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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Buffering...


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. 

100th post! (Group effort x3)

Group effort x1
Group effort x2


This weekend, Krieger was over, so I decided to do a group effort blog. I also wanted this to be specially good, because it's my 100th blog! 


So for this group effort blog, I am going to blog like normal, and then Krieger will write every paragraph again underneath from HIS point of view. Basically, this will just prove that he needs to continue his blog. Uh-huh, the one with the flames and the indecisive title. To make things harder for him, I'm going to try and make the paragraphs as specific as I can.


Here we go.


This weekend, Krieger was over. Usually this means that we do many things, and we hardly have time for them all. This was a pretty busy weekend though, and we didn't really do all that much at home, except watch movies on Netflix. Those movies included, The Prince of Persia and  Arena. Did we really only watch two? It felt like more...  


This weekend, I was at Pankow's house. Since he no longer goes to 'ye olde school', I was really looking forward to the weekend. I've been there several times before, and I always enjoy myself, though we rarely have as much time as I would like. This time even more so.


So the weekend started off, as most (by most, I mean all) do, at 'ye olde school'. Nothing really notable happens there, however, so I'll pick up when I arrive at Pankow's house.

It was a dark, and modestly stormy evening. We decide to walk to the store, as we are low on resources. (Half of a flat 2-liter ginger ale, 6-ish ramen, and a disturbing lack of paczki) We venture out into the rain to the nearest grocery establishment, where we stock up on pop, then head off to a convenience store for some paczki(I love me some paczki). We return and watch Prince of Persia, because surprisingly enough, I hadn't seen it yet.


First thing Saturday morning, I woke up, and since Krieger NEVER gets out of bed right when he wakes up, but instead sits there waking up, I played a little Legend of Zelda on my wii. After I died many times (Krieger laughed at me...:( ), I rage quit, and we both got up. 


The next morning I wake up to Pankow playing Zelda. Man, I got a good laugh out of that one. We plan on going into downtown, but time slips away into the Minecraft and it never happens. Nothing you plan ever happens once you get sucked into Minecraft.


At 12:00 A.M., We had to go to my Choir concert. It was the most laid back performance that people wore tuxedo shirts that I ever went to. Usually at 'ye olde school', everyone was so worked up and nervous that it made you nervous. Here, it almost seemed like no one cared. Sure everyone was a little nervous, but it didn't show. Before my choir sang, the orchestra played some songs. I had never heard them before, and they were the coolest sounding orchestra I have ever heard. Then my choir went up, sang, and then we left. Simple as that.


Eventually it was time for me to go to Pankow's choir concert. I wasn't terribly excited for it. I think we were late, but from what I could tell, so was almost everyone else. As soon as I walked in, I instantly felt underdressed. Everyone was dressed fancy, and there I was in jeans and a Pokémon shirt. Still, I managed to kinda enjoy myself. It's the type of thing where you're content, but you can think of so many places you'd rather be and things you'd rather be doing. The orchestra was pretty good, and Pankow's choir was decent. As all things do, it came to an end, and instantly I was thrust into the next event of my Saturday. 


At 5:00 P.M., we were going to go to fasching, a German holiday in which you dress up and dance. We were going to a German club not too far from my house to celebrate. We have been going there every year since I can remember. There is a costume party, and there is prizes, so Krieger and I thought,  "Hey, we might as well dress up, just in case we do win something." So right after the choir concert, my mom took us straight to Goodwill for things to make a costume, because I am a believer of making your own costumes, and I am completely against store bought.


As soon as we got to Goodwill, Krieger and I went straight for the shirts, completely forgetting the real reason we were there. I did get some good shirts though, one about AOL with the little yellow guy on the back, a Volcom shirt with white birch trees and a red versionof the 
Volcom symbol, only because it looks REALLY cool, and a black and white horizontal striped shirt, because I have always wanted one. We then realized, we need costumes. We really didn't care what we dressed up as, as long as we won something, so when my mom came with a red and white striped pirate shirt, we decided one of us would be a pirate, and we would figure something else out at home. To make a very long story short, Krieger ended up being a pirate, and I ended up being a Mexican bandito, just because we had a sombrero and a poncho.


Said event was a trip to Goodwill. While we originally were going to get costumes for a fasching party, as soon as we got there we headed straight for the t shirts. I was rather satisfied by my haul of shirts, finding a Captain Hammer shirt(It's from a series of videos called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Check it out, they're really well done.), a light green shirt with a pig on it(I have no idea what I liked so much about this shirt, but some part of me couldn't say no.), and a Volcom shirt(Mine's cooler than Pankow's.).

After our successful Goodwill outing, it was time to dress up for fasching. (We really didn't get much at goodwill in terms of costumes, but eh, whatever) I ended up going as a pirate(red and white striped shirt that exposed more of my stomach than a guy should show regularly, ragged jeans, FAKE BEARD(actually drawn on with eye shadow, but it looked pretty good I thought), and a sword(a katana actually, which is about the least piratey sword available, and apparently I had the sheath upside down the whole night)).  Oddly enough, three days after I go to a fasching celebration, I learned about it in German class. We watched a video on it. CRAZY STUFF HAPPENS AT FASCHING.


Picture:

Krieger won a $15 gift card, but I didn't win anything :( . IT's OK though, because I was more comfortable than him the whole night with that tiny red and white shirt. Heh heh.


We also watched Troll 2 later that night, which Pankow forgot to mention above.


On Sunday, we went to church, and then lazed around at home and took a nap. 


On Sunday, we went to church. Afterward, Pankow tried to force me into a bike ride, which I was vehemently opposed to. We only got a little into the trip before we turned back (But not before buying more paczkis).  I then proceeded to take a nap for a while, until I had to leave.

I feel as if I have more to add, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is. I assume it will come to me later, and I’ll do what I’m usually forced to do and convert it into a comment.

Quick fact about me and naps, quoted exactly from my mom, 
        "As soon as you (Me, not you) were sixteen months old, we could NOT get you to take naps. We would read you books and drive you around in the car but you would not take a nap." 


I remember being a couple years old and having to read books or draw or make things with construction paper (make a mess with construction paper) while everyone else took naps, because I could just not take naps. I think this is really cool, but my mom says it is not. 


So long and thanks for all the fish! -Pankow

The weekend and cake.

This weekend, Jeremiah came over. The school I used to go to, and he goes to didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday, so he stayed at my house from |Friday night until Tuesday night.


I'm going to give 'That school I used to go to' a name so that I can stop calling it that. From now on, it will be called 'Ye olde school'. It fits, because it's my old school. Ha. Hahahahahah. I like it.


So on Saturday, Jeremiah and I rode our bikes downtown where there are a lot of big buildings and stores and stuff. Were my house is, there isn't so much. It is Really cool to go there, but it's 18 minutes bike ride. I just checked on Google maps.


On Saturday specifically, we stayed downtown for six hours. SIX. We went by the capitol building, and there was a teachers rally going on there. A LOT of people were all crowded around the front stairs, and everyone had signs and was yelling. In the middle, there were some speakers, and they were speaking about stuff that neither Jeremiah nor I understood. This was the first rally like this for both Jeremiah and me, so it was pretty cool. Plus, they gave us free Hawaiian pizza! Pretty soon, Jeremiah and I decided to leave. We went down the road, and decided to find some place to sit and warm up our feet, since there was snow on the ground, and snow is cold. We decided to go into a coffee shop (Called Biggby, formerly Beaners. I Don't really know how popular it is). While in there, we decided to buy the cheapest cup of coffee they had. We sat in that coffee shop and drank our coffee. When our cups were empty, we got free refills! We each had three refills each, and then decided that was as much coffee as anyone should have in one day, so we left.


On the wall there, there were some REALLY cool drawings by a famous artist that lives near to where I live. They were all drawn on napkins, and they were really cool for us, since we both like to draw. I wish I could have taken pictures of them, but we forgot to bring a camera.


We went across the street to a sub shop called Jimmy John's to go to the bathroom. While in there we noticed a sign that said, "Buy yesterday's bread - 45 cents". Jeremiah saw it first. We went to the cashier and asked her if it was a real sign. SHE SAID YES. So we bought two of them, and then sat down to eat them. They are big bread loaves. Then on Monday, we brought hardboiled eggs that my mom made us for breakfast and some pepper jack cheese, and made this lovely sandwich. All the bread you see in this picture was one loaf. That is not two loaves. We each had a piece of bread that big each. For 45 cents. Amazing. And so were the sandwiches.

Here are two other pictures from our trips downtown. I only took three pictures. Sad I know.

This is Jeremiah. This picture makes him look fat. The glasses he is wearing are just those 3d glasses from Movie theaters, but he made them white with white duct tape. Now they look kinda cool.

In this picture there is light reflecting on the building from the windows of the building across the street. I thought it was really cool. 

I will definitely take more pictures whenever I go there again, I am pretty sure I will this weekend, and I think Krieger is coming over this weekend. So look forward to that.


On Monday night, I told Jeremiah, I want to bake a cake. Should we do that tomorrow? Because that's how we plan things. He thought it was a great Idea. My mom helped us get the basic Idea of the cake, so that it would turn out as a cake, but we added a lot of our own ingredients.  What came our was the most delicious and moist cake I have eaten in a long time. And we made it ourselves! I was amazed. We put in the normal cake making ingredients, but we also put in: chocolate chips, chili powder, paprika, yogurt, lingonberry jam, cinnamon, coffee, flour, eggs, cane sugar, butter, vanilla, nutmeg, ginger, milk, cocoa, chocolate bar shavings, and I don't even know what else. Here are some pictures. 

That piece at the end has homemade whipped cream.

And now, I must end this blog. Group effort blog probably coming this weekend.

LEX: I PROMISE I WILL DO THE TAG THING.

The Dance

I left early Saturday morning, to stay in the dorm of my old school, AGAIN. This will be the last time for a while. I went up there for the Valentines dance.

Here's my opinion on dances. Mind you, I have only gone to dances from this same school, so this is basically only about those dances, because I don't know what other dances are like, what is similar and what is different from other schools' dances.

1. The music is generally bad. Usually, they just play popular hip hop songs changed to have a dance beat in the background. At the dance, the DJ played Justin Beiber. Yeah, my supposed look-alike. It was funny though, because as soon as it came on, half the guys left the gym, only to reenter when the song was over. 
2. To put it bluntly, most dance moves look stupid to me. I stood up on the balcony that overlooked the whole dance floor and just watched, and people were either just jumping up and down, or just flailing their bodies around. I tried to think, if everyone is doing it, it can't look too stupid. When I tried it myself however, I felt too stupid to continue. I dunno.
3. The thing I like most about dances is the handkerchief game. It has no name, so I'm just going to call it the handkerchief game. It is a game that has been played since my first dance freshman year, and I don't know how long before that. Basically, someone brings a handkerchief into the dance, and puts in in his back pocket, half hanging out. That person proceeds to run around the dance floor, doing whatever we can to avoid the other players. The other players try and find this person among the other dancers, and then steal the handkerchief. If successful, that person puts it in their pocket, and runs away. It's basically tag. With a handkerchief. No matter how boring this game sounds, it IS fun.
4. To get into the dance, it cost's $4.00 if you are single, and $6.00 for a couple (Three per person in the couple). While this is a good deal, the male person of the relationship ends up paying for the girl, so it isn't a very good deal for the guys. Also, people would pair up on the way to the dance just to get in cheaper. They should just have one solid price. I dunno.
5. Good things: The Handkerchief game; when the dance was over, the freshman had to clean up; and free candy!

One funny story from the dance. One of my friends from Korea (not important) sneakily-snuck* his laptop into the dance by putting it in the back of his shirt. He then sat in the corner and played Minecraft until he got caught. I admire his love for the game.

I am still getting to your tag Lex, just be patient!

*Sneakily-Snuck is a phrase I made up a while ago. I like it a lot.

The Igloo

 I told you about the igloo my siblings and I made, but never finished, and then melted. Here are pictures from it's melting process. Now that it is completely gone, the snow came back. I guess nature itself did not want us to build this igloo. Anyway, enjoy.

I tried super hard to get them all lined up correctly, but I couldn't do it. They are all there, so just ignore the weird placement. PLEASE JUST IGNORE IT.

I'm not exactly positive what the time intervals between each picture are, but I am pretty sure my mom took one picture every morning, so I think they are about a day apart. 

It's a shame that you couldn't have seen it in it's glory. And also remember we never finished it, we planned on a protruding doorway, and we might have built a snowman on top. We built a snowman on top of our igloo a couple years ago. I have the picture somewhere, if I find it, I'll post it.

I have a normal blog coming soon, but I am a bit busy. I know I was tagged Lex, I'll do that soon. 

Autobots, roll out!

I'm melting!

For the past couple days my brother, sister, and I have been working on an igloo in the front yard. We have only worked a little per day, so it's not completed yet. Plus the way we go by building the thing is a tiring technique.

We fill 5 gallon buckets with snow, and pack it, so that they stay in one piece. Then we cut them in half, to make two cake shaped bricks. We stack the bricks on the igloo, and then use extra snow to fill the cracks and smooth out the igloo. It was going fine until we got to the roof. The bricks are just not strong enough to stay. They fall and smash on the ground. We are trying a different technique for the roof. We put a board on the walls, where the roof is going, and we are building the roof on top of it. Then once the snow roof hardens enough, we plan on taking the board out.

So far, the igloo looks really cool, and I really hope we finish it. But now the snow is going away, and the igloo is slowly melting in it's three-fourths-finished state. It's sad. IF we finish it, I'll post a picture. If not, it'll just be embarrassing!

Other than that igloo problem, I welcome the incoming warm weather with a warm hand shake. The roads are dried up enough that roller blading and skateboarding are possible, and I will do that one of these days. I plan on inviting Jeremiah over for one weekend soon, and we will definitely be doing it then.

I really don't have much to day today, so I shove away Valentines day with this video.



Toodles!

PFFFTTTCHHCHHPFFF...

Who invented doors? They are such a clever device. The house would be completely sealed, if not for this hole in the wall, covered perfectly by a flap that can be opened and closed easily. This is quite strange to think about, as many things are. I love 'over-thinking' things, and thinking of them as what they really are. Doors, as I said, is one of many items that can thought of this way. A can or bottle of pop, milk of water, is another. It is a sealed container full of liquid. People go to the store and spend money to buy these containers of liquid so that they can pour them into their bodies never to see the liquids again. See what I mean by over-thinking things? Other things that can be over thought are guns, swimming pools, books, windows, and MANY more. Try and over think some things yourself. It can be quite fun.


Last weekend, I stayed in the dorm of my old school again. I brought my flash drive, where I had put a couple funny Youtube videos to show my friends. It's something I did when I went there, and I will continue to do it, no matter what, so there. Everyone crowded around the computer screen, and watched them. It was cool. Among the videos, was this.





Among this were this guys five other videos. We all loved the videos, and I don't know if anyone else felt this, but after watching them, Krieger and I felt like cooking something violently. We decided to go to the store and see what we could find. While there, Krieger decided he didn't want to cook anything. So we just got Jello, because It was close enough and all you need is water. When we went to check out, I saw that the same cashier that called me Justin Bieber last time was there. Remember him? He recognized me, and said I was Justin Bieber again.


Later, Jeremiah and I went back, and got what I wanted to buy before, a box of spaghetti noodles. He was still there, and he called mi Justin AGAIN. Both times the customer he was serving whipped their heads around, and then looked back in half-disappointed. 


I ended up not regretting buying the noodles one bit, I added them to my ramen, and they actually added flavor.


So THIS weekend, at my old school, is the Valentines Dance. And I have a date. 

CR 48

Basically, the only thing that is going through my mind right now is the CR 48. And Algebra... But who cares about that? *weak laugh*


"What is it?!?" you say.


The cr 48 is the Google Chrome OS notebook. The Browser, Chrome, is run by Google, and they have built a laptop around the single idea of the browser Chrome. So basically, you turn the thing on, sign in to your Google account, and you are on the internet. THE ONLY THING on this computer is the internet. NOTHING else. There is no start bar on the bottom of the screen, because there is nowhere for it to take you. It is meant for just surfing the web. They built things onto Chrome so this is more achievable, such as a media player to play music and videos, Google docs to type reports and create a PowerPoint, and many other things. All these things are built into the browser. It is obviosly not meant to be a replacement for your desktop computer, nor is it a replacement for your laptop. It is just something to use to surf the web. It is a bit more portable than a normal laptop, and it is a lot faster, seeing as the computer only has the browser to focus on. 


The outer shell is clean and plain, like the browser itself. No designs or logos, just plain black with sharp edges. It is rubberized plastic, smooth to the touch and does not hold fingerprints. There is only one usb port, unfortunately, but that is enough for me personally. 


The keyboard is built for the computer, only having keys that it needs for a browser. For example, no function keys. Instead, there is the back and forward buttons, the brightness buttons, the volume buttons, and other things like that. 


I was instantly obsessed with the idea as soon as I heard of it, and so I instantly looked to see what it costs. This is where I found out what they are doing, and why I am driven so insane with want. Google is not selling them for another six months, but instead, are handing them out for free to people who apply for one by filling out a form on the cr 48's website. Anyone can apply, but not everyone will receive one. They choose a number of the applications, by a process not known, and send them the cr 48. This means you may or may not get one. You also may get it within three days of applying, as some people have, or you may have to wait two months, as other's have. 


Why is Google doing this? Well actually, this batch of cr 48's are just the beta version. The reason they are handing them out is for the people that get them to use them, test them, push them to their limits, and then provide feedback. Google will then take that feedback, and create a new and improved version with all that the people want. As usual, Google is for the people. 


I am pro-Google, if you can't tell.


The think that is driving me absolutely bonkers is the uncertainty. I applied Sunday night, and I have been on edge since then. Will I get it? And when? Will I just sit in eager anticipation and pure agony for months without a word back from Google? I don't know, and it is driving me crazy. More agony, Google hasn't revealed how many they are handing out, and I can't find a number on how many applications there were. I don't know if I have a good chance of getting one, of if I should just forget about it. THE UNCERTAINTY IS INSANE!!!


Last night I got one in my dream, and I am pretty sure I will dream about it again tonight. I think I just might go insane. 


One thing's for absolute certain, if I don't get one, I will definately be one of the first to purchase it in stores. 


Want more information, or want to apply for one yourself? Go to it's website, it has all the information you need. 


If the bedbugs bite, make sure you suck out the poison!