No More Work!

Hurrah! I am finally done with my summer job! Wahoooooo!!!!!! Now I am free...uh...well I still have my chore (washing the laundry) and then again I also have to pack up my room and prepare for the trip back to Africa. I also still have to do French lessons each day and exercise and some type of work. Well I guess I am not exactly free yet but pretty close. Nah I doubt I will ever be truly free in my whole life. There are always things to do. Must wash clothes, or fix dinner, or clean the bathroom etc. Even as an adult I suppose there is never really complete freedom. Because if I had complete freedom all I would do all day is read, watch a little tv, play video games, and if my friends could, play with my friends. Oh and write email and post on my blog.

This is the last day of September and such a splendid month too. September is the best month of the year in my opinion simply because it is my birthmonth. That is reason enough for me. In Kankan it is one of the most comfortable times of year. The humidity is low and the rainy season is finally slowing down. All the plants are green, the grass is seven feet tall, and there are mud puddles every where so when riding your bike you are constantly dodging and weaving through a total maze of puddle filled pot holes. Not too much dust either since it has been washed down by the rain. Yep I am definitely missing Kankan.

Of course I will miss some things about working at Burgerville. For one there were several workers who, while most weren't Christian, they were still nice people and I got along well with just about everyone. There was also one customer who I always talked with and I could get her to laugh most of the time. I am not sure if she was a grandma or just an old mom but she was really nice and when I told her it was my last day her son (or grandson?) seemed upset. I guess I made an impression on him because he kept waving until they left the drive-through. Sometimes I hate moving all over the place like we do. But now I don't have to work 40 hours plus a week and can relax more at home...err...I mean pack more at home.

Well I will now close this post. Close.

Retreats, books, movies and all that stuff

Well I had a blast at the retreat. I am actually writing this blog and instant messaging my very good friend John at the same time. I now have google talk and it is awesome. Everyone should also take a look at our story too. We haven't come up with a name for the actual story but so far it is just John and I who are coming up with the story. Well actually it is just me but John will soon post his first section of the story. I can't wait to be introduced to his character. John's good friend Alex may also join us in the story.

Well I had a blast at the retreat. It was awesome. I got to meet all my good friends from school again. Well most of them. I got to worship God with them. It was great. I went and we made a sand sculpture of the sinking Titanic and did a fair job of it. We won the award for the most historic sculpture of a sunken nautical vessel that is now at the bottom of the ocean award.

I had a good time in the free time that we had. I tried this dance game thing that proved very difficult for me. It looks easy. All you do is step on the different squares when the arrows tell you to but there are so many arrows and it is hard to coordinate your movements. I did horribly. I am a beginner though.

I finished the book Eragon. For those of you who are fantasy lovers, I highly recommend Eragon. It has fantasy a plenty and is the type of book that you can't put down once you pick it up. I am definitely going to read the sequel. Someone said it wasn't as good but I don't care. For those of you who don't like fantasy, well, um, I don't know how to save you from your plight. The only way you could save yourselves is by reading Eragon I suppose. For those of you who don't like reading, how do you survive? No offense but reading is awesome. Just as good in some aspects and better in others.

I am now focusing on the Wheel of Time series. I am reading the eighth book and it is quite good. I have enjoyed the whole series and the eleventh book, a Knife of Dreams, will soon be coming out. If they ever make a movie out of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time it will take years to create. You could have a whole movie series on it. We are talking 12 three hour movies! That would be cool but it would take so long to make them!

Speaking of fantasy movies, The Chronicles of Narnia look fantastic. The only catch is that by the time they come out in theaters we will be in Africa. *Sigh* Oh well. We will just have to wait until the Marine house gets it and then we can go see it. In the capital city the Marines (who guard the embassy) have a Friday movie night thing for ex-pats in the country. You can go and buy hot dogs and watch two movies, swim, and play volley ball with the marines and other foriegners. It is pretty cool. I have been there once or twice.

Well fare well. Be sure to check out my story. You access the webpage via the link on the right side of this text. The link is "Our cool story".

Retreat! Hurrah!

Hey you may think that retreat is a bad thing especially when you are in a military engagement. Well this retreat is good. My old school is going on a retreat to Wi-ne-ma and I get to go with them. We will spend the night there and then return home on Friday. That means that I must wake up bright and early tomorrow and drive to school by eight o'clock and catch the bus if I want to ride with any of my friends. I also have to pack tonight but that is a minor problem that is easily taken care of for me. I simply throw two pairs of clothes, my toothbrush and bathroom accessories, a book or two, and some entertainment of some sort (cards, balls, etc) and then I am packed. Oh yes mustn't forget sleeping bags and pillow. Now I am packed. Quite simple really. I have spent my whole life learning how to pack. When I was younger I would stuff my backpack with "necessary items" and then lug them all over and not use more than a couple of them. Now I still cram my backpack but with every trip I make I pack less and less "necessary stuff" and more and more "useful stuff". The difference. Well "necessary stuff" is only what you think (your brain tells you that you need) you need, and "useful stuff" is the stuff that you actually do use on the trip. No matter how little I pack there always seems to be anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of it left unused by the end of the trip. It is quite annoying and I wish I could whittle it down but I think I know what it is. I usually try to conserve things and so I conserve what I use and end up with extra.

Well today work was horrid. It started fine but in the middle of the day the computer froze on a credit card payment and wouldn't accept credit cards. So we lost two meals through that and then finally got it fixed. Then I was taking a lady's order and accidentally entered the wrong number and was trying to get the computer to change it. So I went and got back-up, got it fixed, came back and the money from the order was gone. I had taken it, and then because the computer wouldn't work and open the cash register so I could get change, placed it on the window sill thinking that the lady would want to make sure that I didn't do anything with it. I just wanted to avoid any more complications. Well any way it was gone and I assumed that she had taken it back so I asked for it and she said that she had handed it to me. I will admit she was a great liar. I told her it wasn't on the ground, no one had touched it besides me, and I hadn't put it in the till (cash register) since I hadn't been able to get it open anyway because of the stupid computer! She started saying she wasn't going to "pay again" for it and so I said I would go check to see if any other employee had taken it (which I doubted but hoped someone had). Nope. We got the manager and he just said to let them go because he didn't want to deal with anyone like that. The very next guest in the drive through said he had seen her quickly jump out of the car grab the money and get back in and wondered what was going on and if she had been stealing or what. There was my confirmation. Some people just aren't honest and I hate that. It just ticks me off. I was also rather sad that some people will do things like that. Well now I know not to leave the money in the window when getting back up. Wish I didn't have to learn it the hard way though.

Well I will tell you all about camp later then. See ya.

Back to work

After a glorious weekend it is now back to work. Who knew the weekend could last so long? Well this week I get to go on a retreat with my highschool. Well actually it is my school as of last year. This year I am going to be homeschooled. And next year too. Of course I will be homeschooled. I am not going to any of them French schools or boarding schools. Nah it is good old homeschoolin' for me. And don't think my grammar is bad because I am saying things like "them schools" because I noticed that and as I was typing it my mind calculated what I wanted to type and how it would sound and decided to type them instead of those. I just like talking with accents is all.

Today at work I had a pretty good day. Nothing fantastic happened but nothing drastic happened either. That is good and bad. Well a true pessimist would say it that way. Well I suppose that is both bad and good. Hmm which one would it be. It strikes me that I often consider myself a pessimist and yet many people consider me to be a very cheerful and smiling person. I must therefore be a cheerful pessimist. Yep that fits. EXAMPLE: (mom) "Why are you smiling like that?". (cheerful pessimist) "I will probably fail my SAT today, forget my lunch, forget my 50 page paper at home now that is due, and to top it off I will probably stub my toe on the bus door again." None of that really happened but that is what a pessimist would talk like. I say it is always better to be pessimistic and expect the worst than to be unprepared for the worst and get stuck in a jam or emergency as a result of underpreparation. What say you?

Well have a good evening.

Uncle Dwayne!

Hurray! Today I got to see my good friend Dwayne. We call him Uncle Dwayne and I got to chat with him about all sorts of things. Well I guess I will update this blog again on what is going on. Today I got to sleep in until ten o'clock and then we went to church where I went to the youth worship but since I don't know anyone there it was rather, well, I just don't fit in there. No one really makes me feel welcome there. I don't go there any more because I couldn't really get to know anyone there. Then we went to my grandparents for lunch (which my grandparents called dinner and confused my dad and almost confused me. I am such a smart guy that I caught on almost immediately to the fact that this was no regular dinner but a lunch dinner and not a supper dinner). Wish we could have had you over to eat with us Uncle Dwayne but maybe another day.

Yesterday at my party I had a blast. We (my best friends from school, my dad, sister, and li'l brother) went and shot eachother up in two ferocious laser tag battles. Well we shot eachother up in the second battle. WE DOMINATED THE BATTLE FIELD!!!!! HAHAHAHEAHEHAEHAHEHAHAHAHEEHHEAHEHAHEHHOHEOHEEOHE!!!!!
Well actually we lost both games. But I had high scores in both games! The first game it was the Hoover group (our group name) and a couple others versus a bunch of little kids who barely beat us. They did outnumber us but somehow they had a slightly better strategy. They just sat and took pop shots at our base while we tried to drive them off. Then in the second game the teams were split into three groups and we still lost. I was the high scorer out of the Hoover group though. 6400 points. I must be pretty good I guess. At least we weren't beaten by a bunch of little kids that time. I am not familiar with the best laser tag strategy so I need to develop a good technique. I noticed that I usually aim for the shoulder. I have no idea why. I think it is something with the fact that it is not blocked by the arms and is not so big or something like that. When we went home we started a quick risk game and then watched The Pink Panther Strikes Again. It was great. Hilarious. "I vould loik a rrrrume" as Clouseou would say. Zat vas very exciting. I believe I vill now write like Clouseou. Remember to roll zee errr's in zee throat comme le Francais. Oui je parle un peut de la francais. Ze grammar and ze spelling is probably incorrect. Ze pairson who invented ze grammar for le francais and ze English should be investigated.

Well I guess i will get this posted now. Will post another day.

Party!

Well today I am having my delayed bday party! I basically watched cartoons this morning and am now posting right here and then will prepare for the party. I had a party with my family the evening of my birthday but now I will get to celebrate with some friends. I haven't seen them in a while for the most part but hopefully all goes well. We are going to go play laser tag and then come home, barbeque some burgers and hotdogs and then watch a movie. Probably a Pink Panther movie.

Great news! I actually remembered to ask for next Thursday and Friday off and I got them off. I work Saturday sure but that is a small price to pay beside going on a retreat with all my good friends from my school as of last year. Our whole family is going it sounds like. That will be a blast. Huzzah!

See what else have I done... hmm...well I did read some more of Eragon (a splendid fantasy novel). Well I guess that is most of the new and interesting stuff that I have for now. Here is a random question. Why is the sky blue?

Hello Folks,

What a wonderful day today. Well it was sort of wonderful. You win a few you lose a few. I got off of work on time today without getting stuck with the cleaning and stocking of drive through but I forgot to ask for next Thursday and Friday off so I can go on a retreat. I have a horrible memory. I can never remember all the little things like delivering messages, taking a lunch to work, and all sorts of little but important details that are necessary in order to survive, or at least get along well in this world. One time I went to school with a post-it note stuck to my forehead with a reminder to turn in my money for the school camping trip to Wi-ne-ma Christian Camp. I remembered that day. My memory would really have been horrible had I forgotten with a post-it note on my head!

Well hopefully I will soon have my bday party. I am inviting some friends from school and we will probably play laser tag and watch a movie. I now have all three of the Lord or the Rings Extended versions thanks to my parent's birthday gift to me.

Eragon - This great book is already sucking me in. I love reading about dragons and I have finally gotten my hands on a copy of Eragon and am reading it. So far it is great. I highly recommend to it to all you who love fantasy. You must like dragons of course. I can't wait to finish it. I will have to read the sequel now. No way I would ever be able to live with myself if I didn't read the sequel.

Well school hasn't started for me yet. That is a relief. I won't start school until we get back to Africa. Then the "fun" begins. I will have to play catch up for the rest of the year and probably a large part of my next summer will be spent finishing this school year. Oh well. As I said, you win some you lose some.

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a blast. Today was not so great. I got stuck at work cleaning and stocking everything related to drive through. I guess I did ok. Now on to interesting things. Who invented the word Wednesday? I was writing that one day and it struck me that Wednesday is a really awkward word. It is hard to write Wednesday. Oh well. Is anyone familiar with the game Fire Emblem? I have been playing that recently and it is great! I love it. I am a strategy freak and love that type of game. Combine a strategy and an RPG and you have me hooked. In fact just give me strategy and I will play it. I don't really have much to write about tonight. Nothing except stuff about myself. Most people probably aren't all that interested in me so I figure I should write about something that lots of people may be interested in.

The Wheel of Time. That is a great series but all the female characters drive me crazy. They are so stubborn and illogical and dishonest and always getting into other people's business while saying that the other people, usually guys, are the ones poking their noses where they shouldn't. I have always wondered though what a girl who read the books would think. So if you ladies have read the series (or at least several books from the series) and wish to enlighten me with your views on how the male characters treat the female characters and vice versa, please go ahead and inform me on how wrong or right I am. That is supposing anyone is reading this blog at all. Anyway I was just curious and wondering if the opposite gender thought the opposite or the same way that I feel about female characters in the Wheel of time series.