Finally Summer

Well, I have been home for a few weeks now, and summer has been going pretty well for me. I have been working a lot at the Hot Dog Shoppe again, but I have found some time to do a lot of work at home. There is not a lot about work that I would like to talk about, but there is plenty I have been up to since coming home.

The thing I'm most excited about is that I've helped to start a garden at my Mom's house. My Mom found some area behind our garage that looks like it was a garden at one point, and she and Jeff weeded the spot for a better look. When I came home, I found myself with a little bit of extra cash and decided that I wanted to start a garden. Mom was excited about the idea, and off to The Home Depot we went. After quite a while, we selected quite a few starter plants that we wanted to grow.

After a slight misunderstanding with my debit card, I wrote a check and we brought the plants home. I have been very happy to spend time in the garden almost every day since then. In fact, the next day I went to Wal-mart with Megan and purchased a few more starter plants as well as a few packages of seeds. I bought a planter and soil, and planted some herbs as well. Megan's father, Allen, also gave me some beans to plant, so I found some room in another planter lying around and placed them there. All in all, I am really liking this gardening thing.

Yesterday, when I went to water the garden, I noticed that there were quite a few weeds that needed to come out. I spent the next hour pulling weeds, and in the process I found that all six of radish plants, which I had planted from seeds, have sprouted. I also found today that it looks like at least two of the cucumber plants that I planted from seeds have sprouted. The onion bulbs we planted are doing very well too. In fact, with the exception of the lettuce heads I planted and the strawberry bulbs that Brittany planted, it appears that every plant in the garden is doing very well. None of the herbs or beans have sprouted yet, but I am hoping that they will soon.

I've also mowed the lawn at both houses at least once, which is a lot more work than I realized. I suppose I'll get better at it with more practice, but my dad always made it look a lot easier than what I experienced.

I have really been getting into the Penguins' games lately. I started listening to the games back in December on 105.9, The X, when I was home for break, and that really got my interested. Since the Pens have gotten into the playoffs, I have been watching the games on TV. In fact, I am watching Game 2 of the Pens v. Hurricanes playoff series. We just took the lead again, 4-3. Go Pens!!

Otherwise, I am still trying to get settled in. I have been staying up too late, and as a result not being able to get up when I should. I have not finished unpacking yet. In fact, I have been unpacking slowly but surely, finding things when I need them. However, I really need to finish cleaning the bedroom upstairs, because I do not have enough room in the downstairs room that I have to share. I need my own place to keep my stuff that is not the floor of my father's bedroom. I also need to find a dresser so that I can put my clothes away. Currently they are either sitting atop Ollie's kennel or in a basket on the floor next to the kennel.

I did, however, get all of my books unpacked. I was unable to fill the giant bookcase that my mother bought me for my birthday last year. I built it over winter break, and have been slowly putting all of my books into it. I finally brought them all home and got them all in, but I only used three and a half of the five shelves.

I suppose I should get moving. I am supposed to get all of the boxes out of the bedroom upstairs and hopefully find a mattress to sleep on, and sleep up there tonight. I'll try to check back in soon. Later.

End Game

Well, the spring semester is nearly over. Currently, I have a 4.0, but I still have plenty of room for error. I cannot say that I can screw up my classes so horribly that I end with anything lower than a B in all of them, but I can still significantly reduce my GPA. Not that I think I will. I am not worried about any of my classes, except for Physics. We still have another test, then a final exam to worry about. However, I think I can scrape out an A somehow.

Otherwise, I only have a lot of work ahead of me. I am behind on all of my homework because I went home this past weekend for Easter and did not finish anything while I was there. On top of all of that, I have to finish creating a ten minute presentation for my Personal Development class and write a six page paper for Humanities. I also have to finish the reading for Psychology and write another two page paper for that before the final exam. This Friday is a final test in Calculus before the final, and even though I am not too worried about it, I know I need to study a bit more before then.

I am a little excited for the end of the semester, but, once again I must not allow myself to become over-excited, or I will not be able to focus. Still, I am very ready for summer, and I cannot wait to be home for a few months.

As I mentioned, I was home this weekend for Easter, and what a weekend it was. On Friday, I went on a date with Megan. We went to dinner, stopped at Borders, and then went to see Fast and Furious. The movie was fantastic, and I highly recommend it to everyone. Saturday was hectic as well, as I had an eye appointment, and attempted to do laundry as well as my homework, and failed to finish either. On Sunday I celebrated Easter, which was the most hectic part of the entire weekend.

I was awakened on Sunday by Ollie, who was jumping on me and licking me as soon as he wanted to go outside. I took him out, then hopped in the shower. Beth called and asked for a ride to Mom's house, so I had to rush out of the house to go and get Beth, then head over to Megan's house to pick her up as well. From Megan's house we all went back to Mom's house for breakfast, where I spent some time with my grandmother and great aunt Stephie. Breakfast was great, and after breakfast we had an egg hunt. Danny and Gianna were supposed to be finding eggs, but Gianna left with Brittany to go to Brittany's mother's house, and so Danny was left to find eggs alone. Instead of making him the only one to search for eggs, I was given the task of hiding eggs for Kali to find. That was fun, as I hid Kali's eggs in very difficult positions, and she had a difficult time finding them.

After the egg hunt, Megan and I returned to her house with Ollie to finish icing her cake and start getting dinner ready at her house. I was invited to eat with her family the day before, and I was hard pressed to decline the offer. However, Ollie was not getting along with Oscar, so I had to take Ollie home. When we returned, we finished setting the table and awaited the rest of the guests. Dinner was fantastic, but I had eaten so much by the time I was done that I felt as though I was going to be sick. Still, I found room in my stomach for a piece of Megan's cake, then I went home and finished packing. I left very late because of dinner. I did not get on the road until nearly seven that night, and did not get back to school until midnight.

Even though the weekend went by too quickly, I am excited that I get to return home again on May 1. My mother is coming up to help me drive all of my belongings home, and she is bringing Megan up with her. I am going to give them a tour of the campus and spend a nice five hour drive with Megan on the way home. I cannot wait.

Well, I guess I have to buckle down and get some work done. My next post will probably be from Beaver Falls after I've finished this semester!

The Honor Class

For the past three days, my friend Trae has been visiting me. He was on spring break this week, and we have not seen each other since summer camp, so he drove to Mansfield to see me. On Wednesday he arrived around one thirty in the afternoon, and he did not leave until about the same time today.

I was very happy to see Trae again. He is one of the best friends I made at camp, and although we have not seen each other since last August, we have kept in touch through email and Facebook. For me, Trae is very much like the sickly brother I never had. He has quite a few health problems, but I admire him because of his ability to take it all in stride. He makes jokes about his problems and does his best to live normally instead of just breaking down. I have never met a stronger individual in my life, and I doubt if I will meet many more people with the intrinsic drive that Trae possesses.

Although I was not able to spend as much time as I would have liked to with Trae, we still had a good time together. We made jokes at other people's expenses, caught up on what we've missed, and spent some time talking about life in general. I had wanted to show him around my campus, but my work schedule was overloaded this week (of course I would have extra hours on the one week that I don't want them), and I was also overloaded with homework. Still, Trae showed himself around the campus while I was working or at class. I made sure he did not have to pay for food, but unfortunately there are not many places to park without a permit, and Trae got a parking ticket. He justified that the ticket was not nearly as much as he was expecting to pay for food, so he would not let me pay for the ticket.

He was pretty funny, too. We reminisced about summer camp experiences and related college experiences. He always seemed to have a joke ready to lighten the mood. On the drive down to Williamsport and back, Trae was a constant conversant, which is something I really enjoy while I'm driving. He was also quick to make fun of me when I missed the exit, not just once, but twice.

Today he had to say good bye, but not before giving me something. He handed me a white booklet from the OA Family Banquet, and told me to look inside. (For all of those that do not know, the OA, or the Order of the Arrow, is an honor group within the Boy Scouts of America. The Family Banquet is a night when our entire Lodge gathers to eat and award its members.) I was unable to attend the Banquet due to money problems and also a scheduling conflict, so I thought that Trae wanted to show me something that had happened during the Banquet. Inside the booklet where two envelopes, each containing a different lodge flap. (A lodge flap is a patch that identifies the lodge of the wearer. Each lodge has many different flaps for different occasions.) The first flap was the one I would have received if I had been at the Banquet, and the second was a kind of award because it contained "Team Enda '08," which is the mark of the actor. I knew I would be receiving that one because I was a part of quite a few ceremonies last year. I was about to close the booklet when he told me not to. He told me to read the page where the envelopes were placed, and I noticed that a friend and fellow Freedom Staff member Greg was accepted into the Vigil class of 2009.

I was excited for Greg, and expressed my gratitude towards Trae for showing me that information. However, as I was about to close the booklet again, Trae told me to stop and turn the page. My name appeared on the next page with a full biography, just as Greg's had, and I was speechless. Of all people, I never thought that I would stand a chance to earn my Vigil Honor, and now the chance has been presented to me. I was selected by the lodge committee, and I must now complete an ordeal of sorts to obtain the Vigil Honor. Still, I am having difficulty accepting that I am a member of the Vigil class of 2009.

I will be undergoing my trial at Heritage Reservation during the weekend of May 15 through May 17. I am not entirely sure what I must do, but I intend to prevail. Wish me luck.