Ho ho how to de-grinchify yourself so that you might enjoy Christmas.

So it's December-

*checking*

So it's December 9th, and we're on our way towards Christmas. Usually I am a huge Grinch about celebrating Christmas until about a week before the actual day, but this year I decided that if I participate in the celebrations, instead of grumbling about all the decorations and songs, I would have fun with it and it wouldn't be so bad. It's actually working. Here are a few ways I keep the Christmas spirit in my heart, and the sanity in my mind.

1. Instead of complaining, "THEY PLAYED THIS SONG ALREADY BLARGFF BORGIS MAPFDHJADLFKLH!", I use that same energy to OVER-sing along.

The merry tune of "Frosty the snowman" becomes "FROSTY THE SNOWMAN!" The delightful "Jingle bells" is twisted into "JINGLE BELLS!" Justin Bieber's "Under the Mistletoe" however, is still not sung. Turn that crap off.

 It's a simple process really. Just use capslock. Or in real life, just increase the volume. Sing it as loud as you can. If there is a jolly laugh from Santa during the song, laugh along. Just make it MUCH LOUDER. As long as there is no one around to think you're insane, this is a good way to not be bothered by the carols and jingles.

2. I wear Christmas clothes. Or at least I try. I only really have one Christmas shirt. It looks like this. I bought it with the original intention of wearing it in the summer, because it would be out of place, but it works well for the Christmas season.

Haha, if you can tell by the watermark in the bottom left corner, I had to flip the picture. 

I decided to take that picture by the Christmas tree, to make it more Christmassy. Christmasy. Christmas-like. HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU SPELL IT?!?!?

If you wear Christmas clothes, and then complain about Christmas things, you look like a fool. So basically, you are PHYSICALLY forcing yourself to not complain. 

Putting physically in all caps in front of things is funny to me. It is PHYSICALLY funny to me. If you PHYSICALLY wear Christmas clothes, blah blah blah blah. PHYSICALLY PHYSICALLY PHYSICALLY.

3. PHYSICALLY decorate. Ok, that was the last time I'll say physically. Er- Ok that was.  

When I lived in a dorm room last year, I brought a mini Christmas tree, and we hung lots of things on it. A knob from a piano on a piece of ribbon, a plastic spine, a rubber snake, for tinsel of course, tea bags, and many other things. To me it was fun looking at something and thinking, "Hey, we could hand that on the tree!" AND THEN DOING IT. 

I made reference to complaining about Christmas a lot in this blog, and it may have made me look very whiny. I'm not whiny. I hope.

I ALMOST made this into a video blog. But I didn't. Hmph.

On Monday this blog will be magically transformed into a real blog.

I'm doing this so that I cannot put it off. On Monday, I will edit this, and make it into a blog.

I think I'm going to summarize/review/share my opinion on Roald Dahl's Fantastic Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Sound good?

I think after that I will keep on with the easy books. Maybe I'll do the Twits, also by Roald Dahl, because I haven't read it in a while. OR maybe the BFG. I'll have to tell my sister to borrow it from her school library.
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So it's Thursday.......................... I'm so sorry guys, I really want to do this, but I very busy and it's hard.

COMPLAINTS ASIDE, LEX tagged me!

She wrote about how, if she were a superhero, she would be the black widow, and tagged several hundred other people to make up their own superhero-self. So I will. First let me think.

I am thinking about which power I would like most, and no matter how cool all superpowers are, I would really like to have these two powers: Flying and Super memory.

You might say it's cheating to have two powers, but I say, most superheros can fly anyway. Seriously, look at the picture below. Almost ALL of them are flying. So I say flying just to make sure I get my piece of that pie.

I also choose super memory because that power would be really useful for crime fighting AND normal everyday life. In crime, you never forget any detail of a crime scene or clue. In everyday life, save paper by memorizing your grocery list! It's a great idea, and you wish you thought of it. 

Lex also drew herself as a superhero. So I will too. This may disturb you. If it does, I apologize. 

                               

So yeah. That's what I would look like as a superhero. And that is a male torso, by the way. I realized after making this that since I have female legs and arms, it might seem like a naked woman, BUT IT IS NOT. It is just a man with feminine arms and legs. And a baby head. And dragonfly wings.

The Scarlet Letter. Contains Spoilers. Ha.

Whoa, So I guess I totally forgot how hard this is to blog every day. Don't panic, I've got this under control. I'll write one today, and it'll be good. Hopefully.


I didn't really miss that much since Thursday, because weekends don't count right? Right.


Wow Thursday, you're spelled wrong unless you're capitalized? How boastful of you. Of course, I would have capitalized you anyway, it makes you look much better.


Alright in my last blog, I updated you on my schooling situation. I bet that was SO interesting for you to read. I bet when you read it, you could hardly stay in your chair from pure fascination and hilarity. 


I was going to talk about one thing, but I have to wait to talk about that, because I'm not exactly sure what to say and what not to. I have to talk to someone about that. 


In school right now, I am reading The Scarlet Letter. This book is written in a old style, using a vocabulary I don't always understand. Let me show you.


          "Certainly there was no physical defect. By its perfect shape,  its vigor, and its natural dexterity in the use of all its untried limbs, the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden; worthy to have been left there, to be a plaything of the angels, after the world's first parents were driven out."


I didn't exactly pick out the most difficult part, I just typed where I am now, but from that you can see how the book is written. I CAN understand it, it just takes me at least twice as long to read it, because often I have to stop, reread, and think about what a certain passage actually means. This is why reading it can be kind of frustrating at times. 


I went into this story thinking that the 'scarlet letter' the book is named after was a reddish colored envelope with a letter inside that causes a large drama among dress-to-bed wearing Victorian women and their top-hatted, cane-toting husbands. I thought it would be a Jane Austin story honestly. I am quite relieved that it is not what I imagined, but the adulterous "romance" is still not something I can handle comfortably.  


Wow, I am pretty proud of that paragraph. 


I'm just going to keep talking about this book. Continue reading if you like, but this will probably contain spoilers. Am I still supposed to warn the reader about spoilers for a book that was written in 1850? I'll just do it to be safe.


First off, in the copy of the book I have, the story doesn't actually start until page 49! Before that is some super long "Introduction to the Custom-house." It's so long that it's actually illustrated. 


After a quick google search, I found out what a custom-house is.
          "A custom house or customs house was a building housing the offices for the government officials who processed the paperwork for the import and export of goods into and out of a country. Customs officials also collected customs duty on imported goods."


Um. I'm not sure why this 'Introduction' is here. Maybe if I read it I would find out, but I'm not prepared to read fifty pages about a building where paperwork is done. By Government officials no less. 


So after I page furiously to the start of the story, I read the first line.
          "A throng of bearded men-" Oooh, beards. "In sad-colored garments and grey, steeple crowned hats-" Gnomes? Is this book about Gnomes? COOL!


I soon found to my great disappointment, that it's not about Gnomes, but only plain Human Beings. In never actually says specifically that they are humans, but I'm on page 100, and there are no mentions of magic powers yet, so I'm just going to assume.  


Basically, there is this woman, the main character, named Herman? Ah, no, it's Hester. Hester was married to an older man. This older man and she were planning on moving to America. Boston to be exact. He had to stay behind, to do SOMETHING, It never says (Which I am actually quite curious about), so he sends Hester ahead of him to go settle and get ready for his arrival. 


During this time, she commits adultery with I think the Minister ( :O ), and has a baby. This was a BIG deal for the people of that time, and they threw her to the alligators. Oh, after double checking, I guess they just put her in jail. She was also forced to wear a Golden 'A' on her chest for Adulterer. She apparently used her super advanced needlework skills to make the A really fancy with scarlet thread. THIS IS WHAT THE TITLE REFERS TO. The Scarlet colored 'A' on her chest. 


Basically after she was released from jail and tossed to the alligators- wait, double check... Ok, there were no alligators in the story. So far...


Basically after she was released from jail she was still forced to wear the letter for the rest of her life. This labeled her to the people as a massive sinner, and they wouldn't have anything to do with her. She didn't have to stay in town though, so she could have just ran far enough that nobody knew her, taken off the letter, and been fine for the rest of her life (Unless she did it again. Tsk.). But actually, she decides to stay there. WHAT?! 


It's not like she was waiting for her husband either, because he had gotten there a long time ago. He no longer wanted anything to do with her, but he went on a lifelong mission to find out who she committed adultery with and "get revenge." I'm kind of excited to see what happens there. 


What she did was go live in an old hut on the edge of town, sewing for people. Because no matter how much they wanted to avoid her, her needlework was amazing, and you know that there is no way in the world a 17th century woman could resist needlework. 


Now I'm at the part where they talk about the baby. Grown up. Her name is pearl or something. And apparently she is PERFECT.


I liked "reviewing" this book. I'll probably do more of these! Haha. Leave a comment telling me what you thought of this, should I continue the scarlet letter? Do more books/games/movies?


Bye!

Hello... Don't yell at me...

Hi. My name is Eric Pankow. I'm not sure why I made a blog and then gave out my full name, but It's already been done, so I'll just go with it. When I made it, I was so young. I didn't know any better! I was like, 16! That's SO MUCH younger than 17. I've gained so much more experience and knowledge in all this time. 

Ha, actually, I have been kidding you this whole time...  Ha yeah, that's it. My name isn't actually Eric Pankow, it's Sam! Sam... Check...son. Sam Checkson. Flip it all, spell check doesn't like either of those last names.

I'm re-introducing myself to you because I feel that I have been gone so long, it is something that needs to be done. It's been so long, that you have forgotten everything about me. I'll give a quick review. 

I am a boy. I am 17 years old. I have blonde hair.

There. Everything you ever need to know about, me Sam Checkson! Sigh... Ok, that's dumb. My name is really Eric Pankow. It's too late now. Once I named the blog, 'The blog of Pankow' it became too late.

So I'm here because I really really want to start blogging again, because many things have happened to me since I blogged last, and I feel that I actually have things to talk about again, and time to talk about it in. 

I know. I've said, 

"Ho ho ho! I'm back! This is going to be great! I'm going to write all day and night and provide pictures! Blarhjfkjlasjkdf,"

Like, five times already. But I'd like to believe that it is for real this time! I really want to do this again. Also I want to make good, long, content-filled and funny blogs again, instead of the last twenty or so which were all complete dung. Heh. Dung. 

In THIS blog, I'd like to talk about the situation of my schooling I am in, because it has changed since my previous blogs.

Oh hey. It's 1:23. That's cool.

Ok. So Beginning of Junior year, I went to Ye Olde School. That is the school that was one and a half hours from my house, so I lived in the dorm with three room mates. That was a fun school. But for one reason or another (I can't remember if I actually ever mentioned why I did this), I left that school around Christmas time. Now, my brother is a freshman, and he goes there. I still do not. 

After I left Ye Olde School, I was home schooled online. However, I used a system where there was just things to read daily, and then an assignment you had to do daily. There was no teacher really, so If I had a question, my dad had to try and figure it out, or I would Google it. That worked for a while, but at the end of the year, we decided not to use that home schooling program anymore.

Now, I am a senior in high school. I am still home schooled, but I am using a different program. Every day, there is a video that I watch for each class, and then I have homework for the next day. The video is a recording of a class room in Florida, with a teacher and students in desks and the whole Nine Shebangs. I like this much better. The teachers can describe it so much better than writing can.

I also like it because sometimes the students say something funny, or once a student fell down. The videos were recorded some years ago, so they all are wearing nice plaid dress shirts and glasses as big as their face. 

In the next few blogs, I will describe what my life is like nowadays. There is a twist at the end too. Something you may never have imagined to happen to me happened. Teehee.

I might even write another blog tonight. Who knows?

THE END. 

Clap clap clap 

*Applause 

clap clap clap 

*hooting and hollering

*people throwing roses onto stage.

*Me bowing to the left, then to the right, and then in the middle, saying thank you repeatedly.

*Someone throws a ham sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap onto stage.

*I can't tell whether it was a compliment or not, but it's a free sandwich, so I pick it up and eat it thankfully as I walk off stage.

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. CLICK THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

A plastic bag got stuck on the front of our van while we were
driving. I tried to stick my camera out the window to
get a better picture, but my mom didn't like that.

Rolo (My Dog, the brown one),  and this dog converse
through the fence everytime we go to the park. I always try to
pet the dog, but he/she always runs away. So sad.

There were SO many grey dandelions at the park. (If you look
closely, you can see Rolo pooping in the background.)

More dandelions.

On Saturday I went to my brother and sister's softball game.
I spent most of my time playing with the younger children. They
know how to have fun. I pushed them on this merry-go-round
(Because when it gos round you are merry, I guess.) 

There was a sandbox, and it had rained the day before.

We could dig really deep holes, and then they would fill 

up with water and the sides would fall in and they become

only about two inches deep, when they started being as 

long as my arm. It took a while to wash the sand off my

arms and legs, because there wasn't an outdoor hose, so 

I had to wash in the bathroom sink. Washing my arms were

fine, but washing my feet and knees in the bathroom sink

was pretty weird.

Here's another hole, with the green plastic things the little kids
insisted on using for a shovel, even though they were terrible
shovels, and it was much easier AND faster to use you hands.

Here's a big pile of sticks.

Here's a huge pile of sticks.

It was very muddy that day, and almost everyone took their
shoes off.

They had these there! They are not as fun now since I am too
big for them. Major dissapointment.

I found my old Lord of the Rings puzzle!

There are a few pieces missing...

It's a double sided puzzle, and this is what is on the other side.

I will be back soon!

I think I've been away from this blog longer than anyone has ever been away from a blog in the history of the world. I mean SERIOUSLY. It's been, um... 


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I've been away since April 28th, but that blog really doesn't count, due to it being completely and utterly stupid. So really, it has been since March. March 10th to be exactly exact.


When you count, that's actually only about two months. That not SO bad I guess...


(Yes it is. It's very bad.)


Basically, I want to start blogging again. This time around however, it'll be a bit different. There will still be the occasional text only blogs, but for the most part, they will be mostly pictures with commentary. This may sound absolutely horrific(And it very well may be!), but I hope  It will be interesting. If not, then I will change it to make it interesting.


See, my brother got a new camera. It's a quite nice one really, and I can't believe it was so cheap. It was around 66% off. It has a nice touch screen.


Anyway, since his new camera is much nicer than his old one, he is selling the old one to me for pretty cheap. 35$ to be exactly exact. 


I've only had one camera before, and it wasn't even my own. Me and my brother saved up when we were a bit younger, and we put our money together and got this cheap 60 or 70 dollar camera. We had that camera for a while, and then one day it just wouldn't turn on. I don't remember exactly why, but I remember that for some reason we were not too upset about it. I know that nowadays I would mad, and I would try and figure out what was wrong with it. No, we just took it apart, not thinking at all of how long it took us to save up for it. 


The inside of my nose itches a lot today, and when I scratch it, it looks like I am picking my nose. I AM NOT! I AM ONLY SCRATCHING!


So, I am going to bring my new camera around everywhere, and take lots of pictures. 


See you soon!

Meal at Twilight

Smell that burning? It's the toaster oven.


Hear that Scream? It's the tea kettle. 


Things I like: Toast with Cream cheese, Fruit tea, strawberries, the sound of the dishwasher.


Things I dislike: The strange stain clay leaves on your hands, when you scrape your skin on pavement.


Bobbing slowly forward and back is comforting, but it makes you feel crazy.


Things I want: To read more of my book (Charlie Bone and the castle of mirrors), to eat my toast.


Things I don't want: The strange itch on my back ( It keeps coming back, it keeps coming back.)


Number of lists: 5


Now I feast. Earl Grey, Toast, and I.


You have two eyes.