No Luck

This weekend marked our annual summer trip down to good ole' Oklahoma to see the Turners, who are really close friends for those who don't know. We left Saturday morning and after about 3 hours of reading, (I forgot to bring Ipod and a pillow) we finally arrived. As soon as we walked in the door, Trent and I were out of it, off to the local pool. It was a fairly nice pool with a few pretty decent slides, it was a water park compared to Mulvane's. We swam around for awhile and talked to a few of his friends that worked their and figured out plans for the evening. Then we headed back to see what the parentals were doing. Of course they weren't were they left them last, so we wait.

Well they arrived shortly after us and after hanging around the house and playing with Boomer and Petey, the families dogs. Boomer for Ronnie, the OU fan (Boomer Sooner) and Petey for Trent, the OSU fan (Pistol Pete). Then everyone got cleaned up to go lose money, I mean go to the casino. Well needless to say, I had very little if any luck at the casino, I won $20 off the free play I got and lost that and more on various slot machines. So I decided I'd try my luck on some blackjack, I figure 'Hey, I'm not stupid, at least blackjack takes some sort of strategy'. My logic flew out the window real quick. About ten minutes in, I feel like I'm in "Vegas Vacation" playing the character of Clark Griswold and being ridiculed by the black jack dealer, losing or pushing hands that are won 80% of the time. So after losing about $40 and almost my lunch from the sick feeling I got from losing $40 in the that short amount of time, we decided we had enough "gambling" for one night or lifetime in my case. I'm not quite sure I'm cut out for Vegas?

The rest of the night was pretty calm, Trent and I went to his friends house and hung out for a while and then called it a night. I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon, eggs, and sausage being cooked for breakfast. Talk about a great birthday breakfast! Oh I forgot to mention today is my 19th birthday and as you can tell I'm super stoked. I'm not doing anything to special, just having family over for dinner and probably hanging with friends later tonight. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards/money, or calls! And the countdown to Manhattan begins!

The Hunger Games

When I went on my visit to K-State earlier this summer, one of the things each student was given was a copy of "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. They did this because the book is going to be used in many classes and also as a campus activity when they create a reenactment of the book. So after asking a few people if they had read the book and everyone of them saying it was one of the best books they've ever read, I decided to read it. And there was definitely no disappointment, it was a very addictive read and one hard book to put down. With each chapter ending in some sort of climatic moment that keeps you reading to the next chapter, and so on and so on.

The book is based in the future where a Country is divided into 12 districts. The districts wealth go down as the the district number gets bigger (1 being the wealthiest). The main character is based out of district 12 and is basically in charge of taking care of her family. Her father died in a coal explosion and her mother sort of went off the deep end. Every year, every person from age 12-18 have to put their name in a drawing called the reaping and a boy and a girl from each district are drawn. All the kids drawn, are put into an arena and fight to the death until one person is left alive.

Anyone eligible to be drawn can put their name in up to 40 times to earn more food for their family. All of this plays off the ability to eat, thus the name of the book, and the winner of The Hunger Games gets their district lots of money and food as well. This book will make you think and imagine what you would do if you were in their position. It also has a sequel and a third book is coming out. I will be reading the second one ASAP, plus they are making it into a movie! I'd tell you more of the story but I don't want to ruin the story so go find a copy of it and read it, you won't be disappointed.

Pool Time!

I have the great advantage of being done working around anywhere from noon to around 3 on a normal day of cleaning. Which equals out to me being able to swim for about 2 hours a day at my friend Maddie's house. Which in turn gets me a pretty decent tan, for free I might add to those of you who would rather pay to get skin cancer. But being bored and maybe a little bit of the heat getting to us, we get on some pretty random conversations. Anything from top movies, actors, what time period would you like to live in, politics, movie ideas, hottest actresses, what role would you play in any movie, (get the movie theme yet?), and most recently, if you could have dinner with any 5 people in history, dead or alive, who would it be?

Well if you want to make yourself think, try figuring out who your five will be and it will definitely change about every 5 minutes after your preliminary list is made as you will continue to think of new people you would like to eat dinner with. So for shits and gigs I'll give you my five as of now in no particular order.

1. Eminem- If you didn't read my last blog, I am an Eminem fanatic and would love to have aconversation with him to pick at his brain and get a feel of his intellect whichis undoubtedly high, if you've ever listened to his songs their is no doubt that he is very intelligent person.
2. Jerry Seinfeld-Probably one of my favorite comedians/sit-com actors of all time. He'd definitely keep the conversations going with rants of pointless day to day activities! Now I'd thought about having Hitler as one of my five but this wouldn't work out well with Jerry being Jewish and all not to mention the fact that no one can speak German at the table so Hitler is out of the question.
3. Lil' Wayne- Once again, love his music, but I'm more interested on his perspective on life and how he goes about his day to day life. Unfortunately for Wayne there will be no "Purple" to drink at this dinner party.
4. Chris Rock- Favorite comedian of all time! His voice just cracks me up even if what he's saying isn't funny but it usually is. He would definitely be a good compliment to Jerry's rants with his story telling abilities.
5. Angelina Jolie-Gotta have something to look at, right?

Recovery and rebirth of hip-hop

To say that I'm an Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers or Slim Shady) fan is a pretty big understatement. I have followed him ever since his "Real Slim Shady" day's through all of the drama that followed with the fame he got because of the talent he brought to the hip-hop game. He lost his wife to divorce, his best friend Proof due to a shooting, and nearly his life because of an addiction to pills that he started to take after Proof was shot to cope with the depression that came with his death. People started to wonder if the wonderbread rapper would ever be the same or even rap again at all. He went back and forth with retirement and basically went off the deep end. He tried to come out with a new album last year called "Relapse" which Dr. Dre produced and he just wasn't the same and he admits Relapse was trash in his new album "Recovery".

In Recovery he gives Proof, late member of D12 and best friend, most of the credit for him getting his life together and getting clean. He talks about how and why he turned his life around in "Your Never Over" when he says

"Homie I know I’m, never gonna be the same with you/

I woulda never came in this game, I’m going insane without you/
Matter of fact it was just the other night, had another dream about you/
You told me to get up, I got up and spread my wings and I flew/

You gave me a reason to fight, I was on my way to see you,"

which is a dedication song to Proof. He talks about the frustration of not being able to produce raps at the level that he knew he could and how he about came out with a song dissing lil' Wayne and Kanye in the song "Talkin to Myself", which would have ultimately ended Eminem's reputation and career as the world knew it. He admits his struggles were due to the drug addiction, his head wasn't clear at all. But after months of being in a rehab center, he managed to become clean and if you thought his CD "Encore" was good while he claims he was on drugs, "Recovery" blows it out of the water with his genius lyrics and assassin like flow.

He says a lot more than I have included on here, but like most of anything, you can never feel or understand the full effect of something until you try it so I suggest you find a way to get your hands on that CD. Maybe your little brother has it and he'll copy it for you, if your lucky of course. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Two other rappers have also caught my attention this past couple of months, B.o.B and Drake. I

will have separate posts explaining why I think these two (along with return of Em and Wayne getting out of jail) can help to bring hip-hop back to the level of popularity it had in the 90's. But until then I'm out!

You got a friend in me

When you hear the words "You got a friend in me", what do you think of? Well if you know anything about movies your first thought would be Toy Story! If you don't like Toy Story then your probably going to need to go to your local physician and get yourself checked out because something is seriously wrong with you. The Toy Story series is thought to be the greatest animated movies of all time and I agree after being reminded of how awesome they are when I saw the third movie of the series that was just recently released in theaters, not to mention it was in 3D. The series ended with Andy going to college and him having to decide what to do with his toys that brought him and his imagination excitement during his childhood. After the toys are accidentally donated to a daycare center ran by an evil bear that runs the daycare like a prison, Woody saves the toys because of his loyalty to them and to Andy as well. The movie brings something for people of all ages to learn which is a major reason for the phenomena of people that follow it religiously. If you are a Toy Story fan, I would highly suggest popping in the first two movies and see if it brings back memories, if so go and see the third one and complete the one of the greatest trilogies of all times. It will make you laugh and may make you cry but it will remind you of what true friendship means and what the meaning of loyalty is to a tee.

On another note, like Andy, I will be going off to Manhattan (aka Manhappenin) this August for college. Last week my parents and I went to orientation at K-state. It was ran by mostly students who were Juniors and Seniors currently at K-state and they gave us a brief preview of what we needed to know about the college before we got there in August. We learned the Wabbash cannonball, the fight song, and the ins and outs of many things located around campus. So for me it was pretty boring as I've been raised a Wildcat from the womb and knew most of these things already. After all of the student-led activities, we met back up with our parents and headed off to lunch then to do the most important thing we came to do, enroll in my classes. I was actually really happy with the schedule I got, mostly because I have one class period before 11:30 a.m. all week which will work perfect for my ideal sleeping schedule of going to bed around midnight and waking up around 10:30 or 11. I'm taking 15 hours which includes an online money management class, psychology, college algebra, U.S. history, intro to leadership, and pre-major orientation. I find out my roommate the first week of July and move into the dorms August 21! So as excited as I was after enrollment, I'm sure it will continue to build as it gets closer and closer to going up there. Other than that, I'm looking foward to seeing friends and family at my big bro's wedding this coming weekend and hope to see you all there.

Windows 101

So for some retarded reason, this summer I decided I would do the unthinkable and get an actual job that requires this new word I'm learning called "work". After about 3 weeks of this "work" I think it stems from the spanish language and translates into sucks ass! Now I understand why so many people decided to become teachers because working in the summer is just straight retarded.

Ok I'll stop ranting on why everyone should be lazy and not work and get back on subject. I work at Fish Window Cleaning, a nationwide company with many different branches all over the country including Wichita. Fish cleans mostly commercial glass and residential glass every once in a while. The way the cleaners (Me) make money in this business is totally based off speed because we are paid based off of commission so the faster we can do a job the more jobs we'll be able to get in that day. Now, starting off cleaning glass is not as easy as it may sound or look, it is a skill that requires much practice and just repetition before you can become a "expert". Once you do get a hang of it though, you can make some decent money for a summer job. These are a couple things that you learn about windows and cleaning them after a couple of weeks of doing it:

1. You will find yourself checking out window size, amount of windows, and type of windows every time you see a store, house, or building when you aren't working. I always imagine how bad it would be to clean that house or building and thank God I'm not working right then. I am also surprised at how many windows you don't notice if you don't clean windows, places you originally thought would be easy to clean end up pissing you off and you never wanting to go back there again.
2. Birds are worthless! I swear that all of those stupid pigeons do is wait til I clean a window and go right after and shit on it. Keep it on the car windows birds, stay off my territory!
3. Cleaning in the heat sucks. It's quite annoying when you mop up a window and then when you pull out your squeegee, the water has already evaporated because it is so hot out. Once again, quickness comes into play and the heat will speed you up or you will streak the glass and make it look worse than when you started.
4. GPS's are a lifesaver. Being a product of my generation, I have no sense of directions, ability to read a map, or where streets go. So I use the gift we got my Dad for fathers day for my own benefit, but he doesn't mind as long as I don't kill myself by going down the wrong side of the road.
5. My favorite part of my job is in between jobs I can listen to sports radio while I'm in the car. Had I not got a job where I was required to get up at 6:30 a.m. (my least favorite part of the job) I would be asleep through all of my favorite sports radio shows (mike and mike, the herd, Dan Patrick, and Tony Kornheiser)

So thats all I got for you, I'll try and get a picture of me in my uniform so you can see me in action!

From Good to Worse

For the second straight year at Mulvane High School, the students have participated in a competition between the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes. The competitions were random and required participation such as wearing a hat, wearing green, or who dressed up for spirit week. The winners were determined by percentages of students who participated in each class. And for the second straight year the Seniors won. The underclassmen will claim the competition is rigged for the Seniors to win but frankly I don't care and either will they when they are Seniors.

The reward for the winning class is a trip to Worlds of Fun at the end of the school year. This year due to budget cuts and our school already being short on money, students were required to pay $20 to go on the trip. The fee was not a problem for our class apparently as over 2/3 the students ended up going.

The trip was set to leave the school at 7 a.m. which is really early for someone who doesn't get the bed til midnight at the earliest and isn't anywhere close to being a morning person. But I didn't care how tired I was or how early it was, I was going to the closest thing to fun in Kansas, Worlds of Fun-which is technically in Missouri but it counts. The bus's were split up with guys in one bus and girls in the other, one downfall of the trip. So we stuffed 50 some 18 year old guys into a bus with limited leg room for 3 hours and we were off.

The trip up went smoothly and as planned something that didn't happen later but that's for later. We stopped in Otttawa to get some food before we hit the park and would be forced to pay $4 for a drink if your thirsty which in my opinion should be illegal. So I ate a pretty large breakfast at Burger King as I was blessed with a little bit of my father's tightass gene. So we loaded back up and before we drove each other insane, the Mamba was in sight. For those who don't know of the Mamba's badassness, its a roller coaster that takes you almost straight up 200 feet in the air and sends you back down at 75 MPH.

As our teachers gave us the "Don't embarrass Mulvane speech", we were more worried about the first ride we were going to ride. For me, it was the detonator, which was fun and all but I had to have the Mamba next. One thing I learned from this trip is that you learn a lot about your classmates. You find out the people who you thought were the toughest people ever were scared to death of roller coasters or the most timid people or what we like to call "Ride Warriors"

The day went fast and 5 o'clock came faster then we could have imagined. As the group I was in tried to squeeze in the last couple rides of the day, we witnessed a middle schooler vomit all over the waiting deck for the Mamba and after that it all went downhill.

The storms that the weathermen had been predicting had arrived in full force. We saw a few cloud to ground strikes of lightning and casually started to make our way to entrance to leave. That casual stroll turned to a full out sprint after a bolt of lightning struck a roller coaster inside the park about 100 yards away from me and set a building on fire. We ran through the rain which felt like rain on steroids. We got on the bus safe and sound and ended up having to wait on students who were closer to the lightning strike as the park was keeping them in a storm shelter. We got our missing students after about 30 minutes and at that point everyone was on edge. The storm was massive and was going straight up our route home, the turnpike. We tried to go around it and took about an hour detour around Kansas City to avoid the heavy rain which was a failure at best. Our driver couldn't see anything which forced us to go 40 MPH the whole way home. After seeing 2 semis tipped over on the side of the road, students were seriously worrying whether we would make it home alive. We got to a break in the storm and stopped at a rest stop, one of many stops, and got some food and filled up with gas.

Well the satellites for the credit card machines were down at this rest stop so we had to wait an hour for them to get back up before we could fill up the busses-made me wonder what the world would really be like if electronics failed. Our bus driver had a terrible and stinky accident. As she was filling up the bus with gas, somehow the gas shot back out of the tank and all over here-remember that busses take diesel. So she changed into new clothes but that didn't eliminate the stench. Not to mention that there are 50 guys on a bus with all the windows up that just ate a week's worth of junk food and McDonalds, so things got gassy.

Our next dilemma was the other busses windshield wipers broke down (which doesn't bode well in a storm) and their bus driver couldn't figure out how to fix it. So their idea of fixing it was the other bus would just follow our bus closely so we would block the rain. So if you weren't freaking out by this point you were about to be. We had just received a phone call and were told the turnpike at El Dorado was closed because multiple semis were tipped over and that the storm we were about to hit had already produced a tornado. The bus was hot and tensions were high, there was almost three fights and the students were about to take over the bus themselves.

Well as you can tell we made it home safe and sound, I didn't write this on the bus before I died but after a 7 HOUR trip from Kansas City to Mulvane, I was surprised I didn't. All in all, the trip was worth the hassle, it was a great way to spend with the people I have grown up with forever and many whom I will not see after we go to college. If nothing else, it will be a great story to tell and grow as its told for years to come.