point in the year. Among the extracurricular activities I am involved in are Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Flight Club, the high school men’s basketball team, and, once the first meeting has begun, the Junior Classical League. I do not actually play basketball, but because I’m the statistician I am a part of the team nonetheless. I play alto saxophone in the high school symphonic band, and I am also in jazz band.

7. The smell of popcorn. The sound of a foghorn celebrating the readjustment of score. Thousands of fans wanting to get back quickly to the stands to cheer on their Vanderbilt Commodores as they manhandle the University of South Carolina. These are just a few of the many variables that go into working the concession stands at Vanderbilt. On Thursday, August 4, as I have been the last five years, I was privileged enough to be a part of a twelve-man team working concessions for the Commodores game. The experience is a very rewarding one, because it teaches many cooperation, communication, and time management skills. I have thoroughly enjoyed every game I have been a part of, especially when my team gets the win.

8. One of my newer hobbies is photography. I enjoy taking pictures of anything possible. Right now I have a decent point-and-shoot camera, but I want a more professional camera to take my photos with. My favorite things to photograph are sunsets, sunrises, and people. There is a group at my Church devoted to the arts, and our original division was photography. I think being involved in this group got me really interested and started on my new hobby.

9. I am an active member of my Scout Troop. I am just about to earn my Life rank, which is the rank before Eagle. I am also Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, which puts me as second in command of my entire troop. Last weekend we went on a canoe trip. I was acting Senior Patrol Leader during the trip, and I felt it was a very successful weekend for the troop, with only a few minor setbacks. I’ve learned a lot of things through Scouts, including cooking, camping, and communication skills, which I will use for the rest of my life.

10. I am also extremely actively involved in my Church community. I sing in the youth choir and I also am a part of just about every youth activity that one can be involved in. We go on about six trips a year, four or five of them in the summer alone. Among the highlights of each year are our Choir Tour; Warmth in Winter, a conference-wide event; two missions experiences; and a mystery trip, which we ideally do not know the destination of until the morning we leave. I would definitely not give up my experience with my Church for anything.

11. In Multimedia today, we did a group project. This project involved taking a picture of a silhouette in which every member of the group was a piece of. We had a very challenging time discerning what we were going to be and how we were going to make it. Our idea heading out of the planning stage Thursday was to create a whale, but after having a night to think it over, we decided that the difficulty level was too high for our lack of experience. Our next idea was a “human spider,” with each team member’s arms stretched out to create the effect of one person with a multitude of limbs. After a try or two of this idea, we realized that it was too cramped for seven of us to line up in a single file line, in addition to the different body sizes. In the way the picture was set up, there was a floodlight and a white cloth, and the object was supposed to be between the sheet and the light. We were set up in the downstairs hallway where the bathrooms and guidance office are. For our third idea, we tired to make the standard human pyramid. For some reason which I will never understand, someone suggested that I should be on top of the pyramid. So, consenting, and without warning, I leapt off a chair onto the top of the pile, and it immediately collapsed. We tried twice more with me on top, but the pyramid did not last with me on top, even with prior warning of my moving to the top, so we repositioned people, and on the second try of this new arrangement, we succeeded in taking a picture. The picture resembled a giant block with a human trying to catch her balance. We then determined that we were in too close a space to take any good pictures, so we went to the other side of the cloth and began taking pictures from the other side. Our lighting was much better. We then tried the human spider again and a flower, and kept failing miserably. By this time much of the group was starting to get frustrated. After some minor adjustments and much groaning, we tried one last time. This time we took the form of a tree. It was the best picture we had taken the entire day, so we cleaned up and put everything back in place. Granted, it wasn’t professional, but it should be good enough to earn a passing grade. Some of the characteristics we found that we needed to work on as a group were cooperation, planning, communication, and tolerance. As a whole, the project was most successful as a learning experience.

12. There have been three major tropical systems that have been in the news in the past two weeks. The first one, Hurricane Gustav, made landfall on Labor Day some seventy miles to the southwest of New Orleans as a Category Two storm. Hurricane Hanna had downsized to a Tropical Storm by the time it hit the Carolina Coast on the fifth of September. Hurricane Ike, a Category Three storm, is currently moving north of the island of Hispaniola, and is slated to pass over the Bahamas on its way to making landfall somewhere along the gulf coast by Sunday the fifteenth. Ike is most likely the worst of the three storms, and could wreak extreme havoc, bringing back memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, especially if it has time to grow before hitting the States. Residents are advised to take cover and prepare for the storm, especially when a landfall date and area are more specifically known, typically about two or three days before the storm hits. For large, potentially deadly storms, citizens are urged to leave everything behind but the essentials and their valued possessions, and evacuate. Refugees are scattered all over landlocked states when the hurricane hits, and, depending on how bad the damage is, go back home in anywhere from a day to three months after the storm makes landfall. Hurricanes are dangerous storms, and are not to be messed with.

favre, friday, and fantastic fun

well...brett's been reinstated much to my chagrin...as i said before i'm not quite sure why this irks me, but it does...that's all i'll say at this point about him

friday looks like it's gonna be real fun...there's a big missions type event at the northeast church accross from glenbrook in hendersonville. i really want to attend...it sounds real fun...but i would love it if someone would be able to go with me (especially if that person has a driver's license...so i don't have to make my parents have to drive me...or just so they don't have to get in the car if i was to drive myself) so if you want to go...send me an email, call me, however you are able to get in touch. it's pretty much an all day thing (at least for the pm hours) but you don't have to go to all of it...i think this would be an eye opening experience for everyone...so if your able to...come!

also friday is "registration day" while most other public high schools have to go a half-day...i don't have to attend class at all!!! that's one of the perks of a k-12 school. but i'm going to school to see friends that i haven't seen in a while all the same...and to get my yearbook...

the big thing for the entire world on friday is called the OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONIES!!! now...if i go to the northeast thing for the entire thing...i'll have to watch a recording...but i will be watching at some point...go US!!!

other than that, never the same at blakemore umc sunday the 17th...not sure what time...but if you can come...it's an amazing show...so COME!!!

badeebadeebadeedat's all folks!

-cth