The process which it takes to write a blog that is due weekly.

And here we are again, the weekly blog. And again, I have been doing my usual process for the past few hours trying to think of a topic. I have finally decided.

My topic will be the grief and misery I endure weekly trying to come up with a topic for this blog.

It's quite the process, let me tell you.

 

First, I retire to my room and get my laptop, phone, food, earbuds, and various chargers and arrange it all on the floor in front of me (if I wrote these things in my bed, I'd be out like a light). Then I proceed to blast music, check Facebook, text and Vox, eat, scan YouTube, and basically do everything else except click on that dreadful tab labeled 'Blogger'.

I must look like this. Except sprawled out on the floor.

These activities last anywhere from .5 to three hours before I actually click on Gmail. Keep in mind, no topic has even been thought about yet. Then I proceed to stare at the blank screen for quite some time, and still continue my previous activities. But when the actual topic finally hits me, I can write the whole thing in about a half an hour at the most. Someone please tell me where the logic is.

And that is how I write my weekly blog, which usually occurs at some ungodly hour late late late on Thursday nights. 

If anyone has effective blog-writing tips, I beg of you. 

SHARE THEM.

Thanks.

Daydreams of the time of summer.

Summertime.

Summertime for me signifies friends, family, cookouts, bonfires, horseback riding, sleeping outside, beach outings, Ocean City, flip flops, tan lines, and most of all, pure unadulterated FUN.

I cannot tell you how much I miss it.

School is wretched. We all are very well aware of that. But when I realize that my time sitting at a desk trying not to start snoring mid-lecture could be spent running through surf or galloping through a woods at full speed, I become a little suicidal.

Sigh.

Anyway. I love summertime. And not just because school is out. Most of my memories are made during summertime. Like my family. I don't talk about them often, but they mean the world to me. My mom's side anyway. They live in Bishopville/Ocean Pines area, down by that beautiful beach. Anyway, during summertime, many days are spent down there doing cookouts or holidays or something.

Those are always interesting events.

I am the only one in my entire family (including extended) who cannot stand seafood. ANY seafood. And being from the Eastern Shore and my grandfather being a crabber and fisher his whole life, the only thing ever served at these meals is seafood.

I get McDonald's.

But I love picking the crabs and the shrimp. So people fight and offer money to me to pick their nasty little crustaceans. It pays for my McDonald's.

That's just a little bit on my crazy family.

Another thing I love about summer is friends (outside of school) and the beach. The two really do go hand-in-hand. I'd usually wake up around seven or eight in the morning, then head out for a day of fun with the guys or the girls. Doesn't matter which; everyone always has fun either way.

Another thing I love is horseback riding during summertime. Having two horses of my own and a woods in my backyard, trail riding is easy to execute. And there is nothing better than flying through said woods at top speed with no saddle, shoes, or helmets. And that's a fact. The picture below is taken on top of my baby boy Linus this past summer.

In conclusion, I severely miss my summer and absolutely cannot wait for the upcoming one. Happy daydreams!

A review on the place where sports happen in the air.

Delmarva. Three states in one county. A place full of rednecks, watermen, and chicken farmers. Many historic events have happened here, and is a very popular spot for museums and tour guides.

It is also one of the most boring places on earth for a teenager to live.

Maybe it's just me. But every time I actually have a little bit of free time and some spare cash, the most exciting thing that comes to mind is browsing at the mall and deciding where to eat at the food court.

That is, until God smiled down upon us and gave us....

AeroSports.

I'm a child at heart. I love macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets, coloring books, bubbles, stuffed animals, and SpongeBob SquarePants. So when I got a very excited phone call one day from a fellow child in a teenager's body about the old Diamond Dreams being converted into an indoor trampoline park, I'm pretty sure I screamed.

I. Love. Trampolines.

This past weekend, I was tying balloons at the Civic Center with the youth group. During a slow period of time, Pastor Binkley sent Scott and I out into the main arena to talk with some of the exhibitioners and make balloons for them. Long story short, Scott and I ended up standing beside the AeroSports booth, laughing with the manager at Pastor Binkley's attempts to skateboard. We got talking, I made him a balloon hat, and he ended up giving us four tickets for one free hour of jumping that Tuesday. 

Let's just say we were excited. (In case you haven't figured it out yet, Scott is my fellow trampoline-loving buddy.)

We immediately ran back to our friend Meghan, who was still stuck painting faces, and told her of our good fortune. She ended up getting a ticket for herself, so we called up Jourdan and my sister and made a date for 4:00 PM that Tuesday.

After hundreds of years waiting for school to let out on Tuesday, we all raced home to change into t-shirts and sports shorts (well, the stupid people did. The more intelligent Jourdan wore sweatpants) and all met up at four o'clock sharp in the AeroSports parking lot.

Walking inside was euphoric. After going through more legal technicalities, we got our wristbands and stepped onto the platform of the main jumping arena, taking everything in.

Then we started jumping. It was pure joy, slamming ourselves repeatedly into the bouncy sides and jumping ecstatically while looking like complete and total lunatics.

After jumping around for a while, we headed over into the corner to try the foam pit. It's basically a giant pit at the end of three lanes of trampolines, filled with hundreds of foam shapes. It was our favorite. We all had a blast, as clearly depicted below.

I know. Those were just so beautiful to look at.

The dodgeball arena was totally full of huge sweaty boys, none of us were tiny enough for the children's playplace, and none of us had any interest in the batting cages or video arcade. So our time was spent in between these two places. At the end of our hour and a half, everyone was sweating and sore and I had rugburns everywhere. The next day, none of us could lift our arms due to our extremely sore and weak shoulders (still can't tell you why).

I have never had so much fun in my life.

I will never be bored again. AeroSports gets a solid five-star rating from me.

I read on the website that they're going to be having trampoline volleyball soon. I almost died when I read that. You can expect to see me there on opening day with my friends.

Happy jumping!

Insights into the life of a clumsy girl in a world of electronics.

Technology. The modern world literally survives on the advancement of cell phones, computers, the Internet, and thousands of other digital media contraptions. Billions of dollars are spent and exchanged every day for and through these technological venues.

 

 

I am also a large contributor to those funds.

 

 

I love media. I really do. Technology is the best. I really do think it's interesting. Therefore, I do love indulging myself in buying gadgets and gizmos. Unfortunately, I am clumsy and have butterfingers, which is where my hard-earned money come into play.

 

Like my computer. Love it. It's huge. It's fast. It's perfect for me, because I love both of those things in a gadget. But this thing was a gift. Gifts shouldn't cost you money, should they?

 

False. You better believe it, guys. Nothing is ever truly free.

 

Because this laptop is so big, it has a big screen. Duh Madeline. Thanks for clearing that up. It's relevant, I promise. Anyway. You are all well aware of my two sisters. They are inquisitive, curious, and love nothing more than going through my stuff. So I'm on my computer one day, just messing around and downloading music. I close it and walk to the kitchen to get a drink. When I return, I open it back up and the screen looks kinda like this.

 

 

 

Julia dropped a soda can on it. Goodbye $75 for a new LCD screen. Sigh.

 

Recently, it seems that Shelby is following in Julia's footsteps. After not letting her watch SpongeBob SquarePants on Netflix on my laptop, she threw a fit. I hid my laptop in my bed and left for work. I came home that night, did my homework, and crawled into bed, eager to check Facebook and watch some Bones before succumbing to sleep. I opened up my latop and pushed the power button, and the screen bore a striking resemblence to when Julia destroyed it. Turns out, Shelby searched my entire room for it, found it in my bed, and threw it to the ground and jumped on it. I guess if she couldn't watch SpongeBob, I can't watch Bones.

 

Needless to say, I was furious. And now that I am typing this blog on the family dinosaur, I'm feeling suicidal.

 

We'll get off that subject now. Onto my phone.

 

Currently, my phone is one of the newest and most advanced models on the market. The Samsung Galaxy S3. Once again, the screen is ridiculously huge and it's super fast. It sells brand-new for around $700. I got mine for $300. Either way, a nice phone like that needs to be taken care of, right? Right. So one night I'm on my laptop (in between the times where the screen is smashed), surfing eBay for an OtterBox to protect my beloved cell phone. All of the sudden, I drop my phone on my computer, pick it up, and the screen looks like this.

 

 

AHHHHHHH!!! CRACKKK! Okay, okay. Not a big deal. I can fix that. So after I ordered my OtterBox, I ordered a replacement glass screen and a tool set to fix my phone because the LCD screen was totally fine. Let's just say that after I finished, my phone looked like this. Actually, it looked a lot worse.

 

 

I just ended up buying a brand-new phone. With insurance. And an OtterBox. We'll leave it at that.

 

And that is my journey in the world of electronics. I'm thinking about buying an iPad. Wish me luck!

 



Thoughts on a day of hearts and Hersheys.

Ah. Valentine's Day. A day of romance, fake chocolate, overpriced flowers, handmade cards, serenades, expensive dinners, pink and red stuffed animals, and mushy love quotes. 

It's the worst.

I really just don't like Valentine's Day. Never did. I never really grasped the concept of it. I mean, why do I have to buy a bunch of cheap cards and little candy hearts that taste like chalk just to tell somebody I love them? Come on now. That's not expressing love. That's just disappointing.

The real reason I don't like Valentine's Day is the change in people. I feel like there are a few different generic types of people that emerge from the human race on V-Day, none of them exceptionally likeable. But to each his own. Let us commence.

First of all is that girl that we all know who is so crazy head-over-heels in love with her boyfriend and is having such an amazing Valentine's Day and is making sure that everybody knows it by posting it all over Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. 
Honey. You're like, twelve. Get over yourself.

The second type of person is the angry, hateful, I-despise-everybody loser. They have a "grumpy cat" personality and makes sure everybody knows it. 97% of the time, this person is single, and not happily so. Can you say bitter?

Yet another personality is the single person who isn't bitter, but completely and totally depressing and also makes sure the entire world knows it. (What is with all these people making sure everybody knows when nobody cares?!) Seriously! No. One. Is. Interested.

^ There is probably a reason for that too. ^

Valentine's Day is cute and all that. Granted. But really the only people who benefit from it are Kitty's Flowers, Kay Jewelers, Hallmark, and Hershey's. Good for the businesses! But hint hint, February 15th could be a holiday itself!

Well everybody, I'm out. I'm going to be counting my pennies and heading to the big clearance bins of chocolate on Friday. Whatever you plan on doing for Valentine's Day, I hope you have fun doing it. I will be spending mine with a couple of things that mean a lot to me. Luke Austin Zockoll and Dairy Queen.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. And happy eighteenth birthday to Jacelyn. I will be bringing you chocolate. (:

Ramblings about the activities happening in a stadium.

America. Land of the free, home of the brave. America is defined by a high school prom, a spingsteen song, a ride in a Chevrolet, the man on the moon, fireflies in June, kids selling lemonade. It's cities and farms, open arms, and one nation under God. That's America.

Now before you start thinking that this is going to be a tear-jerking patriotic post about the good old United States of America, let me just say one other thing that defines America.

Football.

More specifically, the Super Bowl.

Or Harbowl.

I like to call it the Horribowl.

Somebody please explain to me what the big deal is about the last game of football season. Oh wow, it's Ray Lewis's last game! Oh wow, there was a blackout! Oh wow, the entire country is going to be vandalized in black and purple for a whole entire year because WE ARE A RAVENS NATION AND ARE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS!
Yeah. For a whole twelve months.
Good for you.

Doesn't it seem that every year major drama happens during the Super Bowl?
Really, people. The lights went out. Your worlds are not to collapse into shambles around you simply because you cannot see a few dozen grown men running around with a pigskin tackling each other. Calm down. It's only Bad Luck Brian.

To be honest, people only really go to Super Bowl parties to dress up, jump around screaming like banshees, post every single play to Facebook a dozen times over, and other senseless things. I go for the food.

So, if you were still wondering about my views on this year's Super Bowl, it can be summed up in this amazingly accurate meme of the grumpy cat, who, by the way, liked my photo on Instagram himself.

Happy Super Bowl, everybody.
Go Steelers.

Memories from a production of forgiving hearts.

Ah, high school. A place where many friends and memories are made, hopefully to last for a lifetime. While I could recount many specials friends and times with them, something I will always remember that includes many of these people and memories is the FBS production of the play A Heart To Forgive.

It was back in 2010. The high school met together in Mr. Vee's room to listen to Mrs. Reinert's plea for actors and actresses for the upcoming play. After glancing through the script, I can remember shrugging and raising my hand to have a major part. After several run-throughs of various scenes with different people, I was paired up with Justin Kaspersky reading through a new scene. Naturally, when we turned the page, we found out that it was the typical "I have loved you since the day I met you and we need to get married right away" dialogue. After that complete and total humiliation in front of the high school, the names and parts were posted the next hour. Of course, I was to be married to Justin Kaspersky, playing Peter, and I also had a child. Sigh.

After the initial torture of memorizing lines and scenes sitting at a circle of desks in Mrs. Reinert's room, we finally headed to the auditorium to start acting. Then, the fun began.

Everybody each had their own special part in making this play so fabulous. Justin's voice would either crack and squeak or murmur and mumble. Scott could not put inflection in his tone to save his life. Morgan was entirely too spry for an eighty-year-old. Phillip couldn't remember which era he was in. And Luke played the part of a lowlife drunk way too well.

These people made my life better.

People think we put every waking moment into this play. I can tell you right now that that is a false statement. Most of the time, when it wasn't a scene that any given person was in, they would just go backstage and join the dogpile, which consisted of various bodies, cell phones, scripts, and cameras, as depicted below.

Another major necessity of this play was food. I remember one day sneaking into the kitchen with Laura to pop some popcorn and sneak it into the auditorium for snacking. Unfortunately, we burned it. Which obviously gave us away.

Another thing I remember getting in trouble for was laughing too much. This often occurred when Luke would crawl under the pews and find his way to Laura and I. We of course celebrated the arrival of our dear friend with pictures.

Dearest Laura. One of my closest friends throughout high school. Our first play together was a smashing success, and I still have many memories that we share from this production. She hates this picture because she thinks it makes her look like Miss Piggy from the Muppets, but I love it.

Many great memories were made spending time with Morgan Price. Acting as my Nana, I got to spend a lot of quality time pretending to knit with her. That girl is hilarious. She could always make me laugh, whether or not she meant to. Thanks to this play, I got to know her better and found a terrific friend.

Another person that ended up being surprisingly funny was Phillip Timmons. Acting as my drunk stepfather-in-law, I ended up spending time with Phillip, which I haven't done since we were extremely young and running around in Miss Nancy's chicken houses on Memorial Day picnics and the like. We ended up becoming closer during his senior year, and we've kept in touch ever since. One of my favorite play memories of Phillip was during the actual night of the production, while confessing to accidently killing his wife, he forgot which era he was acting in and started raving about how he couldn't call anybody for help. Probably one of the worst times to get the audience tittering, considering it was the part where the salvation message was being portrayed. The picture below was taken during our makeup session together.

And of course, someone who I've been close to for quite a while now and became extremely close to during this play was my play kid, who, over the years, ended up turning into my best friend. Scott and I have so many memories associated with this crazy play. One of my favorites was during the dress rehearsal. I miscounted the scenes and forgot to enter at the right time., so I tried to improvise by sneaking around and entering through the door, pretending I had gone shopping. Scott tried to help out my mistake by running over and welcoming me home, but he ended up tripping on the table leg and sprawling out on the stage with his microphone hitting him in the head. Not one of our better acting moments, but definitely one I still chuckle at today.

After months of long hard practices, on the night of April 21st, 2011 at 7:00 P.M., it was curtain call for all the actors and actresses. During the entire performance, we were all holding our breaths waiting for something to go wrong, but nothing ever did. In fact, we were a hit. I can remember someone telling me that a few people even got saved. I'm glad even to this day that we could help lead someone to Christ. That makes this play even more memorable.

Memories made by volleying a ball.

There may not be many of us left, but the Lady Falcons remember. All the hours of suicides and cross-court setting in the brutal August sun. Lincoln logs and the 'W' drill. Overhand serves and backwards setting. AndaCondos and perfecting spikes. Tracks mown into the field and midnight leaf runs. Oh yes. The Lady Falcons remember it well.

Volleyball season.

I joined the Lady Falcons the summer of my freshman year. Jacelyn and I were the only two ninth grade girls, making us co-captains of the JV team and backups for the varsity. Before the first week of practices were over, however, I made an enemy. The worst person to have as your enemy on a volleyball team is, by far, your own coach. I affectionately remember being chased across the parking lot and knocked flat to the ground by an ice-cold waterfall from the cooler, with Catrina waving her red sweatshirt in the background. Pastor Condos is forevermore affectionately known to me as 'Sir Pastor Torro'.

Sir Torro had a temper indeed. For one thing, every single girl learned very quickly not to say the word "sucks" and to also ALWAYS keep her hands together when bumping. Kaitlyn Riley learned that lesson very well when her hands were literally tied together for a week by her own Silly Bandz. 

Certain other team members with louder mouths who could not refrain from using banned words were forced to do humiliating push-ups in front of everybody.

Our coach's favorite punishment for anything done wrong was not laps, benching from games, public humiliation, suicides, or the like. No. Around August and September, the fields in the back of the church property are six feet tall with corn. Our coach found great pleasure in sending us girls through that corn to the edge of the church property, plucking off a leaf from a particular tree, and running back to return it to our master. These inhumane dashes became affectionately known to all as 'leaf runs', which Jacelyn turned into a lovely Facebook Flair piece.

However, all that hard physical work paid off. At one point, Pastor Binkley's soccer guys challenged us to a sprinting relay race, thinking the easy win would boost their egos and pride. We easily beat them by almost three people. Ha.

All our hard work finally paid off in the end. At the end of the season, our first round of playoffs was against our eternal archenemy: Chesapeake Christian. After hours of sweating, shouting, and diving all over the place, the matches were tied 2-2, so a fifteen-point fifth game was needed to win. After even more intense sweating, shouting, and diving all over the place, the score was tied at 15. With each team giving it their best, the score kept switching sides up until eighteen. Then, by the amazing serve of Catrina June Case, the Lady Falcons won the first round of playoffs against their top rival. That was by far the most intense game of my life.

Spending seven hours together each day in school and then three hours after in practice brought the Lady Falcons very close together. At one game against Denton, the team wasn't doing very well. At all. The soccer team came in and certain members decided to not only cheer for the other team, but also ask for some of the girls' numbers afterward. Needless to say, we were not happy. So at the next soccer game, the Lady Falcons stayed after school to decorate T-shirts and makes banners and posters - cheering for their rival, Salisbury Christian. At the game, we acted like loyal SCS fans, complete with cheering and facepaint supplied by their very own coach, who was in on the prank. Granted, the aftereffects weren't very pleasant, but we made our point very clear and were respected in the end.

 Being on this team with these girls for so long has been one of my greatest memories of high school. There is so much more I could tell about each of these girls and times spent with them, but unfortunately, I am running out of time and space. I want to thank each of the girls on these team for being such a great friend, and I am so sorry that I couldn't enjoy one more year with you. I hope our friendships will last for a lifetime.

Life with a tiny person of four years of age.

P.S. I apologize ahead of time for not posting the actual video to the page. Blogger is quite slow.

Ahhh. Life with a toddler. Fortunately, most people in this room have experienced this kind of life, and to those people, I give you props. It is not an easy thing to accomplish if one desires to retain his or her sanity. Jonathon and Jacelyn, I am jealous of you, but you should also be jealous of me. See? Even Shelby is mocking your lack of a tiny person in your life. In a jesting manner, of course.

In actuality, she is mocking Jimmy's "gustingness". Don't be offended.

One thing about Shelby is her distinct personality. Living with Julia and I, she has decided that she is a miniature teenager. With our very opposite personalities, Julia and I have managed to teach her some very different things. The classic mirror shot popular among teenage girls was learned from Julia.

Shelby also prefers Julia's musical tastes above mine. Though Owl City's "Gold" was a close second, when asked, Shelby declared she would much rather sing some Taylor Swift for her moment of fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLg92gAYpEs&feature=youtu.be

Fortunately, my baby sister learned some habits from me as well. For example, not all pictures have to be perfect. A hint of craziness and making people wonder if you've got it all together mentally isn't such a terrible thing.

She has also developed an intense love for Christmas. I'll take credit for that one, with it being my favorite holiday and all. Wrapping gifts and decorating gingerbread houses are her two favorite holiday activities.

She's also pretty honest and has very definite opinions that she isn't afraid to share.

P.S. I didn't coach her on this at all. This is what just popped out of her smart little mouth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGFVTQUrR8o&feature=youtu.be

But Shelby is definitely not a clone of her sisters. She has her own distinct personality indeed, clearly seen below.

She also attempts to gain sympathy when she feels she has been wronged by using a classic pout, which almost always ends up making people laugh.

She also has her very own touch of craziness, not taught or inherited by anybody but herself.

In conclusion, though this child drives me up the wall and completely crazy, I love her to death and would do anything for her. How could anyone resist such a precious little face?

A birthday post of the happy sort.

All right. This blog is going to be crazy random, simply because I haven't the slightest clue what to blog about specifically and I must have something interesting to write about so that I don't fall asleep right here and now.

Yeah. Kinda like that.

Anyway. This particular blog is going to be about birthdays, because mine is tomorrow and +Jourdan Diskin's is today. In case you weren't aware. Blah blah blah, happy birthday to us, now let the festivities begin!

Fact. Most people celebrate their birthdays in August. I don't know why. Probably because winter birthdays are downers. Boo to cold weather.

More than half of the cards sent in the United States every year are for birthdays. Over two billion birthday cards. Waste of paper. Everybody knows they're just a way to conceal birthday money.

Birthday parties were originally invented because the ancient people believed that evil spirits were attracted to people on their birthdays. That's why birthday parties today consist of wishes, noisemakers, laughter, and various people always hugging you. No evil spirits there.

In conclusion, happy birthday to Jourdan and myself and have a good Friday. Wear plaid.