Its My Life

Music Video sucks, but the lyrics show exactly how my life is going right now- EPIC. This summer, only 2 days old, is already the best summer of my life.

Its my life- It's now or never.
I ain't gonna live forever,
I just wanna live while I'm alive

Friday was the first day of summer...got a call from one of my friends, Kim, telling to move my butt over to the pool ASAP. managed to get there with another one of my Friends, Logan, and after spending an hour hanging out at the pool (and yes, Logan and I were the only guys hanging out there- we are such players haha) 4 of the six of us decided to go grab some lunch as some tiny cook-out shack in the market courtyard. We later met back up with Andrea and Amelia, the other two girls who decided to stay at the pool a bit longer, and spent the rest of the day at the park. Played Tennis, Basketball, Volleyball, went to the Market, and generally just hanged out for 6 hours straight. Best Friday in recent memory.

Saturday night was equally as epic. 10 of my friends, along with my sister and two of her friends, had been planning a summer party at my house for a week or so. And dang, it didn't disappoint. Everyone got there at around 7 or so, and the party itself lasted until 11:30 or so. Highlights of the day include burning old homework in the firepit that I had been building for around a week, having Tyler catch a firework in the air while it was going off, tossing pop-its and soda bombs in some kind of free-for-all war, trying to snatch the beer cans while the parents weren't looking (and failing), playing rock band with 10 or so people switching off, getting high of helium balloons, playing capture the flag in the dark (with one of my friends and I using our shirts as flags), hiding under an old canoe during said capture the flag match, laughing our butts off as one of the guys and one of the girls went into the dark without a flashlight to "hide the flag" and laughing even harder when they started to stutter when denying that they did anything, playing truth-or-dare at around 10:30 or 11, and roasting marshmallows over an open fire.

Great, great day, especially seeing as (personal thing that my parents can skip if their reading as I've already told them to, no offense, really, not get too involve with my personal life) I was hanging out with the girl that I really, really like most of the day (which is more of a friends-with-benefits thing seeing as she's already dating some other guy, although I told her that I liked her a while back and she assumed as much a bit before that) and a bunch of my very best friends all at once.

So, in short, a great, great start to one of the best summers of my life.

Bittersweet Ending

This has been the first time that I've ever cried about leaving school. Never, not even in Kindergarten, did I ever cry. But, well...I don't know. The best word to describe it is bittersweet. But I'll go with the good stuff fist.

Today was the last day of school for the 8th grade (everyone else gets out tomorrow). The school day was just us hanging out, going tot he park, eating ice cream, and preparing for the graduation that would take place later on that day. Got back home, worked for around 2 hours with clearing out the fire pit for the bonfire I'm going to have Saturday as a kind of summer celebration, than had a shower and dressed up in some snazzy dress clothes before going to the graduation at our school at 6:00. After chatting up with some friends and girls (who looked amazing in their graduation dresses), I was required to lead the line of 8th graders to the auditorium stage (which I guess is a big honor- I dunno). After we got seated, all the teachers made these big long speeches about how great of a class we were (and I have to admit, we are an awesome class) before handing out medals to all of us for "such a great year". Then they started with the awards: you know, highest academic achiever, best singer, etc etc. I ended up with some long service award for both band a strings (a shiny nice medal to boot) and, most surprisingly of all, the athletic award. I mean, I'm pretty athletic, but no where near what some of the other people in the grade are. Moment of shock there...the rest were pretty predictable, with the exception of a few here and there (one of my friends got the geography award while the other got the...friendliest person award? best student? something like that. Proud of them both) The teachers started actually crying when they gave an award to honor a teacher who died a while back (the one which my second friend, Kimmy, got), which made me feel really, really bad. Then a couple of chorus kids started singing In My Life by the Beatles, and I almost choked up right then and there. two or three started crying in fact. it was really, really well done.

After that was the graduation party. They started playing the hour-long 8th grade video while we were eating on the projection board, which had video clips and pictures from kindergarten up to 8th grade. that was about it...my friend Andrea started crying, so did Kodie and Kylie. After given pretty long hugs to every girl in the 8th grade to say goodbye- another time when I almost chocked up when giving a few hugs with some girls that I knew that I would never see again (and I gave a few bro hugs here and there, I'll admit it).

After saying final farewells, 8 of my friends and I headed to the local pizza place, Mellow Mushroom, and pretty much just hanged for an hour or so. It was a really, really fun time...going to miss a lot of these people, even If I'm going to be hanging out with a most of them this summer anyhow. Thinking about asking one of the girls out this summer...not going to say her name as my parents sometimes read this, but I'm going to go for it later on.

So, yes. Bittersweet is the best word to describe the day. probably one of the best days I've had in a long, long time, but Its been really sad leaving all these good memories behind. After 9 or so years with most of these people (and a class of only 35 at the highest) we've grown into more of a family than a class...we were all friends there, and it is always hard to leave your friends behind. But anyhow, it was a very, very good way to kick off the summer. Going to the pool and heading uptown tomorrow to hang with a lot of my friends that I'm not yet ready to "let go of" yet. Also, I'm inviting 12 or so of my closest friends to a bon fire Saturday too...this is going to be a very, very good summer.



found this when i got home. that was it, I cried. The most un-manly thing that i could do, but it couldn't be helped. This is the song sung by the chorus at grad- to everyone in the 8th grade, I'm going to miss you all!

Coming To a Close

First off, sorry for the lack of posting. Last week was EOG (exam) week, and before that I was stockpiled with review work. This week is the last week of the school year- and to be truthful, I don't know if I'm happy that summers coming or sad. On one hand, this school sucks, horribly, and I can't wait to see the (brand new) high school next year. Thinking of joining the Cross-Country teem...sounds like a good idea with all the running I've been doing. Plus, this summer is going to be awesome...going to be spending almost every day with my friends...heading to skateworld, going camping, hanging out at the movies, playing football in the park...we have a lot planned this summer. Who says that I have no life? haha

But on the other hand...this school year, despite the fact that we've been screwed over by the county office multiple times (took away our school dance, took away our overnight trip to D.C, etc etc), has been really, really fun. There is a lot of people that I've had a great time with that I won't be seeing this summer, and probably won't be interacting with ever again once we get into the High School. I mean, there are 4 friends of mine that I know that I'll be having a blast in highschool (Joseph, Logan, Randy, and Marcus), but the rest are just going to go their separate ways. I mean, we've been in a grade of only 40 or so since for 9 years, and with a few exceptions, have been friends (and if not that, friendly at least) since Kindergarden. There is just a few people that I don't want to leave behind, people I know I won't be seeing when High School comes around. Might as well make this week the best so far while the school year still lasts.

This week has actually been off to a good start, which is surprising being Monday and all. The teachers don't really think that they should be teaching us anymore after exams, so we just partied all day after finishing up our last SS project. My dad, who is a professor at the local university and teaches biology (he also wrights a lot of books for a company called McGrawl Hill) came to talk to us about Evolution today, mostly because he's pretty good friends with our science teacher, Mrs. Smith. It went well...no one flayed me afterschool because my dad talked about evolution, which was good (and for the record, I don't really care about whether you believe in creationism or evolution...I'm pretty apathetic when it comes to religion or politics), and the presentation itself was pretty eventful, moslty because My dad actually somehow makes these things seem interesting (shocker, right?) Here's a small snippet:

Dad: So, I like to think of Natural Selection kind of like The Lion Kind. Most of you have seen that movie, right?
*class nods*
Dad: Well, you know that there is two male lions - Scar and Simba, who both want the same thing. What is that?
*kid raises hand* "to be king?"
Dad: exactly. and why do they want to be king?
Kid One: To have pride rock to themselves?
Kid Two: Power?
Me: WOMEN!!!! *class breaks out laughing*

hahaha, good times, good times...We watched some film on Anne Frank that was made in the 50s or something, which is really, really boring unless your whispering dirty jokes to your friends when Anne and this guy start to get into a romance thing. I know, horrible, horrible thing to make fun about, but bear with me: the movie was really, really, really boring.

Thursday is graduation, and I'm probably going to get as many people as possible afterwords to go to Mellow Mushroom after the ceremony. Friday is the first day of summer vacation...may see If I can hit the pool, or maybe see a movie if any good ones are out. Planning on doing an all-nighter with some of my friends to celebrate the first day of summer that day too...we'll see how it goes.

Night

Warning: viewer discretion advised. The following post contains uncharacteristic emotion and a load of personal crap that most people wouldn't care much for. But if you want to read this, you've been warned. haha

First off, Last Tuesday Was My Birthday! My friends and I headed to Mellow Mushroom, a local pizza place, after my band and orchestra concert that day (band played Smoke on the Water, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Land of a Thousand Dances, and the Final Countdown...Smoke on the water is all trombone, and I think that I did pretty well) Fun day overall.

Now on to the real stuff.

Middle School drama. It's always been there, but last week has been particularly awful. First off, I took he mistake of telling my previously mentioned friends the name of the girl I liked. Naturally, being guys and all, they teased me on it too no end until I was finally pressured into actually telling her. Which resulted in me getting shot down like a fricken World War II plane over Normandy. But whatever, I think its for the best, as now I don't have that weight of a potential relationship balanced on my shoulders. So I'm all cool with it.

Going along with Middle School Drama, I've been caught in a civil war in our grade. Let's rewind a bit: since 6th or 7th grade, I've been friendly with all but a few of the girls in our grade (I know, I know, I am such a player...actually, not like that at all. whatsoever. get your mind out of the gutter :P). Anyways, I found out that that little fact has drawbacks. For some reason that is loss it me, the girls in our class our in some kind of civil war. And not that side-vs-side thing: its complete anarchy here. most of the guys in our grade are as clueless as me, but they're not forced to have to play Switzerland between 5 or so little groups of girls. I am so confused :/

Only 3 weeks of school left...this week, exams next week, and then a week afterwords for make-up test. As always, I've been stuck with pre-exam homework frenzy, as In 2 assignments in every subject each day. But seeing as the is more or less my last week of real school, I think that I can suffer through the next week.

Note: This is not my peice. This is a peice of writing from the book Night, by Ellie Wiesel. It recounts his time during the holocaust...its an amazingly depressing book, as you'll see with the following writing, but I encourage you guys to read it if you haven't already. It's a great book.

The following happens after the Jews has to run- run, not walk- 40 kilometers to the next concentration camp after their old one was evacuated. As men die around them from exhaustion or the bitter cold, one polish boy lifts up his violin and begins to play in the Night. The following are the author's memories of the event:

It was pitch dark. I could hear only the violin, and it was as though Juliek’s soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings—his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as he would never play again.

I shall never forget Juliek. How could I forget that concert, given to an audience of dying and dead men! To this day, whenever I hear Beethoven played my eyes close and out of the dark rises the sad, pale face of my Polish friend, as he said farewell on his violin to an audience of dying men.

I do not know for how long he played. I was overcome by sleep. When I awoke, in the daylight, I could see Juliek, opposite me, slumped over, dead. Near him lay his violin, smashed, trampled, a strange overwhelming little corpse.

I don't know why, but this particular part really moved me. I haven't finished the book yet, and trust me, there are parts equally depressing as this from what I've read so far. I encourage you to read it, no matter how depressing it is.

And now to end this post on a slightly less depressing note: the legendary piano rock song, Piano Man, by Billy Joel. Great piece of music, pretty Epic :)

Massive Weekly Update

Okay, well the past week has been, eventful, to say the least. Well, Sunday through Wednesday was kinda boring, but I'll start the updates on the day it actually gets interesting.

Thursday the 8th grade went to Raleigh, the capital of my state, which is around a three hour bus ride from where I live in the mountains. The way there was spent watching movies on the charter bus we were on, texting to people sitting across from us, and singing to certain songs that made me thankful that the teachers were sitting in the front of the bus.
When we finally got there, we were divided into four different groups, with only about 6 or 7 people in each as we only have around 35-40 kids in our grade. I was one of only two guys in my group, but luckily the other guy I was with was a friend of mine, as were two of the girls in the group.
We visited the museum of history (the only interesting parts to me were the gun selection and the sports history area- I am such a guy), before moving on to the Museum of Natural History (science). Our groups pretty much disintegrated there, as I drifted back to my circle of friends and pretty much ignored my other classmates, who were doing pretty much the same thing.
After making our way through the museum (highlights include watching girls scream at spiders, snakes, millipeads, you name it, and riding four sets of escalators, along with seeing a pretty awesome sloth), we had lunch and made our way to the legislative building. There, we talked to a senator who happens to be the husband of one of our 7th grade teachers, and listened to a lady who was supposed to explain the building to us talk about what the red and green buttons do for an hour (she brought them up 8 times- I counted). We then went to the capital building, listened to someone tell us about a bunch of boring stuff that I didn't want to know, before getting our picture taken at the governor's mansion and getting back on the bus.
We watch The Blind Side on the way back (which is actually a pretty sad movie- some of the girls in the seat behind me were crying), and stopped at golden coral for dinner. One of my friends and I challenged two others to an eating contest, but the teachers made us stop by the 6th plate: 2 food trays and 4 deserts. We continued watching The Blind Side on the way back, before arriving back at school at around 9:30 PM

Friday was our early graduation party, funded by the local church. They gave us a free breakfast, which I demolished by eating 6 chocolate chip pancakes and a half pound of bacon. Afterwards we played Ninja Tag (the most epic game in the world), musical chairs (the church didn't have enough spare chairs, so they had the guys play the roles of the chairs- I think a few of them were enjoying the game a bit TOO much).
They then took us to the park, were we messed around playing kickball, basketball, tackle football, capture the flag, you name it. We ate a lunch contributed by Backyard Burgers, and I passed the rest of the time not playing sports chilling under a tree talking to my friends.

That night one of my friend spent the night, where we stayed up until 12 or so playing Xbox. My great-uncle was also over, who's a pretty cool guy. He introduced us to this Japanese-flute thing...played some of the most calming music I've ever heard. I spent the next night with my friend too, playing Xbox and chatting over facebook. Sunday afternoon I went on a 4-mile hike before running 3 miles...I'm pretty tired as I wright this.

Well, that was my week. Sometimes they're that eventful, sometimes my weeks are just boring old school days. Speaking of school, I got only 4 weeks left- 2 weeks for review, than EOCs (end of course test), than 4 days or so of free days.

One other thing: Tuesday's my B-Day! Sadly, i have a band concert that day, but I'm thinking of going to a pizza place across the street from my school (its located in the middle of the smaller of the two towns in my county) with two of my friends who are also in band/orchestra. I'll try to post that day if I have time too.

Nothing Going On Right Now...

Well, sorry for the lack of blogging, but there hasn't been anything really eventful in the last few days. Last week was school, just hanging with my friends for the week. Friday I hung out (or would it be hanged out?) with me friend Logan uptown...got in trouble with the cops for something we didn't even know was going on...long story short, it was just us being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Saturday was, and had always been, annual chore day. Mowed the lawn, cleaned my room, vacuumed the house, and went for a pretty decent run afterwords. Usually on Saturdays I hang out with my friends from around 3:00 to 7:00, but one had been grounded for fighting with his brother, and the other two were busy that day (and yes, I have a lot more that 3 friends...those are just the ones I hand out with the most)Spent Sunday playing my new game, Splinter Cell Conviction, with one of my before mentioned friends. That was..interesting...but nothing a non-video game nerd would get. The next week I should have a lot to wright about though...going to the state capital Thursday, than having a pre-graduation party Friday (which occurs, oddly, around a month before Graduation) I also have a pre-birthday party this weekend...that's sure to be eventful. I'll try to blog on all that stuff this weekend.

By the way, My B-Day is a week from Tuesday! Couldn't come soon enough, I'm sick of being 13...

Bon Jovi Concert!

Best Day Ever. My Mother brought my sister and I to a Bon Jovi convert in Charlotte, which, by the way, is the first concert I've ever been to, and after a 2 hour drive, we arrived at Time Warner Cable theater. After waiting through some crappey warm-up band, the real guys took center stage. I have to say, Bon Jovi still got it, even if they're pushing 50. Bon Jovi never hit a wrong note, the lead guitarists and drum player were fantastic, and altogether its been one of their best performances in recent memory. I have to say, I had some of the most fun in a long, long time. Some of my favorite songs were:

-Its my Life

-When we were beautiful

-Runaway

-Who says you can't go home

-Work for the working man

-Livin' on a prayer

-You want to make a memory

-Superman Tonight

He also, for the first time ever, preformed Hallelujah, which was, actually, one of the best in the performance



its an amateur video, but you have to see it- the best part is, the video was shot at the same time that I saw the concert! If you don't see any of the others, watch this one.

I sang along, clapped to, and danced (eh, somewhat kinda on the last one, but still) to every song posted above. The band played for 3 hours nonstop, and I have to say, they still got it. Livin' on a Prayer was a best- I belted that one out with all my heart, as did everyone in the audience. There we many other songs besides those, but they were the ones that stuck out the most to me. Their lead guitarist, I forget his name, was one of the best guitar players that I've ever heard. I guess that you'd have to be there to really see why I enjoyed it so much, but trust me- it was well worth the drive, and the lack of sleep I had for the next school day.

To sum it all up, the songs, guitar solos, everything, were EPIC 100000000%!!!!

P.S- for future notice, its probably the worst concert to bring your GF too, as they'll automatically be more attracted to Bon Jovi instead of you. I'm not gay or anything, but even i know, as a guy, that he looked really, really good for his age.