Saturday, September 30, 2006

Take Me Home





Homecoming was spectacular. That's really the only way to describe it.

I was really worried about it throughout this past week, I didn't think that it'd work out at all, it was getting pretty stressful.

Honestly, there are very very few things that could have made today better. The day activity was a blast, it had everything a cool activity should have. A trip to the DI, papa murphey's pizza, an intense and mentally stimulating game where you get to know people and laugh. It was just so good. It's impossible to explain what our day activity was or how it worked, but it was a blast. We're definitely doing that again sometime.

Sidenote: I love this suit. I stole it from my brother, and it fits perfectly and I really like the look of it. I'm digging this.

Sidenote 2: I purchased a ninja vest today. (See picture). I am confident that it is among the best 3 dollars I have ever spent.

Dinner was delicious and relaxed, just a good feeling. We went and took a ton of pictures at Arrowhead park after that, in our formal stuff. We took 85 pictures, most of them pretty good. It was really fun to just walk around and find poses and whatnot. It was fun, and we got spectacular pictures. Score it.

We went over to the dance, and it was good times. It's like a region dance, cept a little crazier. I enjoyed it alot though, it was fun to see everybody all dressed up. Good times.

Afterwards, we went to Arctic circle to get shakes. We were the only group from homecoming that had this great idea, it was so fun. We were all dressed up and looking way smooth, and the people working knew we had just come from homecoming. We got our shakes, and just had fun hanging out and eating.

We took our dates home, and then departed for the evening.

Analysis:

Homecoming was a resounding success this year. Even when we got placed in a tough situation without a lot of time to get everything figured out, things turned out awesome. Why is that?

1) Great group of kids. We had some primo people in the group. I'm confident that the average GPA of the assembly was 4.0. The girls were all really really cool, and super fun to be around. They were all dressed very modestly, which the guys really appreciated. The girls weren't all "you're lame cause you're going the cheap route" and they were happy to roll along with whatever crazy ideas we had. It was really easy to get along with everybody.

2) Not too much. Total, we spent about 10 hours with everybody today. That's alot of hours, but it didn't ever get boring. We had a day activity with pizza and the game at my house and a short trip to the DI. We had a 3 hour break, and then dinner at kyles followed by pictures and the dance. We wrapped the evening up with icecream afterwards. We didn't have enough time to really get tired of our dates. We had time to take a nap between the day and evening activities. I didn't have to get up early, and I was home before 12. We didn't overschedule or overload.

3) Economically viable. Total money spent today: 39 dollars. 18 dollars for the ticket, 7 for the shakes. gave kyle 4 bucks for dinner, spent 9.50 at the DI. I'm not sure where my other two quarters went. Now, that's not too much money. It's more than I'd usually spend, but I'm happy with how much I saved. Granted, my parents funded the pizza for lunch, and I still owe kyle 4 more dollars for dinner. But, 39 dollars, that's not too shabby. I didn't have to feel bad about how much it was costing the whole time. Our dates didn't have to feel bad about how much money we were spending on them. It was a nice feeling.

So really, I had a blast today, it was so good. I'm so glad that I went, and really happy with my choice of a date. Thumbs up.

Me and kyle have made some rules for the future, based on our experiences tonight. Here they are.

1) For dances, we're not going to do the bout-a-thingy and corsage bit. We will inform the girls of this beforehand, so they don't spend money on us. We'll show up at the door with flowers for the girl when we pick them up for dinner. This way, we both save money, and are still able to give the girl flowers. We don't have to wear something funny on our chests all night. Score it.

2) Pictures on our own, not at the school. It was so fun taking pictures tonight, and didn't cost us a thing. We're going to have a few prints run off for the girls, but that won't cost more than 10 dollars total. We saved a ton of money, and had a ton of fun.

So that's what we're doing in the future. We're finding ways to have alot of fun for cheap. It's been a good day, things worked out well. Hooray!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

The Moon

Welcome. I had a ton of free time today. I didn't accomplish what I wanted to. Story of my life really, but I'm working on it. I did get a little bit done, and that was good. We've finally got homecoming all squared away. Good thing, considering it's tomorrow and all. It's going to be way fun, I'm excited. We decided to go with the economically viable plan, and I'm happy with the decision.

I really wonder where all these traditions came from. Traditions are peculiar things. They spring up from somewhere, and become a law unto themselves. People will go to insane lengths for tradition, even to the point of insanity.

For instance, there is a certain way that you have to do homecoming. It's just the way things are. Nobody ever told you that, but it's expected, and it's followed. You must do a day activity, even if you don't want to. You're requierd to spend X amount of dollars on a corsage. If you don't do this, this, and this you're a dirtbag.

And that's just dumb. Because what if you don't want to do that, and your date doesn't want to do that? Wouldn't it be more fun to do something else? Yeah, it would.

And that's where I stand tonight. Not just on the topic of homecoming, but towards the whole entire world. We must ask ourselves why we are doing this. If the answer is something along the lines of "that's the way it has to be done, even though it's stupid" it's time to change the rulebooks.

A few months ago I spoke of the metric revolution. My attempts have failed a bit, but I'm still working on it. I recently expressed the weight of my Ultimate bag in kilograms, I felt pretty cool. That revolution is still going on, and now it's time to wage another revolution.

My friends, tonight we revolt against stupid traditions. There are many good traditions, let's keep those ones. Unfortunately, there's a multitude of terrible traditions that need to be booted out. I'm being the rebel. Tomorrow I'm not giving my date a corsage, and she's not giving me a boot-a-thingy. I'm saving money. Call me a dirtbag, I'm rebelling.

Who's with me?

In other news, I really am excited for homecoming. It's going to be kicks and giggles. I'm gonna be all suited up and raging. I'll even reclaim my neck from Captain Neckbeard. He took over a while ago, it's been a crazy ride ever since. Sure, I look like a stud, but I don't think the ladies appreciate it half as much as I do. I mean, they don't know what it's like to dream of growing a neckbeard every day for 3 years and then finally being able to do it. To them, facial hair is a bad thing. To me, facial hair is my one true friend.

So, really now. My neckbeard is terribly inadequate and terribly ugly. I know this. That's the point behind the neckbeard. I've realized that there is only so much time left for me to grow a neckbeard like this one. In not so long, I'll be growing a genuine beard- not a mexi-beard. It'll be full and raging. Not ugly and crazy like this one.

I don't want a full beard right now. I want the captain neckbeard.

Yay for me and my facial hair dreams.

Alliance news: Well, it still exists. I think there are some changes coming, and hopefully alot more content coming. That's what this all boils down to- content. We need content. We need a reason for people to go to the site. Right now we've got a pretty vehicle that's delivering nothing but empty boxes. We'd prefer it delivers something that the reader will enjoy. So that's the focus. I've got to find a way to get stuff flowing in. I've got a few schemes we'll hopefully be rolling out soon.

Ultimate news: Holy karate explosion! There's a level of potential here that hasn't been seen since the invention of the potato gun. Things are still a little rough around the edges, but good things are happening. I asked everyone to talk to their contacts at other schools about Ultimate, to see if other schools had clubs or people that played so we could get games against them going on. The response was intense, we've had alot of people come forward with info for us. We don't have anything confirmed except for the Murray showdown, oct. 14, but we've got a whole list of things that could happen with proper execution. Riverton, copper hills, granger, cottonwood, kearns, skyline. I'm sure there are more out there, but those are the ones that we've got contacts for that play Ultimate. That's the project, to get the high school league pumping.

If I have to be the one to organize it and bring it together I will be. Someone has to do it. Through the magic of the internet, I can actually make it work. I can make a tournament happen. It'll require a sacrifice of some of the other stuff I'd waste my time on, but that's alright with me. We're going to have competition. I really want to get a pseudo-league set up here.

Because really, how could would it be to have a highschool champion for Ultimate? Pretty cool, that's how cool.

Anyways, the Murray showdown is going to be pretty intense. I really have no idea what to expect from them. We're going in there very structured and official, and I think they're just a bunch of people that play sometimes. I bet they're pretty good, it'll be interesting to see how they stack up against us. Truthfully, we haven't ever played against anyone but ourselves.

I just hope it's a good game, I don't want a blowout on either side. I'd love to go and play a game that tied at 14, sudden death. Because really, playing Ultimate is what's fun, not winning. Sure, winning is cool, but it's about the playing.

So, good things are happening with Ultimate. Yea verily. If you have any contacts with any highschools, talk to them about Ultimate. See if anyone's playing. Tell them we'd like to play them sometime soon, and give them my information. We gotta get things rolling here.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another idea. This one is really crazy. But, it's going to be fun, so here we go. Take it for what it's worth.

The concept is simple. People want to be able to go to the moon. The trouble is the moon is very far away and doesn't exactly have an atmosphere. You show up and blam, you blow up because there's not enough pressure pushing in on you to keep you in one piece. The place is ridiculously cold, and the cell phone reception is terrible. Food services are slim to nill, leaning heavily towards the nill part.

In short - there's absolutely nothing on the moon. This is a serious deterrent to living on the moon. We need food, water, heat, and air pressure to live. The moon is pretty much lacking all of these.

But we all know that that won't stop us. We've been there before, we've planted a few flags there. The Russians have deposited a banner here and there. One day, we'll have people on the moon. We've got people in the space station right now, living in space isn't impossible. Right now nobody is doing it. I haven't been keeping track of all the recent projects and whatnot, so I don't know how soon someone's gonna attempt it. But here we go, my crazy plan.

First off, you need a ridiculously large amount of money. That's a given. It's not a ludicrous amount, but it's a ridiculous amount. You have to do what they did back in the day when they were colonizing the Americas. You're either the king of an oil rich nation, or you're a company that sells your shares. I prefer the company approach.

You begin your company as a solution to the nuclear waste problem. Your plan is to build a rail gun of insane proportions. A behemoth, a monster, a really really big gun. The concept, as backwards as it seems, it to launch nuclear waste into space, preferably towards the sun.

The sun is ridiculously large. The sun causes cancer, so we don't have to worry about it complaining about getting cancer because of all the nuclear action we're launching at it. It's sufficiently massive that no matter what we do to it, we will have virtually no effect on it. It'd be like an ant frowning at me. I can't even see the thing, who cares if it's frowning at me?

So, your company invests a huge amount of money, time, and research to design and build this huge rain gun.

(For those of you who don't know what a ray gun is: It's basically a giant cannon powered by electro magnets. It works a little bit like a camera flash. In a camera, you build up a large amount of electricity in a capacitor. All the capacitor does is hold that energy until you flip the switch, and then it all rushes out. So, you hit the switch, the energy goes flying through the wire, hits the flashy-bulb, and goes crazy, then stops. It's just a brief second of super flash. The rush of electricity from the capacitor makes the filament or whatever go super bright, and then it's all gone so it stops. In a rail gun, you've got the same concept. Except with more power, more capacitors. You flip the switch, and all this power goes hurtling along the lines. Let's say that it hits a huge coil, and immediately creates a huge electro-magnet of immense power. If you set stuff up right, this can repel an object (our projectile) away like crazy. Thus, launching it super far)

That's the basic idea behind the rail gun. It requires a ton of electricity to run, but since you're rich you build yourself a huge array of solar panels and windmills and a dam to power it. You get a ton of nuclear waste shipped to you, you pack it up into your cartridge, load the cannon, and hit the big "go" button. Boom, it launches that thing to the sun, and you're never going to see it or feel it's carcinogenic effects.

You make good business. You offer a permanent solution to the waste problem. Nobody seems to mind that you're actually polluting the sun. After all, the sun is a big boy, it can take care of itself. Conspiracy theorists worry that you're actually launching the nuclear waste back in time, and that you're the real one responsible for the dinosaurs extinction.

Aside from the wackjobs though, you're popular and rich. You build another gun, this time in Russia. Profits go up, the world gets a little safer, and you pop up a few more installations all over the globe. You're launching this waste out there like it's nobody's business.

And then, very secret-like, you build a shuttle. Nobody really needs to know about it, because it's best if you don't have people asking questions or getting excited and trying to beat you to the punch.

Flash forward. You've got your shuttle completed, and a super team trained. You take the crosshairs of one of your cannons off the sun, and aim it at the moon. Now, instead of launching nuclear waste, you're launching building materials and food. You're launching pieces and parts. You fling the makings of a lunar base into a field on the moon. And now they're sitting there, and there's nobody around to steal them. Score one for the good guys.

You finally unveil your plan, and launch the shuttle to the moon. There are 5 people on board, a robotic rover, all sorts of supplies, and a flashflight. Your crew will land near the field where all your supplies have been launched from the railguns.

So, they sit down, and your rover goes to collect the packages strewn througout. Thank you DARPA grand challenge, that baby is 100% automated. You don't even have to press go, he just trucks along, picks up the package and brings it right back.

Your crew spends the next several weeks assembling the first permanent base on the moon. For now they're living out of the shuttle, but soon the base will be habitable. I haven't fleshed out all the details on what the base is gonna be like, but they're building it. All the while we're constantly launching more stuff up there. It's a barrage of construction materials and granola from your peeps back on the mother-rock.

In a few more weeks, your second crew arrives. By this point you've got an insulated base with an airlock. It isn't much, but you can go in there and take your helmet off without your eyes popping out of their sockets and exploding in a shower of blood and eye-pieces. Half the crew continues work on the base, and the other half goes to assemble an array of solar panels.

Flash forward a year: Crews have come and gone, but your moon base has been constantly inhabited for a whole year now. Over the months it has grown and grown, and things are starting to look pretty good. You've got surplus electricity coming in, and you actually managed to grow some plants. Sure, you had to launch all the soil and water up from earth, but it's a start. You're working on completing your tourism wing, so you can finally satisfy and wants of all those rich billionaires that want to live on the moon for a week.

Flash forward a few more years, and you've got a permanent moon base. It's bigger, better, cooler. Here's why it worked:

1) Proper financial backing. You don't start this project until you are sure you can finish the project. As a business specializing in shooting nuclear waste into a giant fusion-machine, you're loaded. You don't have to raise taxes in order to make it work, so you can pull it off.

2) Rail guns. Right now it's tough to get a shuttle to the moon. You can do it, but it's expensive and unreliable. By being able to rail gun all your non-human materials up there, not only do you save a ton of money, but you're capable of sending so much more. You can only pack so much crap into a shuttle. The more stuff in there, the more fuel it takes to get to the moon. This way we've got what seems to be an endless supply of food, materials, water, and whatever else they need no more than 24 hours away. No shuttle can boast that. It's all about the snail mail.

3) You did it gradually. That's the only way to do it. Crew by crew, and piece by piece. You start small, with the main airlock building. Then you build the garage for all your materials. Then the farm, then the giant solar arrays. It's bit by bit.

So, we can do it. If we can shoot all of our materials up there using huge rail guns, we can do it. It'll still be monumentally hard, but it's not impossible.

Why do it? That's up to you to decide. What's the point in having a moon base? The same point in putting spinners on your car. They serve no purpose- no purpose other than impressing the ladies.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Juxta

Thank goodness for my parents.

They got back from Hawaii today, and it is so nice to have them back.

Me and my dad spent a really long time talking tonight, and got alot of stuff figured out. It looks like things are going to work out, I'm excited. We talked about the homecoming stuff, and then the running/tutoring business. It was nice to have a voice of reason to talk to.

So, we got two major crises figured out tonight, I like the way things are rolling. You've got to love the old man, he's got the skills.

Kyle, don't fret about homecoming, it looks like we've got things taken care of. I've got plan that's gonna be cheap, crazy fun, and effective. Dang straight.

As for the running and tutoring dilema: I'm going to have to compromise. No radical moves to the left, and no radical moves to the right. It's a compromise. I'll have to take a little hit on running, but not giving it up totally. I won't have all the time that I would have liked, but I'll have some. Coach will have to agree to it, and I'll have to have everything cleared with the office. But really now, it looks like it'll work out, and I'm excited.

In other news, there's some cool stuff planned for the Alliance this week. I've been re-evaluating the way that things've been going, and I've got some fresh new ideas. Nick's been doing some cool stuff, and Jaron's got mad skills all around. We've got our forums up, so if you want to go troll around there feel free. There's not too much in there yet, but we're working on it. our ATWC video is finally up, that's pretty cool.

So things are rolling. The captives are being set free. I begin to wish I was an artist, or that I could sketch and all that. Cause I've got some pictures in my noggin I'd like to do justice too. Looks like I never really will, but I'll find other ways to share the goodness. I still need to write up my moon plan. I need to update this blog more, it seems to have fallen by the wayside a little bit with all these other projects flying around. So that's something that I'm going to remedy. Because really, I love the old blog. It's got a special place in my heart. I won't forget it.

Really, I think things are going to work out. I'm at the point where I'm really ready to make the most of things. There's been a recent surge in the blogging community, and I'm happy about that. One day soon I'll go through and update all my links.

Everyone's been talking about how highschool is almost over, and how we need to make the most of it. That's my plan, I've been thinking about that alot lately. I am going to leave my mark. When I leave, Taylorsville is going to be a better place. Maybe they won't remember my name, but that's alright with me. I'm going to make this little haven better. The Alliance and Ultimate are just two facets of the plan. I can see these two kids growing into huge deals, but even if they don't it'll be ok. That's just phase one, phase two starts soon. We're going to roll out the tutoring program, and raise test scores. We're gonna do some serious business here. We're going to leave stuff behind. Leave the mark. I'm gonna write, real projects. Not just the random posts that fall out of my brain, but stories. I'm gonna make videos, short ones. To the point.

In short, I'm going to make a difference. It's been too long since I have. I'm pretty sure Eisenhower has already forgotten my name. I didn't ever sign the catwalk like the rest of our engineers, so in 15 years, no one will even know I was ever there. I didn't leave behind the video legacy that I had wanted to. I think I did some cool stuff at Eisenhower, I was proud of the things that I accomplished. It made me grow alot, but did it make others as well? That's what I'm going for here. I'm gonna help other people. Ultimate isn't just for me. The Alliance isn't just for Me Nick and Jaron. Tutoring, that's not even close to being for me. It's time to get the genesis rolling. Time to ensure the future. Plant a tree, not so you can sit in the shade today, or tomorrow, but for the future. For 15 years from now, when a whole class can sit in the shade. It's not just about today. We can't forget today, today is important. We need to worry about tomorrow too though, and, if possible, take out the two birds with one well-placed sticky grenade.

As we accomplish our goals of today, let us ensure the future of tomorrow.

jux‧ta‧pose–verb. to place close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.

Let's bring it together. Not for comparison, not for the contrast. But to be united and stronger. Together, things are better.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Lag

I fear I have created a monster. I'm not feeling really well, I do believe I'm getting sick. The whole state is sick this week, it's bad news. I was pretty happy that I was immune, then I got hit by it today and look at me go.

It's been a very long time since I've just hung out with people. I've hung out with my boys, sure, but it's been ages since I've hung out anywhere where there've been girls.

Why did we decide to let the club play two nights a week? I'm not going to both. I'm going to get a social life, somehow. I'm getting tired of not being able to do things I'd like to do because I agreed to do other things. Sure, those other things are good, but too much of one thing is terrible. I'm tired of working out every day after school, and I'm tired of playing frisbee both days on the weekend.

Perhaps the trouble is that I'm finally at the end of this uncharacteristic enthusiasm streak-

on any given week, I'll have two or three dreams. Things I think would be awesome. I never do them. I just don't.

These past two weeks, I've pulled off two dreams. Actually made them fly, so far at least. Number one was the Alliance, and number two was Ultimate.

To be frank, I'm surprised. I really didn't think it'd happen like it has. I've had some insane bursts of motivation, as well as good backup from everybody. So we got it done.

Maybe that sudden drive is wearing off now, and all I wanna do is be a drone for a bit. Do you remember my theory on drones? It developed during 9th grade when I was working hard on running the spirit assembly or whatever. I didn't really do anything, I was just upstairs playing with the lightboard and whatnot. It really wasn't a big deal, but it was bothering me alot that week I had to go in for practice. I was irritated, so I turned to thinking. Basically, we were putting on a show for everybody. They walked in through those doors and down the slanty aisles. They sat down and watched the show, and then went back to class. It wasn't anything much more than that. We, on the other hand, were running the sound and the lights. We were running the curtain, and the SBOs were using the microphone to do whatever it is they do. When the students leave, we've gotta clean up. We've got to roll up the mic cord and stash it all in the ticket booth.

They had no idea about that, at least not most of them. They filed in, sat, then filed out. We were performing for them. They didn't have a pound and a half of keys in their pocket.

That's what I wanted to be that week. I didn't want to have access to the "authorized" zones. I didn't want to be the guy working, I wanted to be the guy being worked for.

Well, I realized after a little while that nobody is a drone forever. I realized that for the great majority of my life I will be a drone. The trouble is, you never notice when you're a drone. You never walk into the dollar theater and think about the kid that had to push the button to turn the lights down to start the movie. You don't mind that he's up there, not sitting next to his friends. You only realize it when you're up there with him, sweating from the heat of the projector.

So, that's what I wanna do this week. It's not going to happen, but I'd like to be a drone. I want someone to say "Hey, check out our awesome club with 100 members that's going to put Taylorsville on the map" instead of running around taping up signs announcing our next meeting. I don't want to run around all next week, and go home at 5 oclock instead of 2:30.

I wanna go to someone's house, and not have people come over to mine. I want to sit there on the couch and not wonder if anybody is thirsty except for myself. If I want a cup of water, you better believe I'm gonna ask for one.

In short: It's midterms, and I'm tired of everything. I'm sick, and spent most of my free time today with a frisbee. Not a bad way to spend alot of your free time. But most of it? I dunno, I would have liked to pursue other interests this evening.

The trouble is, I'm gonna feel great tomorrow. Always do. And that's cool, I'm happy with that I guess. I just figure that for now I might as well be tired. equal representation of my numerous personalities I suppose.

But hey, things are good. I'm just afraid that my frisbee dream has turned into a frisbee monster that will consume me.

I've been thinking about the running bit. I could still run and accomplish my goals if I could get through with practice when school gets out half the time. Athletics is 4th period. If I could be done when the rest of school is done, I could totally do it. I'll have to talk to coach. It'd mean dropping compy tech, but I'm great with that. Yeah, I can't type or use word....

Things are alright. They're moving in the right direction. Alliance is pretty fun right now, we just set up forums. There's nothing in them yet, but that's what you're here for, to put stuff in them. I'm going to work on some stuff tomorrow for it too I think, it'll be dandy. Then again... I say that every day, and it rarely happens. Still working on that though, we're moving along. Forward, not backwards. Upwards, not forwards- but twirling, ever twirling towards freedom.

Here's the real question. If you throw a million darts and only one of them hits- was it worth it?

I guess the answer depends on what you hit. If there's enough value behind it, it'd be foolish not to throw your million darts, no matter how long it takes.

The analogy here is basically kids. You know that maybe one in a million kids will grow up to be a brain surgeon that'll save alot of lives. Why both throwing the other nine hundred thousand other darts at the kids who won't save lives? Is it really worth the darts, to just hit one?

It depends on the value of what you hit.

But from me, the drone-for-a-week, I think it's worth it.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

(8) 'cause tonight's the night the world begins again (8)

I have so much to say, and it's finally ready to come out.

I've had this much to say for a long time now, but things have been in the way. I've either been too busy or too tired of everything to write. Tonight that's changed.

Yes, I've got homework. Yeah, I'm a little tired. But it's been long enough, this is taking priority over homework. Up yours Harward.

I want to do great things. The trouble is, stuff keeps getting in the way. I must go to scouts. I shall be back in about an hour to write like I've never written before. This one's gonna be huge. I could make an analogy here that kyle would really like, but I shant. But I can just feel it, this is gonna be big. But for now I'm off. Whoosh.

And I'm back, an hour and 40 minutes later. That was an adventure.

But really. On to business. No introductions, no excuses or explanations. It's just time to share.

I wonder what life would be like on the other side of the fence. The past long while I've been thinking a little bit about it here and there, but recently I'm wondering about it alot. I've had a few conversations with people that have made me think a little bit more. Here's the real question.

Would I be able to better pursue my goals if I didn't run cross country?

It's something that I've always wanted to be able to ask, but have never had the courage. It's now a viable option. Let me explain why.

I love to run, and I know that it's good for me. Relative to the rest of the team, I'm a decent runner. I'm not spectacular, but I'm decent. Cross Country has done wonders for my health, and I know it's made me a better person. The only reason that the question of whether or not I want to pursue it further is that it really only benefits me. I'm made better by running. It's about me. To a small extent you could say that the team is benefited, and that the school is benefited. But all in all, I'm making myself stronger and better.

That's fine and dandy, but I wonder if I couldn't do more good focusing on other things to help people that aren't named Thatcher. What if instead of running every day, I helped people with homework? What if I commandeered Farr's room and helped people understand the stuff they forgot from math last year? What if I helped people actually get it? What if I helped the Ultimate club do really great things? What if I helped people get in shape through Ultimate, make friends through Ultimate, be happier through Ultimate? What if instead of running every day, I helped other people every day?

That's where the real question comes. I know that I could help people with math. I believe that my natural gifts aren't in the department of distance running, but rather in the department of bubble sheets and piece-wise functions. Why not harness natural talent into helping other people? Why tredge away at something I'm not exactly good at simply for myself?

I know that cross country is good. But I think I could really do some good in the world if I focused on some other things. I know that I could still run, I'd run alot with Ultimate, and I'd go on distance runs and whatnot just for kicks. I know that I'd lose the edge that I've got. My mile time would go down substantially. It'd be almost 100% guaranteed that if I quit now, I'll never be in this good of shape again.

Maybe that's a worthy trade off though.

I'll have to talk to coach about it. I'll have to talk to my team about it.

Maybe I'm just barking at the wind. Maybe I could do all this stuff in addition to cross country. Once the season is over it's going to be a long time until we start having meets again, so that will free up a little bit of time. Next semester I don't have athletics. That means that I'll have even less time. Hmm.

So that's the big dilema right now. Giving up running with the teams would be really hard for me to do. I'd definitely finish out the CC season, but once that's through with I might just call game and go pursue making the world a better place. It'll take some testing of the waters. Will there really be people there for me to help? I know there are people that need a little bit of help, but would they come? How would it all work? It's a big question that will take a while to figure out.

But that's how things are now. That's what I'm going to be wrestling with until the cross country season is over. What do you guys think? I really need some input here. I appreciate you guys always reading this. I figure you know me pretty well by now. So, I'd really love all the advice you've got. All of you. Help me out here. Even if you've never commented before, tell me what you think. It'd help alot.

In the end it'll come down to my decision. Is it going to be Ultimate and helping people, or will it be indoor track?

So, tell me what you think.

Onwards. To less life-altering topics.

I really really really like the song Better Days - The Goo Goo Dolls. It's totally steamrolled me this week. I keep searching for it on the radio, and eventually here it. It takes over me, it's so deep and awesome and good sounding. Maybe it reflects the current status, I'm not sure. I really really want that song.

I want to be a pirate more than I ever have, just for that one song. I don't like piracy too much. I won't condemn it, it has its merits. I won't say I've never done it, and I won't say I don't use some stuff that has been pirated. I can't really justify it. But, I'm trying to do the right thing here, trying to not do something just cause I want to. Sure I really really really want that song. But I don't need it to live. So I'm not gonna pirate it. But really now. I really want that song, I'm loving it. Go find it and listen to it, it's just perfect.

I have really been enjoying this weather. I love it when the weather is sad outside. I don't know why, I just do. I love being inside. I'm always secretly dissappointed when the sun comes out after a storm. I just love storms.

I swear I had more to talk about.

We've had 129 people sign up for Ultimate. only about 95 of those gave us email addresses. Under liberal estimates, that means that at best we'll have 40 or so people actually show up. That's looking mighty decent if you ask me. Things are going to be good with the club. I'm going to rely on the other leaders a ton. This is not going to be a one pony show. We're going to be a raging team of leadership animals.

And let's not even get into how good at frisbee we're going to get. Honestly. we could become so raging. We could go to tournaments. We could have our own tournaments. With a genuine A team, that's the real dream.

-long and dreamy sigh-

I'd love to play a crazy intense game. A game for keeps. Spirit of the game through the wazoo, but competition at its finest. One winner, one loser. First to 15. Outrun, outjump, outcatch. The real test. /long dreamy sigh.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't actually dream about Ultimate. I'll admit it, I do.

In other, groundshaking news:

Remember a while ago I decided I wasn't going to be a bitter old man anymore? Well, I think things are actually starting to work! Get this

So, the other day, I was getting ready to leave an unidentified place at an unidentified time. As I started to walk away, I thought to myself: "You should go say goodbye. Go say goodbye and give her a smile. Cause if you do she'll have to think about you just a little bit longer, and that's always a good thing. Go for it."

That's what my brain said. My legs told me to keep walking, and I definitely kept walking. But that's not the point here. The point is that my subconscious is actually putting forth effort in the girl department. This hasn't happened for a very long time. I've been a bitter old man, that's all there is to it.

Personally, I'm very excited about this fact. I'm not smooth, we know that. I've got about one in a million chance to actually impress this girl. But you know what? I like those odds.

Hmm, reading through some old posts. One whole year ago I laid down a plan to get Ultimate as a real high school sport. It was a 6 step process. So far, we're up to step 3 without even knowing it. Score it! Funny how that works. How the plan has remained basically the same throughout it all, even though I forgot I had an official plan. I like it though. There was much less support a year ago for the cause of Ultimate. All the sudden things are taking off though. Ladies and gentlemen, it's go time.

Been thinking a bit today. I don't know what I cherish most. Is it my family, my friends, my what? I don't know, I'll have to think about that one.

Ultimate meeting this Friday, right after school. Probably in the career center, maybe somewhere else though. I'll let you know. Bring your forms. We'll have a very short business meeting, and then cover some basic frisbee skills. After that we'll prolly play a few pickup games just for fun. Score it.

I'm not betraying my roots am I? What happens when Parker wants to play Ultimate at bennion elementary again? What happens when Brad and Andrew get home and want to play with their homeboys? Will there be too many of us? Will I defile Bennion Elementary with too many feet? I sure hope not.

Sometimes you just gotta question yourself though, keeps ya healthy.

I have a plan to build a base on the moon.

Yeah. like, for reals. See, here's the trouble.

Any time I read history dealing with colonization and exploration and all that stuff, I really want to do it. I always think that I could do that stuff, that it's for me. Unfortunately, most everything has been explored. Rats. No colonization for me. Yet.

That's where the moon comes in. It's the next step. What's the value in going to the moon? I have no idea. Right now it seems almost pointless. But, it'll probably get done eventually. I'm sure my idea isn't a new one. Chances are someone else has already blogged about it. Well, sucks to be them. I'm writing about it tomorrow I think. Maybe I'll spice it up a little bit. The main concept is snail mail, just so you know. According to what I'm thinking, a very very rich company could probably pull it off if they were extremely lucky. Hmm. Hmm indeed.

Is kyle going to be a dating stallion? I sure hope he is. I'd like to go on a ton of dates. Just cheap and fun stuff. Twins won't go with me. Maybe kyle will, that'd be pimp tastic. I've got a ton of cool date ideas that nobody likes but me. Maybe the girls will like them though. I really do want to go to the zoo someday on a date. If you won't come with me, well, I'll just take my frisbee.

English class: still giving me a little bit of grief. But, i've come to a conclusion. I'm going to be the very best butthead this guy has ever seen. I'm going to write every paper, and I'm going to do a good job on it. I'm going to get in to the arguments, I'm going to be all over everything. I will be the best student in the class. But I'm going to be a butthead while doing it.

Because really, there's been enough lameness going around. There's been enough timidity. No more. I'm going to be brave. I'm going to stick my neck out there and say it whether he likes it or not. I'm going to bring my A game. When I disagree, I'm going to stand up and say it, and so help the guy that gets in my way. I'm going to write satire, I'm going to write like a brilliant man with something to say. Am I a brilliant man with something to say? Nah, but I'm sure going to write like one. But I'm not going to play into his game.

Wait, maybe I am. I don't care. But whatever it is, I'm going to come out of this a better writer. I'm going to get in there and show everybody who's boss. I'm not going to be polite while doing it though. No more holding back. Harward is getting the A game, simply because I want to show him up. I want to show the whole class up. I'm going to do the very best I can, just to be a butthead. It's gonna be nasty.

I'm not sure that that made any sense. But it makes sense in my head. The next paper that i have to write is definitely going to be satire. It's not supposed to be, but it's going to be. Take that.

Yeah, there's more I thought about writing earlier. But I didn't take notes when the ideas came, so now we're out. I guess it's time to go update the Alliance and then do my homework. It's 11:24, w00t. It's gonna be a pseudo late night, but I'm alright with that. Go ninja go.

Remember to be nicer to everybody guys. I guess I sorta forgot that today. I got to try harder.

Remember to leave me a comment regarding what I ought to do with the rest of my life. I'm at the crossroads here. You guys gotta fill me in on how you feel about cross country vs. math tutoring. Aight, g'night friends, thanks for reading.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Better Days

Perspective is everything.

I began the day with the intent of writing a huge post about everything. I had the plan to talk about the snail mail to the moon plan. I wanted to talk about frisbee and cross country and school and sleep and english and everything.

As the day progressed, things changed. I wanted to get more philosophical. Towards the end of the evening, I was ready to write an emo post. I figure that the tired and blunt version of me deserves representation as well right?

And how here I am, at the end of the day, writing none of them. Tonight, you get the current version of me. I'm not the same as I was 20 minutes ago. In 8 minutes I'll be different. I'll feel like talking about different things. This is why I write this post.

There are a few facts about life that are undeniable. I believe that the first and foremost of these is that when you do good things, good things happen. I really believe that.

Further down the list of irreversible facts come this next little gem. There will be good days, and there will be bad days.

That's the real deal. And that's ok. It's alright, we're still kickin'. In every sea of sunshine there'll be a few dark clouds. In every black abyss you'll have the stray tulip to cheer you up. You're not going to get the absolutes.

Remember that. Remember that you yourself will wake up one day and suck at everything for the day. Accept that, and do your best anyways. We have no choice but to roll with the punches.
Even more important to remember, however, is that you're not alone. Your friends have bad days too. Your friends are just like you. Tomorrow your friend is going to come to school without their homework. Allow them that opportunity, and be supportive. Because after all, they're having a bad day.

What's the point? The point is that things will be ok. There will be bad days, and there will be good days. Bad days will always be followed by good days eventually, and bad days will be sure to come after those.

It's ok to have a bad day. Remember to be nice to those having bad days. How do you know that someone is having a bad day? You don't, you just be nice to everybody all the time. That way you're covered. We can all stand to be a little nicer. I know I can. I'm going to work on that. Will you too? Let's be nicer, more supportive. Let's say nicer things. Let's let other people spill their guys out to us. Let's be a friend.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Suddenly

Whoa. Time moves quickly. This week rushed by like crazy. I can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. I've been really occupied with getting the Alliance rolling that this corner of the world has been neglected. For that I am sorry. Yea verily, I am here tonight to reconcile. Indeed, here comes the post.

School has been pretty good, but still a little different. It was really easy to drop right into the groove this year though. Nothing too strange or new for us, just hop right in and run with it. We all know where to go, how to get there. It's an easy transition, go go go. Classes are still harder than last year, but that's to be expected and celebrated.

This year offers us all a good opportunity. The ceiling has been raised. Last year everybody got an A. You could do the best you could, and there was the ceiling. You reach it, good for you. But you couldn't really get too much higher. We were all really expected to be there at the barrier seperating us from the heavens. It was a nice place to be.

But this year, the barrier has been removed, and all the sudden we've got air space up the wazoo. Now an A is further up, harder to get to. We can do the best we can, and sometimes we won't even make the ceiling. There are more places we can go, but it's harder to get to the top.

We can take this two ways. One way is super great, we've got more potential. If I want to be a superstar, I can do it. Last year, everyone was a super star. That was cool and all, but what if I want to be like, the superstar? In a situation where everyone gets an A, what's the point? If it's easy, it doesn't mean anything. It's really supply and demand here. In this new Junior state, the supply of victory is way down, and the demand is up. So, you can be happy about this, or sad. Less people will dominate this year. Maybe that's a good thing.

Cross Country has been going well, we're having fun. I seem to have hit the plateu, it's hard to improve right now. I haven't had a PR in a long time. The team is doing well though, and it's fun to be with them. We only have two more official meets, three if we make it to state. It's looking alot harder to get there though. We're in a super super hard region right now. We're sure that we can beat Hillcrest, but we'd have to edge out one more school in order to get to state. From the looks of things, our best shot now is to beat brighton. We haven't met them in a tri meet yet, we're racing them this wednesday. It'll be intense, we'll have to see what happens.

It's weird, it feels like our team this year is a ton better than it was last year. That's probably not true though, I'm just doing alot better than I was last year. Last year we had Clements and Whiting and Money rounding out the top. Now we've got Kirt and Noakes and Selck and myself. We're very senior shy, junior heavy. So really, I don't know if we're going to make it to state or not. It's a toss up. I'd like to go, but all the same I'd like to be done with meets. I love running with the team, and I just love hanging out with them and all, but I don't like meets as much. That's why summer is so good. It's constant workouts, super hard. I sweat like mad every day. In the end you get to go home feeling great about how hard you worked. There are never meets in the summer, you're just happy to run for the sake of making yourself better. You don't have to go and get 139th to know that you're heart is strong as an ox. You're just as fast as you want to be.

So, CC. Next year we dominate, going to state for sure. This year it's not a sure thing. I bet we could do it if we really really worked at it. Truthfully, we can all improve a ton. We've all got it in us. If we go out there and run our hardest we can make it. I know I've got a ton of room before I hit that glass ceiling. Selck has got it too. Santy has been improving a ton. Thadeus is an animal, and really ought to be the fastest kid on the team. It makes me sad that he's not, I feel bad for the stomach thing. That'd be super super hard.

Moral of the story is, we can make it. But if we don't, I'm alright with it. I know that coach will be a little dissappointed, but he knows the situation. He'll be alright. We'll be back next year, stronger than ever. With seniors. w00t.

On to my love life:

Frisbee club starts next week, w00tah. We've got our posters all made up. I've got to make up some forms tomorrow for people to fill out, but that won't be too difficult. We really need somebody to sit at the table for second lunch on A-days. We've got nobody, and it's trouble. It's not going to be too hard, you've just got to sit there and make sure nobody steals our stack of papers and throws them at wilbur. So, still searching for that.

Aside from that, it's looking good. I found out today that Skyline has a pretty intense team. We're definitely going to be playing Murray in the near future. We'll play skyline someday when things have settled down a bit.

I'm really excited for this. It's going to be hard because I never have time after school, but that's alright, we'll make it work. We're going to be teaching the A-team the stack really soon, because it's looking like most the teams around here are playing with it. We're a little backwards I guess, we haven't adopted the more rigid style of offense yet. We're still playing every man for themselves. It'll be interesting to see how it works. I think that we've got a good chance against these other teams though. Athletically speaking, we ought to be able to run all over them. We've got the technique, we just need to learn to play as a team and get that stack running.

So, all in all, good things are happening. Life is rolling along. School is getting better. There's something really awesome about getting chemistry right. Our last assignment was insane. We're doing stoichiometry right now, and it ought to be a review. It is, sorta. Like, we know how to do it, but we've never done stuff this intense. One of the questions last time... it was like a cannon. You look at that thing, and you know that if you do it right, you can shoot down that huge warship in the bay. Trouble is, the cannon is sitting here in the valley, and you need it to be at the top of the mountain. You're gonna have to push it.

So, an hour and a half later, you stand on the mountaintop. You load your cannon, and with a deafening crash you release your fiery ammunition and destroy the bad guys.

Yeah, it's like that. You read the question, and you're like "What?" This is insanity. You know it's possible - somehow - but you're not sure exactly how. But, knowing that there is a way to find the answer, you set out to do it. It's backbreaking labor, your head actually hurts from not getting it. You always get it, things are always easy. But no, this stuff taunts you. It's not that you don't get the math. It's not that you can't convert. It's that you have no idea how you're supposed to do it.

But you push anyways, and you get it. You remember the exact moment it finally clicked. You unlock the magic, and bam, sunlight floods in. You rush to convert to moles then back to grams and then subtract to find out how much mass must have come from oxygen. Hurry and write the formula so you can balance it and then convert back. It's an insane process, and your ti-86 is quivering from the intense number crunching it just experienced. After all is said and done, you conquered it.

And then in class the next morning, you're correcting. And you know that you've got it right. And Hansen is up there, oh, he's up there. And we're going over it on the board. And he starts reading out the answer, and inside, you're just screaming.

"C-Two-H-Two- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!"

That's right. You figured it out. It's party time.

That's why chemistry is fun. Cause of stuff like that.

And now, for a little fiction. The characters and happenings in this fiction are entirely fictional. Any correlation you make to people or objects in the real world are entirely your own creation. I had nothing to do with it.

It was a cloudy day, and the wind wasn't cooperating. He walked inside, after failing in his 4th attempt to summon pegasus to rescue him from school. He knew that this whole pegasus business was a sham anyways, but it was fun to see the way the sophomores looked at him when he started muttering in Spanish. He didn't know what he was saying, but that guy named juan wouldn't stop winking at him. If he couldn't summon pegasus, he might as well summon some latin friends right?

-Authors note. What the crap? Pegasus? What is this? I don't even know where that came from. It's late. anyways, what follows is based on an idea I had about a week ago. In the following week I have stopped disliking my English teacher so much. I'm alright with him now. So, don't think I hate the guy cause I don't. This is just for fun, don't have a heart attack. And remember, it's entirely coincidental if you happen to see a parallel to my life in here. Cough. On with the story!-

All random gift shops aside, Claudius Hatcher walked into his English class. It was just as he had left it two days earlier. Same awkward configuration of desks, same inferior-style computing devices on the far table. He took his seat, greeted his classmates, and attempted to run off. Unfortunately, the teacher noticed him trying to steal the chair, and made him take it back and sit down. Sigh, today wasn't his day.

Flash forward 35 minutes, and our protagonist finds himself dozing off. It'd been happening more and more since the carbonated fry had appeared to him in his dreams. It had told him about the secret ring that would grant him +13 agility. He needed agility bad. He had sought the ring, but his attempts had been futile. All he ended up with was a yellow lemon shaped rock. Curses.

So Claudius is falling asleep. When all the sudden, a giant alligator wielding a machine gun burst through the door.

The class was shocked. I mean really, how often do giant alligators wielding machine guns burst through the door? That just doesn't happen anywhere but Mississippi. Pencils were dropped, screams were issued. And he was about to fall asleep too. Sigh.

So he shakes himself off, and timidly raises his hand. The teacher calls on him, and he says. "Mr Jarward, a giant alligator wielding a machine gun just burst through the door."

Mr. Jarwood, a rastafarian sort of guy looked at our student, and then took notice of the giant alligator wielding a machine gun for the first time. He staggered back a few paces, and said, "Gee, I wish the author would have made me German instead of Rastafarian."

Collectively, the class uttered a bewildered and confused "What the crap?"

"All point distribution aside, it appears that a giant bird has just burst through the door children, please stay calm." Exclaimed the identity-challenged teacher.

"Bird? That's an alligator mr. Jarward." Said the one kid that doesn't quite smell right. It's not a bad smell. Just not right.

"No hernando, it's obviously a bird. Do you see that twig clenched between its big claw and little claw? That type of twig is only found in birds' nests. That means that it came from a birds' nest. Therefore, it's a bird. Not a giant alligator wielding a machine gun." Said Jarward.

Claudius raised his hand again.

"Yes, Claudius?" asked Jarward.

Taking a breath, Claudius said, "Well Jarward, that can't be a bird, because it's got scales and scary teeth and is definitely lacking wings. The whole thing is green and scary. There are no feathers to speak of. I just took its internal temperature, and it's way lower than a birds'. It can't be a bird."

Jarward sighed. "There's a twig Claudius. It came from a birds' nest. That means its a bird. Birds come from birds' nests. It's not that difficult a concept...."

"But sir, it's wielding a machine gun. Birds don't wield machine guns. Alligators wielding machine guns are the only type of animals that wield machine guns. This is definitely a giant alligator wielding a machine gun." Claudius said with a slight british accent.

"Where did it come from Claudius?" Inquired Jarward with a bit of teeth.

"Teeth? That was uncalled for man. It came from a birds' nest." Claud, the recently renamed rapper said.

"That's right, and what comes from birds' nests? Birds. That's right. It's a bird. Any other answer is wrong." Jarward spoke like a CD-R.

"Ok, wait, it's an alligator. You can see that it's an alligator." Claudius enunciated.

"No Claudius, it's a bird. You are wrong."

"Bah! It's got a machine g-"

"It's a bird. It came from a birds' nest."

"No! It's green and is currently eating that smelly kid! Birds don't ea-"

"It came from a birds nest, it's a bird. Give it up Claudius."

"It smells like an alligator! It looks like an allig-"

"You're so sophomoric. Obviously it's a bird, and you're just confused and intimidated by how hard you think my class is."

"No! It's an alligator, and I don't think your class is hard! I'm not intimidated by anything but that giant alligator wielding a friggin machin-"

"Stop shouting. It's a bird, and birds don't eat johnny. Johnny is clearly investigating the innards of the birds mouth, that's all."

"He's gurgling for help! You can hear him shriek, he's pumping his remaining leg like a ma-"

"Sometimes birds excite people like that. Please take your seat. Our bird that came from a birds' nest is clearly trying to express itself. Let's analyze what rhetorical strategies it is using."

"It's an Alligator and it's going to eat me!"

"You are incorrect. It's a bird."

"No, it's an alligator wielding a machine gun!"

"It came from a birds nest. Therefore it's a bird."

And then at this point, the alligator shot them all because they were stupid.

~end fiction~

So, what's the moral of the story? It's an alligator, get over it.

Because after all, I don't count beans.

I hunt alligators.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Bird's Nest

Been a while guys, I'm really sorry. I've been working on the Alliance in my free time instead of writing this. Junior year is alot busier than Sophomore year. But, the Alliance launches Friday. For reals this time. It's going to be so intense.

Alrighty, I leave you with this paint as a shadow of things to come. Expect good things tomorrow. G'night all.


Friday, September 08, 2006

Forsooth

This is only gonna be 5 minutes. I need to get to bed because I've got a meet tomorrow. I always have a meet tomorrow, what's with that? Oh well, it ought to be fun action.

Today has been a good day. I didn't do my homework in Us history, so I've got to do it Monday, but that's alright I'm thinking. Things really started picking up tonight, it was so much fun.

We had a pasta party at Noakes house, it was so much fun. The team this year is just really really cool, and they're so much fun to be around. We played some really fun games, at some really cool food, and just bonded and whatnot. It really was just a good feeling. You can't do it justice with text. It's just that feeling deep inside that says that you're with good people, and that everything is alright. It's a nice feeling.

So, right after that we went over to the elementary to play some Ultimate. It was really really good tonight. We had a ton of people, and the game was already going once I showed up. Everybody was playing really well, and the weather cooperated a ton. Kyle threw better that I've ever seen him tonight, it was so much fun to play with him. I'd be streaking across, and I'd just yell out "Deep left! Deep left!" and he'd launch it out there. It was flying so even and straight, perfect height, perfect speed. I'd catch up to it, run alongside it for a bit to milk it, and just take it out of the air. It was so amazing.

It was officially decided that it was one of the 5 best frisbees in recent memory. I had good catches, good throws, and just good times. The CC team came over, and we pretty much had a cross country team vs. match. That was so fun. With the team feeling all unified, we played raging and it was tight. Yay.

So, yeah, it's definitely bed time.

Soon.

Best news ever.

Selck informed me today that some kid he works with that goes to Murray wants to challenge us to Ultimate. The tentative plan is to play the game in 4 weeks.

You have no idea how excited this makes me. I've been searching for this forever, trying to make it happen. Then all the sudden they come to us, and drop it in our laps.

Oh snap. I'm so dreadfully excited. La la la la la! We're gonna play, and it's going to be crazy fun.

So, yeah, no alliance work tonight. Pictures tomorrow? Gosh, I'm bad at getting stuff done. I just need some free time, but these days it's hard to come by.

One thing that I'm going to do soonish. This might seem a little sick, but I think it's necessary. I'm going to write an "If I die..." post. I'm not going to publish it, it's going to be saved as a draft forever. I'm mostly writing it for myself. But, just in case I do suddenly kick the bucket, I want to leave something good behind. So, I'll save it as a draft, and ensure somebody with my password. If I go out, post it up, read it at the funeral, and have a good life.

Tomorrow's going to be fun. Frisbee club's gonna be rockin. Alliance site is going to be rocking. Guys, keep up the good work. Remember where you're going in life, and work for that. Don't get too caught up in the little stuff. You guys are awesome, have a good night everyone.

Familiar (Again)

We find ourselves in a familiar circumstance. It's 12:13 Am. Earlier than usual actually, but still very late. I took a nap today, so I ought to be able to pump this post out. I do want to write it, so I'm going to. I know that tomorrow is going to suffer a little bit because of it, but that's a choice that I'm willing to make right now.

I'll type fast.

First off, the Alliance is progressing still. I'm still excited about it. I'm still happy to work on it. I swear this is the first project in the past long long time that's really worked. This, along with frisbee, is going to make this year a big success I'm thinking. Today we worked a little more with the intro paragraphs. No graphical stuff today. Hopefully I'll be able to reveal some graphical stuff tomorrow, it'll be cool.

It's hard to say how cool this is really getting. I'm sitting there at school, and I'm excited to go home and work on it. We're getting there. We have set next friday as our official grand opening day. We know that we were supposed to reveal it tomorrow, but that's just not going to happen. You'll get a teaser. Trust us though, we've got some good stuff coming for you guys. It's going to be like nothing you've seen out of us before.

We had a meet yesterday. It's very interesting to note how many posts I have written the day before meets, as compared to the posts that I write the days of meets. I rarely write after a meet. I always talk about how pumped I am, how I'm gonna go run my heart out. But it's seldom that I actually tell you how the meet went.

Here I am. Kicking the habit.

The meet went really well, I was happy with it. It was on our home course, over at the valley regional park (the park park... the one by park library). It's not the friendliest course, but it's sorta fun I guess. About half of it is run in this barren wasteland that we all call "the desert". It's just a gravel/dirt road dealio, it's where everyone parks during Taylorsville days. So, you've got the desert, and then some grass, a little bit on the trails, some sidewalk stuff. It's pretty flat, but the terrain switches between soft to hard and all that jazz. We were running against Skyline and Jordan, probably the two best schools in the region.

It was beautiful weather. It was super super windy right before the races started, but that died down before the gun went off. The girls race was pretty good, Megan got 10th place. I forget how the others did, but it wasn't bad at all. Since I don't run in the girls' race, I'm not gonna talk about it. Take that.

Our race was pretty fun. I felt a ton better running than I have all week. The gun went off, and I tried to go out strong, but I was really thinking about pacing myself. I always jet out too hard, so I really wanted to keep it a tiny bit slower on the jump, and just keep myself steady. I think I did fairly well at it. I started the race off in good position, and just kept on trucking. Kirt lead Taylorsville out, with Noakesy pretty close behind him. I wasn't too far away from Noakes, and I had no idea what was going on behind me. The lead pack stayed pretty close together for the first half of the race, it was pretty odd. There's usually a few guys that just blow everyone else away. Granted, skyline's top guys weren't running because they're saving it for BYU this weekend, that might have been why.

But anyways, the race goes on, and the pack starts to spread out a bit. We were all holding our positions pretty well. Kirt was still 1st from Tville, Noakes second, and me third. The distance between me and Noakes kept on growing, but there wasn't much that I was willing to do about it. I just ran on, kept my head up, chest out, trying to get that stride working.

I got pretty close to Noakes about halfway through the race as we went into the second lap in the desert. As we were about to enter, two jordan kids passed us up, going at a pretty fast pace. Noakes ran with them for a bit, so he gained alot of distance on me there. I knew inside thatI'd have to go catch those kids later. I knew I was going to, and so I moved my strategy to do so. I started crawling up, mostly because I didn't approve of their actions.

See, it's always surprising to get passed halfway through the race. You don't expect it. Especially at a pace like that. I mean, I can see someone gradually coming up and slowly passing me, because their stride is stronger than mine. But this is weird, they just jet past you, it's like their on a little vendetta spring till their ahead of you, then they go back to normal. It's a little irritating, and for some reason it just doesn't sit well with me. I understand getting passed in the beginning and the end. It's just weird to get passed in the middle, because it's not my race strategy at all. I sort of see it as my duty to do them justice and pass them back come the end. It's like standing up and saying "Now now, that's not how we race. It's not smart, therefore I must beat you."

So, that was the plan. I think I passed one of the kids on the far side of the desert, and set my sights on the next guy. It was really fortunate that the girls were there to cheer me on, or I don't think I would have got him. As I ran past, they shouted out "C'mon Thatcher, you can catch this guy, you've got longer legs than he does."

I thought about that, and it was true. Not only had he gone crazy and passed me in the middle, he had short legs. It was my duty as an American to pass him. If I didn't, a little puppy would die somewhere, I just knew it. I had to do it.

And so I went for it. I started picking up my pace, crawling up on him. I was doing something that I had just learned the day before, I called it paddlefoot. It's just sorta getting in to the rythym, soft steps, but long strides. It's a new feel for me, and I really liked it. I was sneaking up on him, trying to pass. At first he offered little resistance, so I was thinking it'd be good. Usually when you go to pass someone they'll match your pace, then gradually speed up. This kid wasn't speeding up, I was closing the gap pretty well.

Then, all the sudden, he looks back, sees me, and sorta jets ahead. He gets a nice little distance on me, and goes back to normal running.

He was just racking up points against him now. First the wrong pass, then the short legs, and now this. I knew that he wasn't running smart. That's just not the best way to run. You run steady, you don't sprint/slow/sprint/slow the race, it never works. I vowed to pass him, I knew I had to.

So, I tried again. Maybe I'd wear him down. I keep up that faster pace, the paddlefoot. It's not really fast, but it's just slightly faster than my normal. I close the gap, get really close, he looks back and jumps ahead.

He did that for the next mile. The whole next mile. That's a long time to play that game, I'm not going to lie. But he kept in front of me. As we came down the little slope to the last 500 meters or so, I knew that I'd have to go take him. I started speeding up, hitting the juice and whatnot. I came and closed the gap, pushing pretty decent now. He matched my pace, but I was going too hard for him to jump ahead of me. I kept increasing my speed, testing his breaking point and my own. He didn't fall, he just kept going, right in front of me. I have no idea how he matched my pace so exactly. It didn't matter what I did, he was always just that far ahead of me.

Now, things are beginning to get desperate. I'm not the worlds greatest sprinter. I'm not even a good sprinter. I knew that if this kid had a good kick in him for the end, he'd beat me. Puppies would die, I didn't want that. I knew that he had made mistakes while running. He just wasn't doing it right, c'mon! I knew I had to beat him, I had said I would. I had longer legs. I had a cooler uniform. I had fruitsnacks in my sock.

We push it all the way down that straightaway. Still he doesn't budge. We've got that last building to round, and then it's a 150-ish meter sprint to the end. We take that last cone really tight, he's still in front of me. Up ahead, I see Noakes. He's only two places ahead of me, finishing in strong, but not with a death sprint.

I had a choice to make. I took the high road.

I had been running hard, and my body hurt. But as I turned that corner, I knew that it was now or never. I had picked it up a ton coming in to this, I was very surprised this kid was still in front of me. If I was going to beat him, I'd have to go right now.

And so I did. I did the same thing I do every time it's a genuine sprint to the finish line. I put my mind somewhere else, out at bennion elementary. I saw Brad throw that amazing throw down to the endzone, and I knew what I had to do. I had to run it down, I had to catch it. It was way over my head, cruising so hard and fast. I had to outrun the defenders. I had to outplay the forces of gravity and get underneath that disc before it hit the ground.

At that point, when you want the frisbee that bad, your body just goes for it. There are still only 5 paces when you run. There's your start pace, it's faster than your regular pace, and it's used for the first 400 meters or so to get good position. You've got your normal race pace, the hard and moving one that keeps you throughout 70% of the competition. Then you've got your passing pace, the one that you start creeping up on the bad guys with. And then there's the death pace. It's where you run as hard and fast as your body possibly can. It's the end, the top. It's what you've got.

But, there's still number 5. I call it the frisbee pace. This pace ignores your body, and is entirely devoted to catching the frisbee. You don't think, you catch the frisbee. Your body moves, and you don't know if it's faster than your death pace or not. All you know is that you're trying to get under that frisbee. Whatever else happens is secondary. You're just going.

And so that's what I did. I ran, I raced, I was a wild man.

I passed him a little bit before halfway to the finish line. He had been racing, trying to catch Noakes. He was only 5 meters or so behind Noakes when I caught them. I yelled out "Go Noakes go!" He had to push if he was going to beat him. I passed the Jordan kid, and a second later I had passed Noakes. I knew that they would both be hard on my tail, and so I never slowed down. Never stopped. I ran hard all the way in. 10th place. 2nd from Taylorsville. Noakes got 11th.

Now, I beat Noakes. That doesn't happen often. I don't know how I feel about it. I ran a few seconds faster, it's true. But he's a senior, and probably should have beaten me. He called me a sly dog. I dunno. I'm super happy to have run and done so well. But still, it's like stabbing your friend in the back. You just don't wanna do that. Oh well, I'm still very happy about it. /sly smile.

Most importantly though, justice was served. I beat the jumper. Go go go frisbee pace.

So. I make a trade now. I could write some more, but I'm going to go to bed. The 15 minutes I'm gonna sleep extra is gonna make me stronger tomorrow, so I can work on the Alliance site some more. It's coming along guys. w00tah, hopefully I'll have some cool info for you tomorrow. As for now, grood night, I'm a tired tired kid.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Postponed

Ahhhh, it's 1:03 AM! I've gotta wake up in 5 hours.

How does this happen so fast? Where'd my evening go? I wanted to write tonight, I had things I wanted to do. But alas, no dice. This post is only here to remind me tomorrow of what I want to do.

So, what do I want to do tomorrow?

Well, I gotta write a real post. This is just the antecedent.

I have to talk about:
The race, driver's licenses, the Alliance, failure, and quite possibly some other stuff.

As for the Alliance. Well, I need to write some emails tomorrow.

In addition, the official unveiling is going to be postponed. I apologize for that. As we keep talking about and developing this project, we keep having new and good ideas. The scope of the project is growing, and as it grows, it requires more and more work. We're pretty busy right now, so things are going slower than we'd like, but that's alright.

So, never fear. This Friday you'll still get alot of new information. There'll be screenshots. There'll be good stuff for you. It just won't be the grand opening like we'd hoped.

We hope you'll understand. We don't want to let this baby out into the world until it's really ready for it. We are working as much as we can afford to to get it off the ground. I'm really getting in to it, I'm excited about it. It's shaping up nicely, but we've still got some work to do on it.

So, in conclusion: It's late, and the Alliance is going to be late as well. That's all I got for y'alls, go read the post beneath this one. G'night.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Best Shot

















"I can't believe she turned me down...."



Rahaha, so there you have a little more paint art. It does in fact reflect upon the intense anxiety that is currently sweeping the nation. This whole bit is spooky. I'm not smooth. Let's get that taken care of right now. I have no idea how to go about all this bidness. I got no ideas. Nothing.

The trouble is, as soon as anyone mentions who they're planning to ask, I'm filled with feelings of "Duh, you loser, you should have thought of that first."

That happened twice today. I'm just not quick on my feet I guess.

Just so you know, if any of you start analyzing this post I'm going to throw a brick through your window. You can read it for meaning I guess, try to find out what I'm really trying to say. But if I even hear the words "critical reading" I'm gonna blow. I don't care about structure. I don't care whether this is impressionistic or didactic. I don't even know what pendactic means, and I don't want to know. I don't care about the way that I'm using or misusing my pronouns. No usage errors, no agreeing antecedents. I don't care. The minute you try to go literary on me, you're through. It's like talking to a piece of cardboard with french all over it. It doesn't leave a pleasant taste in your mouth, and 80% of the stuff it's trying to communicate with you goes over your head. Not beacuse your head is too low, but because it's just not worth catching.

In short: I don't like English anymore.

However, there is some good news on the horizon. The Alliance is coming along rather nicely. Still working on the graphical end of stuff, but it's looking pretty fun. I'm terribly terribly slow at it. I spent forever on it today, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I was doing the sidebar links and crud today. These aren't your usual lame text links. Oh no, these are raging. You'll see them on or before Friday, sweet.

There's big potential there. The best part is, it's actually happening. Most things that have big potential don't happen. But this can really work. This is working, we're rolling with it. The frame is almost done, and now we've just got to fill it with content. It's going to be so insanely pimp.

There is something very satisfying about popping zits. It's a great feeling. One cannot deny how really really good it feels. I'm always so excited when I succeed in popping one, it makes me feel like a winner. There are a few reasons for this, reasons that go down to the very nature of all of us as humans.

Reason number one, is that zits are enemies. There's nothing all that good about them. We know that they're bad. They come, and we're like "Dude, get out of here." They offer no real benefit to us, and they sometimes hurt and make us look funny. They're lamer than Theron and Kendal at a region dance. One of the reasons we're so happy when we defeat them is that they're 100 percent the bad guys. We tend to feel bad when we beat the little kids at basketball, knowing that they're not really bad guys. We feel bad when the robbers beat the cops. See, there's none of that with zits. They are the baddest of the bad guys. We know they deserve to get smitten, so there's no mixed feelings or second thoughts on thoroughly smiting them.

The second reason is really basic. We like to succeed at things. When you throw a piece of garbage from across the room and make it in the can, it feels great. You simply wanted to do something, tried to do it, and if you succeeded it feels wonderful. It's the same deal here. You want to pop it. When it pops, it feels good, you finished your task. Score it.

thirdly, it is just cool all around. It's all like, whoosh, it came out. And it's interesting, you want to know how it works. It's funny looking, intriguing. You just made something shoot out of your forehead. How is that not cool?

Yea verily. I'm not sure why I just wrote about that. But I felt like it, so I did.

Yeah.

Aha. It's 11:30. That means there's still time to write about that idea that I was supposed to write about weeks ago. My fellow Americans, it's go time.

~Saving the world, one trigonometric ratio at a time~

I graduate from college free of debt, and things are looking mighty fine. For the first time in my life, things are entirely up to me. I'm a little frightened, but I'm more excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Do you know what this really means? This means that everything that happens to me from this point on is my fault. This means that I am the reason I succeed, and I'm the reason that I fail. If I win, I win for myself. Not for the school system that funneled me through. Not for my coach, not for the hoops I was made to jump through. For the first time, if I make it big, it's because of the stuff that I did.

Conversely, if I fail, I know that I fail bigtime, and can't blame it on anyone but myself. Right now I'm standing on the great threshold of my life. From here, anything is possible. Great heights, terrible lows. It's sink or swim, finally.

Am I married? I don't know, maybe. We'll leave that part out for now, nobody knows.

So anyways, I start getting things in order. I get myself a well paying job with room for advancement, and get a modest house, with a modest car. I'm living pretty cheap right now, as cheap as I can and still stay alive and happy at least. I live on, save up a little money, get a firm foothold where I'm at. I plant some trees around the yard, fix up the house on the weekends. I work on improving the fence, planting some hedges, doing some construction. I make things better around me, increase their value. Not necessarily to sell at a later date, but just because that's the way that things ought to be. If we're not constantly making the world a better place, who will?

So, things go on. I get married, have some kids, hooray. Still living cheap, still saving up money. Still planting trees. Most importantly though, I'm forging alliances. I'm getting to know the local scene. I'm trying to get into the pulse of the local business. I go to the weird meetings for investors and stuff. I go to the trade shows, I go to the state fair. Basically, I'm prowling around, searching for someone with a great idea, someone who just needs a little bit of money to get off the ground.

One day, I find them. They're perfect. They've got a great product or service that the world could really use, that I really agree with, and that's going to sell well. I invest the money. Not all of my savings, not even half of my savings. I help to get them started. If they succeed, great, I've just made some money. If not, well, we start over.

I keep doing this though, getting my hands in alot of projects. I spread the assets around. I've got money in several different companies now, local stuff, national stuff, whatever. I'm still working at that job, still moving up the ladder. The family is doing well, and all of those fruit trees that I planted are finally producing. We're bottling fruit left and right, and every once in a while me and the wife find time to go to the farmers market to get some tips and sell some stuff. We've got a big garden, but we don't have a pet dog. Hey, maybe by then I'll be willing to get a dog. Maybe we've got a dog.

Yeah, I still run, but not competitively. I still play frisbee, pseudo-competitively. We're in with the rec league. If the rec league doesn't exist wherever we're at, I make that one more of my projects. Either way, wherever I go there's going to be a league, and me and my team are going to be moderately good. Probably won't be winning too much, but we'll be contenders.

We're still not rich, and I still drive a crappy car. I'm happy with that, I love crappy cars. I'd love to be driving a hybrid. Chances are that won't happen for a long time, but I'd still love it.

I've still got money around, invested in those companies. By now some are showing great promise, and others are obviously tanking. I'm ok with that. From the looks of things, I stand to make some money soon, this is excellent. I've still been making those alliances, still been visiting the library and getting books to read. Still washing the car, building that cool treehouse. I even hosted a neighborhood party once. Yep, things are looking good in suburbia.

And then, one of our companies makes it big. We make a good profit, and then we turn around and start our own dream with it. Now I've finally got my hands on some money. It's not a ton, but it's substantial, and it's well supported. I've got secure money all over the place, money that's not going anywhere. This is new money, money that I can use to make more money.

So, just like the people that I invested in a few years ago, I start a little business. As of now, being 16, I have no idea what I'm gonna do. But it's going to start small, and offer something great. We're going to do cool stuff, and we're gonna keep on growing. We might be selling food at soccer games, we might be offering the latest in web development tools. I might be helping big companies sort their mail more efficiently. I got no idea, but we start.

Cut to the chase. 10 years later, we're entrenched. Money starts to look alright. We're not terribly terribly rich, but we've been smart with stuff. Over the years, we've bought some property around our little house, and expanded. We've now got an orchard. We've got corn, we've got some other stuff. It's nice and happy. We've got food in storage, we've got food to sell at the markets. We've got good times. The company has grown, and branched out. Just like the usual, it's never focused on one thing for too long. We started with concessions, and then we sold some yo-yos. Then came the bouncy balls, and then the cool revolutionary boomerangs. Me and my brother started doing some webcasts, started making some cool stuff online. Soon that grew up too. We started research and development on a new windmill design, on a refreshing new take on solar energy panels. Over the years we've branched out.

And, a few years later, I'm still driving a crappy car. Why? Because good cars cost lots of money, and they're not really worth it.

But, now we've got a name. Now we're known, all over the place. Now we get to what I'm really excited about. All the rest of this stuff is fun to think about, but it's not really the important part. Here's what happens next:

Now that we're known, we turn and focus on making the world a better place. Now I'm secure. Me and my family got it covered, we're set. We've got an orchard, a big swing out front, and a windmill. I've got a nice field to play frisbee on, and my wife is pretty much the cutest. Things are good, we're set.

We start production on a new line, one that we've been in for a few years now. We've been doing clothing for a while, and sales have been alright. Not great, but alright. We unviel the new line, and we call it "sohcahtoa". The actual design and stuff isn't really important, but it's new, a little different, but really cool. The best part is, it's easily recognizable. Our new logo and our certain style is very distinct. We spend alot of money advertising it, getting the word out. People know about this new sohcahtoa business.

But, along with this, we make this promise: When we sell a sohcahtoa shirt/beltbuckle/hat/gym shorts/frisbee/whatever, we're not gonna make any profit. We're going to cover the materials, the labor, the shipping and handling, all that business. After that, we're not making any money off of it.

But, of course, we're still selling these shirts for a reasonable price. They're not half off. Where does the other 50% go? It goes straight to charity.

I don't know what charity, we'll see. But we say that for every shirt, all the proceeds go to help the children in Africa, or do something or other. This creates some really cool dynamics, check this out.

First off, it gives money to the kids in Africa. That's a good thing.

Second off, it really helps the world. It's us giving back, doing good stuff. That's excellent.

Thirdly, it lets other people help. They say "Hey, I'm buying this shirt. It's a little different, new style. But it's helping the African kids, I'm going for it." So, people feel like they're helping, and they are.

Fourthly, it starts a new trend. Imagine this: You've got this cool guy who walks into school wearing this cool red shirt. It's new, it's a little different. It's got the big sohcahtoa logo on it, it looks dang good. He looks good, he looks cool. More importantly, you look at him, and you think "Oh snap, he's helping the kids in Africa. Dang that's cool."

All the sudden, you want a sohcahtoa shirt. So you get one, you buy one. Your friend likes it, and he likes helping African kids, so he gets him some shorts. Pretty soon, the Aquabats are on stage wearing sohcahtoa. U2 has sohcahtoa sunglasses. Everybody likes the new style, everybody likes helping the African kids. The market explodes, things are going great. We'd be taking it all to the bank, except that it's going to the African kids, and we're happy with that.

Because back at home, I'm secure and happy. My workers are doing good. They've got health benefits, great dental plans. We're taking care of them, helping them go to college, or if they've been to college, get their foot in the door with any of our numerous other companies and partnerships.

Gradually we grow. But we never made it big all the sudden. Sohcahtoa made us more well known, but we didn't focus the attention on us. We focused it on the African kids, on the help that everyone's giving.

It's a gradual process, a gradual idea. The concept stays the same throughout. Continuously work to make the world a little better place every day. As you do this, secure your future. Plant a tree, but make it an apple tree. Make it an apple tree so you can have apple sauce in 5 years. Apple sauce is good for you. Invest in the little companies, help them get started. Don't help the bad guys, help the good guys. Build friendships, partnerships. Play frisbee, teach others how to play. Go running, take your wife running. Fix the fence. Keep making the world a better place, and keep saving up. Keep getting your hands in the right projects.

And then, when you've got your chance, roll out the sohcahtoa line. Why do we call it sohcahtoa? cause it sounds cool, and because sohcahtoa has been helping people for years and years without ever asking anything in return. It's easy, it's recognizable, it's a statement. Sohcahtoa got me through 9th grade geometry, maybe it's time that it did the same for a poor African kid.

We roll out the T-shirts, we roll out the frisbees. We roll out the capes. Yeah, capes are coming back.

There you have it, my little dream for the future. After sohcahtoa, our alternative energy business takes off, and things look good. I decide that maybe it's time to upgrade the old place. Somewhere, I build a new house, and make it green. Not colorwise, but it's environmentally sound. It's powered by wind, solar, and maybe some other fun stuff. It's got the cool stuff, it's new. It's a nice house. I might actually buy me a nice car.

But all in all, the plan remains the same. Keep improving on what you've got, and gradually expand. Keep it simple, live cheap, operate cheap, and save up. Get secure. Eventually, we've got an empire on our hands. What am we gonna do with an empire? We're going to make the world a better place. Sohcahtoa was just the beginning.

Crazy Bus

School day tomorrow. Today's been intense. I've been home not so much. In fact, for very very little time. The time that I have been home has been spent doing homework or sleeping.

It's 12:30. That means I've got 6 hours from right now till I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning. Snap.

So, yea verily, short one. You don't get the full 'idea' that I promised yesterday. But you're getting a post because I said I would. Score it.

The alliance site is coming along. I didn't get to work on it like I wanted to today, but I think I figured out how to make the sidebar like we want it to. The idea we had before was way too big, this is going to be alot smaller, alot cooler graphically, and pretty smooth I'm thinking. I didn't get to work on the real thing, but I tested it out with some filler graphics, and it works great. Score it. Nick and Jaron, talk to me about that and I'll show you.

I went and saw 'Cars' with my family tonight. That's still a good show. It just makes you happy, it's quality. So, yea verily, go see cars. It's at the dollar theater.

I want to see 'Invincible'. It looks pretty good. Score it.

Ok, I really want to see the digimon movie again. I've seen it once, and that was a ton of years ago. A while ago, me and levi and james were talking about digimon, and snap, we're gonna watch the movie to bring back all the good old memories. I'm looking forward to that. Digimon was so cool, you can't even beat it. And I don't wanna hear your pokemon crap, your judgement crap. Chances are you never watched digimon, so don't be a hater. All y'alls are like "Oh, they're ripping off pokemon, ooooh, it's all the same." No deal man, no deal. You gotta see it to believe. If you think you're too cool for it, fine. Just don't deprive me of the right to watch old school movies with my buddies.

Good news. Our associate Marissa was in contact with some folks from Murray. She did a little digging for us, and the current news is that there isn't an ultimate frisbee club at murray. However, there are a bunch of people that always play, and "they'd be happy to play us sometime." Yea verily, it looks like we've got a game on our hands. We'll have to hash out the specifics later and all that. But c'mon, a game! A real game! with subs and stuff, with high stakes, with the best of the best. "Diabetic attack, go!"

Glurb. Still need to write about that 'idea'. Not happening tonight though, it's bed time. But first, a few random sentences. Take them as you wish. Are they deep? Maybe. Are they fakes? Nah, not this time.

Saving the world, one trigonometric ratio at a time...

Give me a reason to like the pizza again...

I think she likes me for my cape...

Ultimate: They're beginning to understand....

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Now listening to: Beef Jerky (I'm Tender Inside) - ATWC

There have been some crazy rumors flying around the internet the past few days about some mystery "band" that me and a few allies were purported to have "created". Someone even "reported" seeing the leaked "album" art. The "Paparazzi" have "been" active this weekend. Someone "said" that they saw "me" with "sunglasses" on.

The "rumors" are "true".

That's right. I'm in a band. Within the week, we'll have video up. We're called ATWC, but you pronounce it atwhack. Our first album is slide pee. Look for the official band site to be launched within the week, with the real business. w00t.

Ok, second part of really good news, this is something I'm really excited about. As alot of you know, I've been pretty anti-social for the last year or so. It initially started as a joke, but it sorta grew out to be the way I really am. I've been happy to just sit by myself and stare at a piece of sidewalk.

But as of tonight, I'm gonna change that. I'm actually going to go places where there are other people. I'm going to hang out with people again, how cool is that?

That's the plan, the goal, the course of action. What does this mean for the world? It means that in about a month, I might start going on dates. It means that frisbee might have to be switched around so I can actually hang out with people instead of playing frisbee every night. Don't worry, frisbee is still gonna be a huge part of my life, but there'll be othere sorts of stuff involved too.

All in all, I'm happy with the realization. I figured that I was being a grumpy old man for no reason, and that I was depriving myself and others a good time. Yeah, things've been really easy this last year, but I think things are going to be better because of this. Actually going outside? gasp.

Arr, I'm not in a very good writing groove right now, I don't know why. But, I said there'd be a post. So, there's gonna be a post.

First order of business: The Alliance site is about 50% ready to go. We spent a while tooling around with the new template, and it's going to be pretty cool I think. We determined (Me, Nick, and sorta Jaron) what we want it to do exactly for now. I'll give you the run down.

Basically, it's going to function as a big pointer for now. For starters, we don't have mad web skills. We don't have hosting, or money to get it. We don't have coding skills. We've got nothing here, so we're improvising.

Here's what's going to happen. Let's say that Nick writes a killer post on his blog. He posts it to his blog like normal. On the alliance site, we put up a post that says "Oh snap, Nick put up a post." and then we have the cool little snippet in quotation marks and italic style. Then, that post links directly to Nick's post. Not necessarily to his front page, but to the individual post.

Let's say that someone emails me some cool art that they've made. I toss it up on the front page for a bit, but eventually that's going to get gone. That just won't do. Especially if they keep supplying stuff that they want shown. So, similar concept. We'll probably just make a new googlepages page with all their stuff on it, and update it whenever something new comes in. Then, from the site we'll link to it, and say "Oh snap, something new." We'll show the thumbnail or something, and link to the google page. The page will have the button to come back to the alliance.

Yeah, we'll put stuff up on the alliance site, but it's sort of limited. For now, it's going to function as a giant hub. We're going to create a virtual network really. From the Alliance, you'll have everything good right at your fingertips. It's going to combine alot of projects that we've been talking about. The doodles? Yeah, definitely going to be through the alliance. If I write any more fiction, it's going through the alliance.

The alliance will also be where we'll do joint projects. Me and Nick have long talked about doing some debates, among other ideas. Yeah, joint projects go to the Alliance.

So, what do we need now? What do we need to get rolling? We need you guys. The whole idea behind the alliance is that we all come together to make each other better. Everybody is going to be welcome to host their writing, their art, their rantings. Whatever they want, really. Sure, me jaron and Nick can do it on our own, but it's not going to be half as much fun that way. We're going to be working alot of cool projects through this, please join us.

More specifics later. The site and template is nearly done, we just need some final tweakings. It's just another blog really, but it's going to be super tweaked cause we used the beta to do it. I like it. The color scheme is pretty dark, but I think it's ok. I made a banner in photoshop, and I think things are going to be good. We're not revealing anything yet, but expect the official unveiling later this week.

So, this post has been less fun than usual. It's mostly business. But wow, I really am excited about the alliance. The concept is golden, now it's just up to us to make it happen. We have the tools to launch it, and hold it together for some time. It's going to be difficult to run it out of blogger, but since we don't exactly have the skills or resources to do it elsewhere, this is where it stays. It figures that we started here, it might as well stay here right? If we've got any friends with mad mad web skills that want to help, come forward.

But really guys, it's going to be good. It's the next step. Is it going to make this blog obsolete? Never. This thing is going to last for as long as I can possibly make it last. I love it too much. The Alliance isn't meant to replace anything, it's meant to supplement. It's going to be the next phase in this whole interweb shindig. There's gonna be some great things. yea verily, be excited.

If anyone has a scanner that works but that they want to get rid of, I'd be glad to take it off your hands. That'd be useful.

Hmm. I really wanted to write a better post tonight. But, it's getting late, and there is business to attend to. Business like sleeping and that stuff. So, I'll make you a deal. I'll write a good post tomorrow, because I really do have stuff to talk about. I guess tonight I'm just a little excited about the alliance idea. It's coming out for reals later this week. It's going to be good. So, yea verily. Think of stuff you can submit. Tell me your ideas. If you think it's a crappy idea, let me know.

Oh, snap. Before I go. Next sunday I want to read scriptures again. So, if you're interested, contact me. I'm not about to put lots of info out online, but yeah, contact me if you want to come. I'm excited.

So... have a nice night everybody. Happy Sunday.