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.

A "Home Run" of a Weekend!

You wouldn't believe how exciting this weekend has been for me!

For starters, yesterday, my brother, Jack, and I went over to my aunt Patti's house to visit with her, and my Uncle Ted, who, as you know, was spending the weekend here from Colorado. Ted was helping Patti build a railing for her stairs, or something, and my dad was getting "crap" off of Patti's computer. Basically, a Help-Patti-Out-Day. That left jack and I to find something to do.
We did bring a football along with us, but that didn't last long, because after about ten minutes of playing catch, it started to rain (just as it continued to do all of yesterday). Luckily, we had a plan B; Patti had about a thousand old baseball cards in her basement, leftover from a collection my late Uncle Walter had, and we were always welcome to go down there and take as many cards as we wanted.
So, Jack and I spent a good thirty minutes, to an hour down there, looking at pictures of baseball players we had never heard of, laughing at their weird names, or bad pictures, always keeping an eye out for a familiar name. We did end up finding a few old Roger Clemens cards, and some Sammy Sosa's, and Cal Ripken's (Jr.'s), things like that.
But then, Jack happened to find a Ted Williams card (for those of you who aren't baseball fanatics, like myself, Ted Williams was a legend on the Red Sox, and is currently a Hall-of-Famer. He is the last player to ever have a batting average of over .400 in a single season [which is extremely good]))! I was quite jealous, but tried not to let that show (gotta keep my cool). So, I decided I wouldn't stop searching, until I found someone just as good as Ted Williams. I mean, how hard could it be? There were at least a thousand or so cards down there. There's gotta be at five more legends in this collection.
Boy was I right.
About twenty-five minutes after Jack found that card, I started to find a ton of awesome cards; I found two Jim Rice's (Red Sox, Hall-of-Famer), a bunch of Wade Bogg's (another Red Sox Hall-of-Famer), a few Carlton Fisk's (ditto), and (you're not going to belive this) two- count 'em, two- Ted Williams cards! And if you can belive that, you definitely won't believe this;
I found a Babe Ruth card! (if I have to tell you who he is, I think I'm going to pass out)
Unbelievable, right?

 

That's not actually my card, but it's a picture of the same one I have. It's actually a picture of Babe Ruth shaking hands with Ted Williams, so that technically means I now have two and a half Ted Williams cards! I was so excited when I found it, I was shaking with excitement for ten minutes!

So, after that excitement, we all headed to a cookout at my Uncle John's house. I stuffed my thirteen-year-old stomach with two hot dogs, a cheeseburger, some chips, some cake (to celebrate Ted's belated birthday), a brownie, and a strawberry shortcake!

Don't judge me, I'm a growing teenager.

As you can see, it's been a busy weekend, full of surprises, and it's only going to get better! According to Jack, and Ted, we're all going bowling, and mini-golfing today! Could this weekend get any better?

Too bad it ends tomorrow.

Yours in awesomeness,

~Ry.

9/11

The first weekend of the school year is finally here, and I'm totally excited about it! For starters, I got to visit with my uncle Ted, all the way from Colorado! He'll be down here until Monday, and he decided to stop by, and say hi before going off to dinner with some friends. But, the best part is that he is saving Sunday to do stuff with my brothers and I. It's gonna be freakin' spectacular!!!

Now, I don't mean to ruin the mood, now that it's the weekend, and all, but I feel it is important to remind you all that eight years ago, on this very day, terrorists crashed a plane into the Twin Towers. Although the weekend is something we all enjoy, I think we should all take a moment to remember the people who died that day. I'm not too good at all this emotional stuff, but, seriously, just take some time today to remember the people that numerous families lost on September 11, 2001.

Speaking of which, my English teacher, Mrs. Shea, told the class today that her sister was actually working in one of the two Twin Towers that day, and, luckily, escaped the building before it collapsed. Now, that is one lucky person!

But, isn't it amazing that we are still fighting over something that happened five years ago? Personally, that's just whack to me. I've always been against war, so I think it's really stupid that we can't just shake hands, and be friends again.
But, no, the world just can't work that way, now can it? Nah, everything has to be all violent, and angry!
Sorry, I didn't mean to turn that into a joke.

Anyway, just keep that in mind.

Happy Friday, though!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Barack Obama's Speech to Students

Ain't school just full of surprises?

Yesterday, two homeroom classes- one of them being my own- all sat in the social studies room to watch President Obama's speech to students across the good `ol U S of A. I must say, it was quite interesting.
I've never been a big fan of politics, but listening to such a role model as the president tell all us students to stay in school was pretty cool! It's good to know that the president cares about our education ("Rarely is the question asked; is our children learning?"- George W. Bush. Yeah, glad he cares.). I think the speech was a very effective way to encourage kids to do their best in school, because Mr. Obama can actually relate to how we feel about school; he had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, Monday through Friday, to be educated by his mother (he had to wake up that early because his mom had to work, or something). That makes waking up at 6:45 seem like sleeping in until ten! Anyway, he made some references to how kids dislike school, and blah blah blah.
Oh, what am I saying? I hate politics!
Anyway, I'd be glad to listen to you guys ramble on about your opinions on this speech. Comment away!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

First Impressions

About an hour ago, I got home from my first official day as an eighth grader, and I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I made it sound (in previous posts).

The school day started in homeroom. My homeroom teacher's name is Mrs. Shea. From what I've heard, she has been bumped around, teaching different grades throughout the school. This year, she happened to land in eighth. I've also heard that she is a very nice teacher, and I have to say she really is (but nothing beats my grade seven homeroom)! The only problem was as soon as she walked in the room this morning, she got right to business; not even a hello? (Heh, hopefully she won't read this and get the wrong idea about me. She really is a nice teacher! Maybe she did say hello, and I was too busy doing... something else?)
Apparently homeroom is only supposed to last about ten minutes per day, but things were a bit hectic as to how our schedule was going. So, we got settled a bit, and about twenty minutes later, we moved on to first period, and I have to say, that period alone was quite relieving! The reason for that is I have Spanish as first period, and I get to have my Spanish teacher from last year, Mrs. Colona (Ariba!) Another cool thing about this class is that I get to choose my own Spanish name.
The way things work in Spanish class is that you are referred to as your name translated in Español. So last year, my Spanish name was Eduardo (Yes, I know, Ryan can't translate to Eduardo. In fact, Ryan doesn't have a Spanish translation! So I took my middle name, and translated that.) But things worked differently today in Clase de Español; I got to choose my own Spanish name! Mrs. Colona pulled out a few sheets of Spanish names for both boys and girls, and my peers and I all read through the list until we found a name that suited us.
I couldn't find any words that sounded like the word awesome, so I chose Maximo.
So, from now on I am Maximo el Impresionante (Impresionante is the closest translation to the word awesome.)
Anyway, that was cool.
I'll spare you the details of the other classes, except that for the most part, all of the teachers seemed pretty nice. But, that's how it was at the beginning of last year, and let me tell you, that math teacher didn't stay very nice for long. So, let's keep our fingers crossed.
As far as homework went, it was pretty.... interesting. What I mean is that for math homework, I was supposed to make a kite (yes, a kite) shaped like a quadrilateral (a four sided polygon. One example would be a rectangle.) But the way we were supposed to do it was a bit different. First of all, we didn't need to add a string to it if we didn't want to, but then that defeats the purpose of a kite. Then, the teacher told us that it didn't have to be able to fly, which totally demolishes the purpose of a kite.
So, basically my math homework was to draw a trapezoid on a piece of paper, and cut it out.
I'm not complaining, but, seriously, how old does she think I am, four?
So, that's the throw-down for the first day of school. It was nice to see all my friends, and nicer to sit down, once again, at that good `ol lunch table of mine (I'll tell you about that in a later post).

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

As some of you have noticed, I recently updated my Profile (shown on the sidebar), and added a picture of me (no, that squirrel with the bazooka was not a picture of me). I'm quite the handsome devil, wouldn't you say? But, I do need to clarify something about that picture; I took it while I was in the bathroom.
And no, I wasn't doing my business (you sick, twisted people...).
To tell you the truth, I honestly don't remember why I took that picture. That's a bit old of a picture, because my hair is much shorter now, and I wear glasses. I'll try to get a new picture of me that's more up-to-date, and not.... well, in the bathroom. So, I just needed to let you all know that because I know that you all were bound to find out at one point or another (that is, if you speak with my mother a lot. She knows what I mean.), and when that time came, I didn't want you getting the wrong idea about me.

Ahh, so, today's my last happy day of the year (until Christmas), because tomorrow school starts again. I'm just one step closer to high school.

That's what bugs me.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

People are Too Sophisticated

Today I decided it would be fun to add a countdown clock to the sidebar on this blog, that would show everyone how long we have left to enjoy Summer vacation. Of course, this means it would countdown to the first day of school (This Tuesday). So, I go onto trusty old Google.com to find a cool countdown widget (I would use the one that Blogger made, but that's not working for me, for some odd reason) to add to the blog. I thought to myself, How hard could it be to find a decent countdown widget?

Apparently, that hard.

I found countdown clocks that count down to the day a baby would be born, and to Halloween, and Christmas, and Valentines Day, and to next New Year's Day, and to the next episode of "Lost", and to the next solar eclipse, and to your next birthday, and to the day someone leaves for vacation, and to the day people came back from vacation, and the days passed since someone got back from vacation......

Oh my god. Just give me a freaking countdown clock that just counts down to whatever I want it to.

So, after about fifteen minutes of searching for a simple countdown widget, I finally gave up, but after all of that, it got me thinking; how creative can you get, until it's too creative?

For example, I can guarantee that every single infomercial you see on TV isn't going to offer you just an amazing vacuum cleaner; they're going to offer you two vacuum cleaners, and a book light!
And then they're going to double the offer again.
Just give me a freaking vacuum cleaner!!!

Do you see where I'm going with this? I don't know what it is with people, but whenever they offer you something, they gotta give you what you want, and then something you don't want with it.

I just wanted a countdown clock. I ended up finding clocks counting down to the release date of the next Harry Potter movie.

It doesn't really matter anyway, school is only about a day away.
Dang.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Where Has the Time Gone?

You ever get that feeling after a long period of time that has some sort of significance to you, that seems like it will last a while, and then it all comes and goes in the blink of an eye? That's how I'm feeling now, and to tell you the truth, it really ticks (for lack of a better word) me off.

That significant period of time that I have gone through in "the blink of an eye" is Summer vacation. It seems like June 18 was so long ago, but back then it seemed like today would take forever to get to. I was like, "Oh yeah!" Now I'm all, "Oh no!"

Y`know?

School is just like women; can't live with `em, can't live without `em. To kids around my age, school is a death-trap, where all of the victims are killed by boredom, and the cigar-infested breath of sixth-grade teachers (I had a near-death experience with that one myself). But then, if you don't go to school, a number of things can, and will, happen;

1.) You get stupid.
2.) You get suspended, which leads to-
3.) Getting grounded, which leads to-
4.) Having a miserable childhood.
5.) You'll grow up, and have an even more miserable life, which will most likely include-
6.) Being broke, which leads to another number of things, including-
7.) Living in a cardboard box

The list goes on, which really ticks (once again, for lack of a better word) me off even more, because for every number on that list, you get another reason to go to school. It's really a lose-lose situation.

Numerous times I've considered speaking to my parents about being home-schooled, but that has it's cons as well;

1.) Your classroom population would consist of two nine-year-old brothers, which means there's twice the mayhem than an average cafeteria food fight.
2.) You won't be able to make nearly as much friends as you would in school, which would-
3.) Totally ruin your social life, which means-
4.) You have zero chance of getting a girlfriend, which means-
5.) When you eventually get married (that is, if you eventually get married), you're not going to have any experience, besides the stuff you learn from watching your own parents (but really, what's that going to teach you besides constantly bickering at your spouse, making sarcastic jokes at one another, etc.), which will probably lead to-
6.) Growing up alone, and miserable (much the same as you would if you didn't go to school, just as the above list shows.)

But, look on the bright side; that list doesn't say anything about hobos! But still, after reading that list of possibilities, home-schooling is definitely not for me.
So, that leaves me with only one choice;
Go to school.
Dang (for lack of a better word).

Well, at least I'll see all my pals again (like my mom keeps telling me). But still, it's school. Just the word sends chills down my spine.

Let's jump to a more uplifting topic, shall we? You've all heard of the movie "Watchmen", right? Did you know it was originally a comic book series? Of course you did. That series got some pretty impressive reviews when it came out. But, of course, I never knew it was a comic book series because it was first published between 1886 and 1887. I wasn't even born then! So, when the movie came out, it caught my attention. I ended up not seeing it in theaters, but when it recently came out on DVD, I jumped at the opportunity to finally be able to see it. I picked up the DVD at BJ's, and checked the back cover for the rating.
Rated R.
Darn-it to heck (for lack of better words) parental control.
So, with that, my new quest to find a decent movie to watch began.
So did my quest for a new book to read, when I realized that the movie had a graphic novel version at my public library.
After about a week, or so of waiting for that book- in which I had placed on hold- to come in, I took the book out, and I must say, I can definitely see why the movie was rated R.
It's still a good story, though. Nice plot-line, interesting characters. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who sounds interested.

What is it with my little cousins, and their need to take their shirts off at every visit to Gramma and Pa's house? I was thinking this to myself today, during a visit with my grandparents, with those same two cousins, Noah and Nicky. Surprisingly enough, Nick wasn't causing as much mayhem as he usually does (that sneaky little devil, him...), but those boys never fail to surprise almost every time I see them. Whether it be what they had learned at their Sunday School at church (For example, they taught me- not for the first time- that "God is awesome"), or Nick disciplining my grandfather (After Pa jokingly told my mother to "shut up", Nick replied, "That's not nice to say."), those little rascals always bring a smile to my face. Although they didn't quite make me smile today when they were running around the house shirtless, they certainly did "surprise" me.

One more thing; If I had a penny for every time I had to consult my folks on how to spell words like "surprise", and "recommend", and then realize I'd been misplacing one letter, I'd be roughly five cents richer.

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Fun With Paper Airplanes, and Some Introductions

I hope you all are enjoying this new blog of mine. Hopefully you've seen my blog on RySpace, and have taken part in the new contest. But seriously, enough about RySpace. Let's talk about me!

For starters, I'd like toshare my opinion on something; how many of you have seen that new TV show on ABC called "Crash Course"? Now, how many of you have seen that TV show on ABC called "Wipeout"? Both are very entertaining shows, but I have a bit of a problem with Crash Course. It seems very similar to Wipeout, in lots of ways; both are based on going through a series of obstacle courses that are treacherous, and cause the contestants to, dare I say, "Wipeout". It's a bit hard to explain, but I think those two shows have a lot in common- just see the shows, and find out yourself. The reason I have a problem with Crash Course, and not Wipeout, is that Wipeout came first, and it seems like the producers of Crash Course simply knew that a show based on obstacles like that made for good TV. I don't know.... just my opinion.

In other news, I yesterday was quite something. I meant to write about this yesterday, but didn't get around to it (I'll explain in a minute).
It started off at my grandparents' house. My little brothers and I were spending the afternoon there with my grandfather (also known as "Pa"), so my mom could take my cousin school shopping with my grandma (also known as "Gramma"). Before I left that morning, I decided I'd need something to occupy myself while with Pa, so I grabbed an old book I had laying around my room; The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes. I figured it be fun to have some races, or something with my little brothers using paper airplanes, so I thought, "What the hey?".
So, we get there, and I start to make some planes, and eevryone seems to be interested in this. When I finally finish one, Pa, my cousin (Chloe), my brothers (Jack and Mike- did I mention they're twins?), and my mom all start to play around with it. That thing is flying around the house, getting stuck in window sills, on top of the frames of paintings and pictures- ahh, so much fun. I made two more for Jack and Mike, and we were making loops, and corkscrews, and everything! I don't know how long we did all that for, but one thing is for sure; It's amazing how much fun you can have with a piece of paper!

So, after all that shenanigans at my grandparents' house, we headed home.
Have you ever played manhunt? Ever heard of it.
Fun game.
My brothers, my neighbor (Jessica), about seven of our friends, and I all played manhunt that night.
For those of you who have never played manhunt, it's basically hide and seek, but all the people hiding have to try to get to a designated "base" without getting tagged by one of the "seekers". It's also usually played at night (playing this game during the day has been nicknamed by some of my friends as "Ladyhunt").
So, that's always a blast, especially when you play with a large group of people, like we did.

So, that's basically another day in the life of me (and my friends/family)! But what about you? I'd love to hear what you have to say about all- or any- of this! Just post a comment on this post, and either introduce yourself, or let me hear what's on your mind! I'll be sure to get back to you ASAP.

 Until next time!

Yours in awesomeness,
~Ry.

Realization... and Macaroni Salad

As I was heedlessly chewing my then-flavorless, moist gum, and scribbling away with blue and orange markers, I realized something (not for the first time);

I totally suck at art.

I was trying to make a logo-thingy for the blog (above, where the title is), but that didn't go so well (sorry mom, another wasted sheet of paper! Heh, ehh....). But I shall not give up so easily.... maybe. It's just that after browsing so many very colorful and customized HTML designed (I spend way too much time on the computer...) blogs, I decided my blog needed some..... pizazz. So, I tried to make a title logo:

 

Don't try to hide your disgust in that disgraceful piece of, dare I say, art. 

Okay, it's not that bad. It's just not what I was hoping for. Who knows, maybe this blog was destined to be... dull-ish.

Unless... (*smirk*)

What if you made a cool logo for the blog?

That would be awesome.

Sound interesting? Head on over to RySpace for details!

Anyway.... macaroni salad.

What's the significance in that, you ask? well sir/madam, I'll tell you what's so significant in macaroni salad...

IT STINKS!

Well, not literally, I was talking about the way it tastes. Just thought you'd want to know (plus I had it for dinner... or so my mother thought... heh-heh-heh.) See, we're all realizing things today!

Yours in awesomeness,

~Ry.