Halloween

So, my costume isn't finished yet, but here are some updated photos. Enjoy!

The American College Test

I'm off to take the ACT. . . right no. Hopefully I do well. *crosses fingers*

Hormones

Today I've officially decided that I hate teenage hormones. . . . . Good thing its Friday and the term ends today, so that we all can get back to our normal lives. . . .

My "End of Term" Vent

Hey All y'all! Here's my vent for the end of the term. This is basically copy pasted from my article (in fact, it is) which will appear on Thursday, so be glad you don't have to wait that long.

And now, the feature presentation!

I’m going to just come straight out and say this, as bluntly as I can, because I can say it bluntly. The “last week of the term” is the worst. There seems to be a cloudy haze that covers everything when it’s the last week of the term. We’ll call it the “Haze of Misfortune,” for lack of a better word. It seems that in the last week of the term, there will always be one gigantic assignment due, or even a group project, along with some type of essay in English. I call this the “ Essay Without Fail Principle.” On top of that, as hard as you try, your grades still will drop, no matter how well you did on that last test. So you are struggling to do as much extra credit and make up work to attempt to bring your grades up, but it just doesn’t seem to work. To add to the rush of things, there will usually be a band/orchestra/choir concert during that week. By the end of the week, you’ve lost a considerable amount of hair, due to pulling it out by your own free will.

If you haven’t picked it up yet, I’ve just described my last week of the first term of my senior year. Yeah, I may be whining just a little bit, but it’s all for a good cause right? I mean, I’m not the only one going through this. So are all the other seniors in my class. Maybe, these are pre-symptoms of senioritis? I’m not sure. What’s the best part about the last week of the term? Having it end, and starting brand new again the next week. Lets hope I make it that far. May the “Winds of Term Two” blow away the “Haze of Misfortune” to all my readers. Have a great day.

Ahhh The Memories. . . . .

I just found some videos of Jam Camp and thought I'd post one. This is a band I played in, and we got to solo with Wycliffe Gordon!!!!! AHHHH!! :)




This one is of master bassist Brain Bromberg, this is CRAZY STUFF!!

Coyote Gulch, The 4 Day Hike!

Okay peeps, this has been a much needed post, with lotsa pictures and lots of stories. I'ma try to remember everything that happened over fall break, so bear with me.


Coyote Gulch, its a marvelous place, down south, near Escelante. In other words, the river that carved the gulch flows into Lake Powell. Now you know where we are headed.
So we started our drive, about 6 hours. This is what we looked like:



After driving for 6 hours, it was time for sleep. We all layed down our tarps, and snoozed. Bro. Derricott is still pretty excited, as you can see.



Walking up the next morning was no big deal, we were all excited.



Ahhh, nothing like a Southern Utah sunrise!



As we were cleaning up camp, Kaika decided to roll up his mat, and what did we find, a centipede, that was no joke, about a foot long. Yay for creepy huge bug number one.




Surprisingly enough, we were the only Utah license plates at the trail head parking lot. Remember this Iowa plate, because we'll come back to it. . .



After hiking a while, you come to a ledge, where if your pack is too big, it must be lowered off the cliff in order to fit through "the crack." Here we are lowering our packs, and going through the crack. The picture of the random guys? They are the Iowa guys! Don't worry, I told them I took a picture of their plates. :)






Another beautiful pose by Brayden. (not)



This is a log in a tree that we did NOT put there, but a flash flood did. It gives great comfort as to what I would look like if a flosh flood got a hold of me.



Anyone for espresso? or Muddy water? All I'll say is Yay! For filters and pumps.



My first, freezing, wet, cold step in the water.



We found some quicksand, and it was really bizzare to play in. I didn't think it really existed.



Just watch the video. Its more quicksand stuff.



Kevin, our leader decided it would be fun to play with us in the sand. Little did he know that the air pocket underneath would pop and he'd get stuck really far in. It got kinda scary there for a second!



My hobbit feet. Don't worry, I didn't do the whole hike barefoot like Frodo.




Again, just watch the video. It was pretty crazy!




Here, we are preparing the boiling water for dinner, and there's nothing like the smell of boiling water for stir the senses.



This is called beef stroganaff. . .



Josh pretending to puke beef stroganaff. . . actually it wasn't THAT bad.



All I'll say is Kung Pao Chicken. . . ewwww



This one is me really puking, after the breakfast of scrambled eggs. Only joking, but I did NOT like the eggs. They tasted like cardboard.



The joy of filtering water out of mud. . .



We did see some cool Indian Paintings though. . .



This is our little campsite, viewed from the Indian Paintings.



Coyote Arch, we hiked under it. . .duh.



Just a cool picture of water cutting rock.




Jacob Hamblin arch, the biggest piece of rock I have ever seen in my life.



Cool bug number two, a big, hairy, tarantula!



Me and the infamous Out n' Back canteen, that Hannah still needs to get so we can be twinners.



And yet again, more filtering. I just realized that I spent a lot of time doing that. . .



These next few photos are a series of me literally climbing out of the canyon.





This is my " That was easy, whats your problem climbing out of the canyon?" face.



I decided to take a risk, and climb out onto a ledge and take a picture of me with some huge rock. You can't even comprehend how big this all is. My camera lens wasn't big enough to get everything.



This is a view of the tiny river, from where I was standing in the photo above.



Walking out. . .






Funny story here: After spending two nights upside down in the rubbermaid container, Jam had enough and decided to go "AntiGravity." Note how the bottom is empty and the top is full.



My "Morning" pose. (Ummmmmm......)



We hiked a slot canyon called Spooky, and this is a picture of my feet against the wall. That big white thing is my belly and its only about 3 inches from the other wall. My back is right up against slick rock. . . Really tiny!



Steve was a little bit to big to go through sideways, so he got to crawl. I just wedged myself in the slot above him and took a picture. . .



A tiny crawlspace. . .




And sadly enough, this is when my camera died! *is crying* But Brother Derricott took a lot more photos in the slot canyon and he said he get them to me. I may or may not put them on my blog.

Overall, the trip was AMAZING! It was so diverse, but it was really tiring, and I'm glad to be home. I think that if I didn't see red rock or sand for the rest of my life, I'd probably be just fine. Lets do it again sometime!! WOOT WOOT!

DoorBell Ditching Part I

Have I got the story for you! Today, my cousin Kiffin and I decided to go doorbell ditch Mr. Fong's house. (We just happened to be in the neighborhood *wink wink*) So we planned it all out, ring the bell, hide behind the neighbors boat. It seemed so innocent. Kiffin rings the bell, and we both run to hide behind the boat. Right was we crouch down, a big white truck pulls into the driveway that we just happened to be sitting in. . . oh no! I'll type the rest tomorrow, cuz I still have to see what Mr. Fong says. . . so you just have to wait! :) hehe

Testing Technology

This is a test of my new Blogger widget. . . hopefully, if this works, It'll be easier for me to post a blog. . . cuz I'll see the dialog box every day. Hehe ;)