Summertime Blues... And Maybe a Comparison or Two

You would think that since school is out, I would be happy, wouldn't you? Wrong. I am not. All I have to do this summer is work. And I'm not really getting paid for it either. And, I have to sleep outside, due to the fact that I have not exactly had a great semester. I got a bad grade in Chemistry. Bad enough that I won't tell you what it is. Suffice it to say, my father thinks it is bad enough to have to sleep outside. I must say that this will be a rather eventful summer, and I can say for certain that I cannot wait until school starts. I am in fact, going to be a senior next year, so for all of you who read this, don't be surprised. I turn 17 soon, so it isn't much of a surprise to me. Anywho, I don't have much to look foreward to this summer, but my senior year should be eventful. I might even share a class with my brother... :) Of course, he doesn't like the idea, but he could get lucky and we could have the class at two different times in the year. I don't know why he doesn't want to be in Journalism with me. It's not like I am going to go around telling everyone his deepest darkest secrets. (Which, by the way, if you want to know them, I can set up a meeting, and we can discuss the terms...) :) I should be more worried than him. The Journalism teacher already knows my brother, so he might expect me to be like my brother. One thing you need to know, if you don't already, is that my brother and I might look similar, but we are distinctly different. My brother is the exactly opposite of me in body. Whereas I am a little shorter than him, he is now a little taller than me. He is skin and bones with a fair amount of muscle, and I am chubby, also with a fair amount of muscle, though it doesn't look like it. He looks better than I do, and you can tell very easily. It is this simple: wherever he goes, the girls almost literally follow him. I have seen so many girls stare at him, and I can only imagine what is going through their heads. Most likely things about him being cute, or how he is really funny and nice. All of which are true, and it pains me to say that I must accept this as a fact of life. That is not to say that we don't share the same traits. Besides physical looks, he and I are the same when it comes to our personalities and our ways of interacting with others. We both adopt the same tactics, though he is more foreward and hot-headed, whereas I am more subtle and quiet. I speak of him as my opposite, and that isn't far from the truth. If you were to see us both, you would find that to be very true. But, in all fairness, there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. If something were to happen to him, I would be beside myself with guilt and worry. That would shortly be followed by a sound beating and chastening of the person who dared to mess with my little bro. Nobody does anything to my little bro without my permission, and as he can tell you, I don't give permission lightly. Oh well, enough about that. Surely, you noticed the difference between this posts and my earlier posts. I am in a rather contemplative mood.

Steer clear of avalanches,
ZW

Warning: Entering "Debt Imminent" Zone!

Yes. That type of debt. No, not "Oh, I owe you a few dollars and a date" type of debt. No. I'm talking huge debt, like, to the tune of 3,000+ dollars!!! Actually, I don't know the exact price, 'cause my Dad is getting the quote now. Quote for what, you ask? Oh, yeah I forogot to tell you why... Here it is. My dad, bless his heart, let me drive his 2012 Volkswagon Jetta TDI yesterday, because my car was out of gas. (You can see where this is going, can't you?) He specifically told me, "Don't damage it, or wreck it. You aren't insured to drive the car." Now, normally this wouldn't be a problem, because I am a very good driver. Now, as bad luck would have it, I hit the back of someone's trailer not 3 minutes from my house. Don't worry. I wasn't hurt, and I didn't think the car was either, but I freaked out and drove off. Turns out, that you're supposed to stay put and exchange insurance information instead of driving off. That, I found out, was illegal, and a felony to boot. But, I was on my way to the Stake Center for what was to be a relaxing Martin's Cove Readers Theatre. WRONG. I spent the entire hour with my head in my hands, worrying about how my dad was going to kill me dead. Then, he was going to bring me back so he could kill me again. I imagined many other scenarios, all of which ended in my own untimely death. I came home, told my dad, and we got the person's info. Luckily, the damage went to our car, instead of his trailer. All I have to do is pay the guy for his broken trailer taillight. No big deal. However, our car got more damage. It only hit the area directly to the right headlight and it's corresponding side of the bumper and the quarter-panel. Turns out, one (me) has to replace the entire bumper, the headlight casing, and the quater panel, to boot. I owe him a not-yet-known sum of money, and hopefully, my new summer job will assist me in paying off my debt to him. He took it better than I thought. I heard no swear words, no mean phrases whatsoever. When my brother (foolishly) asked him why he was taking so well, what with the absences of profanity and such, he gave a very profound answer: "What good would swearing or complaining do? It's not like it's going to fix anything!" Unfortunately, he is correct. Only money and hard work by someone else can fix the physical damage to the car. But, very few things can fix the emotional damage that happened to myself. That is two motorized vehicle accidents that happened in as many days! The other? Oh. Yeah. That one was the one where we (my two brothers and I) accidently hit our grandmother with our little red lawn mower tractor. That, we haven't told Dad of yet. He doesn't know, and as much as I want to keep it that way, our grandmother told us that we had to tell him, or else it might come up in conversation. And when stuff like that happens and he doesn't know, he blows it all out of proportion... I won't bother telling you the whole story, but she only has a bruise on her leg, a small cut, and a new wariness for lawn-mowing tractors. So yeah, that was my weekend. Sounds fun, don't it? Well, hope you guys had a good weekend, steer clear of avalanches!

ZW

A Tournament! (And some painful injuries to boot)

As the title suggests, I hsve recently attended a tournament for Karate. As you might also know, assuming this isn't your first time reading this blog, I have vividly described prior to this post the experiences I have had in Karate. Doubtless, I have painted for you, a bleak and painful scene. Let not this distract you from the reality. Actually, wait. It isn't really all that distracting. It IS reality. However, all people at the dojo try to make it as simple and painless as possible. Not that it works. The tournament went well. Since I made the rank of black belt, I had the obligation....(Oh, did I just say that??) I mean oppurtunity to compete against all the otherblack belts in my age division. I got third place in both my events, due to the skill of my opponents and my slight lack of preperation. i messed up on my kata because I almost sweeped my OWN leg out from underneath me, and I sparred another sensei who was much bigger and much more skilled than myself. Technically, since I was in my own division by myself, I amq the winner and recieved, in my mind, a gold medal. I like to think that my second bronze, for sparring, is actually a bronze covered, GOLD medal. Along with my medals, I also gained a few injuries. Yes, I know. A real shocker. Heaven forbid I injure myself while doing one of thhe most dangerous sports on the planet. Well, news flash, I have always played it pretty safe while I have been in this sport. This time, I walked away (or hobbled away, in this case) on my own two (injured) feet. At first they were just pained and hurting. Lo and behold, as soon as I got home, I found that the tops of my feet were actually swollen to about two inches higher than normal. Yeah. Fun, huh? My mom keeps asking me if I think that my bones are broken, and they may or may not be taking me to the local doctor's offices for a more serious examination... I took some pain killers and sat down on the couch, read a few books, and then decided to check my email and do this post. Anywho, you all stay out of trouble, don't hurt yourself.

Oh, and steer clear of avalanches!!! (And sparring matches.)
ZW

Back in Idaho... CRAZY time begins!!!!

Howdy all you Whiteout Lovers, (The few of you there are...) I have arrived back in Idaho, and I must say that it is good to be home!!! However, my life just got 10 times as crazy! As much as I enjoyed my 3 month vacation, the people, the places, the TV, etc, I forgot what it was like to be home and have little time for recreation. My three month hiatus was well deserved, and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, back in CRAZY TOWN Idaho, my life is much more full. Now, most of you might think, "Oh, how could a homeschooler have such a crazy life?! They don't even have friends or go to school!" WRONG. We have a secret life that none else knows about. So, next time you think about aksing a homeschooler one of the typical questions, you should really be asking them, " PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU!!!!" Anywho, now that I am back, I get to go back to Karate, Mutual with my friends, and the mutlitude of chores that I had before. I hear that my sensei(s) are excited to see me. That does not bode well. That normally means that they want to catch up. Catch up on what you ask? Oh. I don't know if I should tell you... Ok, FINE, you win. They want to catch up on the pain they missed out on. And the learning that I missed. Oh, and don't forget that fact that one of them is on a mission, and therefore there is an opening, that both my brother and I need to fulfill. Anywho, I won't keep you any longer. I am sure that you have plenty of stuff to do, not including looking at my post much longer.

Stay safe, and steer clear of avalanches,
ZW

Almost Done...

J-Term is almost over!!! All I have to do is turn in one more activity log (on Friday), and do my presentation which I will have to do in the next hour or so, and I will be A-ok. But that doesn't leave me much to do. After this, I am going to be so bored... anywho, got to get going.

Been A While...

Howdy, y'all! And may I say, it is a good time to be in Texas. I have heard from all of my friends in Idaho, and we seem to have very bad luck. We picked a bad time to leave Idaho. In fact, this was the worst time to leave, because it seems that we aren't avoiding the snow at all!!!!! It has barely snowed at all. Though, it is supposed to get worse, and we won't be going back until at least Feburary. Right now, as of Janurary 5th, I am working on J-Term, and as of now, 12:51 p.m. Texas time, I got my report card. I am not happy. I have 1 A, 4 B's and a C. I also am now officially in trouble. C's are not cool. And I did all I could to improve my grade. I gave him the extra credit, and when he recieved it he told me that he couldn't view the videos. I asked him to send them back to me so I could put them someplace he could view it, and he didn't do anything!! But I really can't blame him. It was my fault. I can't blame him for my problems. So now I have to pay the consequences for my actions. Or my IN-action. Anywho, my parents haven't really said anything concerning my punishment, but the general rule is grounding until the midterm of the next semester. So, goodbye Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced 2: Grimoire of the Rift. I won't see you until March or April. Sorry. This also means I won't be blogging for awhile, not that I actually am very good at keeping a schedule...

Anywho, later folks! That's all for now.
ZW

The Updates...

Hello, you Whiteout fans out there. Whoever you are... So it has obviously been a while since the last time I posted, but much has gone on while I have been outside of my snowy home. I am now elsewhere, where these is SUPPOSED to be NO SNOW!!!!!! With my luck, I most likely brought the snow with me, though, the people here could really use the moisture as well. Christmas is coming, and instead of the goose being fat, I am!! I am steadily, slowly gaining some more unneeded weight. When you are 5'8'' and 175 pounds people tend to think that you are, well.... fat. Not true, in my case. I am stout, chubby, if you will. When people ask me how I am doing, I say "Chubby and Happy, how bout' you?". This normally elicits laughs and some chuckles. Here in our temporary house, we have little to do that doesn't include looking at some sort of screen. The only things I can do that fall under this category are reading and napping. And the lack of breakfast food makes mornings bad. Well, I won't complain anymore, at least where you guys can read it...

Later, and steer clear of avalanches!
ZW