Vancouver/Alaska

OK, so tomorrow I leave for summer vacation, which will start out with the family flying to Vancouver, British Columbia (that's in Canada, if you don't already know) and then we take a cruise to Alaska! It's going to be awesome with all the stuff we'll do and see, but I don't have the time to explain it all now. I'll post a ton of pictures on my photography blog whenever I can access deviantART (my parents blocked that site because they don't approve of it or something stupid like that...)

anyway, gotta run. Be back in a couple weeks!

HOBY and More...

So I just got back from this thing called HOBY, which stands for Hugh O'Brian Youth, which is a leadership thing that teaches high school sophomores about leadership and how to be good and responsible leaders. It started out seeming like it was going to be extremely cheesy, but it turned out to be pretty cool! It involved kids from all over the state of Missouri from as far away as Kansas City and Joplin to right in my hometown of St. Louis! So there were lots of kids there my age, and they were really cool, and they were all different, but we all had one thing in common, which was that we all had leadership skills, and we all expected this to be some cheesy junk run by some psychotically peppy people! Anyway, it turned out to be awesome, and it ended today.

I could go on forever and ever on that, but I want to talk about something I heard there...

So today this morning there was this optional church service that was mainly for any branch of Christianity, but it was optional because as you can imagine, not everyone there was Christian. Anyway, we sang a few songs, and then the pastor talked about... well you know those kinds of people that stand around at concerts and stuff that are shouting out things like "You're all going to Hell unless you repent right now!" and goes on about how whoever's passing by is Satanistic? Yeah, that's what he showed a video about to help make a point. He first recited a line from the Bible that said that Jesus wanted his followers to be known for loving all others. Then he told us about a story in the book of Mark, chapter 2, where these four men lowered their friend, paralyzed from the neck down on a mat from the roof of this house Jesus was teaching in, and the man on the mat was lowered in front of Jesus, and Jesus looked up at the men holding the ropes, and then back down to the paralyzed man and cured him for what his friends did because they cared for the man so much that they did that for him. Just... something I need to tell everyone. I haven't been to church in a while, and I felt I needed to go. I think I'll start going on more Sundays now... i think I need to go improve my spiritual self.

Well, peace, everyone.

-Swords

What a Way to Start Summer...

So, you know how I broke my teeth about a month ago? Well, apparently in order to put the artificial stuff over the teeth so I can use my front teeth correctly, I had to get a root canal on both my two front top teeth. It wasn't as bad as it's all hyped up to be (at least from what I've heard about it before I got it), it just hurt a bit when the dentist injected the novacaine, and it felt really uncomfortable having my upper lip be all numb... but it didn't hurt. Well, now that my two front teeth are officially dead, I can't bite into anything with them. Well, the only thing that's bothering me now is that my upper lip is still numb... hope that goes away before my job starts... (which, by the way, starts today at 7 PM US central time to whenever the place closes). Well it shouldn't last that long, so I should be OK. I just don't want my lip all swollen when I'm at the Panera Bread Co...

Oh yeah, and I'll probably go to the Renaissance Faire tomorrow with a couple friends! That should be really cool... I think I'll try to get a sword there, since... I could use one. (you can read more about the renaissance faire in my other blog) I think I have enough money, and I intend to get a sword that's battle-ready (meaning that the handle and the blade are made of the same piece of metal so it's useful in fighting. Decorative swords are where the handle and the blade are made of two different pieces of metal welded together, which is bad for fighting because if you did, then the blade would either shatter or fall off the handle)

Exams almost over...

Yeah, I just took my second to last exam today, which was Accelerated Chemistry. The last one, Biology, is on Monday, but once that's over, that's it. And I am practically free the rest of summer!

And about Panera Bread, I did get the job (score one!) but I can't really start working there until two things happen:
1. I take this class called "Planet Bread" which was described to me by the other people at the store as "The easiest, and most fun four and a half hours of work that you get paid for." They also told me to go hungry, since I'm going to be trying a ton of stuff there!
2. I can prove to them that I've had two Hep. A shots. Shouldn't be hard because I already have, and I have vaccination records to prove it.

So yeah, once I've finished doing Planet Bread (which I only have to do once) I can work at the store!

And I just got Maximum Ride 3! I was stopping at this Borders store nearby as I was driving home from school, it was raining really hard, and... it was one of those instances where it's better to just stop somewhere and wait it out, especially for an inexperienced driver like myself... so I walked into the Borders and looked around for the book, and I found that there were only 9 copies left... so I felt lucky because I heard all about how the book was a huge hit, and I thought it might be sold out! Anyway, I plan on reading that when exams are over.

Well, not much else to say, other than the fact that there's a huge rainstorm coming my way (again... third time today! St. Louis has the weirdest weather patterns...)

Peace out!

-Swords

Couple New Things

First off, I've changed the URL of my photography blog to www.bladephotography.blogspot.com, mainly because I thought that was a better URL for a photography blog.

Second off, I start training for my job at Panera Bread Co. tomorrow after exams. I'll learn how to do everything there, which entails operating the register, doing stuff at the bakery area, making soups, salads, and sandwiches, and likely washing the dishes.

Third, Max Ride 3 comes out today! I'll probably get it today or tomorrow if the store still has copies.

Stick Shift

Well, I officially learned how to drive a manual shift car today. Wow, it's not easy... I'm just glad that I didn't blow out that rental car's engine! At least I did learn that I could do it, just not easily. I did, however, kill the engine a couple times on the road from some bad shifting on my part, which was bad because I had to start up the car on the road again...

I'm just thankful I have an automatic shift right now... I don't think I could drive out as far as I normally do to take pictures way far away from home with a manual.

YES!!!

I got it! I officially got the job! Wow, that's just an awesome feeling... so yeah, the Panera Bread Co. manager told me that I could only work if I could work on weekends during the school year after this summer, since they can't really afford to hire just summer workers, and only long-term workers. Anyway, I officially begin on May 30. I'd say what I'd get paid, but... somehow talking about how much money one earns doesn't feel right... but whatever. I'll at least say it's a little more than the minimum legal wage.