Sunday, August 30, 2015

From the Blue Notebooks, Vol. 9

     The last portion of the blue-notebook journals I kept off and on in high school. Editorial comments are in brackets; I just got back from D.C. on Youth Tour as we start this post.

     Sunday, 6-26-11
     Hey,
     Wellsir, as Uncle Billy Watson would say, "No rest for  the wicked, and the righteous don't need none." Been busy doing something since the 10th, every day. Ken is real bad sick, maybe a stroke, they don't know exactly, but he had to move into the nursing home[where he used to work, and his little sister Nina lived]. They're taking it pretty hard. Saw Nano on Wednesday, she seemed in pretty good health. Dayla's kinda mad at Mom, we missed archery(but nearly everyone else did, too. It was scheduled at an odd time.) Cars 2 came out on Friday. I've nearly got all of my pictures onto Facebook, guitar is going all right, but barre chords are a bit tough. The Coxes were in Dallas visiting family, so Ryan taught Sunday school instead, it was good, about legalism. Hopefully I can get some school done this week. Camp is the 25th-29th, it'll be Courtney's first year, she's pretty excited. It'll be nice to go back.

     Wednesday, 7-13-11
     Hey,
     It's been hot. First time in 14 or 15 days the high was only in double digits. Got all my DC pictures up, & got the official pics, too. Lorene leaves for the national YLC on Saturday. Swifty died of heatstroke. :/ Mom got another baby Alpine goat named Frolic, she's cute. And tiny. We saw Cars 2 at the Orpheum in Okmulgee. It was really good, but I can't make comparisons until I see it again. Full-blown spy movie. It was supposed to be the last archery today, but Dean totally forgot about it, so it was moved to August 24. Spent most of last week installing furniture at Morris' new elementary school, & we moved the last session of Henry V to Monday. Me & Samara got a practice in on "Temporary Home", we made some progress. Needs a bit more work on the timing, though. Just about got registered for the ACT, that's good, I guess. Trying to finish my algebra book by September. The NFL & NBA lockouts are still going on... Ken isn't doing much better. We went to Louise & Harry's last night to see Trish, Vonda & her kids, Grandpa stopped by, too. Good times. Softball should start soon, & football on its heels. And we'll find out who made Oklahoma Living, too.

     Tuesday, 7-19-11
     Hey,
     Sport died. 12 years, 3 months & 5 days old in people years, that's about 86 in dog years. We'd just moved to Morris, I was 6, and Courtney hadn't had her first birthday yet. Horrible way to start the day, huh? Then Dad ran his truck over a bucket of white Kilz, spraying it all over the side. (He got most of it washed off.) Everyone's been irritated, there's a huge mountain of algebra awaiting me, and I only got three loads of laundry done. Pretty terrible day. At least there's camp on Monday. This has been a bad month for pets. Still triple-digit temps every day.

     Wednesday, 8-3-11
     Hey,
     Camp was a huge blessing. [See the year's recap there; the next year was even more so.] Frisbee, ping pong, good teaching, friends(re: Ashland, Jed, Jon Lange, Matt, Daniel Noah, Madelyn, Marshall, Eva, Joanna Ivie, etc., etc., etc.) It was fun. And also scary. Sam & Jed both passed out, & Eva gashed her eye open. It was a really different year, a full third of the campers were new. I think the Lord will keep blessing the camp, we've all gotten a lot out of the teaching, I think Courtney enjoyed it. [This was the year of the black eye due to the touch football game.] She got a FB, too. Senior year started Monday, hopefully I'll survive, lol. Little sick lately. I got into Oklahoma Living, due to spacing issues, they couldn't run the journal entries, & since they needed something about Youth Tour, and I had the only (I think) complete summary, it was inserted and seen all over the state. Pretty awesome, really. It got to 113*F this afternoon, it's crazy hot. The NFL will go on as scheduled, the NBA, probably not. I might get to do some stuff for Vype's website, I'll meet with the editor of the Eastern OK magazine Friday after guitar. [This did not work out. Also, OKBlitz had just shut down.] I'm getting close to getting the playing by tabs. Not fire-my-guitar-into-the-wall close, but that Plain of Discouragement close. Jed has a very large crush on Samara...haha. [It was funny....then. Later? Not so much.] Josh is in Wisconsin, the Wrights just got back from their last family vacation, to Yellowstone & Mount Rushmore, before Cody leaves for boot camp in Nov.

     Tuesday, 8-16-11
     Hey,
     Started the Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 from the Muellers, it's actually making sense! Not sure how often I'll write, Herman & Larry want more space in the Free Lance, and the Dewar lady, Sunny Tiger, might do their football again. So, softball, or just a few football, or nothing til basketball, Idk. Going to do a bit for the Vype website. Amanda & Jed have had some relationship troubles, looks like I'll be Dusty again... [Reference to one of my fictional characters.] Trevor's birthday is tomorrow, he's extremely excited. He'll be nine. I need something to happen....it's kind of lonely doing school & talking to friends through FB & texting. If the Nolands did drama, that'd be great...but otherwise, though I'd enjoy it somewhat, it just wouldn't be worth the effort. Looked around Books-A-Million today. [This was the night Bennett and Courtney were initiated into the GBC youth group; Sam helped us kidnap Courtney on the way to CherryBerry. It was fun. And gave us something more to tease her with.] I want, somehow I need, to get at least one book published. I just hope when I do, it'll be a good one. But hey, if that's not what God has planned for me, well, I'll be okay with that. Frolic's growing well, we've had Copper nearly a year, Sunny has been going downhill.

     Saturday, 9-3-11
     Hey,
     Been spending a lot of time looking at colleges. It's kind of scary. Overwhelming. Terrifying. Glad I have friends who tell me to relax. [Sam, Jed, Amanda, Ashland and Daniel were probably who I meant here.] Had a good talk with Ashland Tuesday, it was strange, but good. Registered for the SAT, October 1 at Bishop Kelley. Went to the Kellyville-Beggs game last night, it was my first HS game solely as a fan since fourth grade. Good to see Bill, Mickey, James & Larry again. We nearly had a mini-YT reunion, but me, Danielle & Bailey G. couldn't ever quite find each other. Jed's coming down in about three weeks, it'll be cool to see him again. Dad's working security in Stillwater, we might have a garage sale Saturday. Going through new songs at church, which is always good. Softball is nice to watch, but tough to write. hadn't had much time for fiction or guitar.

     Monday, 9-19-11
     Hey,
     It's been one of those times when there's a real conflict of emotions going on. Mimi's birthday was yesterday, she'd have been 64. It was kind of a tough day. Suzanna was baptized, & we sang an old song I know real well for the first time. Today was beautiful weather, algebra went pretty well, the SAT is less than two weeks away. We had a movie night at the Coxes' Friday, saw Facing the Giants then picked it apart afterwards. Pretty good discussion, we played a lot of chess, & grilled pizza. Jed's coming down next week, that should hopefully be cool. The garage sale didn't go so well, between eight and ten customers all day, & $75 profit. It feels wrong to not be covering football games. Need to do a lot of praying, Lizzie's been really discouraged, and Jed & Amanda are both pretty torn up as well. I don't want to take one side or the other, I just want it to be worked out however it should be. 9/11 was also tough. It was a weird feeling, it wasn't the kind you should have. It wasn't remembered anywhere near enough. We went to a Tulsa Shock game after church, it was like wrestling: An experience you want once, and then never repeated. Bad basketball, bored fans, & lesbians. Dad's inspection business is starting to pick up group, he's excited about that. I wish I could pen down all my feelings lately onto paper and be able to use them later. There's too much to write here. Book sale is this weekend.

     Sunday, 10-2-11
     Hey,
     The book sale was great, like it always is. This week has been stressfull. Took the SAT at Bishop Kelley yesterday, we got there at 7:15 am, the test started at 8, and ended at 1:10 pm. There were about fifty or sixty people taking it, half of them Asian or India Indian. I think I did okay, but won't know til the scores come in in November. Mrs. Boyer and Jed came in from Lawton, their visit went pretty well. Mom & Mrs. Boyer got along pretty well, Trevor liked meeting Jed, there was a lot of ping pong. [A lot. We had to break in the new table, though, so...and when you have a houseful of extremely competitive people...] We had a cookout last night, Paige, Katie Carmichael & Samara came over. We also played some Apples to Apples. Me & Jed had a long theological discussion, on topics from the Christian's response to science and denomination differences to why we fear; and pondered our mistakes and desires, as well as whether or not we should study past failures to not repeat them(I say yes, he said to ignore the past, since we can't change it.) We stopping stopped at 1:40 this am because Dad wanted us to get to sleep, & we were keeping him awake. I'm worried. Not so much about me, now, but about Amanda, Jed and Samara. Pretty much, he dropped Amanda for Sam. He fell head over heels for her, & she for him, though doing a somewhat better job of hiding it. Mrs. Boyer doesn't approve, neither does her dad...it's a mess, and it's only going to hurt everyone involved. It's painful to watch, feeling so helpless, witnessing th genesis of yet another of the world's nasty breakups. On a lighter note, it was Marie's 18th birthday today, she's going to see TobyMac at the fair tomorrow night. Josh & Mr. Cox asked me to be assistant worship leader, I might start that in a week or two. Softball's done - is my sportswriting?

     Tuesday, 11-1-11
     Hey,
     I scored an 1800 on my SAT out of 2400, got a 660 in Reading(91st percentile), 620 in Writing(86th percentile) and 520 in math(51st percentile, hadn't taken geometry yet). I only got a 7 out of 12 for my essay. Oh, well. I have about two or three weeks of Algebra 2 left. I'm going crazy just spectating at games. I don't know how to just watch. Thursday is Senior Night, which is weird, and kind of sad. I've never known school culture, yet I think I understand some of what everybody'll go through. Last night was Halloween at Westville. It went better than expected. The best part? Talking to Nano & passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Wish I would've brought my recorder. She was telling how she & Lois used to make popcorn balls, and one time a man in overalls, etc, walked right in and sat down on the couch! And they looked at him and wondered....and then he pulled his mask off & it was Julie Cagle, who came twenty miles just to play a prank on them. I feel irritated, lonely, sort of. The year's going by too fast. I don't feel like I belong anywhere(well, in a sense I don't), and an overwhelming grief for people in general, their sins and mistakes. I either need new songs to learn, or a new instrument to learn. I'd like to write something great. But maybe I just need to keep plowing along, with newspapers in smalls towns, and Facebook fiction nobody reads. Maybe I can serve God better in that way. I've got a tangled plot set in HS that I can't even make sense of, and a well-developing one in a setting I know needs work.

     Friday, 11-25-11
     Hey,
     Thanksgiving was yesterday, it went pretty well. Caleb, Trevor and I watched the Macy's parade, Tosh Fletcher was in it. We went to Grandpa's , ate, talked, watched the Dolphins-Cowboys game, visited everybody at Louise's, then came back for leftovers and dog petting. Lillyanne won the betting, she was two pts off as the Cowboys won 20-19 on a last-second FG by Dan Bailey. Ken died this morning. Kind of hard to process that yet. Applyed[applied] for a job at Beggs General Store, need to check on that. [Didn't get it.] Need to apply to colleges and take CLEP tests, but, that kind of takes money...and my acoustic is messed up, something wrong with the B string tuning peg, won't build up tension. Started as co-worship leader for the youth group last Sunday, that went okay, it'll take a few weeks for me & Josh to get the timing down. Samara's grandpa died a few weeks ago. It's been kind of tough knowing how to help. A nice old lady Jed knew died, he's having a tough time with that. Lfe's just been kind of stressful. I'm really missing Youth Tour, and thankful I got to experience that.

     Tuesday, 12-27-11
     Hey,
     First off, OSU won Bedlam in astonishing fashion 44-10. It wasn't enough to get to the national title game, though. Didn't get the job(or any at all) yet, Christmas went all right, it was like usual: Holiday-spirits for a few days after Thanksgiving, then guilt, fear, uncertainty and thankfulness. Got a new Bible, two sets of guitar strings and a Chick-Fil-A calendar. Geometry is making sense.

     (In the large gap here, I created this blog on the afternoon of February 24, while Mom was visiting with Trinnica.)

     Monday, 4-9-12
     Hey,
     In Louisville, KY fro the Together for the Gospel conference. Me, Josh, Dylan, Mr. Cox, Mr. Rusco, Mr. Pickard and Paul Stefan left at 8 am, stopping for gas and breakfast at Joplin's Kum and Go aroudn 11:30 am, a pack of Hostess donuts & Diet Coke makes a fine meal(and it's only $3.33). MO is a beautiful state, all through. Breathtaking. The road seems natural, to have grown there; you don't drive to make great time, you drive to have a great time. Crossed into IL at 3, SO IL is like Hwy 16 between Morris & Muskogee, with Maryland trees interspersed in thickets. SW IN is straight from Hoosiers, nothing but flat farmland. Passed by New Harmony, I can see the landscape Philip Gulley's characters live in. SE IN is hilly and wooded, freaky alone feeling. Spent two hours in Illinois, two in Indiana, got to the hotel(Galt House) at 8:30. The place is fancy. Even nicer than the Embassy or Hyatt in DC. We then after checking in went walking(WALKING) around Downtown Louisville at 9 pm, looking for a place to eat, we found this high-class place called Bistro 301. Bursting with culture here. It was an adventure something like jaywalking thru DC. Saw the Arch[from a very great distance], added three states to my 'been to' list, weird facts: Once we left OK, didn't see one toll booth nor casino. Conf starts tomorrow, we'll see how this goes. Nearly everyone else fell asleep. Sharing room w/Mr. Rusco, Dylan w/Mr. Cox, Josh w/Paul Stefan, Mr. Pickard has his own room, 19th floor.

     Tuesday, 4-10-12
     Hey,
     Second day(first full) in this city on the Mason-Dixon Line which produces 80% of the US bourbon supply and 90% of all disco balls[according to a brochure I found somewhere in the hotel]. Ate Panera for breakfast after a Starbucks run/Bible study time, ran into this black guy named Lasadhi, he was waiting for his bus, reading James 2 on his iPhone, we talked for about five minutes, then he prayed for us. Toured the Lousivlle Sligger Factory Museum, that was really cool. Italian place called Louigi's for lunch, much too $$ and food, these places are all like that. One meal is all you need for the day. Thank goodness for Clif bars. KFC Yum! Center is nice, 8000 people is quite a few for something non-sports-related. First day of the conference went well, preaching was good, the panel sessions interesting. Got 17 free books, we stalked Mr. Pickard halfway around the room before he spotted us, haha. Held a bat of the first guy they[Louisville Slugger} made bats for, watched how they make them, got scrapwood for free, they were playing "The Story of Us" on the speakers in the gift shop. Paul Stefan not feeling well most of today, walking all over this downtown is interesting, feel like it's an episode of Doc. Ohio River is enormous, wonderful scenery, neat buildings. Charging camera battery now.

     Thursday, 4-12-12
     Hey,
     This was a good trip. Glad I came. There isn't many times you know God's speaking to you, but this was one of those times. John Piper is a very good preacher. Of course, those other guys are, too. Messed up stomachs most of today, not that cool. We're okay now, though. Met Gunner yesterday, that was kinda neat, met a youth pastor at a Tulsa church named Joey; he was a character. Protein bars are good investments. Had dinner at this bar called Bluegrass Brewing Co(BBC), neat place. Mr. Cox and Mr. Rusco went to a special meeting on marriage after the session last night, me, Dylan and Josh watched SportsCenter, it was cool. [I was texting Sam there, too; trading updates of how the week was going. Josh's sister Natalie knocked most of her teeth out after a stroller accident.] The Yum! Center has some severe faults - Too few bathrooms(four) and too congested walkways. I like the Ford Center/OKC Arena/Chesapeake Arena and BOK Center much better. Good trip. [We all} had lunch w/Ana Marie yesterday, tomorrow's Friday the 13th. :/ Two weeks til enrollment meeting, one month until graduation. Early start tomorrow, better run.

     That's all.

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