The Best Christmas Ever

Christmas has come, and gone in what seemed like a flash, and since then, I've been to various other Christmas parties, and I've been busy using all my great stuff.

Wanna know what I got? Of course you do!
Well, I'll spare some of the minor gifts, to save you- and me- some time. Let' start with the one you all have been wondering about.
The iPod Touch.
Ah, that thing is a beauty. It can do basically everything; surf the internet, play games, tell time- it even has features to let you purchase, and download apps, and songs straight from iTunes, without the use of a computer!
Yep, it's got everything- except a phone (unlike the iPhone.)

Then, there's the Nintendo DSi. You've probably heard of the Nintendo DS. Well, the DSi is basically an upgraded version of the DS. It can also surf the internet, as well as take pictures (using a built-in digital camera), download games via Wi-Fi connection, and lots of other nifty things. I should also mention this is the third version of the DS. I originally had just the first version (I call it the "Dinosaur", because of it's bulky size, and it's age), and my brothers had the DS Lite. Now, we all three have DSi's.

As you can see, I'm pretty excited about those gifts. I also got some books, other various video games (for Wii, and DS), a cool calendar (in which I can play darts on every month, using magnetic darts that came with it), and, of course, clothes.

If you got anything cool for Christmas (or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa.), and would like to share about it, feel free to leave a comment!

Anyway, It was basically the best Christmas ever, because of the DSi, and iTouch. The two following days, we went to parties with my grandmother's side of the family, and with my Uncle John. Today we had our annual Pajama Day, and just stayed home, and used all our stuff. (Except for the part when I had to go over to my cousin's house to help her with her new iTouch. *Sigh*, an awesome person's work is never done.)

Well, Merry (Late) Christmas to all of you. Hope it was merry-merry.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

I'm pretty excited about those gifts, as you can tell. I also got some books, other video games (for the Wii, and DS)

Better Not Pout.....

Better not cry! `Cause the fat man's coming tonight! Ahh, Christmas Eve. Lot's of people always look forward to Christmas Day, rather than the night before, but that's different for me. (... Kind of.) Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days because it's the only day where I voluntarily go to church. The past few years I've been in the annual Christmas Pageant at church (I've been Joseph once, and a Narrator all the other years. I've heard I'm pretty good at that narrating thing.), and since I'm not in it this year (neither are Jack and Mike), it'll be nice to see other kids doing it. (we'll see if this year's narrator can show me up. Good luck to them, they'll need it.)

Anyway, after that, my grandparents, and Aunt Patti all head back to our house to have some dinner, exchange gifts with Patti, and have some of mom's world famous Crabbies (crab cakes).

Then, when everyone leaves, we'll hang our stockings, and say our prayers, `cause Santa Clause comes tonight.
It doesn't sound like much, but it's kind of a big deal for us. It's been a tradition of ours for as long as I can remember, and with Gramma's condition, (I'd rather not say what that is right now, for the sake of her not wanting the whole world knowing) and all, it's one of the few things that hasn't changed about Christmas this year.

Another thing I'd like to pay attention to tonight is Cooper. Last year, on Christmas day, we got him a bone to keep him occupied while we opened presents in the morning. He ended up eating through the thing in five minutes, and it was a fairly big bone! He hasn't had one in a while, so I'm curious to see how fast he get's through the one we're going to give him tonight, when everyone comes over.

I should also mention that we're going to have a picture-perfect, "white" Christmas! It started snowing again this morning, only to add to the snow left over from Sunday (which was still a good two to three inches).

Anyway, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas, seeing as I probably won't be doing any blogging tomorrow, if you know what I mean.

HO HO HO!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Three More "Shopping Days"

Well, the title says it all. Three more days until the best day out of all 365 days in a year. (Really, there's not too much of a difference between Christmas, and birthdays, but people seem to prefer Christmas. Maybe it's the whole Christmas tree shindig.) I am happy to say that I've gotten all my shopping done... well, most of it was done by my parents. Heck, all of it was done by my parents. I just chose what I wanted to get for my little brothers, and then I went shopping for mom with dad, and I didn't have much say in what to get either, because we already had a list planned out. And, of course, I paid for nothing. Lucky me!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty giving guy. (Or, at least I like to think that) I just never seem to have the money to spend graciously on other people. (Maybe I should stop blowing it all on video games, and crap I don't need.)

Anyway, Christmas has always been my favorite day of the year, along with the many people I mentioned above. I love getting together with my aunt Patti, and grandparents on Christmas Eve, and waking up at five o` clock every morning, agonizing at the gift-filled stocking laid just outside my door, watching the clock until it reads 7:00, and then running into my mom's room, with my brothers, and opening our stockings on our parents' bed, and then running downstairs to see what's been left under the tree by "Santa", and then going up to Gramma's house, and opening more presents, and having a steady-dieted breakfast of sugar-filled pastries, such as danishes, and muffins (are muffins even considered pastries?), and heading home to use all our new stuff.
Did I get everything?
Oh, almost forgot- every year, the day after Christmas (Dec. 26), we have our family holiday, "Pajama Day", in which we stay in our pajamas all day, and use our new stuff. Unfortunately, this day will be delayed this year due to another Christmas party we must attend, along with Pa's side of the family. But, at least we'll get more presents. (I know what you're thinking; "Hey, what happened to 'I'm a pretty giving guy'?" Don't blame me, you know you like getting presents too.)
Oh yeah, did I mention it snowed here?
A lot?
Yeah, we've got about two, or three feet of snow here, and that's why the party was delayed. Looks like it's gonna be a "white Christmas".

Another thing about Christmas; we no longer have any Santa-believers in this household. Jack and Mike were told the truth last month, and it's kind of sad that there's no one left here to spread the "magic" with. Well, there are my little cousins, Nick, Noah, Ava, and Mia, but, you know what I mean.
I still remember the night I was told about Santa. I was the same age as my brothers, nine. I think it was in early December, and I saw a few commercials with "Santa" in them while watching TV with Mom, and I asked-

"Mom?"
"What?"
"Is Santa real?"
"What do you think?"
I didn't know how to answer. I guess I was beginning to catch on. I mean, the whole "flying-reindeer" thing, and "getting-to-every-house-in-the-world" shenanigans was beginning to sound a little too great to be true. I was almost ten, after all.
Later that night, Mom came in to tuck me into bed, and told me the truth. I don't remember the whole conversation, but I do remember crying. I felt as if someone dear to me had just died. I'd believed in Santa with all my heart, and now he's been ripped away from my imagination.
Of course, I eventually got over it. I enjoyed keeping Santa alive in my little brothers' imaginations, and even almost let the truth slip through my lips. It was a couple years ago, and I had gotten something I really wanted from "Santa", and I yelled-
"Thanks, Mom!"
She gave me a look, and said, "I didn't get that for you!"
I blushed, and said, "Oh, yeah, I forgot."
I guess we're both pretty good actors, because Jack and Mike didn't seem to mind my sudden outburst.

So, now you know a little more about what Christmas means to me. I'd love to hear what your favorite parts of Christmas are! Leave a comment!

So, hope you're having a great Christmas season (or a great Hanukkah... or Kwanzaa. Speaking of which, did you know Jewish people get eight times the presents during Hanukkah? Well, technically. The holiday lasts eight freaking days!)

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

The Simpsons

Just a little video I'd like to share with you guys, found it quite amusing!

DOH!





Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Where I've Been: A Month in Review

Holy Snowballs, Batman! It's been a while!

As you can see, I haven't been updating the blog as much as I'd like. I'm sorry if I let anyone down, but let me try to make it up to you in this post.

Let's see... I "disappeared" a little bit before Thanksgiving. As far as that holiday went, it was great! It started as always; waking up to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, on TV, and a little while later it was off to Gramma's house!

There, we sat, talked, walked around awkwardly, and watched football. I had brought our Wii system with us, so I set that up, and we played some video games.
I should also add that I had some of the best apple pie I'd ever eaten in my life!

So, the weeks after that were pretty boring... lots of Christmas shopping, homework, school, and stuff like that. Let's skip to the latest chapter in our story, shall we?

Yesterday, we had our first Christmas party, with my Gramma's side of the family. It took place at some golf club, and we were served an excellent lunch, and were told odd, childrens' stories by some lady I've never met. I think Nick and Noah enjoyed that more than I did.
I also got to show my Uncle's girlfriend, Moe, a couple card tricks. I probably should have told you this a while ago, but I'm something of a magician. I have a little over thirty, or forty card tricks in my arsenal, and I also enjoy performing street magic, and a bit of prop magic. I usually bring a deck of cards wherever I go, so I got to show Moe some of my best tricks. I'll try to get some videos of them soon, to show you guys.
Anyway, she was blown away by my magic, and Pa, who had seen some of my stuff before, loved the reaction I got out of Moe.

Of course, we got a few presents from some relatives. My first gift of Christmas this year was a "Bop-It" game, from Uncle Denis, and that turned out to be quite addicting. I also got a gift card to GameStop from Nana.
We were planning on having another party today, but that got canceled because of the blizzard that hit us late last night.

I awoke this morning, and looked out my bedroom window to see how much snow had fallen so far. That question was answered when I saw that my entire window was covered in snow!
When I went downstairs, I looked outside, and there was about a foot of snow, and it was still falling! I went to let Cooper outside to go to the bathroom, and had to push the door a couple times to open it, and push the snow that had been barricading it away.
As a kid, I was delighted to see all this snow. That quickly changed when I later spent about an hour and a half outside, shoveling the driveway with my dad.
Which brings us to where I am now, typing to you guys. With Christmas only five days away, I'll be telling you guys about all my great gifts in no time! Hope you all are having a great Holiday season, and have fun shoveling!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Bored

Let's step away from toilets for a sec, shall we?

The weekend has gone by faster than a jack-rabbit running with jet-turbines strapped to its back, on ice, shaved, driven by an over-caffeinated fighter-pilot.
(Hopefully I won't be sued for using that)
Saturday was quite a boring day, for the most part. The climax of the entire day was my basketball game, but we'll get to that in a moment.
My brothers had basketball, first thing in the morning, so when they got back, we had to leave almost right away for a Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth.
I must say, the first half of the parade included at least seventy guns, armed by people either dressed as pirates, or in Coast Guard uniforms. Every one of those guns was shot off, and I will add that we were only thirty feet from the action, and my ears happen to be very sensitive. My cousin, Noah, who was there with us, also had his hands over his ears, afraid of any loud noise that was made. I don't know who was in charge of that parade, but they must have had a thing for bayonets. We did get something out of it, though; every time a gun was fired off, a couple of bullet-shells were dropped from the guns, and Mike ran off, and got one for us, so that was kind of interesting. Except for the fact that Nick, my other cousin, thought it was a whistle, and tried to blow into it. My mom had to save him from inhaling gunpowder residue.
Another thing I must add about the parade; hot dogs taste very good at ten-thirty in the morning. Fast Food joints should add them to their breakfast menu.

Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty dull; grocery-shopping, Christmas shopping, walking around boring department stores..... I was about ready to lay down right in the middle of T.J. Maxx, and take a nap.
When we finally got home, I managed to get some homework done, and within two hours, we were off to the basketball game.
Which we lost.
Horrifically.
Plus, my good friend, Liam, was on the other team, so that made it worse, I guess. I wasn't too upset about it, over all, but I was really hoping to sweep the floor with Liam's jersey. I guess he did the same with mine. But, I did make the first basket for my team! Yippee for me!
Last night, we watched the movie, "Year One", starring Jack Black, and Michael Cera. It was quite humorous, I must say.

Today, thankfully, we won't be going to church. I'm sorry to those of you who really love church, and God, and all that Jesus-walked-on-water hooplah, but I don't really care for church. It's long, and boring, and my ADD doesn't really help the matter. I mean, the priest is a nice guy, and he kinda livens up the whole service with some jokes, or talk about the Patriots, or Red Sox, but, other than that it's just sitting in a big room, with a ton of old people (two of which sit in the same pew as me *wink, wink*) listening to the priest talk, on, and, on, and on, for what seems like forever, but is actually one hour. To make matters worse, we have to stand for half the service, for whatever reason. We usually stand for the songs, which drive me crazy. All I'm saying is I'm just glad they don't have these songs on iTunes (or do they?).
See, I don't hate church, I just think it's boring. I used to go to Sunday school, which was at least more entertaining than the whole service. But, this year, eighth graders were able to take confirmation classes. I have no idea what confirmation is, but apparently the confirmation class goes on a bunch of field trips to camps, and other fun places. My only other option was to stay with Sunday school for one last year, and go through a bunch of "volunteering" things, which didn't seem to exciting. Plus, the teacher kind of reminded me of my sixth-grade teacher, which wasn't the most pleasant thing ever. But, don't get me wrong, the Sunday school teacher was very, very nice.
My sixth-grade teacher wasn't (*shiver*).
The best part of church is when it ends (yeah, I know that sounded harsh, but keep reading). After the service, everyone piles into a big room called the Parish Hall, which is a big room, where the kitchen is located. Everyone goes in there, and has some snacks, supplied by random people who attend the church. There's usually cookies, or brownies, or muffins, and stuff like that, so that's usually nice. It also gives me a chance to talk with some of my friends who go to that church.
So, in conclusion, I find church to be very dull, even though it's about God, and holiness, and the Jesus-turned-water-to-wine shenanigans. All I can say is I hope God can find it in his heart to not strike me down with a bolt of lightning.
To all of you who enjoy church, I hope I didn't offend you in any way. The things I said were just personal opinions. I mean, c`mon, you gotta admit, you found church kind of tedious as a kid.
So, I hope you all had a much more interesting weekend, and I hope today ends up being a tad more interesting than yesterday.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Public Restrooms: Friends, or Foes?

While in a Borders book store, this past Wednesday, I realized something that may be somewhat important to you:

Beware public restrooms.

I believe there are many flaws in public restrooms, but I've never ventured into the depths of the Women`s room, so this may not be accurate to all restrooms. That means that this post is dedicated towards males, mostly, but women should feel free to read along, and see if any of these problems relate to the bathrooms you use when you're out shopping for shoes, or whatever.

So, let's get started, shall we?

First, let me just say that public restrooms should be avoided at all costs. But sometimes, you just gotta go, so when trying to choose the most appropriate bathroom to use, use this "guide" to help you decide which ones are better than others, thus, giving you a more comfortable experience.
Let's start off with finding the restroom itself. Some public areas are so cluttered, and large, that the only bathroom in the building is strategically hidden in some aisle that's blended in with all the other aisles, leaving you running in circles trying to find the "restrooms" sign.
Once you do find it, depending on where you are, there could be a line. The largest lines happen to appear in the women`s room. Those lines have been known to stretch all the way outside the bathroom, but, like I said, this post is steered more towards men, so no worries to you guys!
Even though the lines in the men`s rooms can get pretty long, they usually don't stretch as long as the women`s room lines do. Once it's your turn to go, you usually head for the urinal farthest away from the person ahead of you. This sometimes is a problem, because smaller bathrooms tend to have only two urinals, which are placed inches away from each other, leaving you praying to God the guy next to you isn't a creeper.
Some urinals are divided by walls, which can be useful, except for the fact that sometimes the walls are too low, allowing taller people to accidentally peek over at you.
Another thing about using urinals are the other people using them as well. These people can be categorized into a number of subjects:

• The "Stand-Behinders"; the guy in line behind you, who breathes down your neck while you're "going".
• The "Crowders"; the guy who chooses the urinal right next to yours, no matter how many other open toilets there are.
• The "Talkers"; guys who try to strike up conversation with you while you're "going".
• The "Stall-Talkers"; The guys in the stalls near you, who hear you come in, and try to strike up conversation with you.
• The "Stall-Cell-Talkers"; the guys who are using the stalls near you, who happen to get a call on their cell phones, allowing you to hear what they're saying, which can be pretty awkward.

So, once you've figured out which occupant is which, you can usually find a toilet farthest from them, but you'll still find some problems with using urinals. As the technology of today advances, so does the technology of the standard toilet. Now, instead of the normal handle-flusher we're all used to, we now have the toilets flushed for us, by a little man inside the toilet. He is commonly known for his red eye, that looks out at us while we are doing our business. Then, that little red-eyed man decides when to flush, removing the heavy burden of actually having to push a handle down. Thanks, little red-eyed man!
Another problem with urinals are the design of the toilet itself. The most common type of toilet is the one with the wall, allowing you to aim freely. This type of toilet is probably based on the way we "go" on trees.
But, then there's the urinal that stretches all the way down to the floor, right in front of our feet, forcing us to aim carefully in between our shoes.

So, now we know the problems with going "Number-1". If you thought that seemed challenging, wait until you read about going "Number-2".
When you have to pass your digested food out the "back-exit", you head for the dreaded stall. A stall is basically a coffin, with dirty floors, walls, and toilets. Most people try to go for the handicapped stall, the safest of all the stalls, but of course, everyone else has the same idea as you, so that's usually taken.
The first problem you may find with stalls is the entrance. Most stall doors open inwards, towards the toilet, forcing you to practically step into the toilet just to shut the door behind you.
Once you close the door, you go to lock it, but, of course, there's a flaw with the locks as well. Some stall doors have locks that were built so that they are just unaligned enough so that the door swings right open again, revealing you to everyone else as you "go".
Plus, some doors leave gaping cracks in between the wall, and the door itself, allowing other people to see you as you "go".
Then, there's the toilet, which is sometimes built so low to the ground, you can practically look right under the wall separating you, and the guy in the stall next to you, allowing you to almost see each other.... you know.
Once you find a good stall, you'll be given some reading material, written on the walls. This was made by some other teenagers, who write one thing about someone, or something, and eventually turns into something that relates to an online instant messenger conversation. Feel free to add to the conversation, if you wish.
The toilet design is actually much better than the urinal's, except for one thing:
The little red-eyed man.
He can also be found sometimes in these toilets, once again, removing the burden of having to flush the toilet yourself.

Okay, so you're done doing your business. Now it's time to wash your hands.
Some bathrooms have regular sinks, with the knobs to turn on cold, and hot water. But, you'll find that more, and more restrooms are equipped with sinks that also give shelter to the red-eyed man, who turns the sink on, and off for you. The only difference in this is that you can't see his eye, and he sometimes refuses to turn the sink on for you, or at the temperature you'd prefer. Other sinks have the annoying buttons that turn on cold, and hot water, but only for as long as you push the button down. This can also be a problem.

So, you're washed up. Now, let's dry our hands off.
But, wait. Where's the paper-towels?
See, once again, technology plays a big roll in drying your hands. Instead of the bulky towel-holders you see occasionally, you'll find a big, bulky monster, that blows hot air at your hands to dry them off. These aren't always reliable, because it can take up to to rounds of hot-air-blowing just to dry your hands completely.
"Just give me a freaking paper towel, please!!!"

As you can see, technology is taking it's toll on restrooms these days, which leads to many, many problems, and flaws. Hopefully, this blog post will help you avoid these "Problematic-Potty-Places", and steer you clear of bad toilets.

And little red-eyed men.
For more information, and more detailed descriptions of the things mentioned above, you can view this video.



Also, a quick side-not; my team won our basketball game today, 30-25!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

An Unfortunate Update

I kind of saw this one coming.
Sure, I could have stopped it, but I guess I was too lazy to even try. But, that's going to change. Today. Right now.
Hopefully.
The thing is, I won't be posting as much as I'd like to any more, for reasons I'm too ashamed to speak of at this time. What i can say is that I'll only be able to post to this blog every weekend (Friday-Sunday), so I intend to make the most of that time, and get in as much blogging as possible, for the sake of you guys. Just wanted to let you know that ahead of time.

Anyway, my second basketball game of the season is tomorrow, at eleven AM (ugh... aren't weekends supposed to be days when you can actually sleep in?). Hopefully we'll be able to do better than last time.

Another update- which I find to be quite awkward- is that we'll be having something called a "Socks War" in school next Tuesday. It's basically something to go along with a fund-raiser type thing we're doing, in which we are supposed to donate a new package of socks to a homeless-shelter in Boston. To add some pizazz to this, the PTA, or whoever, decided we should have a "Socks War", in which we are supposed to, supposedly, throw socks at each other in the gym.
Interesting.
Plus, if my resources are correct, we'll also be having Crazy Hair Day, and Pajama Day at school on Wednesday, and Thursday. So, it's going to be quite an interesting week.

I'll try to update you guys on the game tomorrow, if possible, and I'm also working on something I think will be really neat to show you guys here on the blog. I don't want to give too much away, but, I can say that if you enjoy my writing, you'll love this little... "surprise" I'm putting together. Don't get your expectations too high, though. It's not a million dollars, or anything, just something I've been working on, that I'd like to share.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Where I've Been

I guess I have some 'splaining to do.

I know I haven't been posting in a while, but I've been kind of busy, what with school, basketball, holidays, etc. (all of which will be talked about in this post! How convenient am I?) So, allow me to bring you up-to-date.

My team lost our first basketball game of the season, 45-24. It was a bit of a toughie, considering that we had only had one practice before that, but overall, I don't think we did that bad! My teammates and I are still warming up to each other, and getting used to the plays, and strategies, so, I guess there's nothing we can do about it, except improve.
A downside to that, though, is that due to yesterday's holiday- Veterans' Day- we couldn't have practice, which means we'll be playing our second game this Saturday, with only one practice so far! I'm not sure how much that will affect our game, but I'm sure we can adjust the little mistakes we made last time.

Speaking of Veterans' Day, I've got some exciting news for you all (more like for me, and my family, but I'm sure you'll be able to feel the excitement wherever you may be). I overheard a conversation between my parents the other night (I've gotten good at eavesdropping on conversations. I get good practice whenever my mom is on the phone. Hehe :-]), and my dad was saying that he was chatting with one of his pals online, asking him if he would be considered a veteran, since he had been in the Navy.
I'm not sure what the qualifications were to be a veteran, but Dad had them. So, now, every Veterans' Day, not only can I thank the strangers that have served our country, but I can thank my dad as well! So, (though, I may be a bit late with this) thank you, Dad!

As far as school goes, Term 1 ended last Friday, and I'll be getting my report card (*gasp!*) TOMORROW!!!

Dun-dun-duuuuun!
I have a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'll, once again, be just a C away from making Honor Roll. Oh, believe me, I try to make Honor Roll... I just... kind of.... "slack-off" (I use that term lightly).

Anyway, not much else to say at this point! Hope you all are doing just swell, and I'll talk to you soon!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Pass the Rock

Well, it could have been worse....

Or could it?

The Yankees are our new World Series champions, and, them being Boston's rivals, and all, I can't say I'm pleased. If only those darned Angels hadn't beat us that one fateful day back in October, I bet we could have been the ones playing against those yanks last night... and winning.

In other (sports) news, my basketball season will officially begin this Saturday, when I have my first game. I had practice last night, but was surprised to find that I only recognized three faces; two kids from past basketball teams, and a seventh grader from my school, whom I barely know. So, I guess I'll be making some new friends this year.

When I got home, I started a game of Rock Band, on the Wii. I just had a weird craving to play some virtual drums.
I guess I chose some songs Dad remembered from way-back-when, because he picked up a pair of drumsticks, and played along on his lap. He even picked up the guitar for the game and started "playing along".
I don't think he realized he wasn't even playing.

Anyway, just thought I'd bring you up to date on that. Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Boo... and stuff

I know I'm a few hours late, but... Happy Halloween! My, was it an exciting one!
My hunt for a costume to go as finally came to an end when my mom took my brothers and me to iParty, where I browsed numerous costumes, such as:

[some pictures have been removed due to... "obscene" images. Plus, Mom told me to, so...]

                                                          

But, I ended up choosing this:

I was going to be Freddy last year, but we couldn't find a costume in adult sizes, so I thought, "what the hey?" Plus, he's my favorite horror character, and it came with a cool claw!

Heh.

Anyway, I went over to my friend, Jake's house at around four o' clock, to hang out with him, and my other friends, Tim, and Josh, before trick-or-treating. We played some video games, had some chicken nuggets, got our costumes on, and after Jake's friend Jake (yes, another Jake) came over, it was time to go begging- I mean trick-or-treating.

Don't ask why, but at every house we went to, Jake asked for a bottle of water (and we actually got one eventually!). It was a fun time, though.

I think our stash this year was about double the amount we got last year! My brothers and I usually dump all our candy into this big, orange bucket, and it usually piles up past the brim. But, this year we enced up needing two more containers to hold all the candy!

So, now we have a big, orange bucket, a little, square, plastic container, and a cake tin laying on the kitchen table, all filled to the brim with candy.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, or how your Halloween went, so leave a comment!

In other news, it's definitely starting to look like Fall outside. The leaves are falling like rain, covering almost every square inch of the lawn, and the trees are... naked.

So, I hope you had a happy Halloween, and I hope you have a happy November!

Yours in awesomeness,

~Ry.

End-Of-October Excitement

It's that time of year again; basketball season!

Last night, I got a call from my new basketball coach, Mr. Jordan (pretty sure that's what he said his name was), and I was informed that my first practice will be next Wednesday, at my school. I'm definitely looking forward to this, and I'm hoping I can get another trophy this year to add to the one on my nightstand.

Oh, that's right, there are new readers here! Let me explain how I got this trophy of mine; my first year playing recreational basketball, my coach was a coach I've had numerous times for baseball, and my one year of soccer. We called him Coach Dillon. Our team wasn't the best team; we had more losses than wins, I'm sure of that, and when the playoffs came around, we weren't ready to pack our bags just yet.

We ended up sweeping the playoffs, and winning the championship game. The underdogs came out on top, and we all got gold (not real gold, probably bronze, or something) trophies to prove it. We actually had to play a double-header on the day of the championship game, the second game being the championship, the first one being a playoff match. So, I'm actually kind of surprised we had the energy to win that.

It's actually kind of funny, the way we won. I think someone on my team made an awesome shot at the buzzer, which ended the game, and we knew we were ahead, but we all just kind of stood around, trying to figure out what just happened. My coach asked one of the referees, "Is that it?" Well, the ref broke the silence, by saying, "Yep, that's it."
It was one of the most awkward, yet funny moments of my life.

So, now you know how I got that championship trophy.

Speaking of basketball, the Celtics won their season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers last night! I was watching NESN SportsDesk, and it sounded like a close game! Good luck Celtics!

In other news, Halloween is creeping closer, and closer, and I still need to get a costume together. Trust me, if I leave that till the end, I'll be going out without a costume this Saturday, and since my mom won't let me go Trick-Or-Treating without a costume, that basically means I won't be going at all. I'll let you know what I'm being as soon as I know exactly what that is.

One last thing; I saw this this morning, and it got a chuckle out of me.








Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

I'm Not Toying Around

It's that time of week again! Two whole days of sleeping in, and chilling out. I actually had some big plans for this weekend, but those were changed pretty quickly.

I was supposed to attend a Bar Mitzfah today, but decided not to go, after I heard that the ceremony can go on for more than a couple hours, and I just don't have that kind of attention span. Plus, this is for a kid I hardly know, so it'd just be me, and the kids I do know just standing around talking. I decided that staying home would be a wiser choice, so maybe next time.

On another note, last night I met Andrew Clements... sort of. He was doing a speech last night at the Sandwich High School, and my English teacher said that whoever went would get a free 100% on our next quiz/test. Of course, I jumped at this opportunity, even though I've never read one of Andrew Clements' books. He's actually quite an interesting guy, and has written more books than I could ever write in two life-times (that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean); he had this thing he called a "story-time-line" or something like that, and it was basically the front cover of every book he's ever written all attached in the order they were published from left to right. It was quite a long time-line.
Anyway, he's pretty funny, and has an interesting life story. I actually might read one of his books sometime soon!

In other news, I was recently browsing that wonderfully interesting site, YouTube, and was randomly looking up different movie trailers coming up in 2010. I came across some interesting ones; a remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Last Airbender," some other romantic comedies, and some really lame fake trailers for wannabe-movies (what I call fake movies people want to see for some odd reason, but would go down the drain if they ever did come out in theaters). But, then I came across something unusually interesting; "Toy Story 3."

"Toy Story" is one of my favorite Disney classics of all time! I remember way back when my Uncle Rick would always call me "Woody". Why he did, I'm not quite sure. Probably because I always pretended to be Woody- just as I had pretended to be Tarzan (basically stripping down to my whitie-tighties, and "swinging through the jungle" with Gramma), Buzz Lightyear (I got a Buzz costume for Christmas one year, and spoke in this deep, manly, Buzz Lightyear voice, "Hi, mumma"), and Batman (I believe I used to go to the supermarket dressed up in my black Batman mask, and the whole getup). But, hey, I was, like, three. We all go through these stages of our lives where we want to grow up to be superheroes... or, in my little brother's case, a dog.

Speaking of which, I still don't know what I want to be for Halloween. I have plans to go with a group of friends from school who live in the neighborhood (not the gang I mentioned in previous posts), and Halloween is really only about a week away, so I gotta get cracking with this costume of mine. I was going to be a glow-in-the-dark stick figure, by wearing all black, and outline my body with glow-sticks, but I'm not sure about that idea anymore.

Ahh, where was I... oh yeah, Toy Story. Yeah, even though I'm a bit big for those movies, I might actually want to see that one. It's supposed to be coming out June 18, 2010, so I'll mark my calendar, and watch out for commercials. To see the trailer, click here.

Well, everyone, have a fantastic weekend!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Another Three-Day Weekend

If you're wondering what I'm doing in my living room at 1:36 PM, instead of being at school, I can explain.

As you know, I was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday, and almost got sent home from school, due to aches all over my body, and a cough. Well, this morning it all came back, and felt twice as worse. To add to the chaos running throughout my system, I had a slightly upset stomach, so I couldn't finish my Cheerios. After taking my temperature (I had a slight fever), my mom decided to let me stay home, and I went back to bed for another two hours.

So, now I'm here, feeling better, spending a lazy Friday the way I want; browsing the web, and watching TV. Surprisingly, I haven't played video games yet, so I'll have to get to that later.

Yep, you could call this a geek's perfect day. Except for the pains running through my body off and on all day. See, staying home from school is a good thing, and a bad thing at the same time; The good news is that I won't have to worry about school until Monday, and I can just relax. The bad news is that I'll be buried in work on Monday, consisting of make-up stuff I missed today, and yesterday when I was in the nurse's office. I'm kind of hoping the teachers will give me a break, but I don't see that happening until June.

In other news, I've been thinking about Christmas lately, since lots of you relatives have been asking about it lately, and I have to say, I think this will be the best Christmas yet, if my evil scheme all comes together.

Well, it's not exactly evil, but it's a good strategy. See, I figure that if I don't ask for too much, and ask for some of the things I really want to different people, I'll get a good stash this December. So, if you realize in November/December that I start asking for an iPod Touch, and WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 a lot, don't be surprised. Of course, if I really want a good stash, I'll have to ask for other things I want, but if I emphasize the things at the top of my wish list- including the iTouch- I'll be one happy camper for Christmas.

And, besides, Christmas is all about giving, right?

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Random Ramblings, Eighth Grade, and "Dangerous Pie"

It's amazing how fast this week is going by. Maybe that's because of the four-day school week.
Speaking of school, I had my first trip to the nurse's office in, maybe, two years(?). I randomly came down with a headache, and random aches throughout my body. I lied down in one of the beds in the nurse's office for about an hour, and after that I realized this aching situation wasn't going away. So, I told the nurse that I wanted to go home. But, mom just had to be all the way in frickin' Wareham, so I ended up going through the whole day with an sore body. Plus, to make matters worse, I had a bad cough on and off throughout the day.
So, thanks for nothing, Mom (wink, wink).

On a happier note, I finished the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book the same day I got it. Even though all of the books in that series are a little over two-hundred pages long, I still manage to blow right through them in a matter of hours. And, I can assure you I will be re-reading those books sometime in the near future.
As for what I'm reading now; Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Soddenblick. It's a great book, don't get me wrong, but the title- just as it sounds- is a bit confusing.
From what I've inferred, the reason the title is called Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie is because in the beginning of the book, the main character's little brother makes what he calls a "dangerous pie," using whatever ingredients he can get his hands on, including a special pair of drumsticks owned by the main character. That's the only mention of the dangerous pie, so I really don't understand why the author had to put it in the title. Books are wondrous things.

Speaking of books, there's a wondrous web site called FanFiction, in which you may write your own stories based on TV shows, movies, other books, comic books, video games, etc. (Get it? Fans of different popular media sources, and fictional stories based on them. I'm one smart cookie!) I am currently a member of this site, and have written several "FanFics," but I realized that none of the stories I've written are subjects I enjoy writing about. For instance, I have written FanFics about a guy who becomes a professional hit man (based on numerous video games, and Nerf guns), a continuation of the Harry Potter series (in which Harry's future son becomes the next wizard prodigy at Hogwarts), and an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis, by Indiana Jones.
But, as I said, I never got to finish these stories because I could never get into them. I have been thinking about this for some time, and I finally realized why;
I enjoy writing about things I can relate to.
So, obviously, I couldn't write about the hit man story, because I don't plan on ever really killing anybody in the future (although, if I was planning on it, my brothers would probably be on top of the hit-list *wink wink*), and I'm not a wizard prodigy, and I highly doubt there really is an Atlantis (although there actually is some solid evidence as to the existence of this city). So, what can I relate to?
Hmmm.
How's about school? Eighth grade, to be exact.
So, coming soon, to an internet connection near you, a tale of an average, everyday teenager, and his journey through eighth grade. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry (maybe), it will make you want to buy a cheeseburger (probably not). So, I hope to start that soon, and I'll update you on this project as it progresses.

Speaking of eighth grade (I'm speaking of a lot of things today), I'm already more than a month into it, and it's going great so far! I think this is actually a big step up in the social ladder, because I'm always being consulted by my numerous pals, and most of the girls my age are actually beginning to realize that I actually exist! I also have my fare share of enemies at school, but I keep it as civil as possible (even with that dreaded Colby), but other than that, I think I've finally stepped out of the shadow of nothingness.

Ooh, that's a good line for my upcoming story!

And, yes Mom and Dad, I'm also working hard at my grades, and not letting my extreme popularity take over me, and make me believe that it's not school that matters, it's- dare I say- "huggers".

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Recap

There's something wrong with our society.

I realized this when I saw a commercial for Christmas decorations on TV about a week ago. Since then I've seen Christmas decorations, and holiday-themed gifts, etc. Today, I went shopping for new school clothes with my Aunt Patti (more on this is a minute), and found small Christmas trees in JC Penny! Umm, hello? We haven't even had Halloween yet! I think we're all a bit eager for Christmas to come, but we need to listen to our inner kung-fu master, and "Have patience, grasshopper."
Or, is that just me?

Anyway, about shopping; I got some much-needed pants (all blue jeans, as usual), and long-sleeved shirts to finally fill up that middle drawer in my bureau. I do admit I got a couple t-shirts, even though my summer-clothes drawer is so filled, you might think an avalanche of Red Sox jerseys had ambushed it. But, I couldn't resist getting those t-shirts, they belonged to me. They even had my name on them; One says, "Hello, My Name is Awesome," and the other says, "Huh? What? Sorry, I was too busy being awesome."

I told you they were for me!

So, I got some good clothes, and in case you were wondering, I did get the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid today! I'm already half-way through it, and it's the funniest one by far!

At the end of the day, I hung out with the usual gang of neighborhood lunatics, and played some football, and stuff.
It's just too bad I don't have another day to hang out with them all day. School stinks.
I don't know if I've said this before, but I'll say it again, just to make my point:
I have a logical explanation as to why school is such a bad idea. For starters, us kids really only need to go to school up until about fifth grade, because about fifty, to seventy-five percent of the information we learn past then will most likely be totally useless in our future. By that time, we'll have also learned all the most important stuff; geometry, fractions, reading, writing, and whatever science we've learned by then (see, I've already forgotten what I learned back then!)
Another thing about school is that school never really ends, because once the school day is "over", you go home, only to be buried chin-high in homework, which leaves hardly any time to ourselves. And earlier bed-times make that matter much worse. So, even though we learn things in school (and apparently knowledge and formulas will set you free, as my science teacher says), the whole system is a scam. I'd love to have a stern talk with the bone-head who invented school the way he did.
Then again, without school, we'd all have much less friends than we do now.
School is so frustrating.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Christopher Columbus, I Thank Thee

Ladies, and gentlemen, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. Please, give a big round of applause to...
A THREE DAY WEEKEND! *crowd goes wild*
Yes, this Columbus weekend should be a great one; I've already gotten most of my homework done, I got a decent progress report today (all A's and B's so far), and Monday is hopefully going to be one heck of a day!

First of all, today was quite a crazy school day. It started off pretty normal, and the craziness started in Gym class. Every year, in the Fall, and Spring, we have something in Gym called the Mile-Run. It's just what it sounds like; you run a mile, and you're timed while you're at it (actually, it's not really a mile, it's more like half a mile, or something, but it's close enough. My gym teacher told me that a few years ago). The running course is two and a half laps around our large field in the back of the school. For good runners, this should take them eight minutes, or less (a handful of kids I know are able to do this thing in about five minutes!), and those kids have their name put on a list of "high-scores". Now, I've never made it on this list- I mean never- in my nine years here at Forestdale School. This past Monday, I came close, with a time of eight minutes, fifteen seconds. A mere fifteen seconds away from making the list.
But today was my day of reckoning.
Today, I made a record time of 7:35 (give or take five seconds).
Yeah baby!
I think the thing that helped me get that time the most was my iPod. During the Mile-Run, all students are allowed to listen to iPods while running, so I brought mine today, and decided to use the built-in stopwatch on it, just to give myself an idea of how I was doing throughout the run. Also, I wanted to beat my previous time of 8:15, so the stopwatch would help me keep track of that as well.
So, the run starts, and I try to start the timer on my iPod at the same time as the gym teacher hits the "start" button on her stopwatch, and I put on some inspiring music to get me pumped up (song of choice[s]; "Burn It To The Ground", by Nickelback, and, "Through the Fire and Flames", by Dragonforce).
I have to admit, getting under eight minutes is harder than it sounds. Some people I know can run the whole course without slowing down, and I don't know how they do it! I was panting for breath within three-quarters of a lap, but I kept checking the time on my iPod (a minute goes by real quick when you're running to beat eight minutes), and urged myself to keep going.
As I neared the finish line (which is the same line I passed three times throughout the whole run), my heart seemed like it was screaming, "Hey, can't you see I can't take it anymore? Gimme a break, slow down! Jeez!", but my pride was screaming, "You can do it, you're almost there! If you run now, you can beat eight minutes! GO, GO GO!!"
Conclusion; I got my name on the list.
For the first time!
So, I'm pretty proud of myself. Just goes to show you, if you put your heart to something, you can do anything!

In other news, my nerdy-ness saved my life today! Or, more like it saved my eyesight, because, I don't know what he was aiming at, but my friend, Drew, threw a pen cap, or something, that hit one of my glasses-lenses, and if my glasses hadn't been there, I would probably be blind right now. He didn't mean to hit me, but, I just thought that was crazy.

Anyway, I already told you I got A's, and B's on my progress report today, so that's cool, but I have some work to do with getting homework in on time, and studying. And, I have to say, studying absolutely sucks. Yeah, yeah, I know if I study, I'll get lots of A's, but just doing it just sucks. I'm sure you know what I mean.

In other news, I'm hoping to get some cash together by this Monday, because that's when the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book comes out! I'm so excited to get it! I have every book in the series, including the "Do-It-Yourself book." If you haven't figured it out by now, I love reading, unlike lots of boys my age that I know. I don't know what people find so boring about reading, because I love it! That is, as long as it's an interesting book.

Lastly, I just got informed that after, like, half a year, my mom finally has a job as a nurse! Congratulations, Mom!

So, that's the 411 for the start of my weekend. I'd love to hear about yours, so leave a comment, and I'll be sure to read it! Enjoy your vacation, and hopefully I'll talk to you before Monday!

Yours in awesomeness,

~Ry.

Ta Ta For Now

Fortunately, I'm not saying this to you. Unfortunately, I'm saying it to RySpace.

I'm sure most of you know about RySpace, but if not, just click that link. For those of you who do know about it, you know that I recently shut it down. The reason why is explained in the blog over there, but the reason is quite obvious, if you have been stopping by over there often.

It's not what I wanted to do, but I figured it was just becoming a waste of virtual space, and decided to bring a stop to that, and just abandon RySpace altogether. It was a sad day, beacause as I look back on the years I've owned RySpace, it makes me sad.

In 2007, I started RySpace, thinking I could create the best web site ever. A site where all my friends, and family could play games, watch videos, and have fun! But, as time went by, it became much more than that. Soon, I had members from all over the country, and in 2008 I had a couple of visitors from the United Kingdom! I changed the look of the site, until it looked as professional as any other social networking site. I even added my own logo!
But, starting late last year, and early this year, I started to update the site less, and less, until site ratings skyrocketed in mid-summer. But, by the end of Summer, things were looking bad.
That led to today.
This dreadful day that I tried so hard to prevent from coming, just as the Grinch tried to stop Christmas from coming. But, in the end, there wasn't much I could do for the site; I had no money for all that big stuff, like domain names (I had an online buddy by one for me for a short while), and search engines (I actually got RySpace on Google, but that was for free, which is another story...), and all that. So, I did what had to be done.

The reason I tell you this story is to share my feelings with you, and show you how much I loved working on RySpace (plus, aren't blogs made to allow you to talk about your feelings, and stuff like that? Makes me think of what girls might write in their diaries... *shiver*). Even though RySpace didn't quite live up to its expectations, I plan on making more web sites in the near future, that will, hopefully, become more successful, and stay that way.
If you would like to see what's left of RySpace, you can click the link above, or under "Partners" on the sidebar.

Blog to you soon!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Happy October!

When I woke up this morning, and trudged into the bathroom, I looked into the mirror at that handsome dude staring back at me, and noticed that my lips were turning a shade of blue. Yes, it was that cold! It could have only meant one thing:
October has come.
It sounds like October will be a pretty big month this year; the Red Sox in the playoffs, Halloween, and, possibly, a Bar Mitzvah!

Today, in school, I walked into homeroom, and noticed everyone holding cards, with Nick Blackmon's (a fellow classmate) face on them. As I was wondering why I didn't get one, I noticed a white envelope on my desk.
Bingo.
I tore it open, and realized it was an invitation to Nick's Bar Mitzvah. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go, because I don't really know him, but then I heard lots of people saying they were going, including my friends, so I thought, what the hey?
So, I'll probably go to that. As for Halloween, I realize I may be growing a bit too old for the whole dressing-up thing, but the rule in my house is that you don't go trick-or-treating if you don't dress up. So, I'm only dressing up this year for the candy. Hopefully I can just throw on a mask, and call it a costume. Last year, I was thinking the same thing, and I found these t-shirts at CVS that said, "This Is My Halloween Costume," and tried getting away with wearing that, but mom would have none of that. So, I went dressed as a nerd, with a pocket protector, big glasses, overalls; the works.
And, of course, the Sox; I predict we beat the Yankees (again), and win the ALCS this year... even though we've been kind of shaky lately. But, we just gotta do what we Boston-baseball fans do best during October; have faith.
Anyway, just wanted to wish you all a happy October.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Football Sunday... and More Book-lights

If you asked someone what America's favorite pastime is, you'd get one of two answers:

1; Baseball
2; Sitting on the couch, eating Chinese food*, watching football.

Today was a great example of why that second answer would be just as good as the first.
Picture a middle-aged man, on a Sunday afternoon, sitting in his favorite couch in the living room. He's got a beverage with him- usually beer, or water, or something-, and he seems to be having a very intense discussion (each sentence only lasting a few words, which may include, "Oh, c'mon guys!", or, "Touchdo- oh, he dropped it!") with the television set, which happens to be showing a live football game.
Ladies, and gentlemen, if you have ever witnessed such a scene before, you know it can only mean one thing:
Dad is watching football.
I have witnessed this personally, and I have to say, it's quite a scene. My dad will be staring the TV down, probably attempting to send brain signals all the way to Foxboro, telling Tom Brady, or whoever, not to screw up. And then, when they do screw up, he'll start commentating the play, until he realizes that they actually have people on the TV program who do that for him. Let me give you a brief scenario of this:

When Randy Moss- wide-receiver of the New England Patriots- fumbles the ball in the end zone, almost getting a touchdown, dad will say, "TOUCHDO- oh, he dropped it!" (as mentioned before).

Or, when the referees are reviewing a play, to decide whether the guy fumbled the ball, or not, dad will say (repeatedly), "Right there, his knee is down. He has the ball there, his knee is down... and then he drops the ball. Right there... yep, his knee is down."

Or, when they are showing replays of some guy who stepped out of bounds in the end zone, almost getting a touchdown, dad will say, "... Yeah, he stepped out.... Right... there. His foot is out."

Those quotes are roughly what my father was saying during the Patriots game today, and half the time I couldn't figure out whether he was talking to me, or the TV. I bet you have met people like this, who seem to yell at the picture of the referee on TV, when he makes a bad call, as if he can hear them, and I believe that because it happens to so many people across America, it is a mental disorder, if you will. I call it headinthegame disorder. The symptoms of this disorder are as mentioned before; talking to the images of people on TV, as if they will respond; commentating the plays to themselves, even if no one else is in the room with them; showing great emotion to every great/bad play their favorite team makes, etc. The headinthegame disorder may occur especially with people watching the game in high-definition quality, because it enhances the effect of "being in the game".

In conclusion; although you can't really blame my dad for the way he acts during a Pats game, it can kinda creep me out. So, Dad, if you're reading this, I want you to know that we're here for you, and we're all helping to find the cure for headinthegame. Together, we can make a difference.

(This message was brought to you by the HITGF [Headinthegame Fund])

In other news, I saw one of those Bob's Furniture Store commercials today, and found even more proof that people are too sophisticated; Bob's newest piece of furniture includes a cup holder, and a fold-out table, with (you guessed it) a book-light.

Ain't technology a beautiful thing?

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Chickens Without Their Heads

If you were to compare the way my friends, and I were dancing last night, the title would be the perfect comparison.

Sure, we like to think we're good dancers, but my friend, Pat, thinks he's some sort of gangster, street dancer, Erik thinks he's the master of free-style dancing, Matt (who isn't necessarily my friend) just does the rockstar head-bob thing, which could cause a massive hurricane, with his extremely puffy, curly hair flying through the air, and Jon... well, Jon dances like a moron.
And, so do I.
That's why he's my best friend.
But, even though we may not be the best dancers around, the dance was a blast! Most of the time, we were either dancing with each other in a big group, screaming our heads off over the insanely loud music, or trying to find some (as my mom would call them) "hot chickies" to dance with (in which I succeeded in doing, more than once... the handsome devil I am!)
And, yes, I did slow-dance.
With girls.
Twice.
(No, Pa, there isn't a "hugger" yet.)

By the end of the dance, my voice was hoarse from yelling over the music, and other screams in the large cafeteria of the Wing School, and I was in desperate need of a drink (they were serving drinks, and snacks, but by the time I went to go buy a soda, they had run out. So, I resorted to filling a plastic cup with water from the water fountain. But, hey, look on the bright side; it was free!). So, as the dance ended with two slow-dances- as always-, I said my goodbyes, and went off in search of my dad.

When I got home, I was pooped. I got my pajamas on (which basically means stripping down to my boxers, and a t-shirt), and was asleep within ten, to fifteen minutes. I guess I was quite the party animal.

Speaking of which, I have a funny story about a party animal. This particular dance was themed, "The Fall Spooktacular!" The posters put up at school for the dance said that if you wanted to go in costume (for an early Halloween- for some reason, we won't be having a dance in October), you could. So, this kid in my grade named Andrew went dressed as a gorilla! He had this big, furry suit, and big gorilla-hand gloves! Unfortunately, he was one of the very few who came in costume (along with some nerdy-looking kid who dressed up as a wizard), and I felt kind of bad for him. But, eventually, he came out and danced with us a little bit, so hopefully he had fun.
But still, talk about a party animal!

In conclusion; the dance was great! I had lots of fun with all my friends, and even got some ladies to dance with!
And, just to clarify; I do not have a "hugger".
...Yet.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Neighborhood Shenanigans

My friends, Joey and Sam Congro, Seth + Jack and Mikes' friends, Joey, and Sean= a day of awesomeness!

Today was a half-day at school, and my brothers, and I used our spare time today hanging out with our buddies (mentioned above). I got homework out of the way, had some lunch, and rode my bike down to Joey P.'s house, a friend of Jack and Mike, where we met up with our other friends from the neighborhood, Joey and Sam Congro, Sean, and Seth. the eight of us eventually rode our bikes over to my house, to play a game of four-on-four football. Eventually, we were sweaty, and tired, and were in need of a beverage. So, I took the liberty of going inside, to fill a pitcher of ice-cold water, and bring that out, along with some cups. After refreshing ourselves, I brought the cups back in, and when I came out, some of the other kids had run off into the woods in front of my house (thankfully, not the area where the bees were). So, Joey Congro- who is a grade younger than me- and I went off in search of the younger kids. We usually end up doing this every time those kids come over, and it's actually pretty fun. Kind of like an unorganized game of manhunt, except it was daytime.
Anyway, we chased eachother around in the woods for a while, and then went over to the Congros' house (which is a street over from our house), to play another game of football. I think my team won (again), but I'm sure everyone had fun. After we got bored of that, we played a game of Pickle next-door, at Sean's house.
Pickle is basically a simulation of a run-down in a game of baseball- you know, when the runner is caught between two bases, trying not to get tagged by the basemen. This game is almost exactly like that, except there are usually more than two runners, running from base to base, trying to avoid getting tagged by the two basemen a certain amount of time. Once you've been tagged the specified amount of times, you switch places with the baseman who got you out. It's a very fun game.
That lasted about fifteen minutes, and afterwords, we rode our bikes around the neighborhood. We eventually got split up, and were all trying to reunite with each other, riding around the block like chickens without their heads.
We eventualy found everyone, and started a game of wiffle-ball in the street, in front of the Congros' house. That lasted awhile, and then everyone decided to go home. Everyone except Sam, and Seth, that is. The five of us eventually headed over to Seth's house for a while, and then my brothers and I headed home.
By that time, it was six o' clock. We had been out since about one-thirty. We had been playing for about four and a half hours, but it seemed much longer than that. I guess that's what happens when you're having so much fun!

So, that's how my afternoon went. Two games of football, a game of Pickle, a game of wiffle-ball, an unorganized game of manhunt, bike rides, and more... all within four hours.
Awesome.

In other news, the first dance of the school year is about twenty-four hours away, and I can't wait! It's gonna be so much fun! I'll try to get some pictures up here, if I can, but either way, you can expect an overview of the whole thing on Saturday. Until then, hasta lavista, amigos!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

More Changes

I made another small change to the blog; a new header design! I'm pretty proud of myself, because I made both the "awesome" background image, and that header display, all by myself! I'm starting to become quite a site designer! Maybe that's what I'll be when I grow up; a graphic designer. Although, I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a professional geek (no offense, Derek)...

Anyway, for those of you who liked the old header, you can still see it on the bottom of the sidebar (to the right side of the screen). No worries, Troy, your banner is still here!

While I'm here, I might as well talk about life. I'm pretty excited for this Friday- not just because it's pizza day at school-, because the first school dance of the year will take place! Every month, for seventh, and eighth graders, the school district hosts a dance at one of the three schools within the district. The first one will be at the Henry T. Wing School (Wing School, for short). The dances usually have a DJ playing extremely loud music, sodas, and snacks, girls wearing tank-tops, and short-shorts, and guys overloaded with cologne. Very fun!

Umm... not much else to say here. Hope you like the new logo, and, yep.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Does This Background Make My Blog Look Fat?

As you've probably noticed (if not, get your eyes checked immediately), I have added a quite stylish background to the blog. I've been trying to do this for a while now, and after numerous failed attempts, I finally got the HTML to work with me. Hope you all like it!

Speaking of which, I just had another random thought (you'll notice I have these types of thoughts a lot); where would we be without making mistakes?

I believe we would be nowhere without lots of things in this somewhat crazy life in which we live. For instance, what I mentioned in my last post; cell phones! And, what about money? I mean, honestly, what makes these small, green, rectangular pieces of paper so valuable to us, that we can't live without having them? And, of course, women; can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

But, I believe the most successful of us would not be where they are without making mistakes. Like Bill Gates; he didn't just wake up one day, and say, "Hey, I'm going to be a millionaire today." He had to actually work for it, and make some mistakes to get there.
And David Ortiz didn't just go outside when he was a kid, and play baseball, and hit home run after home run. He has to have struck out at least a hundred times since he started playing baseball, he didn't just randomly become great one day.

So, stuff like this proves that to succeed, you have to fail once, or twice in your life, no matter what it is you're doing. You may not get something the first time around, but with practice- and, unfortunately, studying- you'll become a nation-wide phenomenon, who hits home runs, or makes a million bucks.... or calls himself Fred.

Same with getting this awesome background on my blog; I couldn't get it right the first fifty times I tried, but it eventually worked!

I can't believe I got all of that out of adding a simple background to my blog.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

"To do something that you feel in your heart that's great, you need to make a lot of mistakes. Anything that's successful is a series of mistakes."- Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer of Green Day.

Where Would We Be Without Cell Phones?

I had another random thought today, that I just had to share with you guys; cell phones are amazingly confusing. Let me clarify this for you guys.

First of all, if you guys were all standing in the same room as me right now, and I asked you guys to raise your hands if you owned a cell phone, I am willing to bet that at least ninety-five percent of you would have your hands raised. If I asked all the kids in my grade at school the same question, ninety-nine percent of them would probably raise their hands. Thus, I believe that most people in the United States today have a cell phone. I can see why we rely on them, but that whole texting shenanigans... it puzzles me. Sure, I wish I could do it more often than I do already (danged economy), but what makes sending the word, lol, back and forth so addicting? And, why do kids my age insist on sending messages in the form of text, instead of just calling the person, and telling them whatever they wanted to in the form of words. I don't know....

Another thing that surprises me about cell phones is the fact that we still call them phones, considering what they can do. Most phones today are able to take pictures, text (of course), play games, record videos and sounds, tell you where the nearest bathroom is via built in GPS system, connect to the internet, etc., etc., etc. Plus, with the very popular iPhone, you can do all of that, and then some. So, instead of calling these gadgets phones, we should be calling them something like, "wicked awesome portable entertainment slash telephone systems", or whatever it is you hip kids call those things- what are they, Game Guys? X-Cubes? Nintendo Wees?

Anyway, all I'm saying is phones are amazing. They help most of us everyday. They help us keep in touch. But, in some aspects, maybe phones are evolving into something much more than phones. I've seen home-phones you can buy that have a touch screen on the base, that allows you to text other peoples' cell phones. Maybe home phones will start being able to take pictures as well.

Or let you play Tetris on them.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

P.S. Before anyone begins questioning me (and my awesomeness), I do realize that this post is a bit similar to the one posted on Derek Gentry's Blog, but I promise you, I wasn't even thinking about that post while I was typing this post. Thus, this post is totally original. That's all, folks.

The Bees' Knees

I learned something today; bee stings hurt.

My brothers, their friends, Seth, Joey, and Sean, and I were all playing out in the woods across the street from my house. The woods is just one long path, that reaches both ends of the street I live on, and turns down to the main road at one end. Mike, Seth, and I were all trying to hide from Jack, Joey, and Sean, in the path (it wasn't a game of hide-and-seek, we just decided to "ditch" them). So, Mike, Seth, and I were all running from one end of the path, to the other end, which leads to the main road. We cut into the woods at the side of the path, and hid behind some trees, and brush. We were there for a good five, or ten minutes, until we were sure the coast was clear of the other three. So, we came out of the woods, back onto the path, and headed up to towards our street.
That's when we heard them coming back. Mike went off to his original hiding spot, and Seth and I jumped into the spot in the woods we were in. I was almost to the tree we were hiding behind previously, when I felt a small prick on my left hand. I assumed it was a mosquito, since those had been buzzing around my head earlier, but when I looked down, I realized something was terribly wrong.
The "mosquito" was yellow, and black striped.
And I usually didn't feel mosquitoes biting me.
This wasn't a mosquito; it was a bee!
"Oh my god!" I yelled, "I gotta get outta here!"
But, as I started making a dash for the main path, I felt another prick. And another.
And another.
I was being stung!
I made a mad dash towards my street, shaking vigorously at the bees that were attacking me.
I was running home, on the street now, with Mike just behind me. But Mike told me to stop, because he saw something on my back.
Turns out the bees landed on my shirt as well.
Now, I was sprinting full speed home, hoping the bees would fly off, and leave me alone. As I ran, this whole time, the places I had been stung gradually became more painful.
I was now on my deck, whipping my shirt off, cursing the whole time, from the pain I was in. My hand, ankles, legs, and thighs were all growing more, and more painful.
I ran inside, yelling, "I just got stung by bees a dozen times."
Thankfully, my parents rushed to the rescue, my mother making the famous bee-sting-healing mixture of baking soda, and water, and my father helping me get my pants, shoes, and socks off, so we could better see the stings on my legs, and feet. I directed my mom to where all of the stings were, as she applied the baking soda substance. The whole time, I was rocking back, and forth in pain. After covering all the stings, my mother gave me a Motrin, and a Benadryl, to help rid the pain. I was then escorted to my room, to be alone for a bit, with an ice cube to apply to the areas that hurt most.

I am proud to say that I did not once cry- though I did moan, and groan, and cuss a bit-, which, therefore, states that I truly am a man. Within an hour, the stinging was to a minimum, and I was up for a trip to Mashpee Commons (a small section in our neighboring town of Mashpee, filled with differant stores), with my mom, to try to find a birthday present for my aunt Amy (I'll post more about that tomorrow, after the party).

So, the source of those cruel, yet tiny, beasts was a nest, hidden in the ground of the woods, that either me, or Seth, must have stepped on. I can tell that bees don't like to be bothered, because boy, were those bees pissed (pardon my French). And, as I type this blog entry, I can still feel the aftershock of the almost microscopic stingers of those bees- well, actually, it's not the stingers that hurt most, it's the venom in the stingers-, but it feels almost soothing, compared to what I was feeling when I actually got stung. And, for the record, this was the second time in my life that I have been stung by a bee(s), but today will be the only day I remember (so far) being stung, because the first time I was stung was when I was two.

Moral of the story; don't make bees angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Sooper-Dooper, Pooper-Scooper, Cooper!

Those are some of the things I call the craziest dog in the whole world- my dog-, Cooper. If you've met him, you know that he's got the energy of a hyped-up toddler, on a strict diet of Red Bull, Monster, and Pixy Stix, and the mischievous attitude of my cousin, Nick, holding a pair of scissors, and your favorite pair of pants.
The reason I'm talking about my dog, is that I feel I should introduce new readers to The Blog of Awesomeness (TBA) to one of the biggest pains in the world, who manages to hold his number one spot on my list of best friends.
I actually wrote a paper on Cooper for an English assignment, and stupidly forgot to save the document after printing it, but I'll try to reproduce the essay as accurately as possible.

First of all, if there were ever a top ten list of the world's worst dogs, the first two on the list would be:

1. Marley
2. Cooper

(If you don't know about Marley, search that name on Google [make sure you don't find results for Bob Marley], or see the movie, "Marley & Me", which I highly recommend.) Cooper loves to chew pillows, and toys, from the couch in my basement, run over to the house two houses down the street from me to eat whatever leftovers they left in their front yard, for whatever reason, and play ball/Frisbee (I think he likes fetching balls more than Frisbees, because he'll bring as ball back to you, but he likes to keep Frisbees to himself). Because of Cooper's behavior, I have also theorized that he has a case of ADHD. This, I shall explain.

A few days ago, I was walking Coop`, and we approached another person walking their dog. Cooper, being the all-too-excited dog he is, really wanted to make friends with these passersby. But, I knew all too well that if I let Cooper go over to that dog, he wouldn't leave until he had sniffed every hair on that canine's backside. So, I tugged the leash, expecting him to resist, as he always does, by jumping a good five feet in the air, and attempting to dart after the dog/owner. But, he just couldn't match the almighty strength of yours truly, and I finally pulled him far enough away from them, that he somehow forgot what it was he was just trying to get at, and continued the walk.
That's when I thought to myself, I wonder how his brain really works?
Here's what I mean by this; obviously, if you teach a dog to sit, he'll eventually sit on command. Same happens when you teach him to lay down, and speak, and shake your hand, and roll over (which Cooper hasn't learned yet). But, for some darned reason, for the two years I've had him, I can't get Coop` to understand that he can't go say hi to everyone he see's walk by. If he's outside, and someone walks by our house- with, or without a dog- he'll go darting after them to say hi, which forces me and whoever else may be out there with him, to go after him, struggle to grab him by the collar, and bring him back inside the house, or on his run (for all you non-dog owners, a run is a long leash you can attach to your deck, or house, or a tree, that allows your dog to roam your yard without running away).
Then again, maybe he has learned a thing or two about greeting people. I believe that he has taken note that whenever humans see people they love, they hug each other, and sometimes kiss. Well, he sometimes tries to mimic this, by jumping up on the newcomer, and occasionally give them a good lick on the face. He just hasn't learned that we don't do that to people we don't particularly love.
So, I theorized that Cooper has some sort of ADHD, that causes him to be so full of energy, that whenever he sees someone new, he becomes so full of excitement that it just becomes overwhelming, and he can't help, but to go give the person/dog a hug/butt-sniffing.
But then, I remembered that Cooper sometimes becomes aggressive towards dogs smaller than him. He'll go over to the small dog, sniff them, and spaz out at them. So, then I theorized that Cooper is an ADHD-diagnosed dog, with a desire to make sure that every dog he meats understands that he is the alpha-male.
This helped me understand the whole, "marking-their-territory" thing. It's like a big game of War, where the object is to claim as much land as possible. And, I'd say that Cooper makes enough "pit-stops" every walk, to claim the whole neighborhood.

In conclusion; my dog, Cooper, is diagnosed with ADHD, loves to make friends in all the wrong ways, is dominant of his property, and such, and is the world's second worst dog.

And I couldn't ask for any other dog.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

The Bucket List

I know it's a bit early to be discussing the end of my life (which shall never come... I am IMMORTAL!!!), but I read an interesting post on [carrotspeak]- a blog I follow, and, so far, have been enjoying every bit of it- about making your own bucket list. A bucket list is a list of goals you'd like to accomplish before you die, or, "kick the bucket", if you will. So, without further a due....

Ryan's Bucket List! (results may vary)

• Leave my home state
• Leave the country
• Learn to speak fluent Spanish (psh. Yeah right.)
• Get an A+ in Math class (on a report card)
• Reach the top of the Empire State Building
• Reach the top of the Statue of Liberty
• Watch the Red Sox win the World Series on live television (or some good seats to the game, either would be nice)
• Find a Babe Ruth baseball card
• Get an autograph from a famous celebrity
• Meet a famous celebrity
• Go to a Green Day concert
• Learn to play the electric guitar
• Meet the president of the United States
• See the White House in person
• Become famous
• See the day that RySpace becomes successful
• Visit California
• Go camping (No, I have never been camping. Ever.)
• Write a book, that becomes published
• Write a book that gets on the New York Times Best Seller list
• Be on TV
• Learn to fly
• Get 1000+ different songs on my iPod
• Stay up past midnight
• Find a cure for cancer
• Go bungee jumping
• See the Grand Canyon in person
• Stand in the center of "The Four Corners" in the United States
• See the Pacific Ocean
• Meet David Ortiz
• Get David Ortiz's autograph
• Get everything I want for Christmas
• Go on a shopping spree just for me
• Save someone's life
• Win the lottery
• Sit in the "Green Monster" seats at Fenway Park
• Count to 2,000 without stopping
• Throw out the Ceremonial First Pitch at Fenway Park
• Throw (or attend) a Superbowl Party (preferably for a Superbowl in which the Patriots are in)
• Hit a home run
• Read all seven Harry Potter books
• Learn a magic trick
• Live in a mansion
• "Kick the bucket" in style!

I'm sure there's more I could add to that list, but that should be enough for now. I think making these things is actually a good idea, because it's an easy, and fun way to tell people about themselves. As for my list, there's a lot I could say about the stuff up there, so if you have any questions, or comments about any of the things on the list, don't hesitate to leave a comment on this blog post. I'd also love to hear what's on your bucket list, so feel free to add that too!

Anyway, if there were ever a moral to this post, it would be to live life in the moment, don't sweat the small stuff, follow your dreams, and don't do drugs.

...?

Yours in awesomeness,

~Ry.

Ta-Ta For Now

Why must all good things come to an end?
Like Christmas, or birthdays (for those of us who still enjoy them, that is. It's weird to think that at some point, I'll get old enough that getting older starts to get annoying), or this past weekend.
Hey, speaking of which, this past weekend was extremely awesome, which means it must be mentioned in this blog!
So, as you know, I got that Babe Ruth card, visited my Uncle John for a cookout, and hung out with my  Uncle Ted. But the fun didn't stop there! As I mentioned in the previous post (which can be viewed by clicking on any of the previous links, and this one), I was scheduled to go bowling, and mini-golfing. Which we did!
First, we took a brief pit-stop at the dump. Then, it was off to Ryan Family Amusements, for two rounds of bowling (My dad won the first game, and Uncle Ted won the second), and a short while in the arcade area. That lasted about an hour and a half, or so. By that time, we were all hungry for lunch, so after a well-balanced meal of McDonald's burgers, fries, and chicken McNuggets, we headed to the miniature golf course. Ted won that game, but we all had fun!
So, we were kinda pooped when we got home, but after a few minutes, my brothers, some of their friends, and I all started a game of football out in the street in front of my house. At about halftime (we weren't really timing the game), my dad, and Ted came out to join the fun, before leaving to Seafood Sam's for dinner.
For those of you who have never heard of Seafood Sam's, it's basically a seafood restaurant, just like it sounds (maybe you've heard of Lobster Hut? It's very similar to that).
But, like I said, all good things come to an end.
Ted will be leaving for Colorado tomorrow, but he had to leave our house this morning, after I got on the bus to school, to help my aunt Patti with some stuff, and then he'd be spending the night with another friend. This basically means I might not see him for another two years, due to his busy schedule back at home (he owns a business, you can't really blame him). As I've mentioned before, I'm not a very emotional guy, but I have to admit, it was hard saying goodbye to him this morning (hopefully he won't read this, and think I've gone soft on him. I'm a MAN!). I keep telling myself that this won't be the last time I see him, but still....
Now I'm stuck in school again, with nothing to look forward to.
And to that, I say poo.

On a happier note, I was recently reading some older posts from Derek Gentry's blog (he's my cousin. My much older cousin. No offense.), and I read an interesting one about names, and such. The post included a link to HowManyofMe.com, which basically tells you how many people in the U.S. have the same name as you. I was interested to find that the name Ryan belonged to not only me, but 513,355 other people, making my name the 109th most popular name. Not too bad, eh? Then I read that 98.2 percent of people in the U.S. with the name Ryan were males. That means 1.82 people in the U.S. with the same name as me are girls. Interesting-er!
Anyway, this got me thinking (and interested again); How many people in the USA share your name? Just head on over to www.howmanyofme.com, type in your name, and share your results in the comments section of this post. Let's see how many parents had the same idea as yours!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.