Did I fall off the face of the Earth? No, I joined Facebook

I looked over and noticed it'd been ages since I actually posted anything about me in a while...

But, I want you to know, it's definitely ENTIRELY not my fault =) Those who read the boards often may have noticed I haven't been on there very much... Of course, I've kinda been dying down on the social part of letterboxing for a while... Not to mention the other parts of boxing, too.....

But, like I said... It's not my fault... entirely... I won't blame it too much on life. That's definitely not it, I just got a Facebook account =) I prefer to keep it limited to only people that are relatives are friends nearly every day or they have been in the near past. I try not to add too many boxers because AQ is really where I can keep up with them =)

So... Moving on... What have I been up to? Well, school's been harder than the first two quarters, just as everyone who went here last year told me it would be... But that's okay because this quarter is going to be shorter than the other 3... We had a break that, other than summer break, will be our longest the whole year... My friends and I all referred to it as "Winter Break #2"...

Of course, it got really boring after a few days and it was just fine to go back to school =)

But wait.... I already covered this, didn't I? Yep, sounds familiar...

So, now I've started an SAT prep course at my school that meets every few weekends. But, I have to work on it everyday for 10 minutes on my own, but 10 minutes isn't too big of a deal.

Ummm... What else? Oh! I'm VOLUNTARILY (yes, VOLUNTARILY) reading The Catcher in the Rye and should be finished with it by tonight =) We're not reading it for class, so I can't get as much of the deeper meaning out of it, but reading for fun's not as bad as I thought a few days ago =) It's a very bizarre book, but all the different things that seemed kinda random are starting to connect, I guess... Who knows... Maybe I'll get more out of it by the end than I am right now =)

Other than that, nothing really is going on... Still loving the heck out of the hot tub =)

~BOB~

The Indefinitely Long Weekend

I went to school 2 days this week. It leaves me wondering if it was even worth to go those two days!

We had Monday off as a scheduled teacher's workday, had school Tuesday, snow day Wednesday, had school Thursday, and no school Friday. They called Friday off the night before because a winter storm warning was issued...

...And it was fairly intelligent to issue the warning because it's been a full blown winter wonderland since about 9 a.m. yesterday morning. And it has been everything they've expected: about 2 feet by this morning, continuing until later tonight giving us probably 6-8 more inches (at least!)

The snow wasn't sticking to the roads for about 3 hours after it started yesterday, but they're completely covered today. So... probably no school Monday, maybe none Tuesday.

Oh, and it's supposed to get worse! They're calling for more snow starting around noon on Tuesday... We're supposed to get around the same amount as we are this weekend...

So, this weekend may never end for me... And I'm enjoying it with the elementary kids on our street. They go out and play with their sleds nearly every day and I get bored inside and go out and join them...

Hehe... who says I have to be a mature high schooler.

~BOB~

Hot in the Cold

Every kid/teen's goal in life is to get as much snow as possible so they get to miss school... Well, last night we got about 14 inches... And now, it's still coming down and it's over 20 INCHES!!!

So... what do you do when you're stuck in all that snow?

Well.... there's old TV game shows and Monk reruns recorded on the DVR...

Once I watched those, I had to do something... What better thing to do than...

HOT TUB?!?! =D

So, my dad and I were nuts enough to run out in only our bathing suits into the hot tub... And it felt good, especially with the snow dripping down on your head =)

...Until you had to get out... Those 5 seconds spent running around wet in only your bathing suit from the tub into the house truly sucked...

So... back to watching reruns from my warm house =)

Let it snow, let it snow, let schools close =)

~BOB~

Been Over a Month!

I've been thinking about what to write about on the ol' blog.... It's been over a month since I last posted... So... here's the month in review:

School... Homework's been calming down, but still a large load every night...

On Thanksgiving, I ran the annual Turkey Trot... I had a goal to beat one kid (probably my sister's age)... and..... I did... but barely! I was far ahead of him towards the end... Then he went full throttle to the point where I barely could keep up! My final time for 5 miles was 53:27 ... Not bad, considering I didn't train at all for it! ;)

I went to Kristi's Christmas... I helped the Interact Club earn money for it back a month or two ago and it finally came around. So... what is Kristi's Christmas? Essentially, a bunch of high school volunteers get a buddy (from an underprivileged family) for a day and help them pick out clothes, shoes, and other essentials at Target. Of course, there is a set amount of money each kid has, but it's kinda fun =)

And... I read two books for school... The first was Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It was a major eye-opener and very interesting to analyze... The second one was Winterdance by Gary Paulsen. Winterdance was less enjoyable, in my opinion, as it often trailed off and I often got bored to the point where I couldn't stay focused.

Other than that, not much has been going on...

The hot tub has become almost a nightly ritual =) Ahhhhhhh.... =D

~BOB~

No homework? NONE?!

Okay, guys and gals... This is a bit unusual.....

I have absolutely NO homework... NONE... NADA... ZIP!... ZILCH!

It's the sign of the apocalypse or something! ;)

However, this week has been a bit weird... But weird in a good way. I had Monday and Tuesday off... Yesterday was a bummer having to go back, but today for some reason feels like Friday... Wish it was...

Moving on, I had the free time to tinker around with the ol' blog and I came across a fish feeding game... So, that's below. Everyone needs to feed the fish ;)

We have been getting quite a few new subscribers on AQ, especially this week! For those of you that are new, WELCOME! Hope you enjoy the blog... Unfortunately at this moment, I don't really have anything exciting to write about =(

~BOB~

Another Few Weeks Gone

As Halloween draws nearer, the leaves are absolutely flying off the trees... The weather is cooler, and with that, the hot tub is even better =D

Last week, I didn't have much to say... It was an entirely boring week...

This week......... well...... Pretty much the same. But, there were a few things to talk about...

First off, CONGRATS TO GOOFY GIRL! If you follow the boards, she had a baby girl EARLY this morning... Like 2 o'clock early! Hopefully I'll get to see the new baby in January =)

Also, since you're looking at this post, you can see we have a new layout! No particular reason for the change... Just like to keep things fresh ;)

We also have a new poll... I don't plan to post the results... I was curious and I found the results pretty interesting. Thanks to all of you who provided answers to my question! =D

So.... let's seeeeeee..... What was real life like this week?!?!

Swine flu is pushing through my school, horns first! I've had a few people in some of my classes get it, so it's moving closer..... Honestly, I'm not really worried about getting it... Even though it won't be particularly nice with my asthma, I refuse to let the media hype get to me...

And, like last year, there are multiple diseases going around at once... My sister had a fever all week (except today), so I had to be careful... No worries there. I steered clear of her all week.... Believe it or not, it wasn't hard to stay away from her ;)

I don't have a costume for Halloween either! And it's tomorrow!?! AGGG!

I felt bad when people showed up today wearing banana suits, tin foil suits, gorilla outfits.... Even Darth Vader outfits... The full ones!

That's okay... My mom said she could buy a plain white shirt that says "COSTUME" on the front just for me ;)

...I wonder how much candy I'd get if I went trick-or-treating ;D

We had a lot of finals this week... The quarter officially ended today. The tests were all pretty easy.... Then again, the tests here aren't really a challenge...

So.... that just about covers it...

Get a ton of Caramel Apple Pops for me! I LOVE THOSE THINGS! ;D

~BOB~

A weird week

The week after a bomb threat isn't usually too crazy, right?

*obnoxious buzzer noise* WRONG!

This week has been CONFUSING beyond any other since school started! Allow me to explain...

If you don't already know how my schedule works, I have orange and blue days. Orange has 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th periods. Blue has 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th periods. 7th period is half the length of a normal period because we have it on both days...

So, Friday when we had the bomb threat, it was a blue day. As a result of the evacuation, the day wasn't completed and classes got behind.

Monday was off.

Tuesday was orange.

And... Wednesday was considered Blue. However, we did not get to go to our classes that day because of PSATs (which caused us to get farther behind).

So, today was orange (even FARTHER behind!) and tomorrow is blue.

BUT, tomorrow we won't even come close to catching up in my most important class of the day because we're having an assembly during that period! Which means I am going to have a ton of homework to make up for time in class missed.

So, as you can imagine homework has been confusing for me and I'm not really sure exactly where I'm at...

But, there is an advantage! Because teachers are trying to keep classes from both days at the same pace, I've had much less homework =D

PSATs were not too bad... Except for the reading assessment... Reading's never been my strong point!

And..... THIS WEEKEND'S THE BIG EVENT!! The weather's looking pretty crappy, but heck with it! I'm from Oregon! The rain is part of me! ;)

Dixie and Mama Wolf are coming up for the weekend... Fun =)

And, lastly... If you haven't checked out my DSi "artwork", here's the link ;)

I have added more since I posted the link last on my blog =)

http://letterbob.webs.com/art.html

I feel a good hot tubbing coming on tonight! Rainy and cold outside feels even better when you get in... Getting out.... Well, that's a different story ;)

~BOB~

KA-RAZY!

Today was interesting...

Well.... I guess it was a bit more than interesting...

It was bound to happen in a school of 2200 kids... We had a bomb threat today... *sigh*

And, actually, I was not that disappointed when told I had to leave school ;)

I was actually even less disappointed than I would have been on a normal day ;) I had some classes that I got to skip that were absolutely booorinnngg...

We got called out of computer graphics... A class that is possibly the easiest thing I've ever taken... I am just trying to kill the hour and forty-five minutes each day I have that class... I was working on a project and thankfully I saved quite a bit of progress right as they announced we had to evacuate.

After that class, I was to have PE with a substitute and we were going to play ultimate football for AN HOUR AND A HALF! ..... Oh.... my.... gosh.... Was not looking forward to it (not a big fan of football!)

And then I was to have lunch and then have to manage to stay a wake through a video (that we've seen before!) and take notes..... Darn the luck! I had to miss that? ;)

INSTEAD, I got to spend an hour and a half outside under the nice weather talking with friends and goofing off... And to think, we were at school! Of course, I had to leave my backpack inside or else I could have been doing homework... Would have saved me quite a bit of time this weekend... Oh well... It was fun anyways =)

Then, when they told us we were going to leave, it was time for an experience I'd never had before: walk across the street to the 7/11 and McDonald's ;)

I used my friend's phone to call my mom. "I'll be there in 20 minutes." Plenty of time =)

So, I sat and talked with my friend in McDonald's for a few minute until we decided the parking lot was WAY too crowded for our parents to park. So, we moved next door to the 7/11...

And, my friend was going to buy us slurpies.... only to find out that this 7/11 is one of the few without slurpies! ARRRGGG! =P

So, we waited for about 10 more minutes until my mom got there. And I can cut her some slack... That place was experiencing rush hour.... Only, it wasn't the regularly scheduled rush hour! Everyone was trying to retreat from the area and the police were trying to push them out while hundreds of students were crossing streets to get lunch and leave campus!

Sooo..... we went home and ate lunch and welcomed our guests...

....and I just finished taking a nap... Oh, it felt GOOD! =D

So, I do not have any of my stuff from school. It had to remain in the building... So, I have to go pick it up later tonight or tomorrow morning... *sigh*

But, that's okay. It's Friday! We have Monday off in addition to the usual Saturday and Sunday.... Sounds like we'll be going into DC with our guests and having a lot of fun =)

The next week is going to be crazy though... Like I said, Monday off... Then, we get out of school early on Wednesday because we are taking PSATs that day... Oh fun =P

Hmmm... the hot tub sounds good right now! =)

~BOB~

How is Bob?

Well, it turns out that last week was just a week where teachers were trying to get everything crammed in before progress reports... And, as a result, I had a lot of homework last week and early this week.

So... now that we're done with cramming everything in, I've been much better. Not perfect, but better... I'm less stressed and enjoying the hot tub more than I've needed...

I finally got to finish my Kodak Method tutorial and I think it turned out well... I had a lot more pictures to put on the second page.... Unfortunately, my computer and camera are spazzing out and they appear to have been lost in digitality (yes, I know that's not a word) ;)

AND... I'm getting excited for the event up here on the 17th of this month... Why? Well, number one: it's an event... for letterboxing! How can you not love it? ;) The person who's hosting it came over earlier this month and is PUMPED... I mean, this woman is very excited! And that makes me excited for it too =D

And, number two: Dixie and Mama Wolf are coming up! That is sure to be a very good time ;) I'm sure we'll have some good stories to take away from it... And some stories like Dina's car story ;D

Well, hopefully nothing too humiliating... *muttering to self* darn tick... ;)

In other news... I mentioned having joined a club called Interact at my school. It helps the community... not much else to it =) I've been named Chairman of Beauty ;D Essentially, I am in charge of figuring out who waters the plants we planted last Saturday on what days. It only lasts for a few weeks, so I only get to remain Chairman of Beauty for a little while...

We're also preparing for Spartan Fest (my school is home of the Spartans)... It's an event where we sell food and drinks and everyone has a fun time... So, why are we selling things there? To raise money for an event in December called Kristie's Christmas, an event where underprivileged kids get to spend a certain amount of money on whatever they want at Target. People who have went said it really makes you realize how lucky we are and that these kids who have so little value their siblings and parents over themselves. Many of them get toys for their siblings and things we'd consider basics, like clothes.

It sounds like we'll probably be attending that as a group. I like the idea =)

So... that's pretty much it for now. Thanks for reading =D

~BOB~

The Tub

I have to scream it to the world: I LOVE MY HOT TUB!!! You may (or may not) have noticed that on my AQ profile I have written the words:

"Hot tubs may just be the best things to hit the Earth!"

It's true... don't doubt it for a second! ;)

It has magical powers... Until another person (or other people) come in and start conversations... Unless it's something I want to talk about, it drives me insane!

Anyways... moving on...

This week has increased a bit in stress level... My homework load got a few hours (each night!) heavier and the club I joined actually did an activity... Anyways, I'll get to that... But first, some of you may notice that I changed my picture on my profile page...

If you think that, you'd be.... WRONG! I actually changed profiles, not just pictures... My old account was of an e-mail I created probably 4 or 5 years ago and it just didn't represent me anymore... So, I changed it! =)

So, nothing big... but I wanted to inform curious minds (if there are any that were wondering about the minor change) ;)

Sooooo....... let's get back to the school topic...

It's getting harder... It's actually.... *GASP!* a bit of a challenge! ;)

They have forced me to step outside of my safe, relaxed zone and pushed me into the area surrounding it, called....... the evil homework zone... uuuuurrrrrrrrgggggg...... EVIL, I TELL YOU!

Especially on the weekends... I'm learning to get over the homework load in the middle of the week, but I still cannot get over the fact that they're giving us homework on our days off... and I'm not talking about a simple five minute assignment... I'm talking about 4-5 hours each weekend...

But, not much I can do about it, so oh well...

I've been sticking with the same 3 people since the first week of school... I feel like it'd be hard to really see and build a friendship with people outside the people in your classes or at your lunch... So, I don't have any outside people in my classes/lunch

...Plus, I wouldn't exactly define myself as an extremely social person...

Moving on... Today was fun... and, I'm not saying that in a sarcastic way, either ;)

The club I joined is called the Interact Club... It's wired with the Rotary and this is the first time they have done it at this school in 8 years... We help the community... Locally, Nationally, and Internationally... And today we helped locally by participating in the school beautification day. We got to plant some flowers in front of one of the entrances of the school... Orange and blue, our school colors (of course) ;)

I don't know what made it fun, I just enjoyed it... It felt... good.... *GASP!* ;D

So.... not much else to the day other than homework... This weekend, I have to study for 2 tests (and potentially a pop quiz)... Then, I have chemistry homework (chapter review), reading 68 pages in a book, and finishing a project... Sounds like fun, right ;)

Oh yeah, and you'll laugh at this...... I actually have....... PE homework ;) And, no, I'm not talking about running or anything physical. I have to know 4 muscles' names by heart by Tuesday...

It's nothing major, I just giggle a bit at the thought of having to do PE homework ;)

That's all for now! I need a hot tubbin' ;)

Not much is going on...

Things have been pretty boring... Not much is new at school. I'm finding my way around without a map (for the most part) and I have established a sense of direction. I've met a few people... not too many... But, I don't really care either way...

I'm getting used to my schedule and my teachers and this idea of two different schedules that each rotate every day. (It's hard to explain and understand, so don't really try to understand) ;)

I am somewhat enjoying my classes, somewhat not... I'm learning a ton in English (Pre-Advanced Placement), in both reading and writing. It's a hardworking class as we have a hardworking teacher. There's a lot with infering and literary terms.... I'm not a big fan of reading, but I guess I'm going to become one in this class ;) As far as writing, if I have a prompt and have to turn it in, I can write it and can include great details in a great format... (Here, not so much because it's my blog... I don't really want to spend hours writing a few paragraphs... sorry) ;) But, everything can be improved... and I'm very much learning she's looking for something different and better than what I'm presenting. Good. I won't be bored like I was last year.

My computer class seems like somewhat of a repeat of what I took the final term of last year... but, that's okay... It's a slack period, I guess ;) Plus, we're dealing with a different software from last year and we have to come up with our own designs... So, it won't all be new ;)

P.E.'s alright... It's not very different from last year except it sounds like we'll be playing a lot less of Basketball (sweet!! I'm not a fan of the sport). A quarter will be health and a quarter will be Driver's Ed... P.E. is the other two.

Spanish 1 is alright... It's not a great class, but it's not bad either... It's not that fun, but... I guess it's essential... *sigh* Oh well...

I'm in Chemistry, which is alright... Never have been a big fan of science (except when I was a little kid)... I'm also in Algebra 2 after I skipped Algebra and moved straight into Geometry last year... And, the review we've been doing is very, very simple. I breeze through it and can actually do the assignment during the break we have before the class and before she re-teaches it.

So, enough about my classes. Homework isn't as bad as I expected, but it's more than I had last year.... Oh well...

Enough about school in general. Tomorrow's Friday! Yay! The weekend =D

Since I last posted on my blog, I haven't been in the hot tub... I'm hoping to get in tonight.... Ahhhhh.... ;)

I also got a new video game for my Nintendo DS (yes, the video game nerd I used to be still shines through at times) ;) So far, it's pretty fun. It definitely requires some creativity and experimenting... For those who may have heard the name, it's called Scribblenauts. Very fun =)

And, my sister's attitude has improved a bit =) Thanks Dad! =D She still over-reacts a bit, but she's learning to get over it a bit more.... Yesssssss... I know, hard to believe, but true ;)

And other than that, not much is going on... I just wanted to post something on the blog. I haven't posted on it in a few days. You guys must have been getting bored without it ;D

~BOB~

Back to School

Well, I have to say that this morning I was incredibly bummed to have to go back to school... But, I also have to say that it was much easier having already spent a year in high school (even if it was a different one).

It didn't feel like 2200 kids (I have told some people 3000, but the number had a huge decrease since last year, which was where I got the number)... because it was so spread out...

It was quite confusing trying to figure out my way to classes, but I had a map and my schedule with me, so I'm figuring it out... Homework load (at least tonight's) was not really anymore than I had in my old school...

I haven't met anyone yet... but that's okay... Even if I don't, I'm just fine being alone...

So, it wasn't as bad as I expected (which I knew it wouldn't be)..... But, I have to basically experience an all new schedule tomorrow because the schedule changes every day, back and forth. They call them orange and blue days. For example: today was an orange day which meant I had 1st period, 3rd period, 5th period, lunch, and 7th period... And tomorrow (a blue day) I will have 2nd period, 4th period, 6th period, lunch, and 7th period.

It's a confusing, I know... So, don't try to understand it... Basically all you need to know is that my schedule switches every other day... So, tomorrow is pretty much like the first day again...

*sigh* Oh well... Just means I probably won't have too much homework tomorrow... =)

~BOB~

The Last Day

Today.... *sob*..... is the.... *sob*..... last day.... *sob* of summer.... *sob*

Which means.... I have to go back to school tomorrow.... *sigh*

I felt a bit better about going to my new high school when I went to the new student orientation... but, now I just don't want to have to wake up early in the morning and spend 8 hours of my day in a desk, then come home and do 3 or so hours of homework... uggggg......

Uggggggggggggggg!!! Definitely not too excited about that homework....... takes up my valuable life... *sigh*

I'm also not too thrilled about making new friends..... or figuring out the whole school formatting and best paths for me to take to get to my classes..... heck, at orientation the other day, I couldn't find the lunch room and it was 5 doors away from where I was....

Oh well... can't do much about it now... *sigh*

I have some reading work to do today... maybe I'll get something letterboxing related done today.... hard to say...

~BOB~

An Unexpected Surprise...

It's been a while since I posted and I didn't think I would for a lot longer. But, today, I found something sudden that I thought I'd tell you about on my blog.

We carpool with someone else in my neighborhood to the high school. We drove up to school and we saw a few police officers getting out of their cars. At first I was like: Whatever, bye mom. Then I noticed everyone started leaving the building... EVERYONE... In the rain... So, I decided to stay in the car rather than go out in the pouring rain. This man stood in front of the group of kids and said something we couldn't hear from the car. Then, we overheard a group of kids talking to each other as they were getting into their car: They're shutting the school down. Yeah, I guess they had a bomb threat. So, we stuck around to ask another person. Got the same thing from her. So, we decided to go get some coffee and go home.... So, that's my day today... Now I have to find something to do related to letterboxing because it's still nasty outside... Oooohh... I know! Bye everyone =)

~BOB~