My Christmas tree.

-ain't she a beaut?

[	mood	|	anxious	]
[	music	|	...MxPx, Gershwin, and Christmas music	]

Well...it's been about six months since I've written in here. I had a heck of a summer, it was a good one. Since then I've just been either too busy to write, or not irritated enough. A six month run of not needing to let out any steam, that's pretty good for me. Football was really fun, I'm glad I did it, even though I wasn't very good. I will definitely do it again next year. I've got plenty to complain and bitch about, but I don't really feel like doing that right now. I think I'm just gonna show a TON pictures of summer, and other things.

Here they come....

-that's my dog Ben.

-that is Rosa. She lives in our garden. She's good at keeping secrets.

-that's just a cool view near my house.

-During the summer, as a result of the mad cow scare, my mom refused to let me eat beef. A few times I snuck a burger though.

-his name is Evan. He is eleven. He is dear to me.

-Speed hump anyone?

-That is Naumkeg. It is one of my favorite houses in the US. I got to visit it this summer. That was neat. Learn more.

-Evie. Lookin' good.

-I saw this on the side of a semi-truck and thought it was humorous.

-My dad, while we were out to dinner sometime during the summer.

-my brother, at dinner.

-Mohonk Mountain Lodge in New York. Great place.

-Another picture of Mohonk, from inside the lodge this time.

-never even stop in Vermont. It is the worst state. Everybody is either really greasy and smoking...or they're driving a tractor. Being greasy, smoking, and driving tractors are the only activities allowed in Vermont.

THEN SCHOOL STARTED...

   I'm at a new school this year, Blanchet Catholic School. And no, I'm not Catholic, but oh well.

-the gym at Blanchet.

-hallway.

 -there's a Catholic willow tree.

-German exchange student named Michael.

-a picture i took for photography class.

-reelected! I would say something mean about him, but...just look at the picture, that says plenty.

-there's David. He's not Catholic either. He is alternative though, very alternative.

-there's David crying, wishing he was less alternative, and more Catholic.

....So that's what's been going on. So far, school's been pretty great, but a lot different than last year.

Merry Christmas all, I plan on updating again quite soon. Leave me lots of comments, about what my updates should be about, and reactions to how offensive my photocaptions were to Catholics.

This is one macho entry. Starting to read this is a big commitment. Just thought I'd fill you in...

I'm getting tired of pouring my heart (or pissed off mind) into this journal entry and getting about two posts per entry. These entries are enormous and by all means WAY too big, can't you find ANYTHING to comment on? Seriously. SO...throughout this entry, I'll give you multiple options on what to write your post about, and after you're done reading...LEAVE A FREAKIN POST, I LIKE GETTING THEM.

You think you know...and you might have somewhat of an idea...but you have no idea!

Alright, well, this week we did some CIM tests. If you're reading this from anywhere other than Oregon, you have absolutely no idea what CIM tests are, and really have no reason to find out, BUT...CIM tests stand for Certificate of Initial Mastery. I believe there is only ONE other state other than Oregon that does these, so Colleges don't look at them one bit. Despite the fact that they're totally pointless, the Oregon Schools still waste time and money on administering these tests to every student. This week I took my Algebra Two Theory CIM test, which was easy to the point of making me dumber after taking it. I also took the biology CIM, which was really more of a common sense and natural logic test. Although these tests are pointless and totally stupid...this week has ruled. During CIM tests, the room is quiet, people can't talk, so they can't say as many stupid things, AND, after these tests the teachers figure it's time for "a break" for the rest of the week, even though just taking the tests was a total break. Just to show you how much of a break these teachers are giving...here was today for me: 1st period, we watched Mr. Bean goes to Town the movie, I'll talk more about that later. 2nd period: Watched another movie. 3rd period: Would have learned more, if we HAD watched a movie. 4th period: Watched NCAA basketball on tv. That's three out of four classes today spent watching a screen, and four out of four classes watching stupidity. Wow, after an intense day like that, I'm mentally drained.

Math has really mellowed out. It seems like people actually stopped getting stupider, it's amazing. Not that I ever thought he was really, but Mr. Brown isn't a bad guy. He's sort of goofy and annoying a lot of the time, but most kids(unlike me) don't mind that, so I guess he can just go on being goofy. I walk into math this morning and immediately see this big tv sitting at the head of the classroom. I quickly find out that after the "VIGEROUS" CIM testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was time to just have movies on Thursday and Friday. SCORE! So today, we chilled to Mr. Bean and ESPN Sport's Bloopers, until I volunteered to do this "psychological experiment" which wasn't as cool as it sounded. When you look at those two options of viewing pleasure I just told you about, you of course think, "Well, Mr. Bean is retarded, let's go with the ESPN." Well, quite to my dismay, ESPN Bloopers suck. Every single one is just someone falling over or off of a rodeo bull getting slammed to the ground. I found myself chuckling, "HAHA, well, he's parapalegic for the rest of his life...HILARIOUS!" Mr. Bean however, just plain rules. I was shocked, cause I'm not really big on Monty Python and Mr. Bean type humor. But Mr. Bean really IS sort of funny. Using irony and physical humor, Bean sure impressed me, and kept me paying much more attention than I otherwise would have during math.

During some time on Tuesday in class that was supposed to be spent reading our Literature homework, I found myself just looking around the room. I think I just about always do that. Everyone else is reading, but I'm just looking around the room having the most marvelous time looking at the funny ways people look when they're concentrating so hard on their own reading. It's WAY more fun to watch other people read than actually read the homework myself, depending on the homework of course. Through my unobediant homeworking ways, I spotted someone else doing EXACTLY what I was doing. Everyone in the entire room except for me and this one person had their head down, zoomed into their reading. I looked at this girl, her jaw hanging open and her eyes twitching about the room, examining each person's style of concentration, and I thought to myself, "That is my female equivilent." Probably just my imagination adjusting to a quirky thought, I starting thinking of all the ways me and this girl were similar, it was amazing. Here's an idea for the Journal Post you're going to leave me: Name my female equivilent. If you don't know me, and you're reading this, you're probably a friend of my sister, so tell me her MALE equivilent. These can be a celebirty, or someone at Sprague, or anyone basically. Just tell me my female equivilent. For bonus points, if you're in the humanities class, take a guess as to which girl I saw as my female equivilent.

Word of the Day: MERGING. I'm not sure if anyone else realized this, probably not, but in humanities, for about half an hour, we talked about laws prohibiting the merging of corporations during the time of progressivism. Then, right after that, in Honors Biology, we discussed for about half an hour, genetic merging. For some odd reason, every time I heard that word it stuck out, it seemed like it was being way overused. How bizarre.

I was going to complain about health now, because all we do is watch Cuba Gooding Jr. movies, but instead, I'm adding something I made earlier this year. I made a list of things I want to do before I graduate. Some of these things are really weird and irrational, but at the time they sounded really fun. Also, some are probably sort of corny, and if you don't like those, then go buy yourself a heart and soul.

Things to do before I graduate (and their explanations):

1) Sell a piece of artwork for $1,000 or more, that I made. (cool, and good feeling of accomplishment)

2) Flip off Mr. Giest, again. (Mr. Giest is a science teacher at Crossler that I had a bit of a rough relationship with at times. The good thing about this goal is as soon as it is accomplished, it can just be started over again.)

3) Deal at least one hand of cards in Vegas. (Vegas People)

4) Give a speech in front of more than 4,000 people. (Speeches are sort of fun for me. I like having the spotlight on me. I can use that time for whatever I want. I'm in control.)

5) Dye my hair three or more colors all at once. (This is one of those 'Spite the Parents' sort of goals)

6) Live in my car for a week. (Gotta keep humble here)

7)Become a mute for a week. (People take for granted everything basically. I can talk, and I'm happy for that. No better way to back up that appreciation by taking away that ability for a while.)

8) Help 5 people find a job. (If you don't understand this one, then refer back up to where I told you to go buy a heart and soul.)

9) Scream as loud as I can in a crowed airport, then, when asked why I did it, pretend like nothing happened.

10) Tell someone not to dress like a skank. (I HATE sluts, skanks, whores, STUPID MORONS! GROSS, GO DIE!)

11) Use the word "gander" ten times in one day. (self explanatory)

12) Go into a store in Harlem and buy some FUBU clothing. (I like risks, especially stupid uneccesary ones.)

13) Record a song of every type of music I can think of. (fun)

14) Sing decently. (Always wished I could)

15) Tell one of my friends who's a guy that I'm gay and to tell nobody else, then one week later, tell them I was joking. (HAH! What an amazing way to alienate your friends AND lose their trust. Wait...already done both those things.)

16) Get a huge henna tattoo. (Spite the prents, once again. Plus, it's cool, it goes away.)

17) Ride a greyhound bus for one week straight. (Something cool's gotta happen in a week.)

18) Do absolutely every urge I have for one hour. (Jenna didn't like the sound of that, hehe.)

19) Make people remember me.

20) Sometime during each day, make someone feel happier. (I'm very pro-happiness)

21) Visit Europe, Australia, Asia, & South America before age 26. (Would be aweomse, but not gonna happen.)

22) Cuss out at least three teachers that make me mad. (Good anger management technique.)

23) Know and remember the names of everyone I meet at Sprague.(I hate it when people call me "kid" or "you". It's fine if you forgot my name, but it's not like calling me something else is gonna help you remember it. Just ask for it again. Don't call me by something that's not my name.)

24) Visit my sister by myself, only leaving my parents a note telling them where I went. (That would be awesome.)

25) Go to Florida for Spring Break without my parents, before age 17. (Doug lives in Florida. And you know what Florida is like during Spring Break...)

26) Go to each of my classes and sleep through all of them. (I've slept through a class before, but never every single one for a whole day. That would just be...well, basically like how it is now, but I'd get more sleep.)

As a post, I'd like you to tell me some other things you think I, or anyone, should do before they graduate. Another thing is, I didn't have a "quote of the entry" this time, cause I didn't get any good material. If you hear something amazing and know who said it, give it up man, tell me about it.

Yep, that's your journal for now, be happy, stay clean. Just remember...if your name isn't Paul Britton, you didn't write this.