The long awaited post.

I finally decided to post. Right now I'm at Grandma and Grandpa's house. G&G went to the early service at church, while the rest of my family went to the late one. But I'm at the house, sick. I don't feel absolutely terrible, but I have a sore throat, a bit of a headache, and a small fever. Anyways I've got 2 stories - 1. I foundthis YouTube video and it's hilarious - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1h7bfJTECU And #2. - We had an earlyChristmas!!!!!! We opened all the presents yeserday morning, then drove to Saskatoon in the late afternoon/evening. I got a mp3 player, a nifty little top-thing, and some candy. And I got other stuff I can't think of now. I don't have any pictures right now because I'm in S'toon, but I'll probably post pics soon. And definately check out the YouTube video -> It's super funny!

GREY CUP!!!

This picture isn't blurry because she was very, very still. Her name is Chloe, and she's the former french teacher's (former as of 1 month ago) daughter.

Kent Austin's kids go to my school, so he brought the cup today. Sadly, most of my pictures are blurry because my camera doesn't work too well. I don't really have more to say.

.tsop a si sihT

After a very stern and large-fonted email from Ben, I decided to post. The last couple days I've been thinking of things to post, and I've had great ideas, but i forgot them. I just remember something entirely irrelevant!!! The cancelled Corner Gas tonight. It's one of my favourite shows and I look forward to watching it every Monday night, but tonight its replaced by some "Red road" or something. About the picture, it's the volleyball finals from last Thursday( we won, by the way) Appartently i'm blinking, but I love the look on Bryant's face (sitting on my right) Okay, that's the end of my post, but hopefully I'll manage to post before Ben yells at me again.

New Orleans

Here are the pics. It was awesome in "The Big Easy." I don't know why it's called that, but it is.

N'Orlins

Yesterday we were in New Orleans (southern's say Norlins or Norleens). It was awesome. On the drive there, we stopped in Diamondhead (between Pass Christian and New Orleans) and I bought a pair of Mississippi State pajamas (with the Bulldog on it) and then we finished the hour and a half drive to New Orleans. We started by going to the aquarium. As we walked towards it, we saw a trumpet player, and put some money in his box. After the song, he gave us the advice "get drunk and do something stupid. Because the people here don't care and the people at home won't know." (we didn't take the advice) The aquarium was amazing, but the pictures aren't really that great because of the aquarium's lighting, and the fact everything is behind glass underwater. I will give you the pictures anyways, but I'm in the airport right now so I'll put them on later today. After the aquarium was mostly shopping. We went down Bourbon Street and a couple side streets and bought a N.O. sweater, t-shirt, and probably something else. We had supper at Bubba Gump's and I am now convinced that I need to see Forrest Gump. I think my plane out of Gulfport (15min from Pass Christian) is leaving right away, so I should probably go.

The Untitled post.

Strangely, both of the good pictures I took to day were on Color Accent, which makes everything black and white except one color. The first is a toad we found, the second is my mom washing a van while Les is goofing around. Today was pretty uneventful. I forgot to take a "end of Day 5" pic, but it wouldn't have been good anyways. We put some plywood on the sides below the roof, but you couldn't see the change anyways. Tonight we're shopping (I want to buy a U of Mississippi sweater) and then going out for a crab supper. Tomorrow we're going to New Orleans and doing something. I don't know, probably touristy stuff.

Here's more pics. Look down for today's post. And please leave a comment so I can see who's reading the blog. Thanks.

Shingling

Today was a day of unsuccessful hope. Actually, it was just the evening that was disappointing. The day was great. Kinda. The only thing we really did today was shingle. First we had to get them on the roof, then place the paper, then shingle and nail, shingle and nail, shingle and nail. By the time we were done we were all pretty tired. Then the evening was a couple small disappointments in a row. First of all, when we got back from the job site, we heard a football game announcer. It was right before supper, so we tried to eat fast and get to the game. But this was the night they brought in Katrina survivors, so it used up more time. By the time we got to the game (it was a nearby high school) the stands were empty and the lights were just being turned off. Then we went to a house that Les had helped with 2 years ago. Apparently the girls (gr.8 and 11) are good at basketball and we were going to invite them to play, but they were going to bed because they have school at 7:40. Then we drove around Pass Christian. It was kinda boring. We plan on playing computer Jeopardy tonight, but otherwise I want to go to bed early so I can wake up in decent time (breakfast is at 7, making lunch is 6:30-7)

End of Day 3

Today we put the plywood on the roof (which took a while) and then on the sides of the house in the part that was missed (intentionally) before. I got to be on the roof most of the day. At first it was freaky because it's ~15 feet off the ground. Later on it was better because I got used to it and the space to walk on got bigger. Yesterday a little kid came onto the site and just started climbing the 5-foot scaffolding. I saw him, but wasn't sure if it actually mattered, and kinda watched him as I kept working. Then he climbed into the house, where Les (the project manager) said 'Hey Bud' and then let him be. Then the kid climbed onto the scaffolding on the other side of the house where Sylvia (a grandmotherly lady from Pennsylvania) said 'Oh, you should get down from there' and then lifted him down. Mom talked to him for a bit to keep him out of trouble and found out he lived next door, he was four years old, and his name was Canaan (we think, he had a southern accent) It was really funny to hear a four-year-old say Y'all. Then he decided he was bored and wandered around for a bit, being a bit too close to everything. Mom tried to tell him to watch from the steps, but he just wandered some more. He was standing too close for a while when someone accidentally dropped something on or near him (I can't remember) and then he wandered home to the neighbours who have an eternal BBQ Party (we are invited for tomorrow).

Pecans

Okay, I don't really have anything to say, mostly just pictures of us working (yes, working, Auntie Eileen) We picked pecans at a pick-your own place. It was pretty cool, but I have trouble opening them.

Dayo Numbero Uno

Today was the first official work day. We went to a house that only had framing done. We had to rip off the initial layer of plywood because it didn't meet some regulation, and then nailed another layer on. Then we added most of the trusses for the roof, and that was mostly it. It was very hot this morning and was brutal in direct sun. The shade was nice, though, because it had no direct sun but a warm breeze. The pics above are before and after of the house we worked on today.

We have now seen some cool wildlife. Sadly, they were all quite small and we didn't actually see a gator. (I saw something moving in the water, but it looked like a dog) So far we've seen a crane, lizards (hiding in siding at the work site), a couple tiny frogs (most were finger-sized), a regular sized toad, some butterflies and a Katydid or a walking stick (we aren't sure what it is.) Remember to check my blog daily because I will post frequently because there is very little to do. After working and supper, we go to the Shell to get a snack, then sometimes play Apples to Apples, and then I'm on the computer lots.

Gud Ol' Mississippi

Where is Les? (our project leader) and why is his food left alone??? We were at a breakfast place in the Minneapolis airport, when we were looking at our tickets. We had already ordered, and we were looking at how much time we had between flights. We checked our tickets out of Minneapolis and saw that we still had lots of time. Then Les looked at his, and realized he had ten minutes. We still don't know exactly why, but he had a different flight to Memphis, so he ran to his flight and then met us in Memphis (we had the same flight from there)

Another strange thing is shown in the picture above. Mississippi aboriginals had found a way to defy gravity. We were lucky enough to be taught this amazing feat of nature. Les (far right) didn't quite catch on. I'm pretty sure I had best perfected the act out of our group.

Travel Mission Status: Complete

Okay, I'm in Mississippi perfectly safe. I'm blogging from Mary-Jane's computer because she lent it to us after she found out she wasn't coming. Luckily we also have wireless internet, so I can check blogs and e-mail. I have a really awesome airport story, but it goes better with a picture that will be downloaded in the future (if I get the cord), so look forward to that.

As they say in Mississippi, ADIOS!

PS - I know mississippi isn't Spanish, but I'm sure its been said at least once here.

Halloween

Since I'm in grade eight and going into high school next year, this was most likely my last year trick-or-treating. Okay first of all, I didn't intend on trick-or-treating, mainly because I had youth. For youth, we went to Dollarama and filled Operation Christmas Child boxes. As we were going through the checkout, my freind and I saw Halloween masks and both bought one. Then when youth was over, the three of us (another friend had brought a costume) went to 3 houses around the church. Then when we dropped someone else of at their house, I got a huge load of candy from her and a tiny bag of chips from one of the houses next door. Then I did a couple of houses on my street and ended up with a decent sized amount of candy (especially considering how little time I was out?

Red Star = Point of Impact

Okay, today something really funny happened. In the afternoon recess, we were playing football. My team had just got a touchdown, so we kicked. The ball went right to Jared, a considerably a fast kid. If you look a Diagram A (above) you can see that Jared is the football icon. Then, I chased after him. Then, out of no where Justin (icon J) comes and creams me (icon D), knocking me to the ground. It was funny because Justin is definately not the knock-you-to-the-ground-in-touch-football kind of kid. I still don't know why (neither does Justin) he was running that direction because Justin was not on my team, so I have no idea why he was running that way. He says he may have been going back just in case Jared was going to lateral it to him. Either way, it was really funny how Justin came out of no where and just leveled me.

T-12 days

Does anybody actually know why NASA people say "T minus 10 seconds"? Anyways, I just added a cool video on the side. My dad showed it to me, it's some German guy with too much time on his hands. Oh, and here's part three (probably the last) of the 'Things I write in bed' series. Strangely, the stories got shorter and shorter. This one is a really quick finish.

Peace Complete
Finally alone, simply alone. No fear, no pressure, no pain. Finally alone with myself. Alone with company, alone with peace, alone with comfort.

T-minus 13 days

Okay, I have a couple things to say. First of all, only 13 more days until I'm in Mississippi! I haven't blogily (new word) announced this yet, but I'm doing a mission trip in Pass Christian. We are pretty much just fixing and rebuilding houses. And for some strange reason, I entirely forgot the other two things I was going to say. That's pathetic of me. I'm very sorry. I'm really disappointed in myself and actually kind of angry that I forgot. I'm starting to get used to it, though, because my memory is brutal, especially when it comes to blogging. If I think of the lost ideas later, I'll post them. I kind of remembered one right now. Either that or I made it up. I might be moving downstairs, maybe. I know I will be eventually and that was my parents plan, but I think I might be moving down soon. The main problem is that it's very boring and ugly. Shouldn't be to hard to change, because the only floral things are flowers (easily moved), a weird doll-thing, and the floral bed sheet (which I'll definately change). Then instead of painting the white walls I might just cover them with posters. Once again, It's really too bad I forgot about the interesting thing I was going to blog. About the pic....It was the only pic I could find because I used up all the recent ones. It's a gingerbread house I made a couple years ago. I have no idea when, really, but I remember making that surf board with the 'Surf's Up' sign.

EUREKA!!! I remember one of the thing-things! My dad found a really awesome deal at http://www.columbiahousecanada.com/sa/ch/ca_homepage.jsp?club=10 You can get 12 CDs free and then you have too buy 2 other CDs. Strangely, the total cost for us was $44 or something which is weird because we only bought 2 CDs, but it was because the shipping and handling was $27. We divided it, and $44 divided by 14= something like 3 dollars a CD which is still a great deal (if you can find 14 CDs you like). I think that's all for now. Wow. That's a long post.

Part 2 of the things I write in bed

I've actually already written the third one but I wrote this one a couple weeks ago and I'm only posting it now because I never got around to it. Numnber three is actually a cool ending to the trilogy, and all of these are true (but the first one is a bit stretched)

Mind Race
Once again consumed in black, alone. My mind wanders, running through where I need to be, and when. My brain struggles with the eternal calendar, week after week, never ending. The constant thought strains my mind. Days repeat themselves, similar enough to be monotonous, different enough to mess with my thoughts. The schedule clashes. Which is more important? I struggle with priorities. Confused, alone, in pain, and blinded.

Pi is goood.

Okay, I couldn't get the ad to go in place of the crab fight, but I got it on the movie list. Check it out.

Pi = 3.1415926535 (this is a very abbreviated number. very very abbreviated.)

I had to make a non-smoking ad for school, so I added it on the right in place of the crab video. Another post about the volleyball tournament will come tomorrow, or the next day, or...

To be, or not to be...

I need to update, but I don't really have anything important up. I have a volleyball game tomorrow and a tournament the day after. I'll post after that. As for the picture, it's the strangely deformed cupcakes my mom made a couple days ago. We have no idea how they got like that.

Riders (and Ava)

Here's a picture Jason (my youth leader) sent me. It's Ava in her new t-shirt! AndI was talking to Jason the other day and he was saying how he was making Ava into a Rider fan by telling her to cheer when the Riders score (she claps) and he gets hi-five from her too. As soon as she starts talking, he should teach her 'go Riders' or 'touchdown!' Usually when I hang out with little kids I teach them to *pound it* or something. Um...............................

More Zoo pics.

Somehow these weren't downloaded earlier. And the animals were behind glass, which makes an annoying glare

Minot

I was in Minot the last weekend, as was most of Saskatchewan. We counted 15 Sask license plates in a parking lot, and there were probably five times as many we didn't see. I also saw license plates from (let's see if I can remember) Tennessee, North Carolina, Washington, Minnesota, Virginia, Texas, Florida, and probably a couple others. My cousin's hotel was attached to the mall (and had 3 sweet water slides) so we did tons of shopping, swimming, and watching TV (we watched 4 episodes of 'Drake and Josh' in a row). Yesterday we went to the Roosevelt Zoo (it was nice out) and it's really awesome. It had lions and tigers and bears - Oh My! The pics above are of the 2 hours we spent at the zoo, then we had lunch at Space Aliens (which is amazing) and drove home. For shopping, all I bought was a sweet CD by ApologetiX, a Christian Parody band (I'll try to somehow get the music to you guys via the blog) and the first BATHROOM READER!!! Now I have #1, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 19! Bathroom readers are amazing, if you haven't read them. Once again, I had something else to say, but forgot it.