Ahh... November. What a month.

You must be wondering why I'm writing about the coming of a month that we're already halfway through. I'm confused, that's why. I wore shorts and a t-shirt today, on November 15th. Isn't it supposed to be cold today?

I blame global warming.

But hey, who's complaining?

Paranormal Activity

Fans, I'm disappointed in Paranormal Activity. Don't worry, it's not your fault, I just wanted to let you know.

After all of the hype and all of the sponsored links on Digg.com, after all of the newspaper reviews, after the 85% "fresh" review rating on rottentomatoes, and after all of the stories of soiled underwear in the theater, I thought that I would actually get to experience having the crap scared out of me. I decided that tonight - Halloween of all the nights in the year to see a scary movie - I would go out with my friends to see the supposed "scariest movie ever".

Meh.

Mikah and Katie represent the two halves of the movie. Mikah has a goofy sense of humor that kept me laughing through the first half of the movie. Katie kept me laughing for the second half:

*SPOILER ALERT*

When she was dragged out of bed by the demon, my friends and I thought she was going to get out of bed and stand up again. When she in turn flopped on the ground and started to flail her limbs, I lost it. The giggling continued through the remainder of the movie.

The final scene was the only satisfyingly exciting part of the entire wasted two hour attempt to scare me. I wouldn't call it scary, but that is probably because I was still laughing from earlier scenes. In the theatrical trailer it looked like a pillow was being tossed at the camera, leading me to believe that there was going to be a fun-loving demonic pillow fight at the climax of the film. I was pleasantly surprised when it was the idiotic "What the **** was that" character Mikah being thrown across the room by his steroid abuser of a girlfriend. When she was laying on top of his limp body for a few moments and turned up to face the camera with that wicked possessed smile, finally I felt chills run down my spine. But then, as soon as it got interesting, it was over and the end-of-documentary-on-runaway-homicidal-maniac text epilogue was scrolling up the screen, wiping away any chance of a decent horror film.

*END SPOILER ALERT*

As a horror film, I give it a 4/10 simply for the final scene. As a comedy film, it gets a perfect 10/10. My friends and I were debating going to see "This is It", the music documentary on Michael Jackson's final years when we decided to watch "Paranormal Activity" because of the whole Halloween thing. Maybe that would have scared me more.

That being said, I find myself looking into the shadows when I hear a noise. It could just be the MSG overload from the Chinese food we went for afterwards that's creeping me out.

Maybe it wasn't so terrible a movie after all... hehe just kidding.

The Rose - Bette Midler

A very strong song for those in times of need.

I first heard it during my first retreat with my church's youth ministry, and every time I listen it grows on me.

"Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed

Its the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
Its the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
Its the one who wont be taken, the one who cant seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember that in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed, that with the suns love in the spring becomes the rose"

And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live. Learning to live is the hardest part of life.

- Green

PS: Sorry for not keeping up with this, I forgot the reasons why I record my life in here. Recently, I heard that the mother of a good friend has been hospitalized, and that friend reconnected the broken chain between us.

Smile For The Camera

Well, isn't that funny. I didn't even get a chance to go home on my two hour break!

I went out with a few of my friends to the local bagel store (Noah's Bagels, look it up; they're delicious) for my study hall. Then we came back to school at the beginning of lunch to meet up with more of my friends, and we all went out and flooded Subway with our presence. Heh, lots of fun.

During gym today, I learned that it was Picture Day, and I'd have to get my picture taken for the school ID's. Seniors get their pictures for the yearbook taken at a photo studio, and we have to dress up all nice and formal for that. As a reward, we make ridiculous faces at the camera for our student ID's. The photographer told me to give the camera lens a "big smile", so that's exactly what it got - me, stretching the skin on my face to the limit giving the camera an obnoxious "big smile".

Was I being silly? No, I was just f0llowing directions... right?

Gourmet Dining?

My school has a 4-day rotating schedule, to keep our minds fresh when we have different classes at different times. They also let Seniors out on "Open Campus" during lunch and study hall.

Tomorrow, I have study hall... followed by lunch. Ya know what that means for me? Two hour lunch, oh yeah. Maybe I'll try and cook something myself; I'll let you know how that turns out!

Giggle Your Life Away To Eternity

Ah, what a relaxing weekend at the beach. I never actually went into the water, and that was partly the fault of the strong riptides that forced the lifeguards to put up red flags (no swimming).

I had a lot of time to just veg out and relax with my brother, parents, grandmother, and great aunt. I especialy enjoyed my time with the veterans of this game we're all stuck in called "real life". My grandmother , 83 years old, and my great aunt, 88 years old, are both contently living out their lives. It's amazing to think that people can live for so long and not get bored, but it's also amazing that people can live that long without cracking under the pressures of life. What I learned from them about living a long life is staying happy through it.

So... that's what I'm trying to do! I've always been one to crack jokes and make people smile and laugh; making others feel good makes me feel good. Is that really the secret to longevity? Well then, you might be seeing me around for a lot longer!

An *Almost* Empty Nest

Wow, what a day. I started off with a swim practice at 7:30am. Yes, I said and I meant "am", "ante meridiem", "in the morning"... whatever you want to call it. I was in the water at that ungodly hour for the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I guess I could say that it woke me up for the rest of the day, but that's about it for my positive spin. I came home at 11:00 - completely exhausted, dehydrated, and out of energy - I was in no way prepared for what was to come next.

Moving my sister into her new apartment in Hoboken! Good news: she'll love it there. Bad news: it's a four story walk-up (that means no stairs, as I learned) with a very tight stairwell. Exhausted and dehydrated, I carried up the mattress, boxspring, dresser, coffee table, love seat, and large sofa with the help of my dad and brother. In less time than I thought, we flew out of Hoboken with our handy-dandy Budget rental truck as we waved to my sister and her roommate.

Where were we going? Back to the house in Chatham, of course. But what didn't I expect? We filled up the truck with another load. Mattress, boxspring, pull-out couch, bookshelf, and desk, the whole shabang. Why? Well, of course we were moving my brother out of the house today also! To make a long story short, that trip was easier than my sister's mainly because my brother's room was on the 3rd floor of the house instead of the 4th story.

Now I'm back at home - finally! But guess what? We're on our way out again! Heh, but don't worry. My parents have run out of children to move out of the house today; I wouldn't be surprised if they went to the neighbors to ask for more work. Anyhoo, I'm going to the beach.

Some rest during a weekend of sun, sand, and ocean should help rejuvinate our weary bodies.

Calorie estimate for the day: 5500 calories

Brain Fart - Thank God for the Weekend!

I shouldn't have any more worries about getting back into the school groove. That much I'm certain of. Now I just wonder if I can stay sane throughout the year.

Driving home from a low brass sectional for Marching Band this afternoon, I started to worry if I had enough time to finish my homework before leaving for swim practice tonight, nevermind packing my bag and eating dinner in the process.

As it turns out, I don't have any swim practice tonight - today is Friday and we do not hold practice on Fridays (much to the joy of my non-swimming friends and their Friday night plans) - which reminded me of a certain perk of Fridays. They are usually followed by a weekend, which means two extra days to work on homework. This is Labor Day weekend and I get Monday off, so I even have three full days to work on homework!

To top it all off, I checked my agenda and our school's messenging program, and I didn't even have any homework for the weekend. Nothing to worry about at all. I guess being neurotic about finishing my homwork could be a good thing, though!

No Way...

Summer's over? Really? Are you sure?

I have school tomorrow; the first day of my last year. It's time to get back into the wake-up-early-and-be-in-the-car-with-your-eyes-closed schedule. Things should be a bit more interesting now that I'm driving to school. Maybe I have to work on prying my eyes open before going out of the house.

My Nicotene Patch

I'm here for sure... but why am I here? Why make a blog? What do I want to share with the world, and why do I want the whole world to know?

Since last May - 15 months ago - I've played an online game called Travian. It runs 24/7, and you need to log on periodically to check your account and keep it running. It's not like some other games that stop when you log off; it keeps on going. That's what made it so addicting for me. I knew that it was always going, and it was always in the back of my mind, distracting me from work that had to be done. I could write for hours about Travian and my experiences playing, but I brought it up to answer my question: Why make a blog?

As school rolled around again, I realized that I had to quit Travian to have a successful year. Okay, maybe my mom shoved the realization in front of my eyes before I understood that I had to quit... just maybe. Simply put, this blog is my nicotene patch for my Travian playing. I'm used to spending a lot of my free time on the internet, and now I need to channel that energy into something more constructive. I needed somehthing that I could go to when I need to get my internet fix, but something that doesn't take my whole day away. A blog - my blog. The time I put into this isn't predetermined by thousands of other players on a server interacting with my account, it's determined by how much time I want to put into it.

Now that I have a blog, I'm going to pour my life story into it.

- Green

I'm Here

Hey folks, I'm Green. I live a hectic life for a 17 year old... and it just got a little bit more busy. There are 4 parts to my scheduled life: swimming, music, boy scouts, and school. It's a very tough balancing act to keep them in check, and I hope to do a better job at that this year.

Swimming-wise, I swim for 3 (three!) different teams during the year. High school team (winter season only), summer team (summer season only, duh!), and a club team (all year long!) take up most of my time during the year. I'm mostly just a coach for the summer team, but I'll swim in meets just for fun.

Music-wise, I participate in... now let's count them... 4 different ensembles. High school Wind Ensemble, Jazz band, Marching band, and my local church's band. I play the trombone, so I'm a "Low Brass Dude" or a "Bone". This year I am one of two Drum Majors - the guys who stand up on the podium and conduct - for the marching band. No, I haven't fallen off of the podium.... yet.

Boy Scouts-wise, I'm well on my way to achieving the Eagle rank. Apparently only 4% of all Boy Scouts who join end up reaching up high enough to become Eagles. That's where I plan to be. I've also been the Senior Patrol Leader for my troop for six months last fall. My troop is on the larger side, and I was in charge of 95 boys for those 6 months. Hell, I was even in charge of their parents!

Lastly, and supposedly most importantly, is the little part of my life called "school". My senior year of high school starts this Thursday, and I'd like it to be the best of my 4 years. That's going to take a lot of work and a lot more self control to prevent outbreaks of senioritis. I'm definitely already looking at potential colleges that I want to attend, and at the top of my list are Fairfield University, Boston College, and Lehigh University.

Wow, I didn't expect to write everything about how I live my life... but I guess that's how it turned out. Living like this takes a lot of time management and a lack of procrastination, both of which I need to improve upon. I love to plan and organize... but I procrastinate to the point where my plans and To-Do lists become useless. A new year is starting for me, and let's see where I can go from here!

-Green