Manliness.

Earlier this morning I was thinking about this, and then for my Civics class I was reading about what separates man from the rest of creation and it really fit, so here are my thoughts on what 'being manly' means.....

I think our perception of what manliness is is one of the most backward our society has. And that's saying a lot. When someone asks you what pops in to your head when you see 'manly' you will, if you are a normal person, think of a man version of The Hulk; the uber ripped dude, complete with a puffed-up chest, spacers in his armpits, and uncontrollable violence and cussing. But in reality, that particular character is man in his un-manliest state. And, I have to admit, a couple of years ago I was under that disillusion. I thought that in order to be cool you had to be the biggest and best, make sure that everyone around knew so, and that the more you cussed, the more you showed you were the boss. And the irony of it was that I wasn't trying to be bad, I was trying to be 'manly' which in itself is a good thing.

There is a person I know who fits the above description perfectly. He has almost no control over his speech, gets angry often, and has the 'perfect body.' He thought he was the epitome of manliness and that because I wasn't like him, I was un-manly. And he let me know it, in not the nicest of ways. He thankfully recently moved out of town and I hope he is maturing quickly. But one particular time stands out to me: after poking fun at me again, one time he was like, Wow Thomas, you probably hate me because whenever I'm around you, I make you look like a ____.  I just laughed it off, but what I was thinking went along the lines of, No, I don't hate you, I pity you, you poor crawling scum.  You think you're so manly, when in fact all you are is a motley animal, crawling blindly to a long, painful death. Ok. It maybe wasn't that articulate, but that was the main idea.

And what I was thinking was very true. The thing that separates man from the rest of the animals is the man has a soul. The soul is composed of the Intellect and the Will. The Intellect is what allows us to think while the Will is what decides which course to take when the Intellect presents us with a choice. (and what I just said might not be the entirety of the truth because its just what I remember, and I didn't look anything up) But the main point is that we humans are (or should be) controlled by something rational while the animals are controlled, or are slaves to, their bodies and feelings. So, the main difference between us and the rest of the animals is that we are given the ability to control our passions of the body. (most importantly lust and anger)

So to be a man means to master one's earthly side; to be in control of one's mouth, one's anger, and one's body. When one is not in control of these things, when one's body overpowers one's rational side, one is in an uncontrollable, animalistic irrational condition and not fit for any higher state than an earthly one.

I would say then, that even if a guy only reads Jane Austen, listens to Classical music, plays bridge, and (gasp!) wears skinny jeans, if he truly has control of himself, he is manlier than a beer guzzling red neck. It really makes sense if you think about it...It doesn't take anything to cuss and be violent and get angry, its in our nature. Anyone can do it. But to harness those passions, that takes some doing and a lot of courage. And one can only do it with God's help.

Just to clarify: I don't only read JA and listen to Classical music. I don't play Bridge and I definitely don't wear skinny jeans. And on a more serious note, I don't want you to think of this as a condemning post. I know we are all human and that we all have our share of struggles and I am not trying to judge anyone. I was merely making what I think is an important point about a common misconception.


Be happy!!!!!!!!!!!

-Thomas

Complaints and TBT.

I am, at the present, living with a very un-fortuitous situation. My big little brother somehow obliterated his bed. It seriously looks like someone set a bomb off underneath it and I still have no idea how he did it. Anyhoo, we are now sleeping side-by-side on the floor because I sleep on the trundle of the bed that he broke and his mattress is on the floor next to mine. (Still don't know why I was the one on the trundle and he got the bed. I seem to let others push and order me around a lot for no apparent reason....maybe its just in the hopes that some wonderful damsel will rescue me from this hell I'm living. JK, I love my life) So where were we again? Ahhh yes, un-fortuitous. You see, this wouldn't be a bad situation, but, if you know my brother, you will know that having him at close quarters and easily turn into an overdose. He is a nice person deep down inside where it counts, and I love him deep down inside where it counts, but the whole being right next to him can get a wee bit annoying.

Let me illustrate for you one of the times that make my present bedding situation a most, most un-fortuitous one. Last night the both of us were laying in bed before going to sleep. I was studiously doing my history homework and he was clipping his toenails. I know that doesn't sound that bad and it wasn't, until...I started feeling sharp little somethings hitting me. Can you believe it? My brother was shooting his clippings at me purposely. I asked him to turn around nicely. TWICE! But he kept doing it. I didn't know what to do, so I yelled at him, in a rather strong way, TO STOP IT AND TURN AROUND! He did. And then he got called downstairs by my dad. Who stated lecturing him about speaking kindly to others and such, because he normally has a rather rough way of addressing his fellow creatures, so when my dad heard yelling, he thought it was my brother. I felt guilty and went downstairs to tell my dad that it was actually me this time, and then we both got the lecture, but my brother got the worst of it because he had already heard the first third of it or so and my dad had to repeat it to me.

And now for an explanation. If you don't know me well you are probably weirded out by my weird vocab. I just want to make sure that you know that I don't normally speak, let alone write in the archaic fashion. ;) Its an inside joke. I know that a public blog probably isn't the place for inside jokes, but its my blog, so I do whatsoever I very well please.

TBT time:

 

 

 

 

....my cuz and I. Still cant get over how big my teeth look.

 

-Thomas

WE DID IT!!!!!

WE did it, we weally, weally did it !!!!
The Redsox won and I'm soooooo happy for the city of Boston. They deserved this! Forever Boston Strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My competitive side...=P

So, I just realized that my friend has written 3 posts since my last and that is backwards. It really is usually the other way around. When I realized how awfully backwards that was, I thought, Ok, new I have to do one. So here I am writing one. The only problem is that I honestly have nothing to writ about. (And yes, I know that whenever I say that it usually ends up being a gigantic post) Anyway. Here we go...

Tomorrow is Halloween.
Which reminds me of  orange.
Which reminds me of red.
Which reminds me of sox.
Which brings me to my wonderful Red Sox, who are one win away from winning the World Series. So, either tonight or tomorrow, I will either be happy or heartbroken.
Speaking of happy, my little brain of mine just figured out that Thor: The Dark World is coming out in just 10 days. I. Can't. Wait. 
Speaking of heartbreak, why isn't it out right now? I mean, it came out in Europe two days ago.
Maybe I should just go to Europe with a bunch of my friends like right now and go see it. Any takers?
Oh, and friends, that reminds me. I might be going to Six Flags on Fri. if I can convince my mom that its not a waste of money. Any good suggestions on how to do that?


Ahhhh, my train of thought (if you can call it that) seems to have ended. So I guess this post will too. And sorry it was so lame, I'll try in make up for it next time.

-Thomas, who can't believe how fast Oct. has gone by...

A poem and Typos.

I am swamped with school right now, so I thought I'd just give you a poem I came across recently:

 

 

 

Mariah's Lesson.

By A-nannie-mouse.

 

It all happened upon the night of last Christmas eve,

After nodding her excited person off to sleep,

Whilst dwelling on visions of the presents, food, and tree,

And not upon the swaddling babe encircled by ox and sheep.

 

Slowly, gradually her visions of the morn melted away,

Forming into visions, strange, different, new,

Gone was her familiar décor in readiness for Christmas day,

As was the tree all alit with candles, gold, silver, and blue.    

 

She found herself gliding through the streets of London,

Across Hyde Park and through The Circus she flew,

But as she neared Earl's Ct. she stopped and stood as a pawn,

And though the night was damp she was not affected by the dew.

 

There she stood more still than a statue, awaiting the dawn,

Then as the sky awoke with light, beauty, and flair,

She also wakened from her strange sleep, with a glorious yawn,

And closed her eyes whilst taking-in refreshing morning air.

 

When her eyes she opened though, she was in a unfamiliar room,

At first glace it seemed quite a normal Christmas morn,

There were the delighted children with their parents, faces all abloom,

There was the tree, with cozy candles and crystal globes adorned.

 

But there was a sense of gloom that she thought mocked the joy  

As if in that room a storm was about to break,

She couldn't put her fingers on it, that which did the happiness annoy,

Until she looked about and what she found made her heart ache.

 

Everything had at once become as clear as clean glass,

There, overhung on the mantel, was a musket,

And, on wooden pegs, lay a sward adorned with gold and brass,

That doleful glance the couple shared, shedding tears at it.

 

This then is a scene from a Royal officer's house she thought,

The father is leaving for his three-year tour,

He's bound for Godless Africa where the King's wars are to be fought,

He will soon be, on deployment day, bidding his family Au revoir.

 

 When she woke that Christmas morn the presents weren't her nub,

Instead of crashing down the stairs, like waves on the shore,

Mariah got calmly up out of bed, dressed herself, and applied her scrub,

For she knew now she had priceless gifts to be thankful for.

 

 

 

 

 

So there you go. Be thankful that you don't live in 19th century England, that your dad isn't going away to Africa for 3 years, and that you have a happy family.

 

Seriously though. I'm not usually a poem guy, but this one really caught my attention because as you know, I think its important to be thankful no matter where you are in life, and I also think that the sacrifices our veterans make are really underappreciated in our time.   It also might have been that I've been to Hyde Park and Piccadilly Circus and Earl's Court. Ok, I'm just rubbing it in now. ;)

 

And I know its not Christmastime yet, but hey, they're already playing Christmas commercials, so... 

 

Ok, and about the poem now. I came across it on the wonderful internet and judging from the odd vocabulary, i.e. nob and scrub it was probably written in 18th or 19th century England. And "A-nannie-mouse" was just me trying to be clever. I guess the internet doesn't know everything because it didn't know the name of the author. 

 

I think I'm also going to start proofreading my posts because the typos are really getting over the top. But its to be stated next post, so don't get mad if there are any in this one.

 

-Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Some scattered thoughts.

Last night I went to a dance. And it was no ordinary dance, it was a costume dance. The costumes were really cool, except mine (it was pretty much just a wig) and I had a ton of fun. If any of the people who put it on are reading this, thanks again for a great night!!!

Oddly enough, the dance is actually not what this post is going to be about. It's rather some thoughts that stemmed from a conversation I had last night while dancing. My friend and I were dancing and some of our friends were being, ahem, shall we say, a little bit annoying.  She wasn't happy about it and I, a little later in the dance,  also got annoyed at a friend. At one point we were talking about one of the persons who was not at the moment one our good side, and I said something along the lines of, Yeah, he's an interesting guy; he's quite changeable, sometimes he's super cool, and sometimes I'm like, why am I friends with this guy? That last part of what I said was sadly true.

Now there's something I need to make clear. I'm a peoples kind of person. I like people. A lot. In fact, I think I can honestly say that I don't know anyone that I really dislike. I mean, there are definitely people that don't like hanging out with much, but if someone were to ask me to name a person that I rally don't like, I'd be hard pressed to name someone. That'd not to say that I don't get annoyed at people though. I do. But think all of us could use a little bit un-biasedness. Jesus really knew what he was saying when he said to, Take the beam out of your own eye before take the sliver out of your brother's.

 When someone annoys us, it helps (at least me) to look at ourselves. We need to remember that all of us are human. Please, if you think you have never annoyed someone in your life, raise your hand. Ok, if any of you did, you think wrong, put it down. What I'm trying to say is, we all are annoying sometimes, but it is a lot easier to see the other person's annoyingness as opposed to ours. And hey look, I'm not saying there aren't people that are, by nature, extremely annoying sometimes, but it can be a lot easier to deal with those kind of people if you look at yourself.

As I said, I was majorly not happy with the way one of my friends acted last night, but how do I know that he knew he was annoying me (phew! that was a mouthful) To take it further, how do I know that I wasn't annoying anyone last night? I certainly wasn't trying to, but who knows if my behavior ticked someone off a little bit?

Another thing that helps I think is too look at one's friends' strengths rather then their short comings. For instance, there is a certain person that I happen to know very well who is pretty obnoxiously annoying lots of the time. But on the other hand, he is so simple minded and childlike. And I like to think of Jesus's words, "Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Anyway. My apologies to those of you that are churchgoers, two sermons in one day is definitely overkill. And I know that most of you probably know and have already heard this stuff. I wrote it more for myself an anything else. Writing things out really helps me make my thoughts concrete and it also helps me believe them. I was not at all happy with my friend and am still getting over it. This post has kinda just been telling myself these things to help me get over it...It reminds of the old cartoons with the devil on one side and the angel on the other, push and pulling against each other. This post has been a big "pull" for the Angel. :)

On a lighter not, I just thought that I'd let you know that I think reading my blog is definitely getting you closers to heaven. For, if you have survived to this point, you have most probably grown in the virtues of perseverance and patience.

Here's to a good week!

-Thomas  

Corrections.

Hope y'all are having a great day!

So I was just reading the post that I wrote on last weekend, (the SDTC weekend) and it was even more typo infested than normal. It was awful. My excuse is that it was late and I was both tired and excited. (and I know its not a good one, but gimme a break)  Normally I just go with the flow and let it go, but there was one particular typo that really needs correction: "Literally ever muscle in my leg, I was crapping so bad a could hardly walk at times."

I thought I should let you know that it wasn't that bad. I wasn't crapping, (excuse that vulgarity of expression please) I was cramping. Yeah, big difference. It definitely would have been difficult to run while....ok that's enough. So, for any of you who caught the typo, my apologies.

Continuing with that post, there seems to be a problem with the picture I put up. I don't know, it might just be my computer, but just in case here it is again:

  

 

 

What else?

 

Ahhhh yes. I just got home from the thrift store and my costume idea reverted to a previous one. So my awesome idea is not happening. :(

 

But the one I have now is fine, so whatever.

 

K bye. And kids, be sure to eat your fruits and veggies. ;)

 

-Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Its Been Too Long...

And I really have nothing too say. So we'll see where this goes I guess.

I went to see an operetta last night. The production was 'different' but I think I liked it. All of the cast were good, but there was this one guy who was absolutely amazing and I think his performance sold the rest of it to me. Oh, and that reminds me. Singing. I sang pretty much the whole way home ans when I wasn't singing I was making up these insane stories. If you are reading this were happened to be in that car, I give you my condolences...I was a bit hyper.

Today I got an awesome surprise. This morning, while I was slaving away at my physics, I heard a knock on the door. So I went to open the door and there, standing in front of me on the door step, was one of the persons I had least expected to see. A wonderful priest who before he was assigned to Alaska, had acted as my spiritual adviser and was a great family friend. He is one of the few people that I have met where you just know you are in the presence of a saint when you're around him. He is truly an amazing person. I could go on and on about his virtues, but the virtue that really stands out to me is his humility. I cant really explain it well. But a good example of it is when he was assigned to Alaska. I mean, here he was, living in Socal, which is one of the best and most sought after places in the world to live, and then his superior calls him up and tells him that he is leaving for Alaska within months. Freaking Alaska! I mean, if that happened to me, I would be like "What? That place where the sun is almost non-existent for half of the year. Am I supposed to preach to the Caribou? No sir, if you send me there, I quit!" Ok, not really. But Fr. took it so well, always lovingly trusting in God. All I can say is he is an inspiration.


What else is going on....
I was just on YouTube and this trailer for the next Captain America movie popped up, which reminded me that the next Thor is coming out in like 3 weeks. You seriously have no idea. Chris Hemsworth is my man. His triceps are just amazing. His accent is amazing. (You know his voice in Thor is pretty much his normal everyday one.) He pretty much is a god for all I care, and he seems to be a pretty decent guy in real life as well. Ok. I'm gonna stop now.
  
I'm super excited for this dance that I'm going to on Sat. I have a really cool costume idea, but its also really hard to make, so we'll see if it works out.

I read this book for a seminar that's going on tomorrow and the main character was a detective /poet. I had never come across that before and really enjoyed the book, which was nice because I wasn't expecting to.

I have a really weird cramp in my hand, so this post is going to come to an abrupt halt.

"But Thomas, why don't you just type wit your other hand?"
"Hah, very funny! Not!" =P

Anyway. Talk to you later!

-Thomas


 

*Insert post title here*

Just a little note of caution, my head is spinning crazily right now, so this post will probably be even more discombobulated than my average post. And yes, that is, believe it or not, possible.

I really shouldn't be blogging right now, I should be at Youth Group. But I kinda slipped up. My physics class ended at 4, so I went to my friend's house to wait until swim team started at 5:30. When 5:30 rolled around I was chilling with my friends in a nice, cozy room. I thought, (and my friends also) Why would I leave this advantageous position and go freeze my head off at swim team? I didn't think that it would be that big of a deal if I just stayed at my friends house until youth group because I'm not in training and my parents weren't expecting me home till after youth group anyway. Ok, you can pretty much scratch all of that sentence. Just keep the 'didn't think' part because that's pretty much the jist of it. I wasn't thinking.

It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but my mom saw my friend and I going down to his house and she thought that we looked like gangsters. (I was riding my other friend's bmx, so I guess that automatically=gangster. I do have to say though, I really hated it. It was really impractical, partly because of its proportions and partly because it didn't have a brake that I could use.) So, when my brother told her that I wasn't at swim team, the first thought that entered her head was that we were mistaken for rival gang members and were shot or something to that extent. Yeah, I probably should have called. Anyway. She ended up calling me. The conversation went roughly: Thomas! You did A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. To which my reply was: Yes mom, yes mom, yes mom, yes mom, yes mom, yes mom, and yes mom. It ended with me parting with my friends and walking the dark, long, lonely way home.

For about the first half of my walk I wanted to shoot myself. I was really looking forward to youth group, for lots of reasons. First, I hadn't seen lots of my friends for awhile because I was gone over the weekend. Second, two of my friends just got accepted to college and I wanted to give them congrats. Third, (and this is kind of related to the first one) there is this girl that I really really like who usually goes there, so it's pretty much the highlight of my week. And yeah, I know my life is lame.

For the first part of my lonely walk I was running through all the cruel and unusual punishments my mom could possibly come up with . "It's probably going to be a shell shacking of yelling and then I'm going to be grounded forever...maybe I should just leave this shabby town and make a living for myself." And so on and so forth.

As you have hopefully gathered by now, I wasn't in good shape. But then I started to think (imagine that) and that led me to start praying the rosary. Everything was suddenly better. As I was finishing the second mystery, my parents drove up and I somehow knew everything was going to be alright. And it was. We had a really good talk, there was no yelling, and I'm not grounded. (yet, keep 'em crossed;)

This sounds really cliché, but I just know, to steal a line, that Jesus took the wheel. And I have a peace now that I've been missing lately. Recently I'd been experiencing this kind of hollow emptiness that I couldn't get rid of. Praying and going to mass weren't giving me the usual peaceful satisfaction that they usually did. There was always this nagging feeling that would come whenever I was left to myself; it seemed to be constantly gnawing my heart and peace of mind into little bits. But Jesus has come to me again!

I was thinking about how amazingly caring he is for us and why he is so. And I immediately thought about last weekend. Let me explain. After I finished that agony of a triathlon, I went back along the course for a few hounded yards to cheer the rest of the participants on for the final stretch. I was an amazing experience to see the different people in their moment of triumph over the course. At one point I was actually tearing up it was that emotional. Seeing the jubilation that they got from my cheering and from the fact that they were practically home was just amazing. The people and I had a special bond with each other because we both had experienced the highs and the lows; the struggles and the triumphs. I truly cared for them and their accomplishment; their accomplishment of coming home, where refreshment awaited them.

And I think that is why Jesus seems and is so personal and lovingly caring to those who know him. He has run the same race as we are all running right now. He not only knows of all of our lows and struggles, but he has experienced them himself. He has also experienced triumph over all those struggles through the cross and because he is all-loving, he cannot wait to share that triumph with all of us; he cannot help but sympathize with and help us in our struggles and he is preparing heavenly refreshments for us for the time when come to our final resting place, our home.

Well there you go.  I know that its over-simplified and quite childish, but Jesus did say that unless we become like children we cannot come to know him....

And yes, I did just liken myself to Jesus....Don't worry, I wont let it get to my head. ;)


-thomas

The Weekend....Finally.

Ok. I'm finally free for a little while. Here we go...

So I was in San Diego for the weekend for CAF's, "Best Day in Triathlon" otherwise known as the SDTC. I was reluctant to go because it seemed everything fun was happening that weekend at home--there was a dance and a lecture, both of which I was looking forward to, and Sundays are just always a ton of fun. But, of course, once we got there* I had an amazing time. Its a experience like no other and its so hard to describe. (Once the photos and video are up I'll post the links)

The amount of courage, inspiration, and fun that one experiences is just incredible. Some of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing were there, which was amazing, but the best story is that of Dartanyon Crockett. (Freaking epic name, huh?) Here is my attempt of telling it: Dartanyon and his friend (who's name has slipped my mind) are both from broken families and grew up in the slums of Cleveland. They met through their high school wrestling team and became the brothers that they had never had. Ok, What's so special about that? Well, you see Dartanyon is blind and his friend is a bi-lateral above the knee amputee. To get around, Dartanyon would literally carry his friend on his back, while his friend would be his eyes. Then, when ESPN sent a reporter to cover their story, she fell in love with them, quit her job, and became their "mom." The story reached its climax last year when Dartanyon won the Bronze medal at the Paralympics in London. I got to send quite a bit of time with them and they were some of the best and funniest people I've ever had the privilege of meeting.

in addition to stories like theirs, there was good food, catching up with friends, and making new ones And I Didn't get interviewed in front of thousands of people, which was relieving because they told me to prepare for that. The only publicity stuff I had to do was take my pictures with a bunch of celebs right after my swim--it wasn't the best because I felt like I was about to throw up all over them. Hopefully it doesn't look that way in the pictures.

I guess that brings me to the actual triathlon part of the weekend. I did it. All 1 mile swim 44 mile bike and 10 mile run of it. It went relatively well (I say relatively because I hadn't trained in ages) until the end of the bike. I somehow ended up at the front of the race with a bunch of really realy fast guys. I was in way over my head. Anyhow, I stayed with them till the last hill and then I cracked. I was cramping and hurting and it was not pleasant. And I, oh by the way, still had a brutal 10 mile run waiting for me. My legs were absolute toast by the end of the bike. About a mile and a half into the run, my legs started to cramp. Literally ever muscle in  my leg, I was crapping so bad a could hardly walk at times. So it ended up being an extremely painful walk/jog. The worst thing about it was that I had voluntarily signed up for the whole thing. Doing just the swim leg would have been more than adequate. All I had to blame was my insanity. It was eventually over. Then came candy, pizza, and hydration. Ahhhhhhhh

I also got told that I was selected to be on the elite team again. Yay! And there was an awesome goodie bag with tons of cool stuff. Including the key to never taking a shower again. So, if any of you detest showers, let me know because I can get you hooked up with something.


Here is one of the many new friends I made:

 

 

 That is Abel. A two year old wheelie-popping son-of-a-gun and probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.

 

Signing off now....

-Thomas, who is anxciously awaiting the arrival of his cuz Thomas from New Hampshire tonight with keen anticipation.

*the car ride was purgatory on earth. It took us 6 hours instead of the usual 3 and a half because of th beastly traffic. And speaking of beastly, that pretty much describes my little brother and sister's behavior the entire way down. 

Home. And very tired.

So I'll fill you in tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
-Thomas, who is wondering if he just set the WR for the shortest post ever...

Road trips.

I'm leaving for San Diego in a couple of hours and have not even started packing. So I don't have much time. But, since I'm going on a car trip I thought this would be appropriate. Enjoy!

Ours is a progressive age, and there's nothing we love to do more in our progressive age than to progress towards thing in cars. The car is swift, shiny, sleek, full of whizz-bang items of gadgetry for making the car go whizz-bang into things, and able to go round and round and round the country for hours on end in search of gay little cafes and jolly tourist traps and picturesque beauty spots, which spots and traps and cafes the drivers and passengers of the cars like to stop at for half an hour or so for rest or refreshment or postcards before driving off again into the countryside for hours and hours and hours. Horses, which we used to travel around on, being possessed of high intelligence and acumen, and otherwise being noble and conservative creatures, would generally object to such acts of circumlocution or rhodomontade, and so had to be disposed of in this progressive age, which is one reason why we find ourselves in the unfortunate place we do. Though not for very long because the progressive car generally progresses very fast away from whatever place we find ourselves in almost before we are in it.

And since we are in a swift shiny sleek whizz-bang progressive age and find ourselves in a swift shiny sleek whizz-bang progressive car, what is it like to be in a car? It is hot. It is humid. It is so cramped that you end up putting your arm into someone else's leg space and your leg into someone else's head space. Someone is crying. And someone sitting behind the wheel is very, very angry and quite possibly shaking their first at someone in another progressive car progressing in another direction against a red light. But the car has disadvantages, too: you cannot ride on the back of a car, shouting valiantly, waving a claymore* in the air, while the car gallops down into an army of Redcoats which you are about to do battle with. No, while we are in the car, it seems we will all have to learn to get along, and put to use the arts of etiquette and conversation and wit. Unfortunately it seems we have left most of those arts behind, along with the horse, in that more staid and conservative age before the car. This is unfortunate.

Ideally, for a car conversation, you will need one of all the following people:

1) Someone to get into a political argument with.
2) Someone to attempt to start a game of Eye Spy in an attempt to distract from the increasingly tense and heated argument.
3) Someone to get bored with the game of Eye Spy and attempt to start up a joke competition.
4) Someone to shout and say Eye Spy started first and why do you always have to ruin everything and that's not fair.
5) Someone to tell everyone else to keep quiet because someone else is trying to sleep.
6) Someone else trying to sleep over the noise of someone else telling everyone to keep quiet.
7) Someone to urgently try to keep the peace between everyone, who are all arguing over the top of one another now.
8) Someone to ask "are we there yet" every one kilometre on a thousand kilometre journey.
9) Someone to loudly announce "I'm bored" everytime someone else attempts to start up a conversation.
10) Someone to querulously whine "but I want to go to the toooooooooooilet" one minute after the car has whizzed past the last toilet for three hundred and forty three kilometres.
11) Someone to quietly weep in the corner.
12) Someone to suddenly get incredibly hungry in the other corner.
13) Someone to apologetically vomit all everyone else.
14) Someone to shamelessly steal and retell the jokes that someone else has told an hour ago.
15) Someone to go rummaging for food to keep everyone else distracted, except maybe the person who has just vomited.
16) Someone to suddenly query three quarters of the way through the trip just where we are all going.** 

Of course, the typical car has only six to eight seats, so several people will have to take responsibility for multiple roles. (And bear in mind this list is very limited).

Often in the car you end up having to amuse yourself. When I was a kid I tried numerous tactics. After being told a number of times by parents to 'shut up', I would loudly announce to my brother, 'Hey Lachlan, let's have a shutting up competition'. 'Okay!' he'd say, fully expecting my reply: 'I lose!' Fun the first thousand times you try it, not so amusing after that. At other times, I'd take part in games of Eye Spy which I would (cleverly, I thought) undermine by providing obtuse answers when it was my turn to play: 'B' for 'Blueness'. 'E' for 'Existence'. 'I' for 'Ineffable Feelings of Ennui and Angst on Suddenly Discovering the Pointlessness of the Car Journey'. No-one else seemed to really appreciate my Eye Spy interventions, but really: how many times can you go with 'T' for 'Tree', 'G' for 'Grass', 'C' for 'Cow' and 'R' for 'Road' before the game suddenly becomes utterly tedious and meaningless?

Speaking of tedious and meaningless, let us turn now to the writings of Dr Samuel Johnson. No - no, I don't mean he was tedious and meaningless, just that he wrote entertainingly about that very subject quite frequently. 'I took a short journey into the country in a stage coach', he writes:

On the day of our departure, in the twilight of the morning, I ascended the vehicle, with three men and two women my fellow travellers. It was easy to observe the affected elevation of mien with which every one entered, and the supercilious civility with which they paid their compliments to each other. When the first ceremony was dispatched, we sat silent for a long time, all employed in collecting importance into our faces, and endeavouring to strike reverence and submission into our companions. 

It is hard to imagine this happening on a modern car trip, and not even on a modern train or bus trip (though that is in some ways similar to the experience of travelling in a stage coach with strangers). But what follows is all too familiar:

It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say..... At last a corpulent gentleman, who had equipped himself for this expedition with a scarlet surtout, and a large hat with a broad lace, drew out his watch, looked on it in silence, and then held it dangling at his finger. This was, I suppose, understood by all the company as an invitation to ask the time of day; bu no body appeared to heed his overture: and his desire to be talking so far overcame his resentment, that he let us know of his own accord it was past five, and that in two hours we should be at breakfast.

The whole essay is surpassingly excellent and worth the time to read in whole

. However, like passenger number 14 in the car trip, stealing the jokes of another, I have set out on this article telling my own story, and ended up telling Dr Johnson's story instead, and so here the journey will end.

*I should admit that I am not at all certain what a claymore is, but I feel quite strongly that it is something that ought to be flourished savagely in the air. 

** Hopefully person number 16 is not the driver.

 

 

That was a post from a blog that I follow*.  I actually found out the Jane Austen** stuff there. (I looked it up and its true though) From what I can gather he's a jobless married Aussie, who is incredibly entertaining sometimes. Anyway. I hope you enjoyed it. And be prepared for a super ultra mega post on Sun. or Mon.

 

Here's to hoping everyone has a great weekend!

 

-Thomas

*If interested, the blogs address is: http://willtypeforfood.blogspot.com/


**For all you Jane Austeners out there, I just realized that yesterday I was spelling  Austen "Austin." So sorry. I went back and fixed them all...will you forgive me?

 

Jelly-Belly's, British Lit., Jane Austen, and Beer

Because of my seemingly never ending trail of diseases, last summer I decided I was going to eat healthier in the hope that that would boost my immune system. No candy, no ice cream, no soda, no desserts. It was painful. Anyway. I did the no sugar diet until Worlds and after my race I delved back into the world of sugary delights. It's been grand. But I will soon have to give them up again because I am staring training up in the near future. You probably want to know where all this is going, huh? I'm getting to it. You see, a hugely enormous bin of Jelly-Belly's mysteriously appeared in my parents room the other day and I've become addicted to going in there and taking them by the handful, multiple times a day. They are so good...Sour Red Apple? yum! Berry Smoothie? yum yummy! Blue Raspberry? yummiest! All 3 together? Pure heavenly delight! My mouth is watering just writing about them. In fact, wait a minute...*goes downstairs, gets some, and returns*...back now. Where was I? Ah yes, they are the best! And its going to be so hard to give them up. Maybe I should just start training when the bin only has Black Licorice and Buttered Popcorn left....I think that's what I'll do.


I'm taking a British Lit. course this year and was super excited to start it because when I think Brit Lit. I think Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Doyle, Tolkien, and Lewis etc. And I love those authors. But as it turns out its mostly medieval stuff: ballads and epics that are so outlandishly written, it almost seems like you're reading a different language. Not so good. Not to say its been awful, it just hasn't lived up to my expectation of it. Right now I'm reading A Midsummer Night's Dream, and although its fine when performed on stage, its a pretty painful read--I sometimes feel like I'm reading a supped-up bedtime story/fairytale. I wonder what Shakespeare was on while he was writing it. On the other hand, I just finished Henry the V, and it was more than decent; it was quite good actually.

British Lit. brings me to Jane Austen. I really like her books. Call me girly. I don't care. I like to think its sophisticated of me. Anyway. Today I found one of her quotes that made me love her even more: "It is you, however, in this instance, that have the little children, and I that have the great cask, for we are brewing spruce beer again." It is from a letter she wrote to one of her sisters. Apparently she was a lover of both making and drinking beer. I thought that was really funny. In all her portraits, she looked like a dainty girly-girl. And I think most people imagine her personally to be similar to the nicer and more decent characters in her books. I'm not saying that she wasn't both nice and decent, but raise your hand if you had ever imagined her brewing and guzzling down beer by the keg. Yeah. Didn't think so.

Judging from these facts I have come up with the universal formula for becoming as good and successful a novelist as Austen.

1. Time travel to early 19th century England.
2. Don't get married or have any kids.
3. Have a beautifully personable and insightful writing style.
4. Make and drink beer by the keg.

Because you never got married, marriage and romance is all you can think of; you have a beautiful and insightful writing style, so you write beautifully written and insightful romantic novels...lots of them. And, if writers block ever sets in, the beer brewing and drinking will take care of that in a jiffy. There you go, the formula for the making of the next Jane Austen...You're welcome. =P

And continuing on our theme....here is the lady herself.



....Yeah, totally seeing beer brewer and drinker, lol.

-Thomas

50th Post. Awwww Yeah!!!!

...So yeah. What can I say. I really don't know what to, but here's my best try:

This has been so much fun for me.
THE END.

Actually, just kidding. Nothing is really going on in my life right now, but there is just one little thing I want to tell you about.

So yesterday I was showing my friend pictures from my trip and we were looking at the ones from Ireland. When we got to the ones of the Cliffs of Maher, my mom was like"
 "Oh Thomas, you know that those are the 'cliffs of insanity' from The Princess Bride, right?"
"Whhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaatttttt? You're kidding right?"
"Nope. That's where they filmed it"

Long story sort, I went nuts--not trying to rub it in or anything, but I'm such a lucky duck aren't I? ;)

Anyway. Here are a couple of pictures for you:

 

Seeing it?

 

 

-Thomas, who just returned from making a fool of himself at an open mike night...but had so much fun doing it. :D

The Joys of Triathlon.

People often ask me, why triathlon? The answer to that question is quite simple. Its sooooo much fun!!!. There's the swim: a mass start. Up to two hundred people kicking, scratching, and climbing over each other, all trying to find a place for themselves in utter chaos. Then potentially a beach run to the transition area: pretty much pure agony and pukieness. After a hectic transition comes the bike: it can be fine if you don't cramp or almost crash three times, and your bike runs smoothly. If you survive both the swim and the bike, the run still remains: looming ominously before you, like the steep peak of a mountain before the last leg of a long hike. If one doesn't cramp again or throw up, it is considered a success. Just in case you haven't noticed, that was sarcasm. ;) And if you were paying even a little bit of attention, you will have noticed that triathlons really aren't fun in a strict sense at all. So why do I and so many other people do them?

Well, I think there are a lot of different answers to that question, but the biggest reason, at least for me, is the sense of fulfillment one gets when one finishes. St. Paul likens life to a race in one of his letters and it is such a good great amazing AMAZING analogy. During the course of a triathlon, as in life, there are countless ups and downs, countless decisions to be made and carried out; there are many inner struggles that go on, and one gets constantly stronger by conquering them. The race, when one is racing it, really does feel like a lifetime. The finish is the promised land "where every tear shall be wiped away." I could go on and on. But its really that amazing sense of fulfillment that draws people to the sport: you know that you, personally and all alone, have conquered, have accomplished something great. Its truly amazing how soon all the pain and tears are gone. Literally as soon as you cross the finish line, you are in your own little heaven, bathing in ecstasy. All the pain? Gone. All the problems? Gone. Only contentment and happiness are allowed. Words cannot express the feeling. Its much too large and good.

So to sum up: I don't do triathlons because they're strictly fun, (although you do get, every once in awhile, one when everything goes perfect and those aren't bad) but because they give my life an extra sense of fulfillment, and because they teach me important lessons about life in a way that most don't get to experience.

Picture time and I have the perfect photo:

"The Pain of Triathlon."



 

...As previously mentioned, my brother has a propensity for taking awful pictures, but this one accurately depicts how much "fun" triathlons are.

Hope y'all (Americans) had a good Columbus day!

-Thomas, who just finished writing a (comic) rap for his youth group's open mike night, but is debating whether or not to perform it because he both doesn't listen to rap or rap to himself, let alone in front of a bunch of people, so it most probably will be a disaster.

Columbus Day.

Its Columbus Day and I have the day off from school. Yay! But, because I am an awful procrastinator, (or a good one, depending on how you look at it) I have a lot of homework to get done. :( That can wait though...my classes aren't till tomorrow, and tomorrow is so far off in the future, why worry about things that happen then? I might not even live till tomorrow, and how lame would it be if I spent my last day on earth slaving away at physics?...A small sample of my procrastinating powers. ;)

Anyway. Yesterday at church, our pastor was talking about how lucky and blessed we are to be Americans. At first I was thinking, " Blessed? What are you thinking? America is a total train wreck, we're in awful shape, and here you are saying that its a blessing to live here." But upon reflection I realized that how right he was. We Americans complain so much about how awful things are that we have forgotten about all our blessings.

And there are so many. All I have to do to see how blessed we Americans are, is drive 3 and 1/2 hours south to Tijuana, Mexico. There the majority of people live in homemade shacks and if they are "lucky" enough to have a "real" job are paid next to nothing working long hours in awful conditions. But the living conditions are not even the worst of. In this city of 1.3 million people, the people that are in charge are not the government, but the Drug cartels. I wont get into all the details about the cartels because they are awful and you probably know them. All this awfulness and Mexico is by far not the worst place to live in the world.

We all know somewhat of the horrendous conditions our fellow human beings have to endure, yet we have the nerve to complain about our economy and the shape that America is in. We are truly spoiled. We complain nonstop about our government, when some countries are being terrorized by evil dictators, and others have no real government at all and there is utter chaos. I'm not saying we're in good shape, but we're a heckava lot better off than most and we have lots to be grateful for.

If you think about it, you could just as well have been born into a family that has nothing and that lives on the streets of Calcutta. But you weren't. God put you in a place much, much better than that. (I know that because you have to have a computer to be reading this.) So no matter where you are in live, or how bad things seem, you still hove a lot to be thankful for. And, if you happen to be having a rough time of it right now, you might find that if you concentrate on the blessings rather than the negatives, thing will get better.

So, to sum up: BE GRATEFUL!!!!!!!!

Ok. I feel really preachy right now, but it made me think about stuffs that I think lots of us need to think about more.

-Thomas who is probably going to do a triathlon post later today...stay tuned.

Happy Sunday. Beat up, Tired, and Having Tons of Fun.

Yes. Its been more than 24 hours since my last post. So sorry. You know, I really don't know how you survived. =P

Anyway, a lot has happened in those 24+ hours, so fasten your seat belts. I think I'm going to be a  total rebel and tell today's story first. So. Today....

...Was Alumni day for my mom's alma mater. (its also where my dad teaches) It started with a discussion of the short story The Bear. It really wasn't the best. There were some really annoying people that just would not stop talking. There was one point though, where the leader asked a really serious question (why the boy didn't shoot the bear, for those of you who have read it) and I jokingly said it was because it was love at first sight. The funny thing was that the leader was like, "wow no, I think there's really something in that!" I was like, "Ummm ok that's cool." I don't think that it helped that I was scared of her. (the leader) I've seen her butchering chickens...bloody axe raised in hand with blood and feathers flying all over the place. SCARRED. FOR. LIFE. Come to think of it, the discussion actually wasn't that bad I guess, there was just this one girl, who spoke with this all-knowing air and it was super annoying.

Ok. moving on. We played a bunch of sports, hung out a bunch, ate a bunch of food, and had a gigantic bunch of ice cream. There was also this volleyball game that was seriously epic. I don't use that word very often, and I really don't like when its overused, so when I say epic, it means epic. All in all a great day. Ohhh I almost forgot. The beat up part. To sum it up, I've got blood blisters on my feet, gashes in my knee, a sprain in my jaw. The jaw one actually hurts too. I was playing football and my brother threw my the ball, like really really hard. I wasn't expecting that....and so I kind of caught the ball with my face, or, to be more specific, my lower right jaw. I Still caught it, but I don't really think it was worth it. *Phone rings, friend on phone asks if I want to go to a movie, I say yes, we go*
...Ok. back. All I have to say is that what little faith I had in mankind was lost. Seriously. Why is so much time, talent, effort, and money wasted in making such a pointless thing? It was literally the most senseless movie I've ever watched. It was still fun though because my brother was there an he laughs at literally every joke. There is complete silence and then, all of a sudden a, "ahhahahahahheeeehehehehewhooohahahhah" bursts out from his mouth...its just priceless. And there were friends, so it was of course fun. I also saw this poster for this movie that looks really cool and I really want to go see it. Its coming out next month and its title is, The book thief.

Now for yesterday. There was a party and it was super fun. After the party, the ones of us who love Jesus ;) went to do a holy hour. I think it would have been better to do the holy hour and then the party because people were kind of high strung after all the craziness of the party. (It also didn't help that there was a homeless guy snoring his head off in one of the pews. There was, needles to say, a lot of giggling mixed in with our prayers. But the guy I was praying next to, the guy who I would have expected to be one of the more giggly ones, was praying his heart out the whole time. It was so inspiring. Here was this guy who, by the looks of him, one would not want meet alone in an ally, and who is probably the routiest person in our group, but he was totally transformed. It was during this time that one could see who he really is: a truly good person; a person who unconcerned with what people think of him; a person who is concerned with what God thinks of him.

It was so beautiful. It reminds me of something that gets me so mad sometimes: when people judge people by how they look or by their first impression of them. Its so infuriating sometimes. I think one of the reasons that it makes me so mad to see it happen is because I used to do it (and still do every once in awhile. I used to shun everyone who wasn't "cool" You know the drill. The guys who wear their pants up past their belly buttons and the girls who dress like they think its immoral to wear anything lower than a turtleneck. Ok. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I think you get the point. Anyway. Sometime ago I realized that, even if I didn't agree with their fashion sense, the only really important thing is getting to heaven and a lot of the people that I was judging were probably closer to that than me. That opened my eyes quite a bit and made me try extra hard not to judge people by their appearances. I also found that a lot of "those kind of people" are actually really neat and interesting. And I really respect them for not caring what other think because that my friends, takes guts.

Ok one more little bit. God's sense of humor never ceases to amaze me. I have this wooden rosary that my parents gave me a little while back that I'm really attached to. And, as I was looking at the crucifix during the holy hour, I realized that half of Jesus' right arm was missing. It was such a great moment. :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Ok. its getting late. But Thomas, sleep is for the weak, remember? Whatever. I guess I'm a weakling.

Wishing you a happy holy Sunday!

-Thomas

Liar, liar pants on fire!!!

Lying is quite a touchy subject for me to talk about, because I am, I have to admit, an unashamed -over-the-top, liar.  It's not like I'm a "big" liar or anything like that, it's just little comments and answers I make and give to people during conversations. I think the official term is "jocose lies" because they're not serious. But I've been thinking about it lately. You see, since they are still in fact lies, they are still evil, even if its just a tiny little bit of evil.

I just can't bring myself to quite though. Its become a part of me. It's second nature now...when I talk with people, its just what happens without any thinking on my part. In a sense, I guess it would almost be a lie for me to stop because I would say things that are true, and my friends think that what I was saying was false and that would be deceptive.

That reminds me. One of the problems with making things up is that when I actually do or see something cool, everyone's like, sure Thomas, whatever you say man. Like I remember a couple of weeks ago I was watching a British TV show and I had seen the building that the main guy's apartment was in while I was in London. I promptly told them so, and they of course didn't believe me.

 Come to think of it though, I think I like it that way. I seriously have so much fun convincing people of things. And that's probably why I make things up so much. Its a win-win situation. I always have to convince everyone that what I say is true, whether what I'm at the time saying is true or not. There's something so satisfying about using wit to make someone believe something....its just....ahhhhhhhh.

If only jocose lies weren't bad. I don't think I would ever have a depressing day again. Not that I get depressed because of my jocose lies, its just that it would make me so happy. I think I would die.

Anyway. I guess its not all that bad. I mean,  I could probably have a lot worse habits and I'm so thankful that that's the worst I have. Plus, I'll probably grow out of it. ;)

That's Queen Victoria. Judging from her appearance and history, I doubt she would approve of me...oh well....but who cares? She's dead. 

Ok. Bye now. And remember, lying is bad!...except if you're me. =P


Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My wonderful, all-knowing dad fixed my computer love yesterday, setting the world in proper balance.

-Thomas, who "is torn in two by the desire to stay and the necessity to go."
PS. If you know that quote, you just got some positive points! I don't know what they are, but they're positive and you got'em. And the quote doesn't exactly fit, but I love it, so who cares?

An Open Letter to Life.

On the tenth day of the tenth month of the year of Our Lord 2013.

Dear Blasted Life,
Why do you have such a sick sense of humor? Why is it that you play with and torture us humans so relentlessly? You never let us be in control and when things seem like they're going well, you dash all our hope by turning everything upside-down. You trick us into thinking all is good, making us upbeat and happy, and then, right at the peak of our happiness, our perfect world collapses in on itself, leaving only darkness and confusion. Please stop this nonsense! Please, I beg of you! Give to us some sense of real stability. I know there has to be at least one little pinhead of mercy in your cold heart.

-Thomas Cain.

Ok, now its time for the backstory. My "love" just randomly stopped working today. Right as I was pasting the last of my essays on to the application website for the college I'm applying to. I thankfully have all of them online, but I'd done a big chunk of editing that I have to redo now. Ugh. Life can be so frustrating sometimes. Anyway. I'm waiting for my dad to come home because I know very little about computers...hopefully he'll be able to sort things out.

I also want to say that I know why life is the way it is...I was just having fun being uber-dramactic. Although I have to say that sometimes I do feel a little lot peeved at life. One just has to know that everything happens ultimately for the good, that it's all in God's plan, and that, as long as you are with God, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Sorry for all the cliché-ness, but it really is true. For example: I just realized that the Bruins are playing in about five minutes yippee!!! That's light at the end of the tunnel for ya! And, even if they lose tonight, they'll definitely win sometime in the future. See? You just gotta try to find the light in everything that happens during life. If you look hard enough, you can find it in everything that happens to you. Even Mr. Dr. Newton agrees with me: For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction. So, when something bad happens, there is a good "reaction" Ok, if you're thinking you will  have realized that Newton's Law doesn't really work because that would mean that everything good that happens will have a bad end*, but I'm doing physics, so I thought, "What the heck, why not throw it in?"

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!
Oh wait. Its Thurs. Drat life. =P Whatever. It still sounded good so I'm not gonna change it.

...My last step on UK soil. :( But, I was on my way to Ireland :):):):):):):)...seeing the light. :P

-Thomas
 

"and cloudy was the weather"

Its cold, overcast, and raining-ish. I'm so happy! It finally feels like Fall. Those of you who don't live in SoCal are probably wondering why I'm happy. Let me explain. These kinds of days are about as rare as sunny, un-humid day are out east. So, when they come, its like one of those "perfect" days for you guys. Everyone's excited. A little while ago my little sister came running into the house screaming, "Its raining mom, its raining!" And that's how most people around would act if they weren't too "cool" to do so.

I just love when it rains. The pitter-pattering on the windows, is so rhythmic and nice to listen to. And then, after the rain stops, everything is so clean and fresh. It's just wonderful.

Anyway. There's not much more I have to say. You see, the real reason I made his post is because I'm supposed to be taking a physics test and I really don't feel like it. So I should probably go take it...wish me luck!

But before you go, here are a couple of pictures:

That's a Royal Guard guarding Buckingham and me guarding St. James's Palace. I dunno, maybe I should apply for a job at Buckingham...doesn't look like it take much. :P

Might talk to ya'll later because this wasn't much of anything.

-Thomas

It's late...

But I'm kind of an idiot, so I'm going to write anyway.
You: "How was your day?"
Me: "Pretty much the worst I've had in ages."
"Why?"
"Because today is the day that I have my classes (one of which I am always late for, because its at 12:15 and I'm always like trying to eat and get ready and do this and that.)"
"So you don't like your classes?"
"No, not really. Come to think of it, its actually because I don't do my homework until the last min. possible and I get really stressed out and stuff."
"Okay, that's stupid, but that happens every week. Why was today any worse than any other Tuesday?"
"Oh yes! There are actually two reasons. One, today was my first day back at swim team in ages, and let me tell you, it felt like it had been ages...When I was swimming I felt like everything weighed like a zillion pounds and I wasn't going anywhere. But that was okay, because there was youth group afterward and that was going to be super fun. Hah! Yeah right! Well, I guess we've come to reason number two. Youth group, which usually is both fun and interesting, was not tonight. I usually come home with peace of mind and an upbeat attitude, but tonight it was just remorse. I wasn't in the sub-group I wanted to be in and we talked about stuff that I already knew about, so it just wasn't interesting."
"Quit complaining man! You're way overreacting."
"I know I'm both complaining and overreacting, but hey, its my blog, right? Its not like you're forced to read it. I can say what I want."
"Ok, now you just sound like a 2 year old"
"Yep, don't care :P"


Ok, lots of this was sarcasm and I'm really tired and when I'm tired I'm prone to being obnoxious. Sorry.

On a happier note, the Red Sox just advanced to the next round of the playoffs...all the way baby!!
On a sadder note, (well, happy for you) I just remembered that I forgot to take my night dose of antibiotics, so I think I'll get up, end this post, and go to sleep.
 
GB
-Thomas...Nobody knows the trouble I feel, nobody know but Jesus. JK Lol. XD

Finding Shakespeare, Time, a dream, and the Getteysburg Address.

I had to start Henry the V for my literature class today, and it took me like 20min to find it. I found almost all his other plays, The Tempest, Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, you name it. Oh that reminds me. I found 3 copies of  Four tragedies: Othello, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth. Three stinking copies! As if I didn't hate tragedies enough already. It was frustrating. But, after giving up and moving on, I happened upon Shakespeare's Complete Works. It was neatly tucked in our little living room bookshelf...I had probably walked by it ten times while I was looking for it. Oh well, I guess all's well that ends well. ;)

Ok, there are lots of mysteries in the Catholic faith and I know that they remain mysteries because our stupid human minds can't handle it just yet, but there is something that seems rather paradoxical to me. The smart people probably know the answer to though. ;) It is, that actions that are done in time can effect our the eternal fate of our souls. It just doesn't make sense to me because our eternal lives are, of course, not bound by time. It seems crazy to me that one gang member/killer who gets killed at 25 can go to hell, while a person who was worse, at the same age, than the gang guy, but lived a long life and converted later on goes to heaven. It just seems to me that for some people its just luck whether or not they get into heaven, but I know that's not the case. I suppose God probably gives every person the chance to convert before they die, but the whole thing still doesn't seem quite right to me. As for the whole action in time effecting our eternal fate, I suppose that our actions can decide our fate because our intellect and will are out of time, but its still crazy to think that a spiritual out of time things can be directly influenced by material things. And this is one of the many reasons I'm looking forward to dying...all these mysteries will finally make sense! Don't get me wrong though, I don't want to die right now. I want to live a full and good life, but its gonna be so cool to die.

Sorry that was so scatterbrained, it makes sense in my head, but its so hard to express in writing. Moving on.

I had a really cool dream last night. Dr. Who and I were saving the world. It was the first dream I'd had with Dr. Who in it and it was super exciting! I guess that maybe means I'm officially part of the cult. :P

Ahhh yes the Gettysburg Address. I have to recite it in front of my class tomorrow...not cool, really not cool. Because I still haven't got it down...the last paragraph is still a bit foggy. Its really annoying because there are three consecutive sentences in with the basic context is the same i.e. we need to dedicate ourselves blah blah blah and blah.  And I get them all mixed up. Poopydust. Also, have you noticed that Old Abe uses word 'that' about 50 times over the course of the minute and a half long speech? Guess he was personally attached to it. Whatever. Its still an amazing address.

And there are your (late) noon-time news and notes.

Oh I forgot. For all you Catholics out there, its the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. So if you haven't prayed a rosary today yet, try to do so. Its truly a great and powerful prayer. Today would also be a great day to try to commit to praying the rosary frequently, esp. if you are having a rough time of it right now. Our Lady has pulled through for me so far and that's proof that she'll do so for practically anyone. :D


Ok. I'll shut up now.


-Thomas, who really, really needs to put the pictures from the trip on his computer.....

Showers and the beach.

I was walking in from the house and wondering what I was going to write about,and, as I was going to take a shower, I decided to write about how wonderful showers are. It would have been something like this:
"Don't you just love showers? I do. In fact, I think they're one of man's greatest inventions; sharing that distinction with milkshakes, singing in the shower, sandwiches, and pizza ;) I mean, what is better than a shower?...that warm, soothing water pouring down on your tired and aching body after a long day; singing like a rock star; (Seriously, I could dedicate a whole post to singing in the shower...maybe next time.) and then that cozy, soft towel afterward? Its like icing on the cake!"

All in all, I think we can agree (you can disagree if you want to be wrong) that showers are pretty much at the top of the pyramid.  

Now you get to know why there was a would and quotation marks...
*Suspense builds*
Ok, I want you to imagine me (I know that's a painful thought to hold...so sorry.) getting home from the beach, keenly anticipating an awesomely warm and musical shower. I then turn the hot water faucet on and, after waiting awhile and multiple tests, the water is still cold. More waiting ensues. Then some tinkering. Then some making sure that the faucet that I turned on was in fact the hot water. Then came a conclusion: the hot water was for some reason not working. A fateful a ominous decision loomed...Should I go the bed all gross and sandy, or should I suck it up, offer it up (*catholic term) and endure a freezing shower. I decided to go with the latter. Instead of hearing my normal angelic ;) singing, anyone in close vicinity would have heard, "whowhoooahhaahhhaaahaawhohahwhoohahahwhoooo" for the duration of the shower. It was painful. And long because my hair is annoyingly thick, so whenever I have a foreign substance, such as sand in it, it takes FOREVER to get out.

And that's why I wasn't inclined to talk about how amazing showers are. Not to take away from warm showers though. They're so great!

Oh and the beach was awesome. The tide was super low. Way lower than the lowest low tide I've ever seen there. And there was almost no surf....but there was a huge sandbar and by walking in place we sunk into the sand almost up to out knees. It was super cool. You could angle your body straight at 45 degrees and it was like you were floating in the air. Then we all sat down (with our legs still sunken) and built little kingdoms out of sand.

Usually my imagination and artistic skills are very minimal, but today was different. I was crazy, but in a different way than normally. First of all there was a wall and on that wall there turrets. On the top of the turrets there were alternating small striped clammy things and seaweed gas bubbles. Then there was a royal palace-temple, ruins, separate buildings for the 1st 2nd 3rd and military classes, a Launchpad for traveling  in space, a transport system for inside the kingdom, and a machine that shot convicts into a desert work mine.   

I was their "god" but I hadn't revealed myself to them yet, so they worshiped the staple of their diet, sand-crabs. They, the people, were the ones that survived the end of the world and had moved to another planet. The explosion had jogged their mind of religion and that's why theirs was quite primitive. But in everything else they were amazingly developed. The "ruins" of their city were like what we would call ultramodern skyscrapers, while their modern buildings looked a lot like drip-castles...they were architectural marvels. Well, except for the military classes' complex. It just looked like a military complex: boring. Guess some things don't change. ;)

Anyway. I fell in love with it, and had to be torn away from it to play volleyball. Which ended up being really fun...maybe part of it was because our team won both games :D After watching the sunset, we went to In-'N-Out and drove home...good times!

That's all folks...I really should be going to sleep...school tomorrow...grrrr.


-Thomas, who is really not looking forward to tomorrow and who absolutely hates Mondays!

The reasonable hour has come....

Phew! Just got home from soccer/Frisbee/jumping in freezing cold water/volleyball. So much fun!

Now for yesterday...

It was kind of nonstop. First I went to the park and played around and chilled for a couple of hours and then we all went to a holy hour. (Catholic talk, if you want to know what it means, just convert)
Our town has this thing called Cruise Night every first Friday throughout the summer and yesterday was the last one of the year. Basically the only cool thing about the town that I live in. Oh wait...I forgot to tell you what it is . Pretty much the Police close main st. to general traffic and old cars from all over the place come and line themselves up along the sides; there are bands and all the shops are open...its a ton of fun.

Anyways.  It was fun and I got this huge cup of FroYo, which led to a little bit of a sugar high. After it got dark, we went to another church and did another holy hour. I love them so much...its so calm and peaceful, you forget about all your problems and chill with God for an hour. I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?

After the holy hour we walked up to my friends house and started a fire, but its really windy and dry right now so we put it out and all chilled in a circle on their porch. It was the most fun I've had in ages. We were all super hyper and crazy, which made it awesome because usually its just me and a one or two others who are off their rockers, but last night it was just....ahh I cant describe it. We were belting songs out at the top of our lungs, and just generally being awesomely crazy. After that party ended, my friend came over for a sleepover, and that's when the real fun began!!!!

We got home a little before 11 and hung out till it was today. Because then we could eat meat. (Catholic stuffs again. Like I said, just convert) Then I made a, I must say, delicious smoothie (blueberry mango with Zico) and my brother made chili-verde burritos...it was so yummy!   

Then we watched 3 episodes of Dr. Who...Still not sure what to think of It. There are some really good parts, but its SO weird.

My friend and I went upstairs to bed and talked and YouTube'd for about an hour and then we went to sleep. It takes me forever to fall asleep and so I didn't actually fall asleep till after 4...waking up at 8 did not feel good. :P

So. That's about It.



-Thomas, who is being demanded to get off by his brother and who is about to turn in his college app. (crossing my fingers)

UP.

....Well, I'm up right now, and I thought I would write a post just for kicks...I guess I can cross blogging at 3:30 in the morning off the bucket list. :D Its been an awesome day...details to follow at a more reasonable hour. :P

Bye.

-Thomas

Its a new day, its a new dawn, its a new dose....

...Of antibiotics. Yep, 10 more days :( But besides that, Its all good news...I got cleared to train, and my Big Bad Bruins won their season opener...bo freakin yeah!!!

Still not sure if I'm going to start training next week or the week after that...get back to you on that one. ;)

I also got the good pictures (the ones not taken by my mom ;) love you mom) from my race. So here is one of them...

That's me in my moment of triumph over the Spaniard...for a few seconds of my life I got to be Wesley. ;) (If you are homeschooled and do not get that reference, you need to majorly rethink your life. ;)) And yes, I am posting pictures of myself in a spandex suit. Sorry, but its just how us triathletes roll. :P

-Thomas

Its a new day, its a new dawn...hopefully..

Today I realized that I haven't posted anything that's even remotely connected with me and my athletic stuffs. In fact, if you started reading this blog after my London trip, you probably think I was on something when I named it. I haven't been talking about my athletic stuffs because, besides pickup games of soccer and volleyball (and the way I play those sports, I don't even think I could call that athletic), I have not done anything athletic since returning home.  It's partly because I need to recharge the batteries and mostly because I'm on these really hard core antibiotics.

I'm going to see my doctor this afternoon though, and if the strep throat and staph infections are gone, hopefully I'll be able to begin training again. Honestly, I'm so over this break. I have way way way too much free time, and so I feel like I'm locked in a cage....that's how much I want to get out of the house. Its not like I don't get out a lot, its just that I have hours of time when other people are still doing school, and I can't go train like I usually do, so that's why I feel caged up. And what do I do instead of training? Well, what I'm doing right now. ;) Anyway. Please keep your fingers crossed that the tests come back negative for two reasons: a) I'll be able to resume my training and b) because I'll be training I'll have less time to bother you with pointless posts such as this. :P

Speaking of doing things athletic, I'm doing a 1 mile swim, 44 mile, and 10 mile run triathlon on the 20th. Its official name is the San Diego Triathlon Challenge (SDTC) And its one of CAF's (the foundation that put together and sponsored my tri team) primere fundraising events, so its thankfully not really a race :)...I would die if it was because I haven't been able to put consistent training in in months. Its always a blast and I'm really looking forward to it! The only sad part is that I'm going to miss this dance I was really looking to :( oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

Let me see if I think of anything else....ahhhhh yes!

My beloved Boston Bruins (hockey) are playing their season opener tonight...so stoked!!! You have no idea...these guys are like my extended family I'm addicted and I love them SO much!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, its also breast cancer awareness month...be sure to bring out the pink!!! (I know I will.)


Ok, picture time! Sorry, but I'm in a mean mood....

 

 

Those are a few of my buddies, and, although I hate to admit it because my brother took the picture and he takes THE WORST pictures ever, it is a pretty accurate portrayal of them. ;)

 

 

 

-Thomas