In the mood for camping

For the longest time now I have really been in the mood for camping. But when I say camping, I mean CAMPING. I don’t mean getting a campsite somewhere and setting up a tent and all that other stuff. I mean walking into the woods with only as much as you can carry, clearing a campsite in the woods, and then setting up a tent. I want to go out in the woods looking for a fallen limb still hanging in a tree and chop it up for fire wood. I want to start a fire with at the most a lighter or a match. I want to cook food on the campfire and sit there until its dark and I’m tired. Then I want to build up the fire real big and go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning I want to build up another fire out of the coals of the old one and then cook breakfast. I want to be near some water so that I could swim or fish or canoe. I would also want to be near some good hiking area. That’s real camping, and that’s exactly what I have been in the mood for for a long while.

Back to working out

In January I set out to do a little work out once every day. Well as most resolutions do, mine failed. I went strong for a while but eventually got out of the habit and then just all together gave up. But as my guys in Special Olympics Weightlifting get stronger, I need to get stronger so that I can help them. I also feel very weak and really want to buff up alittle. I really would like to get some six pack abs by summer time. So I took back to working out. I do ab workouts and push ups everyday that I remember and I also do as many chin ups as I can in Special Olympics Weightlifting. I already feel alittle strongerand am looking forward to realizing my goals. I really need to start getting back into running though as that is what really burns fat. I gained some fat when I stopped running to rest my foot and now I am ready to get rid of it. By summer time I am looking to be fit in my upper body just as I have come to be in my lower body.

Job interview

This previous Tuesday I was interviewed for a part time job at Sears. I really need money for a tux and all the other prom things I’ll need to get within the next month. Then I’ll have to get a car and pay for insurance and gas. I also need money for clothes as I really need some new ones and my parents really can’t afford to buy some for me. So basically, I need money. How do you get money? You work. How do you get work? You get a job, thus the job interview. On Saturday I filled out an application for employment at our local Sears store, part of the application was scheduling for an interview. This struck me as odd as I usually was called back for an interview. Nonetheless I went to Sears Tuesday about ten minutes early and looking fairly good if I do say so myself. I walked up to a cashier and asked where to go and then went to the office. I waited for a while and finally went back out to ask an employee if that was really where I was supposed to be at. He told me that the managers had just walked into the office. So I went back and after a short wait had my interview. It went well, I think, and the manager said that I passed the first interview and would be scheduled for a second one. The second manager would interview me and then they would score me and based on that they would offer me a job or decline my application. So tomorrow I go in for the second interview and I am sure that it will go just as well as the first one did. Maybe this will be my first job.

Enjoying the weather

There has been a very distinct contrast in the general trend of the weather as of late. It has gone from bitterly cold to comfortably warm temperatures. Personally speaking, the weather couldn’t be much better than this. I love nothing more than to be able to walk to school in my shorts knowing that as I come out of the school at roughly 3:18 I will be greeted by a warm breeze and a bright shining sun. I greatly enjoy the warmth of the cars and being able to roll down the windows for a change. I enjoy pleasant walks in the park with my girlfriend, even though I sometimes wish that there were fewer people taking advantage of the weather along with me. The one thing I hate is when I have homework or something that makes me go inside for an extended period of time. All I really want to do at this point is go outside and bask in the delightfulness of the weather, but occasionally I have no other option but to go inside and do some work. Despite this I enjoy and welcome the warm weather.

Help nest builders

When I was younger, my mom would take us out into the backyard and cut our hair. She said that it helped the birds because it provided them with nest building materials. So when I saw a robin gathering nest building materials this morning, I had a sort of revelation. I realized that we as people need to help others build their “nests”. We, especially Americans, have so much extra garbage that we never really use. The excess almost always goes to waste, when it really could be serving a greater purpose. We need to give what we can spare to those who are less fortunate. I don’t have much but whenever I don’t need a pair of running shoes I always donate them to Goodwill in the hopes that someone worse off than me can get a decent pair of shoes. Anytime we are in a position to better another person’s life, I think we should take it. You really don’t have to go out of your way, just make things available to them, and like the robin they will come and carry it away to the place that they are trying to build their “nest”.

Time enough at last

If I had time I think I would spend most of my time enjoying the outdoors with my friends, my girlfirend, and by myself. I would really love to go camping sometime soon. Besides that I would probably read and write both literature and music. I love reading and I have a few ideas I would like to jot down. I would practice guitar alot more, get together with some people, family or friend, and jam. That's where it's at!

I took this title from a twilight zone episode. There is a man who loves to read but doesn't have time or isn't allowed. During one of his lunch breaks he goes down to the bank vault (he works in the bank) and reads. The city is attacked with a Hydrogen bomb and everyone is dead, except the man. He is about to kill himself when he finds the library. He realizes that he finally has time enough at last to read. Just then his glasses fall and break as he picks up a book. His vision is too poor to read.

The First Time I Drove

I had "driven" before plenty of times before I got my permit. We would go to Panther Creek Park and my Dad would let me steer will he controlled the gas and brake pedals. This isn't REAL driving, but it kinda made REAL driving easier when I got to that point. When I got taller my Dad let me control the gas and brake as well as steer, but still only at Panther Creek and only when the parking lot was empty. When I got my permit I hadn't really driven for real on a street. My Dad took me to the Health Park and let me drive around the parking lot then let me drive home. That was the first time I drove on the streets. I did just fine for my first time. Later I drove to Cross Country practice out at Panther Creek Park, I drove to our meets at Yellow Creek Park and I drove to the Regional competition. Over this last summer I drove for my first time on an interstate highway. We went to my brother's wedding in Virginia and on the way back I got to drive through part of Virginia and into Tennessee. I did fine on that but took an exit ramp too fast and both me and my Dad were mad at each other so I decided not to drive anymore on that trip. I still haven't driven on my own yet, just because I have to pay for my own insurance and I don't have any money. When I get a job I can get insurance and a car and then drive on my own. I am looking forward to this driving first.

Yankee Doodle Dixie

There is a song called Yankee Doodle Dixie, I believe it was first recorded by Chet Atkins and is now a regular favorite of Tommy Emmanuel. What makes this song so amazing is that the tune for yankee doodle is played on the deeper strings of the guitar, while Dixie is played on the higher strings. Both songs are played simultaneous by the same guitarist on one guitar. It is an amazing tune that is quite stunning to listen to and even more impressive to watch. To watch it completes the wonder; listening alone you might think that two people are playing. When you do listen to it you must focus on one of the tunes at a time to fully recognise them. After you do that you might want to go back and listen to the two together, this is still amazing. It is a fun song that I wish I could play and maybe someday will. I can't hear of Yankee Doodle and not think of Yankee Doodle Dixie.