What a Steel!

The vacation from which I have just returned was the best I have ever taken. There was so much to enjoy and so much that I loved about it. I experienced the thrill of parasailing, something I have marveled over for quite some time. I remember being in Ocean City and seeing the big parachutes in the air over the water, wondering how high up the people were. In the Bahamas, the water is clear. It is magnificently unclouded by anything, except the fine sand. It is so fine that you can not even see the grains. I compare it to Squand, that sand that is solid under water, but regular and dry out of it. It is so soft and smooth.

Anyway, the time came for my mother (who says she's afraid of heights) and I to get hooked up to the line, which was connected to the boat. We stood on the platform in the ocean, with some apprehension. We were all hooked up and we exchanged a glance of shock with each other. We semi-collected ourselves for the last time and then we were on our way up. Both of us thought we would be freaking out the whole time, but there was no time for that. There wasn't enough time before we were up to worry about anything. We just looked in awe at our surroundings- the see-through water, the endless horizon. We could actually see the whole entire island of Grand Bahama, which is only seventeen miles wide. We saw the other side and it was spectacular. When we returned to the platform, we could not believe what we had just done. Four hundred feet up in the air over water may not sound exciting, but it is and I highly recommend it.

The second best experience in the Bahamas was meeting the entertainment at Coconuts, the outdoor bar/sitting place. There had been a band there the previous night and they were OK, but not the best. This time there was a two-piece band with a drum set and a steel pan drum. Being a drummer/percussionist, I was immediately intrigued by the two. I was amazed at the steel pan. My mom went over to talk to the man behind it, Davie. I then heard my name being called. It was my mom and I went over to where she and Davie were talking. Davie asked my name and how I got started with drums. He then handed me the mallets, (which were just short sticks with rubber tips) and my whole face lit up. I could feel it. I just started whacking out some notes and it didn't matter what it was, anything sounds awesome on a steel drum. That was amazing. The drummer then stood up and handed me his sticks (which were regular drumsticks) and I took a seat behind the set. I played some standard beats because I couldn't really think of what to do. I was in such bliss. It sounded better than what I played on the steel, I'm sure, but the steel stood out. All this time, I had an audience. There were a good number of people sitting and mostly drinking. I did not care if they were paying attention at all, I had the best time. Now, I really want a steel pan.

While in Disney, before the Bahamas, my step-brother and I were wandering through Innovations. I think that is what it was called, maybe Innoventions. Anyway, it is a part of Epcot that has somewhat futuristic things to do sponsored by various companies. Most of the stuff though, is just really neat, like Segways. I got to ride on one and that was really cool. One area was done by IBM, the computer company. Their set-up was a video game, where you were the star. Small booths took our picture while we ran, jumped, and danced. Then we went over to an arcade machine and started playing. It was really fun, and you can even play it here. While waiting for a spot to do all this, the line lady who stood at the entrance of the area said, "Just a minute, then you and dad can go to booth number four." I didn't quite know how to take that. I hadn't shaved in a few days, so I did have some stubble, but not a lot. I couldn't really feel it, anyway. Apparently I look like I could have a son who is almost twelve. That means I would have to have been six or seven at the time of birth. I laughed and we just went into the booth.

Today, I was walking with my younger cousin who was riding his scooter around the block. Let me just say, I love that kid. He is hilariously funny. He makes the most random comments and does some really funny things. We went around the court and then on the way back down the hill, he fell off his scooter into the ivy in the neighbor's yard. I think he was exaggerating just a little bit, but I asked him if he was alright. He said "Yeah, I just tripped over this," pointing to a crack in the sidewalk. It was all good and we started towards the corner, then turned left to go up the street. About halfway up the hill, I told him to start over to the other side, so we walked across the street. He started to get a little pace, but he was careful and he kept his foot on the brake. A little ways down, he fell off again. He was on the ground this time, unlike the first spill. I asked him if he was OK and this time he wasn't. I knew it really was not that bad, so I ran over to him goofily. He started to laugh and he showed me his knee. "Now, you look like me," I said, showing him my knees, which had been beat up from the bottom of a pool. There was a lady on the corner who was spraying weeds. (That sounds good, a lady on the corner with weed. Let's try that again.) There was a woman from the house on the corner who was spraying weeds around her yard. (That's better, right?) She saw my cousin fall and asked if we needed a Band-Aid. I said, "No, we're right up here," gesturing towards my house. She said "OK," and we started for the house. A few steps later, I heard, "Happy Father's Day!" I turned back and thanked her and laughed to myself.

This was twice in one month that someone thought I was a father. I had the same amount of facial hair as last time, so that wasn't what made her think it. At least this time, my "son" was younger; he's only five. That means that I was thirteen when he was born. I find it all very amusing, but at the same time, perhaps a little scared. There are people out there that think I could be a father. I am very honored by this, of course, but I'm just eighteen now. Hopefully, when the time comes for me to have my own children, I can be a great father to them. I pray that God gives me all the skills necessary to be a great one. Happy Father's Day to all the real fathers out there and to the future ones, too.

And They Have Guns...

This vacation has, so far, been the best I have been on. I believe we're talking best of all time here. We'll just have to see when it's all said and done. Speaking of what's done, I have experienced the riches (believe me, they're quite rich) of Disney World and the wetness of Wet 'n Wild. However, the journey getting there had its own ups and downs. One such instance occurred in a small period of time, when I was driving.

I only drove for about two and a half hours and, on the way to lunch, I encountered first-hand the classic "moron". After I got off the exit, I started searching for someplace to eat. Burger King was the first place we saw, so I started in that direction. I had to turn left in order to get into the parking lot and there was a lane for doing so. I made my way into that lane, but before I got to the line where I would wait for no opposing traffic, it appeared- the "moron", also known as "idiot", "imbecile", or the descriptive "stupid". (Note that any of these words may be combined with other names, depending on the subject at hand.) This particular moron came from in front of me, crossing his lane and entering my left turn lane. I was about half way to the line and he was about to occupy that same space. I immediately started braking and I threw my arms (both of them, probably not that smart) into the air and shouted "What are you doing!?" I knew that the moron could not hear me because loss of hearing is characteristic of morons. I continued with verbal assaults at his intelligence, however not with a horn. The horn would do nothing but scare the moron even though he couldn't hear very well. The moron finally realized his errors (there were multiple) when he was about ten feet from my vehicle and swerved back into his habitat, wherever that was.

Then, not even a minute later, another moron appeared. It is somewhat abnormal for morons to be near each other because of all the stupidity. They don't realize how dumb they are and will begin attacking each other. They are too dumb to learn that they need to stay together for their own good. Anyway, as I entered the parking lot, the second moron was there, blocking the entrance. I could not get past it. She would not move, but she could see that I wanted her too. She tried with all her heart (because there is no brain) to get out of my way, but to no avail. Again, it took a moment for her to notice her mistakes.

I evaded the morons as best I could, but they did get me in the end. Thankfully they were not the armed kind. A lot of ads for shooting ranges and gun shops were heard on the radio. I just kept thinking "And these people have guns." It would have been so much worse if the morons were armed. They could have killed themselves, or even others such as myself or my passengers. They are everywhere and we must all keep our eyes on them if we don't want to become one of them. Here's to a moron-free vacation and life for all of you.

What's Going On?

Well, what? This past month of May has been a very busy one, and it will not slow down until after I graduate, which is this Friday thankfully. Yes, high school is all over for me on June fifth. It has been a great four years, and I am ready to move on for the most part. I am done with all of the repetitiveness of high school, all its drama and annoying people. However, I will miss some people, like the ones who I have been with for four years. I was going to talk about this later, but I'm just kind of rolling into it.

The people that I have seen every day of my four years of high school, in my Agribusiness/Animal Science class, are some great people. I have had the pleasure of getting to them them quite well and four of them hang out with me pretty regularly. Did I mention that my whole class is girls? Yes, everyone, except me, is female. That fact has really not posed any problems with becoming friends with them. I have/had a couple of guy best friends that I was close to, but I do not see them often, so we have drifted apart. I now seem to spend my time with girls more often than guys which, if I had not gotten to know the girls, would have been weird. And of course, there's my wonderful girlfriend who I love to be around. I really do not know what else to say, except that these girls have made high school better and I will miss them.

In other news, I kind of need a job. I have applied at Chuck E. Cheese and Target and have not heard from either of them. Well, I did get an e-mail from Target saying that they could not offer me a position. That was two hours at Target wasted. I went back two days later to find out that their "Now Hiring" signs really mean "Cashiers Wanted" because that was the only position open. I tried to apply for that, but the machine said that it already had my application stored. I do not know if that means that it applied for cashier for me, or it just denied me. Anyway, I might go and see if Chick-Fil-A is hiring. I saw on snagajob.com that they were hiring, but I do not want to join the site just to apply. On their website, it just said call the location for which you wish to apply. I might go there tomorrow and see. I really do not want to be a cashier. I can do it, but it just is not enjoyable for me. If that was not my duty all the time, I could do it, but I definitely do not want to be only a cashier.

As my high school career comes to a close, my college career will begin in a few months. My major is Criminal Justice with the option in arts, I think. There was an option in legal studies, but that's more law jargon and stuff that does not interest me. I am still unsure about a career, but I can figure that out later. I do know that I am excited for the future opportunities that will be coming my way, and I will remember high school as a time that helped make me into the person I am today.

(No) Unconscious, but Awake

I have been thinking, thinking an awful lot. Well, it's not an awful lot. It's been good stuff, not awful. So, I have been thinking a good bit. There, that's more positive.

I'm in Ocean City right now for the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I have been participating in this event for the past two or three years. I think three. I really like all of the discussion that goes on. I'm not sure how many people are present, but there might be around four hundred, or maybe more. There are ballots on different topics, resolutions on various subjects. There can be amendments to the constitution or adjustments to the agenda. There are microphones set up (two for "in favor of" and two for "against") in the aisles between the rows of seating.

The particular resolution to be voted on dealt with youth/young adults attending the Assembly. It called for an additional voting member to participate in going to the Assembly. There was a motion made to take the resolution back to be reviewed by the committee. Then, the discussion started. There were people in favor of it being reviewed but against the resolution itself, people against the committee but for the resolution, and every other possibility. It's a good thing the air was blasting in the room, because discussion got heated very quickly. At least twenty people got up to speak their opinion into the microphone. Discussion on whether or not it should go back to committee lasted for about fifteen minutes. It was cut off by a "call to question" motion, which calls for a vote to decide whether debate should keep going or not. The results were to stop debate.

Then, there was debate on the actual resolution itself. People against it, were mostly reluctant to go against it because youth/young adult participation is almost nonexistent. I would say the average age in the room was around 50. The Bishop had informed us earlier that there were just thirty five people under thirty five. They had all those who were under that age stand up to be recognized. It felt great. Anyway, the people who were against the resolution were all older people. The people in favor of it were mostly younger, but there were a few older ones as well. Throughout another fifteen to twenty minutes there was heated debate on the resolution. That's the part that I enjoy. Older people were questioning where the young people were. I was right there. I almost got up to speak, but another "call to question" was called. I was a little disappointed at myself for not speaking, but it was fine. The debate was halted and the vote on the resolution itself now occurred. Fortunately, it passed by a margin. It wasn't a great margin, but it did win. I was happy with that.

On a lighter note, we walked on the boardwalk on Wednesday. Our hotel is located at the very end of the boardwalk, just one street away from the final twenty seventh street. The whole boardwalk is two and a half miles long. We walked all the way up and all the way back. That is a total of five miles walked. On the way up, I wanted to stop at The Kite Loft. I didn't really find anything that I wanted, but I found a cool sled kite with a jolly roger on it. It was seven dollars, so I got it. (Thank you, mom.) We walked the rest of the way up, then just a little past all the way up, we stopped to fly the kite. It was a perfect day for kites, nice and windy. As soon as I let the kite go with a little bit of line, it took off. I stood there and let the line go for a while, not all the way out, but a good length of it. Feelings of child-like emotion rushed through me and I felt very light, as light as the kite.

Later on the way back, we stopped for some food. We saw a sign for fried Oreos. I was skeptical at the idea of this, but my mom persuaded me to try them. The first bite was incredible, and it got better as it went on. They were so delicious. I love Oreos anyway, so why not deep fry them? To be honest, if I had a deep fryer, I would be putting all kinds of food in there. It's probably for the better that I don't own one, for health's sake.

As you might be able to tell, I am typing this. I'm really here. I'm going to start blogging again, and of course I will continue with poems and songs and writing in general. Yesterday, I'm not sure if I was tired or what, but I felt like I was unconscious. However, I was awake. It is the strangest feeling I have ever experienced, but it was a good one. I was just floating there. That's where the latter part of the title comes in. The "No" part, obviously, is an answer to my last post.

I suppose I should end this post now. I'm sitting on the side of the room, semi-listening to the people on stage talk. Thank you and have a great day.

Is it the End?

Good day, everyone:

I am writing this letter to inform you that I may or may not be posting anymore. I have been using my observations to write poems and songs (songs still with no guitar) lately. I consider what I have written to be somewhat successful and hope to publish a collection of poems, songs, etc. sometime in my life, once I have written an amount worthy for a book. I would like to thank all those who have supported me with this endeavor and to those who will keep supporting me.

Sincerely,

Marc

White "T"

"T" being tea, that is. I just drank some white tea, which is supposed to be one of the best for you. It is disputed whether it is better than green tea or not. I am unsure, but what I drink is quite delicious.

Right now, I should be getting caught up on the Web Design class I am taking online. It has been a learning experience. Basically, you learn HTML, and how to apply it and make a web page. I really have learned a lot. It is a non-credit course, so there's no hassle and no need to turn in any work. There are nine or ten out of twelve lessons available and I believe I am almost done the seventh. There are five chapters in a lesson. Typically, after a lesson is completed, there is an assignment (which builds on previous lessons; this gets annoying because of the repetition) and a quiz (these are usually easy). Neither the assignments nor the quizzes are required. They are optional;all that you must do is take the final exam. That is the only way to get a certificate of completion. However, as you can tell, I am not currently doing that.

Oh yeah, thank you to those who donated to the Laptop Fund. I got a very nice Dell Inspiron 1525. I love it. It is so much easier to use (and more fun, may I add) than the desktop computer. Sometimes the Internet craps out on that, but on the laptop, the wireless never fails. OK, I got it for Christmas from my father.

This was the best Christmas I have ever had. Not only did I get a laptop, but also a drum set. I don't know which is better. I think they are both so amazing! I have wanted a drum set for, I don't know how long. As you may know, I play in my youth group band, Chosen. Now, I can actually practice, which for sure does not hurt. Not that I am anywhere near bad at drums, but definitely far from perfect. Like I said in a previous post, I am learning to play bass, too. Once again, it's just the memorization aspect of it all. We should jam some time!

Let's talk books. For the first time since I was very young, I am reading. It is rather scary. I have read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for school, which was a very good book. A lot of my peers did not find it appealing, but I thought it was great. Then, for an outside reading project, I read Saint by Ted Dekker which, admittedly, I was reading before the assignment was given. That was a little interesting, not as good as I thought it was going to be, being a bit anticlimactic, but the message was what was important. What's scarier is that I am reading purely for pleasure, not having been assigned anything. The scariest is my choice of books- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I had heard of it before, not knowing what it was. I knew it had to be somewhat strange, for Heath Ledger used it to develop his Joker character. I was intrigued by that and one day while at the mall, I went into a Borders to spend the $6.40 I had left on a gift card. I expected to walk out with Khaled Hosseini's other novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, but somehow walked out with A Clockwork Orange. I recommend finding more out about it. It has not ceased to amaze me yet and I don't think it will. I was also browsing George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm. Maybe I am just attracted to curious, and possibly bizarre, books.

So, there is an update on everything. (Pretty much everything, anyway.) I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's and wish you a good one for 2009.

The New Stuff

So, here are the two things that I have written. Refer to last post for more information. (Again, you should read The Silent at least a couple of times.)


The Silent
Do you hear the silence?
It's screaming it's so loud.
Deafening silence, screaming silencing silence.
Screaming silent silencing silence at the silenced silent, who beg for silence instead of screaming.
They are the silent screamers who scream for silence and when they get it,
they will be screaming.


(This is the song that I wrote, but I can't play guitar or piano...or trumpet for that matter. Refer to last post.)


Watch Out
Gonna march right in there
Gonna get what I want- Yeah!
Better not get in my way, now
You better watch out for me

You think I'm a pushover?
Well you won't see me comin'
Better get out of my way, now
You better watch out for me

Hey look out now!

So maybe I'm a pushover...
The reason you don't see me coming
is that I'm not really there, am I?
Please watch out for me...


First stanza- Starts off fast and really big. Possibilities include a full orchestra.
Second stanza- Still large.
"Hey!"- Starts the long musical interlude. Could have a few solos of various instruments. Dies down at the end to only strings.
Last stanza- Not robust, very quiet; defeated.


There they are. I finally put stuff up. Please tell me what you think.

Thank you

This is my own original, creative work.