8-31-01

Today wasn't too bad. I got up this morning, got ready, and had my sister drop me off at school. I had breakfast and then went through all of my classes. When I pulled my sunglasses out of my pocket, they had been bent in half, so I took them apart to try and fix them up. When it was lunch time, I went and sat in the cafeteria for almost two hours just killing time until my last class. I still left about half an hour early, so I wandered around campus. I saw Nikki Holbrook pull up for her class, so I talked with her for a while before I had to head on up to class. After that, I wandered around with Bryan Bramlett for a while, first going to the library, and then going to Chris Johnson and Dustin Summey's dorm room to hang out for a while. Dustin wasn't there for more than a minute or so. After a while, Rebecca Brown came back home from the University of Central Arkansas and came up to see Chris. She showed us a video of her dorm room, and then Bryan and I left. He gave me a ride home, and I sat around until it was time to go to work. I tried to pull my glasses out and fix them up, but I wound up losing a screw for them, so I just ordered a couple new pairs. After a few hours of work, Travis Simpson decided he wasn't feeling well and asked me to close for him. I was there until around 2:30, running pizzas, washing dishes, and mopping the place up. When I finally got home, I got online for a little while, and then just crashed.

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8-30-01

Today was a really slow, relaxed day for me. I got up and took my sister to school, and then made my way over to Tech's cafeteria. I sat out in the lounge area for about half an hour waiting to see if anyone I knew was going to come along. I eventually gave up and went in for some breakfast. Josh Pitts came along and sat with me for a little while, and when he left, I went and sat with Eric Savoie and another friend of his until it was time to go to class. We went over some more basic fundamentals of what mass is and how gravity works, and then I was through for the day. I went to meet Travis Simpson in the library, and then we started heading up to his house for a while. We ran across David Benefield on our way to the car, so we made plans to meet him back at the cafeteria for lunch. Travis and I went on up to his house to hang out for a little while, and then went back down for lunch. Jeremy Pearson ate with us and left early, and then David showed up. We sat, ate, and talked for a while, and then split up so everyone could head to class. I had another couple hours left, so I went home and napped for a while. When I got back up, I headed on back for my science lab. We measured different masses with a suspended spring - real college level education here. After that was all over with, I was going to go hang out with Travis for a while, but I had to drop some money by work that I lost yesterday, and then I found out I actually had to work, so I went home to get ready for that. Work was alright, but I made the mistake of some coupon/check looking thing and thought I was supposed to take $8 off of the price of some lady's pizza. At the end of the night, I had to go back and collect that money, and I wound up with around $6 to take home with me. One more night like that and I'll break even from last night's loss. For the rest of the night, I just kind of sat around. I talked to Thomas Hollingsworth for a bit on the phone, Jason Huynh came by to borrow some CDs, and my mom called me out to talk to me for a while. She griped her gripes, and I, of course, tried my best to show her how wrong she was. Somehow, if I'm in a good mood, she'll always find a way to spoil it, or if I'm feeling crummy, she'll find a way to put me in a worse mood. I know she doesn't mean to do that, but really folks, griping about things and hounding people only annoys them. A chicken sandwich would be nice right about now, a game of pool would be fun, and some sleep would be much appreciated. Maybe the sleep will help me forget about my hunger and boredom.

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8-29-01

Today's just been one of those days I wish I hadn't woken up for. I got up early and had my sister take me to college. I went to breakfast and got a quick bite to eat before heading to class. Things went on, boring as usual. I went to lunch and ate with Eric Savoie, Laurel Parton, David Benefield, and Mary Kincy. That was the highlight of my day. After lunch, I walked with David to his class and waited around until it was time for me to go to my last class. After that was over, I wandered around for a bit and ran into Chris Sanderock and Sarah Hewett. Sarah got a ride home from Kristen Martin, and I bummed along with Chris. I didn't feel well inside when I got home, so I just laid around until it was time for me to go to work. Work was alright for the most part. It was a slow day, so I spent a lot of time folding pizza boxes, washed a couple dishes, and made just a few deliveries. Cassie Hilgerson came in for for some food. I hadn't seen her in a while, so we stood there and talked for a while. When the day was all over with, we figured things up and I owe them $6.60. Somewhere along the way, I lost around $10. Travis Simpson and I split a pizza, but I only had to pay about 3 bucks for that. I have no idea where all my money went, so I have to go in and pay them sometime tomorrow. I just haven't been doing too well lately.

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8-28-01

I somehow managed to go slowly enough this morning while I was getting ready so that we didn't leave the house until almost 7:30. My internet was down all morning, so I just got ready and took my sister to school. Then I headed on over to Tech, walked across the campus to the cafeteria, and sat in the lounge for almost an hour. I eventually got hungry enough to go in and get some breakfast. Some guy I had been talking to out in the lounge or lobby place came in and sat by me to talk for a while. Then he noticed some girl and had to go talk to her for the reset of the time. Eric Savoie came along for some breakfast as well, so being alone again, I went to sit by him. Classes weren't too bad. I managed to doze through most of my hour and a half of physical science. They were still covering stuff I had learned in the 7th grade, so I had no problem with just laying back and taking it easy. After that, I headed over towards the high school, stopping by Sonic to get a cherry limeade for Sarah Morrison along the way. I went and sat with her group at lunch again. She hadn't gotten through much of the drink when lunch was over, and they aren't supposed to have drink containers from other places, so she just gave it back to me to finish it off. I went down to the journalism room until second lunch came around. I gave Angie Jennings a CD, and eventually took her home. Her mom wasn't there, so she couldn't get inside, but she insisted she wouldn't have to wait long, and that I should go on to my calculus lab. I went on to class, which turned out to be a decent session. After that hour and a half, I headed back to the high school to pick up my sister. I saw Marry Gann hanging around the halls and walked around with her until class let out. I caught Sarah again and offered to give her a ride to her piano lessons on the way home. She ran around for a little while, and we finally caught up with my sister and headed on out. I took my sister home first, as she was being quite annoying, and then took Sarah on to her lesson. After that I came home, got bashed a bit for having other people in the car with me, and went on to my room. Jason Huynh came by later for some help with running network cable through his attic. We went by Compute for some RJ-45 ends for his cable, and then ran up to Thomas Hollingsworth's to borrow his crimpers. When we got back to Jason's house, we found his new computer had ceased to work, so we actually spent the rest of the night trying to fix it instead. We had to run back to my house to pick up some tools, ran back to his house for a while, and then came back to my house to try and work on his hard drive. By some stroke of luck, I fixed the problem and he went home happy. He came back again, though, to borrow a CD he needed. I showered and got ready for bed, but I don't want to go to bed. I feel bad, I'm in a bad mood, and I haven't had a corn dog in probably over a year. I feel deprived of so much.

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8-27-01

It took a while, but I eventually got up this morning. I got ready for school, but not quickly enough to suit my sister. She refused to wait another two minutes and left without me again. My dad took me to college, which I found particularly boring today, partially because I was so sleepy. I felt like I slept a lot last night, but I guess it wasn't enough. I went to lunch with Ben Nordin and found something new to put ketchup on: white T-shirts. My glasses were dangling from my shirt, and when I sat down, they dragged through my plate and splattered me with a nice big glob of the red ooze. After lunch, I showed Ben my dorm room, which he found quite humorous compared to his room in Paine Hall. He left for his class, and I spent my remaining hour working on some calculus. I actually saw my roommate again while I was there, and then again later after my last class before I left for home. I walked across campus and called my dad to have him come pick me up. We went by to pay a few bills, and then came back home where I sat for a while waiting for my sister to return home so I could go to work. I was supposed to work from 5 until 8, but I stayed an hour over because things got busy. At first we had way too many drivers, so people were slowly sent home. Tips were horrible tonight. People either paid with checks for exact amounts, or wanted all of their change back. I suppose they needed their 32 cents more than I did. One guy later in the night tipped me 10 bucks. I wasn't sure of the exact amount at the time, but I knew it was high, and I told him, but he insisted I keep it. I finally came home around 9:00 where I found out about the new rules of the house. Apparently I can drive, but my sister is above me in the family hierarchy. On days she is to drive to school, I must obey her and leave the house no later than 7:00 in the morning. On those days I am permitted to drive, I must still bow to her wishes and leave the house no later than 7:15 in the morning. That was enough to push me over the edge into a very bad mood. I went from such an incredible high to a deep, dark low in just a day. I need $3,000. I feel bad. I'm tired. I'm lonely. I need to be held.

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8-26-01

Today was a pretty relaxed day for me. I didn't have class or work to go to, so I got to sleep in a bit. Angie Jennings invited me out to Sonic with her and Rachel Trusty after they got out from church, so I met them there. We only hung out for a little while, and then we split up. Rachel headed on home, and Angie and I went back to her house for a while. She got to talking with Travis Simpson online, and eventually we headed up there to rescue him. We went to McDonald's because Travis had a couple cards for free fries, and by then I was hungry enough to eat, since I hadn't at Sonic. We hung out there for quite a while, but eventually got up to try and find something else to do. We stopped by my dorm so I could show them my room, in all its glory. We didn't stay there too long, repelled by the smell of the building. While trying to find something else to do, Angie suggested we stop by and see if Sarah Morrison could run around with us, so we stopped by her house. Nobody was home, so we went back out. Travis wanted to stop by Papa Johns to make sure what time he had to work, and got quite excited when he found out he had an extra two hours before he had to go in. We went to Staples for a bit so I could look around at the generally geeky items available for purchase. After that, we went back to Travis's house to hang out for a while. It eventually became time for me to take Angie back home, so I dropped her off and came back home. I sat around for the rest of the evening. Sarah eventually got back from her day of excitement and called me. We only talked for a little while though. My boss called me to tell me he needed my signature on a piece of paper before tomorrow so I could get paid like everyone else, so after I got off the phone with Sarah, I went to sign the paper and came home to my bed. I slept for a few hours and got up, quite disoriented. I couldn't tell what time or day it was, but as soon as I figured it out, I showered and got cleaned up for bed. I think having to go to school tomorrow is going to put an end to what's left of this "good mood" thing I've got going for me right now. We shall see.

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8-25-01

I woke up today around 3:00 in the afternoon, just two hours before I had to go to work. I woke myself up, showered, and got ready to head on out. When I got there, I realized I had left my name tag at home, so I ran back to get it. I worked for a while, and then a couple guys asked me if I would close for them. I went ahead and accepted the duty, and called home to report. It was pretty fun working on into the night. The boss and the people others that work there are really easy to get along with and helpful with everything. I made 14 runs and made around $20 in tips. That wasn't so great, considering I had been working all night, but I had been in a really good mood all day anyway. At first when it was time to pay up, we figured up that I had made 34 cents from the whole day. Something was severely wrong, but my good mood was so sharp that the situation didn't even phase me. It was cool, however, that after I got my 34 cents, I found the $20 bill in my pocket that I hadn't seen earlier. I didn't even mind washing dishes and mopping the place up later, but another one of the guys was nice enough to mop up for me while I was finishing up the dishes. I came back home and had just sat down when I saw Travis Simpson's message to call him when I got back home. We talked for a little while, and then he decided to try and get some sleep, which I think I shall attempt as well. I hope my good mood's strong enough to last through tomorrow, but I have a bad feeling about this whole "sleep" business. It tends to sour things up at times.

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8-24-01

I wound up falling asleep last night while trying to read my computer science book. I woke up around 4:00, realized what I had done, closed my book, and went back to sleep until it was time to get up and get ready to go again. When I finally got up, I waited around for my sister to leave before I could get my shower, and then had my dad take me to college. Classes went on as expected, going from computer science, to a packed classroom for psychology, and finally down to English composition for a short while before lunch. We found out that our real teacher will be stuck in customs in Italy for longer than we had originally thought, so we'll be with Mr. Brucker, my sister's friend's father, for a while longer. We got our writing assignment, and then got out early. I wandered back to my dorm room and dropped off some books, and then wandered around looking for a friend to attach myself to, like a leech, during my two hour break for lunch. I finally ran into my old friend Eric Savoie, and after making my way through the line, his little group of 3 let me sit with them. It was actually a pretty cool place, but I'll have to find someone to eat with every day. After that, I went to a session of calculus that wasn't quite so boring as the last time, and then went back to the dorm for a bit to rest and call my dad to have him come back and pick me up. He finally got there, and I went home for a little while. Then I had to go in to work for my first real day. I got to make my own runs and slice my own pizzas. It was pretty fun, I caught onto things fairly quickly, and I made 10 bucks in tips. I went home happy. Not long after I had gotten home, Travis Simpson wanted to go hang out, so I went up to his house. My mom wanted some Whatta Burger fries, so I got him, picked up the fries, and then came home to drop them off. Travis and I went by the coffee shop to see if anyone was there, but when we got there, he decided there were too many people there to stop. From there we went on to Wal-Mart for a while. While on the road, we pulled up beside Nikki and Eric Moore, along with her sister, Robin Barr, and another tagalong that was with them. I pulled into the Hastings parking lot hoping they would follow, but they didn't. I tried to track them down, but to no avail. We headed back to our original destination and wandered around the store for a while. When we were ready to leave, we decided to grab some chips and dip, and head back to Travis's house to watch a movie. I tried to watch Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life," but I wound up falling asleep part of the way through it. He woke me up later and we talked for a while, and then I came home, dead tired from my day of "excitement." I wasn't up long before I fell asleep.

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8-23-01

I didn't have a class today until 9:30, but I still got up at 6:30 so I could get ready and take my sister to school. After I got ready, she went to wake up my dad and tell him to take her to school because she didn't want to ride with me. A little while after he got back, I headed out to my class. I went to get my student ID and parking sticker first, and then went to my science class. I didn't like it very much, because it was a big hole in the ground with stadium seating and a strange little Spanish guy running around at the bottom hooked up to a bad sound system. We all sat in there for the hour and a half, and then we got to leave. I walked back to my car, which I parked on the other side of the campus by my dorm, and went over to the high school to see Sarah Morrison for a bit. I got to know her friends at the lunch table a bit better, and then I wandered around the school for a little while. I walked Rachel Trusty to her class, and when second lunch came around, I went to visit Angie Jennings. I didn't find her, so I went back out with Thomas Hollingsworth. He treated me to lunch, we stopped by Picwood, I dropped him off at his dad's store, and then I went by Angie's house to see how she was feeling. I didn't have to go back for my science lab, so I hung out there for a while. Eventually I headed home so I could get ready for work. I rested for a little while, got dressed, and headed out. I had to fill out some tax forms and sign a bunch of papers, and then I got my uniform and started a bit of training. For the night, I was an apprentice to another guy that worked there. He showed me the ropes of how to slice pizza, what to punch into the computer, and then how to make the pizza runs. I was rather hoping I'd spend more time in the car and less time in the store, but I think I can handle it. We made a few runs, and then they let us go. I get to go in tomorrow at 5 and go out all on my own. I came on home and got on the computer for a bit. Sarah called, and we talked for quite a while. I eventually started trying to read my chapters for my classes tomorrow, but I fell asleep. Why does the class required for my major have to have the most boring book ever written? It's a computer science class. The book should excite me, not put me to sleep.

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8-22-01

I got up and ready for my first day of college today. My mom was going to take the car, so she dropped my sister off at school, and then dropped me off in front of the building my first class was in. Luckily I had at least one friend in each of my classes, so I never had to sit in the middle of a strange crowd of people. I walked all around campus, seeing several friends all over the place. I went with Ben Nordin to his and Jared Magee's dorm room in Paine Hall just to see what it was like, and almost wet myself. I got majorly gypped with my room. After that, I went to my dorm room for a while to just rest for a while, rather than going to lunch. After sitting there for a while, I finally met my roommate for the first time. I had him scared with my "DIE CLOWN DIE" note and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sheets for my bed. He seemed like a pretty cool guy, though. We sat in there and talked for a while and got to know each other. Then he left to go do his thing, and I soon headed back out myself to head to my last class for the day. By far, calculus was the most boring, but that came as no surprise. When I finally got out of there, I went around for a while with Bryan Bramlett. We went to Roush to visit Dustin Summey and Chris Johnson in their room. They had a really nice room as well, since the building was just renovated. We hung out there for a while, and then Bryan gave me a ride home. I hadn't been home very long when my dad came around and took me to get my books for my classes. On the way home we stopped by to shop for some better clothes I could go to work in, and then we came back home. My mom was feeling really sick then, dizzy and nauseated. My sister had gone out somewhere, so when we parked in the garage we just left the van door open and dragged my mom inside. My sister, in all her laziness, called me from her cell phone and ordered me to come outside to shut the door for her. Rather than momentarily place the car in park and close the door herself, she made me get up from my room, walk all the way across the house, find some shoes, walk around to the door, and shut it for her so she could park the car back in the garage. I'd take a vote on what you all think about this, but I'm going to assume none of you are as bluntly stupid as she is, and would side with me in this battle. A little while later in the evening, Sarah Morrison called me and we talked for a while. She eventually had to let her brother have the phone though, so I just sat online for the rest of the night, in a hardcore metal mood. I cranked up the volume and played some great thump songs. I couldn't help the mood, but it eventually started making people mad, so I had to turn it down a bit. I talked to Sarah some more online, and eventually got ready for bed.

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8-21-01

I got up this morning and got ready early enough that my sister didn't try to leave me at home again. I took her to school, and then went to Stoby's to meet Matt Farrar and Travis Simpson for breakfast. After that, we went back to Matt's house so he could try to make a cheat sheet for my class schedule. We stayed there for a little while, not wanting to go to the orientation, because everyone had told us it was useless, and the lines for student IDs and parking stickers were ridiculously long. We went to the high school and hung out in Mrs. Raines's class for a while. They finally left, but I stuck around for both lunches. Thomas Hollingsworth and I went for some food really quick, and then I went home to rest for a while. I was tired, but I had to get ready for my job interview at Papa Johns. I went to that at 2:00, and everything went well. The manager said that if my driving record was clear, then the job was mine. I went home for a quick second, and then headed back to the high school until it was time to take my sister home. Again, I wasn't feeling too well, so I walked and talked with Rachel Trusty out to her car, and then my sister drove us home. The rest of the evening was, for the most part, fairly uneventful. The boss man from Papa Johns called me back to let me know my record came back clear, and that I start work at 4:30 on Thursday. Jason Huynh came by to pick up some documents I had printed for him, and later in the evening, Sarah Morrison called to talk to me for a bit. She had been having a rough day, to which I greatly sympathized, because I haven't been having a great week myself. Eventually she had to get going to bed, as should I, in preparation for my first day of actual college classes tomorrow.

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8-20-01

Today wasn't much better than any of the past few days. I got up early for the new student orientation at Tech. As it turned out, Angie Jennings didn't get much sleep last night either. In fact, she was up most of the night, but was just disguised in away mode. I got up, made myself some breakfast, got dressed, and got all ready to head on out. When I finished brushing my teeth, I came out to see if my sister was ready to go to school. I was rather perturbed to find she was ready - so ready, in fact, that she had taken the car and left me to my own disposal as far as getting to my college activities. My first instincts were to call her cell and yell obscenities at her, but her phone was off. Then, I figured I could count on my good buddy Jason Huynh to give me a ride over to the event. He was going to go out to breakfast or something with some friends, but eventually he and Coe Biggers came by in Coe's Bronco to pick me up. When we got there, the place was packed full of people. I got separated from them for a while when I had to find a place to sit in the usually spacious coliseum. After sitting through long, boring speeches, they divided us into groups to go off with session leaders and learn about crap. Luckily we were reunited in this act, and midway through our walk we decided to give up and left the event. We went by Alco for a little while, and then they dropped me off at the high school so I could retrieve the car. I went home and rested for a while. It was strange being out so early in the morning with no one else around. Around lunch time, I went back to the high school to hang out for a while. While most greeted me with, "You graduated! Go home," Rachel Trusty actually seemed happy to see me. I got a nice hug from her, and we talked for a while. A little while later I ran into Sarah Morrison, quite literally. She made some remark about me being an old college student with no reason to be at the high school. I went back and finished lunch with Rachel, and then walked her to class. I wandered around for a while and waited for second lunch to start. When it did, I met up with Angie and went to Mrs. Raines's room for a while. For the last 10 minutes of lunch, I went up to see who was up in the cafeteria. After that I went back to Mrs. Raines's class to meet back up with Angie, and took her home. I stayed home for a while longer. Eventually, with nothing better to do, I went back to the school to hang out for the rest of the day. I mainly stuck around the journalism room, but I wandered around quite a bit as well. I stopped by to talk to several people, and took a quick second to show Sarah to one of her classes. I felt a bit depressed, so I just went back and sat in the journalism room for the rest of the day, and went to the darkroom when Mrs. Little took her photography class down there to see it. After that, school was out. I wandered around for a while to look for my sister, but was told she had after school band. I figured she deserved to be left behind, just as I had been earlier this morning, so I took off. I needed someone to talk to by then, so I was lucky when Rachel showed up right in my path down the hallway. We decided to go grab a couple snowcones and talk for a while. When we got there, Rebecca Leubker was having car troubles, so we went by Wal-Mart to pick something up. On the way, we stopped by the Art Center to make sure Rachel didn't have any lessons there today. We wandered around Wal-Mart for a bit, and then headed back to the snow cone stand. On the way back, we passed my sister being picked up by one or the other of our parents. We dropped Rebecca off, and then I took Rachel back to her car and headed home. From there, the trouble only got worse. My parents decided to gripe at me for leaving my sister, because obviously leaving her behind is much more serious than leaving me behind. I sat back and got more than my fair share of crap from everyone, and then went to my room. Jason Huynh came by later to pick me up so I could work on his friend's laptop. He tried to convince my mother in her faulty logic, but of course all was in vain. We went back to his house and worked on his laptop, which took hours in itself. We finally got it up and running, and Jason got into a bit of Tribes 2. Scott Kennedy showed up so they could go to some dance or something at Tech, but first, Jason's mom took us out to eat at Waffle House. Then we came back to drop her off at home, and then Jason took me back home where I was greeted by a lovely note about my Bawls. It seems neither my empty cases nor sticker on the car are appreciated around here any longer. I guess people just like to give attitude, but don't like to get any in return. I should be used to this world by now, but it still annoys me. They're coming to take me away, haha. They're coming to take me away!

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8-19-01

I felt sick all over today. It all started when I woke up, and just went downhill from there. My dad made me get up and get ready to check into my room at Tech. I got up and around, and then we went to check things out. I get this continuous feeling that college is going to suck, hard. I can't help but feel pessimistic about things lately. After we got things settled there, I took my parents back home and went to Travis Simpson's house as he had asked earlier in the day to help him fix his computer. On my way up, I passed him, and he told me he was heading over to Angie Jennings's house, and they were going to go visit a neat little thrift shop. We went to her house for a little while, and then went on to the thrift shop, which wound up being closed. After that we went back to Travis's house to hang out for a while. From there we went back to Angie's house to play some pool, and then just hang out in her room for a little while. Eventually she kicked us out, so I came home and tried to eat some. I laid around my room for a while, nearly falling asleep. I had offered earlier in the day to mow the lawn tonight, but as my dad kept coming in and bothering me about it, I just got angry and didn't start until I was ready to later in the night. It was dark when I finished, and I went for a swim to wash off some of the dust. I floated around the pool for quite a while looking up at the stars and thinking about things. I had my little moment of Zen, and moments after I came back to reality, my parents came up and started rambling on more about how I didn't need a car. Having had enough of that conversation to last me a lifetime, I went under and reappeared on the other side of the pool, got out, and shut myself back up in my room. Even then I couldn't be left alone for any length of time, so I invisibleified myself. Seconds later Angie decided to call me up, so we sat on the phone for a little while, both silent. After a little while she decided to go so she could get ready for bed, and I did the same. I made a neat little drink label for my new formula, "Liquid Death." I printed it out and slapped it on a bottle to take with me tomorrow. Apparently I wasn't the only one that couldn't sleep, as several people kept coming online, including Travis, Sarah Morrison, and Jessica Brown. Strangely enough, Angie appeared to be fast asleep, or at least never got back onto her computer.

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8-18-01

I got up this morning and laid around a bit. Eventually I got up and out of bed and onto the computer for a while. My sister had gone to band, so when she finally returned I went to take a shower so I could go out and try to have some fun. Unfortunately, when I got out of the shower, she was gone again. She was just out with friends, so eventually I called her back so I could have the car. She brought Michelle Young home with her to swim, and I went to pick up Angie Jennings. We sat around for a little while to figure out my college schedule. Mallory McKinney called to talk to her for a bit and figure out our plan for the day. Eventually I called Papa Johns about an interview, so I'm set to go in next Tuesday at 2:00 for the interview. We eventually got up and ready to leave again. By then it was time for Michelle to go back home, so we just gave her a ride home on our way out. We got Mallory and headed over to Valley Fest. We walked around the park a couple times until Angie was too tired to go on any longer. We came back to my house for some money, and then went to eat at Long John Silver's. We sat there to just hang out for a while, but eventually went back out to try and find something to do. We wound up back at my house where we just laid around. Mallory wanted to go back to Angie's house to play some pool, and I actually attempted to play a couple times. After that, Angie was too tired to leave, so we left her there and drove by Valley Fest again. It looked like everyone was leaving, so I took Mallory home and went by the coffee shop myself. There wasn't anything big going on there, so I drove by Papa Johns to see Travis, who was there until closing. I went to Kroger to get something good to drink, and then headed back home. Sarah Morrison came online for a short bit, but said she wasn't feeling well and went to bed. Here's hoping she feels better after a good night's rest. Later in the night, Travis Simpson wanted me to go by Papa Johns to meet him because he had to close, and we were going to go out and get something to eat for a little while. I went out to meet him, but he was gone already. I assumed he had gotten off at 2 like he said, which would have made me 10 minutes late, so I ran out to his house to see if I could perhaps beat him home or catch him while he was still awake. That only caused more problems, because when I saw him inside and tapped on his window, he freaked out. His parents had gotten up to see what all the commotion was about, but hopefully no one will get in trouble. I guess that's what I get for trying to meet someone when they tell me to.

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8-17-01

After staying up most of the night, I eventually fell asleep and stayed that way until just before noon. After I woke up, I remained inanimate, laying back in bed, stripped of all sheets, pillows, and in general anything soft. Travis Simpson came over later in the afternoon so we could go around town to do some stuff. When he first got here he sat on the computer for a little while as I slowly got myself up and ready to go. We finally got up and went to Papa Johns so I could fill out a work application. After that we went to his house for a little while. We hung out in his new room for a little while, and eventually came back to my house for a while. We decided to swing by Valley Fest to see how things were going, but we didn't see many people there that we knew. We walked around the park once and then went by the coffee shop to see if anything good was happening there. We got a couple drinks and sat there for a little while. Jennifer Hawkins came over to talk to us for a little while, and then we headed back to his place for a little while longer. We went down to his old room to work on the computer a bit, and eventually it came time for me to head back home. I came home and sat around for the rest of the night, listening to odd combinations of Metallica, Jars of Clay, and Linkin Park.

---

8-16-01

Today's been an interesting day, indeed. I got up early because Angie Jennings wanted to go back through the woods to figure out what plant it was that she had gotten into before that made her skin feel as though it had spontaneously combusted. A little while after I woke up, I called Sarah Morrison to make sure she was awake and ready to go. After I got ready, I went to pick up Angie, and then to pick up Sarah before heading on up to Mallory McKinney's house. When we got there, the first thing Angie did was re-shave Mallory's head. When that was all said and done, we all sprayed up on bug repellent and trekked through the woods in search of our strange weed. We made it through alright, especially Sarah, considering she had worn shorts. We stomped down as much as the brush and thorns as we could, so she made it through with only a few scratches. We finally found the plant we were looking for, so we all went back to the house quite satisfied in our journey. After cooling off a bit, we all came back to my house to go swimming. First we stopped by Angie's house so she could pick up her suit. We spent quite a while playing around in the pool, but eventually Angie and Mallory got out to talk my sister into taking them home and to band practice, respectively. Sarah and I finally came back inside and bid our farewells to the others. My sister took my car, so Sarah and I just laid around the house, tired from our morning of hiking. Eventually my sister got home, so I took Sarah back home and came back home myself. I crushed a few soft drink cans and went back to my room for a while until it was time to eat. I didn't feel really well all night, so I couldn't get any sleep. I had a little cam chat with my dear friend, Melanie Tompkins from Tennessee. We talked for quite a while, but eventually even she got too tired to stay up. Travis Simpson called and we talked for quite a while. We're going to go by Papa Johns tomorrow to see if I can get a job there. That should be fun.

---

8-15-01

I got up fairly early this morning to get ready for a full day of "hanging out." I got dressed and went to get Angie Jennings. We went by Kroger for some super glue, and then by a couple music stores for some new guitar strings. After that we came back to my house to wait for Matt Farrar to come pick us up. Sarah Morrison called us so we could talk over the speaker phone. After a couple hours of waiting, Matt showed up with Travis Simpson, and we were ready to go to Little Rock. We all piled into Matt's car and went along on our journey, stopping first due to the ever-present need for fuel. We went to McCain Mall and wandered around forever, going around through random stores. It was quite fun out there. We stopped at a pizza place in the mall when we got hungry, and then continued along wandering from store to store. Matt and Travis bought a couple little dolls, or perhaps more appropriately referred to as "action figures." It finally came time for us to head back home. The home was especially fun, as Travis would yell random words (i.e. "Deceptacons!"), and Matt and I made shadow puppets from the bright lights of a guy behind us onto the back of a Semi we were following. We all came back to my house to hang out for a while. Sarah called again to talk to us a bit, but we all got a bit busy just listening to music, so she eventually got bored of us and left the phone conversation. I talked to her a bit more online as Matt rediscovered Angie's sharp annoyance at being tickled and being forced to profess who her father is. After a while, Matt took everyone home and I eventually went to bed for some sleep.

---

8-14-01

Today's been rather uneventful. I sat around, played computer games, twinkled around on my guitar (minus one string), and chatted with people online. I finally convinced my parents to let me apply for a job at Papa Johns as a pizza delivery boy. Later in the afternoon we went to my aunt's house so I could get a haircut. After that we came back home where I did a lot more sitting, playing, and fiddling. Sarah Morrison called me in the early evening, and we wound up talking for quite a while. After that I got ready for bed, so perhaps now I'll go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

---

8-13-01

I got up this morning, showered, and went back to bed for several hours. I got up later at a more reasonable hour, say noonish, and got on the computer for a while. Later during the early afternoon hours, Angie Jennings asked if I wanted to go hang out with her and Travis Simpson. I was talking to Sarah Morrison at the time, so I invited her along as well. Travis was going to pick Angie up, run a couple errands, and then stop by my house, so I went to pick up Sarah and came back home to meet them. We got there about a minute before Travis and Angie showed up. We sat in my room for a little while debating what to do. Travis started to play my guitar, playfully popping a string which snapped back at him like a rabbid dog. I finally clipped my nails last night so I could play better, and here Travis comes along and breaks my string. The irony kills me. I just can't win. Travis decided he wanted to go to a cemetery. While a rather morbid request, we visited one out in the middle of town. We "browsed" around there for a little while, separating from Travis for a bit so he could get his inspiration and do some writing. We gathered up again and sat around to talk for a little while. Next we were off to Kroger for some drinks. We talked there for a short while as I made a fool of myself, and then came back to my house. We went outside and dangled what appendages we could into the cool pool water, whether they be arms, legs, or even a head. We sat out there to talk for a little while. We all decided it would be fun to go for a swim, but it was about time to take Sarah back home. We took her home and she called her mom to see if she could go back out with us for a while. She couldn't, so we left her there and went on to Travis's house for a few minutes. We were getting a bit hungry, so we went to Tran's for a bit of the Orient. After we ate, we decided to run by Staples to see if they had any new toys. From there we went to Hastings for quite a while so Travis could tickle his fiction pickle. We went back to his house so he could pick up his swimsuit, and then came back to my house. We sat in my room a bit more as Travis read one of his new books. We eventually made it outside where I fed the animals while Angie and Travis sat by the pool. He was the main one that wanted to swim, but when he found out how cold it had gotten, all he would do was dangle his arms and legs in the water. Angie, of course, got little more than her feet wet as she sat up on the diving board reading Travis's book. I was the only one ever actually fully submerged. We spent a while out there, but we broke it up as the time neared for me to go pick my mom up from the Wal-Mart parking lot. Travis headed on home, and I dropped Angie off on my way out. I waited for about 15 minutes before the bus finally showed up and I took my mom home. I proposed the idea of me getting a job as a pizza delivery boy to her on the way home, but nothing good came of it. She refused, I got angry, and when we got home I just shut myself away in my room listening to music and talking to people online. My dad and sister got home from their trip to California around 3:00 in the morning. My sister brought me a little cow key chain that poops, and a little music box type thing that plays Scarecrow's "If I Only Had a Brain" melody from The Wizard of Oz. My dad brought me a sugar cookie, a bag of snack mix, and a double chocolate crunch bar. Oh, how I love cows that poop and airline food.

Despite my log's already lengthy size, I feel I must also mention the latest MSN Messenger virus I have encountered. It seemed to be a rather ingenious rendition of the old "wink wink choke.exe" virus everyone was passing around. Here now for your reading pleasure is a short clip of a conversation I had with Brandon Vaughn, my first encounter with the virus:

Brandon says: hey
Galloping Cow says: yo.
Galloping Cow says: what's up?
Brandon says: If a file gets sent from you don't open it ok
Brandon says: hey, want me to send my new pic?
Brandon says: i took it yesterday
Brandon says: from me
Galloping Cow says: hah, virus.
Brandon says: OK
Brandon says: yeah
Galloping Cow says: need help getting rid of it?
Brandon says: how do oyu get ride of it
Galloping Cow says: sure.
Brandon would like to send you the file "PIC1324(1)(1)(1)(1)[1].exe" (49 Kb). Transfer time is less than 1 minute with a 28.8 modem. Do you want to Accept (Alt+T) or Decline (Alt+D) the invitation?
Galloping Cow says: haha!
Galloping Cow says: INGENIOUS!!!

Messages in red are those sent by the virus itself. At first, all the virus did was try to convince me I needed to accept a file. It didn't actually try to send itself to me right away. This puzzled me, so I tried replying to its question in the affirmative as shown in blue. Instantly, it attempted to initiate a file transfer. Quite sneaky! Props to the creator of this virus, that heathen!

---

8-12-01

When I got up this morning, Travis Simpson had already left for church. I got on his computer for a little while and watched some TV to pass the time. He came home early because he left his truck's window down in the parking lot, couldn't get it back up, and got soaked, so he came home to change clothes and left again. He got back when church was finally over, and we played some more video games. After a little while we left to go find some food. We stopped by Four Seasons first so he could see Lisa Horan. She was on break, so we went on to Long John Silver's to eat, stopped by my house to feed the animals, and then went back to Four Seasons. He talked to Lisa for a little bit as we checked out, and then we went back to his house for a little while. We cleaned up his room a bit, and then I headed back home so he could go out and do stuff with Lisa for a while. I actually headed back to Four Seasons so I could talk to her a little bit before he got to her, but he got there just as I did, so I just came back home for a while. I waited around for a while, mainly sitting at my computer. Later Travis came back on and said that he and Lisa were finished for good. I went back up to his house to talk to him for a while. Then he wanted to go to Hastings, so we went by there to browse a bit. Then I took him back home. I stayed for a little while, but then his parents decided it was time for me to go, so I came back home. I tried playing Max Payne for a little while. It seems that after spending some time in bullet-time, diving around, and shooting bad guys, I tend to get a bit bored of the game. After that I watched some TV and went to bed.

---

8-11-01

I got up early again this morning so I could take my mom to the bus stop to go to Tunica. On the way there, we passed Rachel Trusty, who was on her way to the junk shop. I made a couple faces at her, and continued on to Wal-Mart. I dropped my mom off, and headed back home where I sat for several hours, halfway asleep for several hours. Later in the afternoon Travis Simpson wanted to run around town, so I went to pick up Angie Jennings, and then went up to Travis's house. From there we went to Hastings to look for some neat stuff, and then we went to Staples so he could get a gamepad for his computer. We went back to his house so he could get ready for work, and Angie and I went back to my house for a while. Then I remembered I had to pay a bill for my mom, so we ran that errand and came back home again. We came inside and sat around for a while. I tried to configure a gamepad I had gotten myself, but the thing didn't seem to want to work right. Chris Standridge stopped by to pick up a spindle of blank CDs I was going to sell him, because they were too slow for my burner. He stayed for a little while, but then headed out. After a few hours, Angie and I went back up to Travis's house for a little while. Then we took her back home, Travis and I went out to eat, and then went out around town for a little while. We finally wound up back at his house where we spent the night playing video games.

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8-10-01

I got up early this morning to go to Sarah Conley's going away breakfast at Stoby's. Just as I got on my computer, Thomas Hollingsworth told me that he was about to call me just as my MSN name had asked. I got ready and headed on over to Stoby's to meet everyone. I was there with 4 others, eating breakfast and getting a bit of last-minute gossip from Sarah. We finished eating, paid, and then Sarah, Nikki Holbrook, Rebecca Leubker, and I went outside to talk for a bit longer. Becca left first, and then finally the three of us split. I went home for a little while and screwed around on the computer for a bit. Eventually I got back up to go, went to pick up Angie Jennings, and headed to the high school to find Mrs. Little. We couldn't find her at first, so we stopped for a little while to talk to Mr. Murdock. After that we continued on through the school looking for Mrs. Little. First we found Mallory McKinney, who had seen Mrs. Little. We all went out so I could talk to her about the envelope she had given me, and then we went on to Angie's house for a while. I played some Nintendo while Angie sat on her computer, and Mallory rested on Angie's futon. The time finally came for us to head out, so we went to Mallory's house so she could get her dress clothes for the wedding later. On the way back to my house, we stopped by Sonic so Mallory could get something to eat. I got myself a nice little root beer float. Then we came back to my house to kill some time. Eventually I took them back to Angie's house so they could get ready for the wedding. I came back home to get dressed myself. They called me to rush me along, I went to pick them up, and we headed on up to Mt. Nebo for the wedding. There were a lot of people there, so we all had some fun. After the reception the three of us changed clothes so we could go mountain climbing for a bit. It started to storm a bit though, so after sitting out for a little while, we headed back down the mountain. We drove around for a little while trying to find something to do, eventually going back to Angie's house to hang out for a while longer. Later in the night, we had to take Mallory home, so we dropped her off, I took Angie back home, and then I came home and went to bed.

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8-9-01

Last night I set my name on MSN Instant Messenger to ask anyone to call me between 7 and 8 to wake me up. I was happy to wake up this morning when Sarah Morrison called. We talked for a little while as she got ready for her trip to Texas. She was going to Six Flags with her church. Just after I got off the phone with her, my sister jumped into the shower, so I just went back to sleep. I didn't go out in the morning like I had planned, but I didn't miss anything important. I wound up sleeping for most of the rest of the day, and woke up later when Jason Huynh called around 5:00 to ask me over to work on his computer. I showered and headed on over to his house to work. We actually didn't make any progress at all on either machine. Compaqs are evil little devils. We gave up for a little while to go get snow cones. Sarah Conley and Rebecca Leubker were working there and gave us a couple free ones, and Sarah invited me to meet her and some others for breakfast at Stoby's tomorrow. She's leaving for college then, so this is one last chance for everyone to get back together. Jason and I went back to his house and worked for a little longer, and then I came home. I fiddled around on the guitar I stole from my sister's room, watched some TV, and mostly sat back and listened to music. I should probably try to get some sleep before a nice long day tomorrow. I think I'll try my trick again and see if someone on my MSN list will call me to wake me up.

---

8-8-01

My day didn't turn eventful until the late afternoon. I had plans to go to the movies with Angie Jennings later in the evening, but until then I had gotten rather bored. Apparently I wasn't the only one with nothing else to do, so I went to pick up Sarah Morrison. We drove around for a little while, not quite sure what we wanted to do. At one point, we pulled up behind Travis Simpson, making a run for Papa John's Pizza. We followed him for a little while, and eventually ran him off into the Kroger parking lot. I misheard him when he told me where he was headed and tried to be of help, but wound up leading him in the wrong direction. Then I realized what I had done and he went back out on his own. About this time I realized what time it was and ran off to get Sarah back home on time. Through some great miracle, we made it through weekday rush-hour, and we were only about 5 minutes late by my clock. Later she told me how amazed she was that her mother let a youngster like her run off with some horrible teenage gangster like me. Her mom told her that she had seen my site one day after Sarah had been to it, and figured I was a decent guy, or at least not a mass murderer. I suppose it's comforting to know that my readers don't think I'm a COMPLETE psycho anyway. From there I came home for a little while to see what Angie was up to. She was ready to be picked up, so I went to get her. At first I thought we were going to go find a card for Bethany Raines's wedding this Friday, but she told me we should make one instead. On the way back to my house, we stopped by her house so she could get me an envelope she had gotten from Mrs. Little. It was a strange little package, with miscellaneous pictures (most of which had no relevance at all to my existence here on earth) and a couple pieces of useless paper. I'll have to visit her tomorrow to see what it was all from. Angie and I came back to my house to try to make a card, but the juices of creativity had ceased to flow. I hadn't eaten yet, so I scarfed a little bowl of my traditional "rice and meat" meal, and then we were off to the movies to see Jurassic Park III. It had been a long time since I had been to the movie theater. They had made some really nice new theaters, with cool elevated seats with arm wrests and cup holders, and everything! We sat near the back with all the talkers and strange little kids. I'd have to say this is the first Jurassic Park movie I have ever seen that left a warm fuzzy feeling inside me. A total of only about 6 people were killed by dinosaurs in the film. 4 in the actual part of the movie with a plot, and 2 in the beginning that were driving a boat. The T-Rex was dwarfed by a giant reptile duck with a fin on its back, too many people lived just out of luck, and the raptors weren't killers. They just wanted their breakfast-like offspring back, and were happy to leave after they got them. After the movie was over, Bill Mackay came in "beat me up" because of the huge "mess we had made." We bid goodbye, and went on out to the car where we met Mitch Graham and Ashley Hardin, apparently doing things together again. Somehow I managed to acquire Mitch's keys, and made quite a show in the parking lot. I love panic buttons on car remotes. That, combined with a couple "trunk poppings" made for quite an interesting moment. I finally gave his keys back, and was off to take Angie home. From there I went home for a little while, to an empty house. Travis Simpson asked if I wanted to hang out, so I went off to his house for a little while. We went to Hastings, then to Wal-Mart, and finally to Perkin's to eat a bit. From there we went back to his house to hang out for a while. I finally realized the time and headed back home. I started to sleep some, but happened to wake up just before Travis messaged me online, so I talked to him for a little while as I wrote today's log. I cleaned up a bit, and am now about ready to go back to that ever-so-comfortable fluffy mattress/bed thingamajig.

Oh, and by the way, we went out last night and got sooooooooooo drunk. ;)

---

8-7-01

I got up early this morning so I could take my sister to her band practice, and then take the car to Wal-Mart for a free tire rotation. I was just barely skimming the surface of consciousness when Angie Jennings called me to wake me up. We talked for a little while, but eventually my sister got up and I got ready to go out. I went by to pick up Angie on the way to taking my sister to the high school. We dropped her off and went to Wal-Mart to get the car worked on. Angie and I wandered around the store for a while as we waited. I got a little toy motorcycle, and we got a nifty little swimsuit for Mallory McKinney. The guy from automotive never called us over the intercom, so we just went by to check if the car was done. It was, so we went out to get it and debated what to do next. We were both a bit hungry, so we decided to go to Perkin's for some breakfast. We actually wound up getting an appetizer sampler, like I usually get. It wasn't exactly breakfast as such, but it was good all the same. We still had a bit of time to kill before my sister was to get out of band, so we stopped by K-Mart and wandered around for a little while. We eventually continued on to the high school to get Mallory and my sister. My sister lunged into the car first, so she took us to McDonald's to eat. I just got a McFlurry, and we all sat around joking about human hairballs. When we finished, we went to Angie's house to pick up some props for a movie we wanted to make. Then we stopped by my house for a little while to get some more stuff. We eventually got going again, and had my sister drop us off at Mallory's house. Her brother was asleep, so we couldn't do the loud scene we wanted to. Instead we went out to wander around in the woods. My biggest mistake was to take the camera along with us to capture anything "exciting" that we might have found. We stumbled through brush, weeds, thorn bushes, and creeks for quite a while. Mallory insisted the stream had been much cleaner in its earlier years, but had now been trashed with beer cans, junk, and among other things, what appeared to be a vibrator. I don't know what it was doing out in the woods, nor do I care to guess. We continued on down the dry stream for a while, and eventually tried to make our way back out to the road. Angie got stuck for a bit, and then instantly caught on fire - at least that's what she said it felt like. She started to break out a bit as she yelped in fierce pain. We made our way out of the woods and back to the house as quickly as we could. We couldn't think of anything that would give her such an allergic reaction. She had never been allergic to the normal poison plants like poison ivy or the like, so it was quite an experience for her. Mallory made a couple phone calls and found that it might have been stinging nettle. Angie was in horrible pain, so I called my sister to have her come pick us up again. We threw everything into the car and headed back into town. We stopped by Angie's house to see what she could do there. We tried baking soda water, followed by a couple types of creams. After a short while, we figured it would be best to leave Angie alone for a while, so I called my sister yet another time to come and take Mallory and me back to my house. We hung out for quite a while, outside, inside, with bouncing balls, and spinning tops. We had Angie call us when she was feeling a bit better, and we talked for a little while. She decided she felt good enough to come over, so Mallory and my sister went to pick her up and bring her back. We laid back and watched X-Men for a while, but Mallory had to be home by 10. Just over halfway through the movie, we decided it was time to head out, so my sister got me permission to drive the girls home. First we dropped Mallory off, and then Angie, and then I came home and finished the movie. I got on the computer for a bit longer before heading to the shower to get ready for bed. I should be able to sleep pretty well tonight, after such a nice, long day.

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8-6-01

I didn't get out much today either. I have been in a rather bad mood, however. I got up in the afternoon, and showered before Travis Simpson came over to borrow my books, Jurassic Park, and The Lost World. My mom reminded me that I had to go pay my bill for college, so I left him at home to teach my sister a few chords on the guitar, and I ran to pay my bill. When we stopped to pay my bill, my mom insisted that the car sticker be removed from the bill, to save her a whole whopping $10! Wow mom, now you can pay back 1/500th of your gambling debt! I came home to find out Travis had left, so I sat around for the rest of the day, sleeping a bit more. Later in the evening, Mallory McKinney called me on three way with Angie Jennings. We talked for a while, but after a while Angie had to go, soon followed by Mallory. It was about that time that my dad came in and ordered me out into the other room. My mom had told him how I had pushed her around horribly when she tried to remove the car sticker from my bill for Tech. I came out, told the non-melodramatic truth, presented valid and logical points, and then lost my case due to the "I am your mother, I am god" factor. By means of some strange narcotic or perhaps consumption of large amounts of mushrooms, my mother seems to believe that she will have access to a car more often if my sister parks it all day at the high school, rather than I park it for a few hours a day at Tech. Such "fuzzy logic" is only truly understood by very few people, mainly those named "Hoa Zelnick." There appears no other way to win this argument than to simply prove my mother how very wrong she is, and make her eat her words. In the mean time, I'm stuck without driving privileges. Now may be a good time to resurface our old charity organization. I think $50 would be a fair goal for this month. Please mail donations to:

The Galloping Cow Charity Organization
908 Lancelot Dr.
Russellville, AR 72801
United States

I'll get a nice bar or something up to keep up with this month's donations. Personally I'll be excited if I get anything at all, much less to reach my goal. If nothing else, the names of those who donate will appear on a nice little plaque, or perhaps more appropriately a nice HTML table. Until then, chew on this.

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8-5-01

I didn't do a whole lot today. I woke up in the afternoon, showered, and sat online for a bit. After a couple hours, I got ready and went to return the key to the Outdoor Living Center. I came back home for a while and sat around some more. Later in the evening, I got Angie Jennings to come over for a while. We went digging through my boxes of junk, at first trying to find my tie, but soon forgetting about our quest as I reminisced through old toys and trash I had collected over the years. We eventually found my tie, so I'm ready to go for Bethany Raines's wedding this Friday. I cleaned up about half of my stuff, and then we sat back to watch cartoons for a while. Angie had fun with my little blue, two-footed platypus. I took her back home by midnight, and then sat around for the rest of the night, bored again, and eventually went to sleep.

---

 

8-4-01

Today's the day of the Damage LAN party. I got up early, showered, and packed up to head out to the party. I stopped by Paradise Donuts to try and pick up some breakfast, but they were completely out. After that I went by Price Chopper to get a pack of Dr. Pepper for the party. From there I made my way to the Outdoor Living Center, set my computer up, and got things all set up. Before we knew it, it was time to order pizza, and when it was ready I started to head out to pick it up. Just as I was leaving, my sister pulled up in the van, so I just had her take me because I had to pick up some cardboard as well to cover up some of the windows. We got the cardboard, stopped by home, and then went to get the pizzas. We borrowed a couple of heatwave bags as well, to keep the pizzas warm. My sister and I came back to the party for a while. She stayed for quite a while, but eventually left. At 4:30 I had to go back to Domino's to drop back off the heatwave bags. I'd like to point out that, although a novel idea, it was more of a pain to have the things than it was a convenience. I talked to Matt Farrar, who was working at Domino's, for a few seconds as I dropped the bags off. I was stuck in the van because my sister took my car, so I went by her friend's house to swap cars with her. I went back to the LAN party for a while and played some. Everyone was hooked on the very simple, very small, very *single player* game, Bridge Builder. Later in the evening, my pain of a sister came and swapped cars with me again. Later still, Thomas Hollingsworth and I went to pick up dinner for some people from La Huerta. On the way back, we went by a car full of spunky little people, bouncing and waving at us from their car. I sat back and pimped along in my cool......van. They turned off at Tech, and we continued on back to the party. We played on into the early hours of the morning, and eventually started packing up around 2 or 3. Thomas, Gary Metz, and I cleaned things up a little before everyone left. Thomas and I packed our stuff up in the van and I took him home, and then I went back to the Outdoor Living Center to sweep and mop the floor. When I pulled back up, some of the guys were still out talking in the parking lot. I went on in and swept up dust, bottle caps, and miscellaneous trash, and then mopped everything, including nice little sticky spots of orange soda and a few paint balls that had gotten thrown around the place. I got done around 6:00 in the morning and came home where I unloaded my stuff, got my computer hooked back up, and went to sleep for a while.

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8-3-01

I didn't really do anything this morning. I talked to Thomas Hollingsworth for a bit on the phone in the afternoon. When my dad got home from work, we went by Tech to see if I could turn in my check for fees. They were closed, so we came back home. After I dropped him back at home, I went out with Thomas to run errands and prepare for the LAN party tomorrow. We went by the Outdoor Living Center to pick up the key for the building, and got the tables set up. We'll go back tomorrow morning to finish setting things up. After we got finished, I went over to Travis Simpson's house where I hung out with him and Dustin Olson. After a little while, we went to Wendy's to eat, where we ran into Sarah and Beth Post, and another friend of theirs I don't really know. Dustin left us early, but Travis and I stayed behind to talk for a while. Eventually Travis had to head back home, so I ran around looking for something else to do. I stopped by the coffee shop for a little while, but not many people were there, and it was rather boring. I decided to stop by Angie Jennings's house to see if she could come out and play. We went around looking for things to do, stopping by the snow cone stand to see who was working, driving by the coffee shop to see who else had shown up, and finally wound up going to playground at Sequoyah Elementary. We swung and talked for a while, then walked around the playground to the other side to explore all the new things that have been installed since I went to school there. After that we went by Kroger to get some Nerds. Along with that, I got some other little snacks, including sunflower seeds and a big package of popsicles. We came back to my house and sat in my room for a little while eating popsicles. Eventually she had to head back home, so I loaned her The Little Mermaid and The Wizard of Oz, two movies she has not yet had the privilege of seeing. I took her home, and then came back to my house for the night. I called Thomas and talked for a while longer, and am now ready for some good rest before a long day of LAN partying tomorrow.

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8-2-01

I slept for most of today. I got up once to eat, went back to sleep for a while, and got up again later and sat on the computer for a while talking to people. I talked to Thomas Hollingsworth for a bit on the phone, and then later in the afternoon Jason Huynh came to pick me up. First we went to Tech to try to pay his bill for college. Then we went towards his house, stopping by a car wash first so he could wash his car, then by the Dollar Store, and then by the snow cone stand because I saw Nikki Holbrook working there. Then we continued on to his house where we tried to fix his computer. We took a couple breaks to play Super Smash Brothers, and ordered a pizza. This time I actually got paid to fix his computers, a whopping $50 that fills the hole in my pocket nicely. I'd a whole lot rather do this for a few hours than unload a semi full of junk, regardless of the coolness of the stuff I'm unloading. At one point we wanted to come back to my house to test his CD burner in my machine to see if it was bad or if his computer was just rejecting it all of the sudden for no reason. We think the drive is bad, but we sat in my room for a little while playing Nintendo and having a little video conference with my pal Melanie Tompkins from Tennessee. After a little while we went back to his house to continue working. I got a bit farther in fixing things, but his Compaq decided to have Compaq qualities - that is to say, "gay" qualities. We took turns holding each other back from bashing the thing with a baseball bat, and then he gave me a ride back home, where I sat for a while in the early hours of the morning reading E-Mail and relaxing to some nice, soothing Jars of Clay MP3s. I feel like such a freaking hypocrite.

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8-1-01

I woke up early this morning in preparation for the day of mountain climbing we had planned. I was too tired, though, so I went to sleep for a while longer. Angie Jennings had Sarah Conley call me to wake me up later, so I got up and got ready to go. I went to get Angie, stopped by Sonic for breakfast, and then went up to Travis Simpson's house. He bailed out on us, and wasn't even home, so we went to get Mallory McKinney. From there we went back to get an ice chest from my house, and then to the grocery store to get some food and drinks for our climbing. On the way to Kroger, I got pulled over by a couple of cops that had parked at Sequoyah Elementary School. They didn't make too big of a deal out of it, and just asked me to slow down a bit. We continued on, got our food, and headed up the mountain. We went straight over to Danger Bluff and climbed around there. We climbed down quite a ways before turning back up. We took our backpacks along, but left them behind a couple times, so I went to pick them up. After a couple hours of climbing, we went back up to the top and the girls made lunch by the car. We rested for a little while, and then went to the park up on the mountain. We played around there for a while, and I got hungry enough to make my lunch. After we finished there, we headed over to the visitor's center for some maps of the mountain trails, and then came back to town. We stopped by Travis's to see if he was home so Angie could gripe at him. Then we stopped by her house so she could get her swimsuit, and then came back to my house. We sat around for a short while, and then we went out to swim for quite a while. Angie kept trying to get a sunburn, in which she was successful. We eventually came inside and I made them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We came back inside where they both laid in my bed while I sat at my computer playing music. They both started to doze off a bit, tired from our day of climbing. Eventually we all got up and went to Wal-Mart to look for some Nerds. We didn't find any, strangely enough, but I got a couple packages of Jelly Bellies. We went to take Mallory home, followed by Angie, and then I came home and relaxed for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep.