The Life and Times in America: 2010

Friday, November 9th 2007, Wake up time: 6:30am

I got to school and I went to the teacher's café where we helped prepare for the Day of Dialogue. I hung out with Cortney for most of it and we moved tables and such and the refreshments we'd bought. A good way to always win people over is to buy them cake! We took the stuff down to the auditorium and I had a cup of tea to perk me up. We took our seats and spent the morning listening to the various speeches, most from external speakers, i.e. people who are actually good at giving them! They were mainly talks on what it's like to be homosexual and how hard it can be to be accepted by your peers. Touching stuff.

Monday, 8 November 2010

Last Show!

Thursday, November 8th 2007, Wake up time: 6:40am

I woke up and made myself some pastrami and cheese sandwiches for lunch. I got to school where my first lesson was history. We were doing some work on political cartoons for the hour. I then went off to my maths lesson where we continued to do graph work by using our calculators, thrilling stuff! I kid...

In literature, we had a vocab review... I only got a B+ which I was a little disappointed about, almost an A though! After that I headed off to Psychology. We watched a video on babies, which was very cute! Lunch was my sandwich but it was kinda squished and didn't taste great. I did get some free cookies though so it wasn't all bad!

I had my gym class fifth but I just spent the time talking to Julian as I wanted to save my energy for the show! After that I headed to film where we continued going over various key scenes in Casablanca so that we felt ready to write our essays on the film. After class I hung out with my usual motley assortment of people! I then left for my usual meeting at the GSA. We were preparing as tomorrow would be what's called a Day of Dialogue. This was where we did a speech on homosexuality and our support of people's rights to be with whatever sex they wanted. I also met Cortney. Cortney was a girl who I became relatively close with and I was there for her to talk to. She was quite shy and self-concious even though she was so pretty! I was able to help her feel better about herself. I think...

I walked home with Zahira and Nick, stopping off briefly to browse in the Sox store. On arriving home we went food shopping, but headed back so I had time to get ready for the show. I wore my costume under my clothes because if the audience sees you in costume it ruins the illusion! I had dinner of pizza and pastrami before heading to school for the show.

On arriving, I gave Mr.Byrne his present which he was very grateful show. Nerves pushed down, riding high on adrenaline, we stepped out onto that stage to perform for the last time, and it was amazing! The audience were great, so responsive, I didn't forget any lines and afterwards I had lots of congratulations! I did hear one woman saying that she was confused as to why I did an English accent, especially as it wasn't a very good one! Ha, what a fool!

As an entire cast, along with the cast of Scapin, we arranged to go to IHop for post-show celebrations. IHop is amazing, it's short for the International House of Pancakes and it's open all night! You can have pancakes at any time! I had eggs and ham with hash browns on the side and some sausages. I also had some cheesecake pancakes for desert. It was delicious! I regret not going there more often during my stay! Hannie kindly gave me a lift home as he'd come too. I arrived home, babbling excitedly and getting congratulations from Bev and Ralph who'd come to see it. I had school the next day, so despite the rush I had to wind down and get a good nights sleep.

Thanks for listening.

Sunday, 7 November 2010

Senior Show

Wednesday, November 7th 2007, Wake up time: 6:25am

I got myself ready for school and on arrival dressed up to perform to the Seniors. The show went quite well, but I think I'd done a better job the night before :/ They all seemed to enjoy it though! My favourite part however was the question and answer session following the performance. We were each asked a question about the performance. What was my question? 'Are you actually British?' It was a relatively silly question but I enjoyed answering with a simple 'yes' all the same. After the show, we talked about Shakespeare before I headed off for lunch.

Lunch was some pizza which was quite greasy! After lunch, I had more Psychology where we did some reflection work. We watched the end of Casablanca in film class before I had a directed study where I just walked around the school. This may seem like an odd thing to do but I genuinely liked just walking the empty halls and checking out the sights and thinking to myself. I saw Joyce briefly and we had a catch up chat but she had to go, so we didn't talk for long.

After directed study was over, I hung out in the main lobby as usual talking with various friends! I was very pleased to receive a card from Raquelle and Luke, two Seniors, which said I was the 'bestest actor with a British accent (apart from Hugh Laurie)!" I was very flattered and thanked them for their kindness. Hugh Laurie is well known in America as the British actor who plays Gregory House and in doing so does a very, very convincing American accent.

I went to Sweet Sue's, as per usual. During my stay, I hung out with mostly Seniors, so they had seen the show and kindly congratulated me on my performance. Whenever I act I always feel that I've not done that good of a job, but everyone seems to enjoy it. Or they're very good liars! After hanging out for a while, I headed home. On arriving home, I asked if we could go to Barnes & Nobles for a present for Mr. Byrne, to thank him for directing our play. I can't quite remember what I got him, some theatre book!

After picking up a present and a card for him, I was dropped off at school so that I could re-watch Scapin. I saw Erin, Tani, Talia, Claudine and Emily. We all took our seats and waited for the show to begin. I think their second show was even better than the first and I enjoyed it immensely. It's an impressive feat to present something someone enjoys twice in quick succession...well actually three times! After the show I congratulated everyone, who was very emotional as it was their last performance! You were for ages and then it's over so quickly! I walked home and before going to bed, called Gracie and had a chat with her. I was looking forward to our last night, as it's usually the best one!

Thanks for listening.

Saturday, 6 November 2010

First Performance!

Tuesday, November 6th 2007, Wake up time: 6:35am

I woke up early as I was very excited for my first show! I got dressed up in tights, which were rather comfortable! I wore them under some shorts. I had some time so I made my lunch for the first time in a while! I got to school and my first lesson was drama, but we were still doing direct addresses and it wasn't hugely exciting! For my second and third lesson, I actually got to watch Scapin again. They were performing it to the Junior year, and it was just as good and funny! We did a brief question and answer session after, and then I headed off to psychology.

Psychology was quite interesting, we watched a video called 'Real Boys 1'. It was about a boys who were interviewed about turning 18, and asked if they thought they'd become men. It was quite interesting because when do boys become men? Physically and legally in their teens, but psychologically? I don't know... After psychology I had lunch of mozzarella sandwiches. I also met two new people, Taylor and Lauren who were both Freshmen. I had gym fifth but it was just a normal workout session. We then continued studying American foreign policy in history.

After school, I came outside and met up with some of my friends in the Freshmen year, Bettina, Alex and Sam. I hung out with them briefly but then headed home. I wanted to get home quicker than usual as it was my first performance night and I wanted to be 100% ready! I did talk to Alex briefly though but I told him I needed to get home. Once I got home, I thought I'd take a nap to freshen up, which ended up being a two hour sleep! I woke up feeling more alert and took another shower. I shovelled down my dinner excitedly, a meal of mac n' cheese with roast chicken. It was then time for me to leave and perform!

I arrived at school and got ready, wishing fellow cast members well wishes! I don't need to go into too much detail here, just to say that the performance went really well! Everyone remembered their lines, cues and emotion ;) It was brilliant, we even got a couple of laughs! After the show I saw Hannie and Danielle, who'd got back together! Pah, they'd only been broken up a day! They congratulated me on my performance, and I was riding that usual adrenaline you feel after performing so well! I ran home, feeling very happy and looking forward to the performance we were giving to the Seniors. On arriving home, I talked to Bev and Ralph about how it had all gone, they were coming to my second night. I then tried to wind down and get to sleep! It was tough, but I managed it eventually.

Thanks for listening.

Friday, 5 November 2010

Scapin!

Monday, 5th November 2007, Wake up time: 6:35am

I woke up quite early and got my costume ready! I managed to get to school on time though! I had a lesson off instead of maths so Virginia and I hung out in Old Hall. We talked for a little bit about the play and how nervous I was! She told me I'd be fine though. We then headed to drama, where we practised direct addresses to audiences. I then had my American literature, where we were set up with a new seating plan because people were talking too much! There were questions on the book we were reading at the moment.

In psychology we watched a video which students had made the previous year. I enjoyed it because it featured Nick Jackson! He's a kid at the school that, for whatever reason, was one of the most popular kids. I then went to lunch of pizza and milk, but I didn't enjoy it a whole load because the table was so crowded! After lunch, I had my history lesson but I was quite tired and kind of fell asleep! I was more alert in film class though and thoroughly enjoyed watching more of Casablanca.

I went to rehearsal after school, which went very well! I enjoyed wearing my tights! After rehearsal I helped Julia who was doing the stage lighting for both shows. I wasn't performing until tomorrow, as Scapin was on tonight and then the Wednesday and we had the Tuesday and Thursday performance! I walked home, and went to look in the Red Sox merchandise shop again but it was closed! I did see Cecille, Julia, Stephanie and Nick in Sweet Sue's though!

I got home and quickly had a dinner of more pizza. I then headed back to school as it was almost time for the first performance of Scapin! We obviously had to attend to give our support. I arrived at school and saw the cast of Scapin and obviously wished them luck! (Or told them to break a leg, as it's bad luck otherwise.) I bumped into Hannie who had come to see Danielle perform, along with her brother A.J, Shoko, Fiona and Danielle's mother. We settled down to watch the play, which was very good and hilarious!

During the intermission, Hannie and I had a good adventure running around looking for bathrooms! It's so weird going round a school at night, it's kind of spooky! We came back for the rest of the show and then after I congratulated everyone, I headed home. It was pretty late, but I spent some time to talk to Gracie to tell her about the show and ask her to come to mine! She didn't think she'd be able to though :/ Hannie called, it was a bit late but it was okay because he needed to talk to someone as he just split up with Danielle...I was able to cheer him up though which was good! With a mixture of emotions, sadness for Hannie, excitement and nerves for my performance and a little bit of love for Gracie, I drifted off to sleep.

Thanks for listening.

Thursday, 4 November 2010

$20 For a Candle?!

Sunday, 4th November 2007, Wake up time: 9:25am

I woke up quite early and got myself some pancakes for breakfast. However, early in the morning the Carriers (Katelyn's family) came round to purchase some tickets to my show! They said they were looking forward to it, no idea why! However, they gave me a $100 bill! I went around to try and change it so it was in say $20 bills, but every where was closed! I also was instructed to get Danielle a fantastic gift to make up for such a brilliant birthday party! However, the only shop open was Monroe Saltworks, so I was forced to buy her something expensive and girly! I got her a small card and a scented candle, which did cost me $20!

I returned home and found Hannie had called, so I called him back and arranged to go round his house. I couldn't get a lift so I had to walk. This was an adventure I'll never forget! Basically, Hannie gave me some pretty vague directions to his house, so I spent quite a while searching for his house! I had an address but it involved running through various side roads and across streets and many, many times asking for directions! I found a guy with an I-Phone and he used his maps application, to point out I was...very far away! I ran through Ottoman as I had to take a short cut in that direction, and I finally arrived...tired and panting!

I had a coke and ice-cream at Hannie's before we hung out. We watched some youtube videos and then Hannie helped me run my lines. He then served me up some dinner of pasta and chicken wings, it was quite tasty! It was already quite late, due to my long walking escapade! I walked home, but I stopped off as I bumped into Danielle, so I walked her home before heading back.

I arrived home, and kept going over my lines, again and again and again! I was desperate to learn as much as I could! I only had lunch of oranges and a slice of cherry pie as I'd already had quite a bit of food at Hannies. Before bed, I kept just reading through my script, attempting to get the damn lines to stick in my head! I then headed to bed, first noting that Hannie owed me $25!

Thanks for listening.

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

The Saddest Thing...

Saturday, November 3rd 2007, Wake up time: 12:05pm

I woke up quite late, I think I was still catching up on the sleep lost during the World Series! I got myself a quick brunch of bagels with jam (our jam...). I needed some more clothes so we went shopping. I got myself a nice shirt for $17, some more boxers and a jacket for $16. It was rapidly getting very cold so I needed the jacket to survive the freezing weather! We then went in Broadway Shoes as I wanted to get some dress shoes for any formal I wanted to attend. I had trainers, but no proper, smart shoes. They were about $60, but very lovely, and I still have and use them! We then picked up some tights (I needed them for my role okay!) from Walgreens. Ralph didn't like that while we were buying them I kept saying loudly how I would feel like a transvestite ;)

I came home and got on with cleaning the bathroom as that was my chore for the week. It was mid afternoon and I wanted some more food so I made myself some macaroni and cheese. I needed to get on with tidying my room as well! The rule was that even if I did my chores, if my room wasn't tidy, I didn't get my allowance! Previously my room had been pretty tidy so I hadn't needed to bother. Damn shame I had to now! I got it done pretty quickly before sitting down to do a lot of homework, what a good boy I was!

The first piece I did was my American literature work, and then some maths homework which involved drawing some graphs. I called Gracie to have a chat, and we talked for a little while...her being gone is pretty unreal :/ Sorry! Positive right? I then called Tani but she was having a little bit of an emotional breakdown! I said I'd call her back sometime soon when she felt better.

It was time for dinner, a lovely meal of roast chicken, potatoes and broccoli! After dinner, we decided to watch The Green Mile, the second of our rentals. O boy, where to begin? Not only is it a fantastic adaptation of the book...it's the saddest film! It makes me cry without fail every time, in fact, when I need a good cry I purposely watch the end scene. After that moment of intense sadness, we watched Mad TV, which is a famous sketch show in the States. It's very funny and it cheered me up a lot! After the film and the television, I was pretty tired! Despite waking up so late, I was tired. I always find if you have too much sleep it sort of over tires you...weird.

Thanks for listening.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Stress!

Friday, November 2nd 2007, Wake up time: 7:30am

I was late awaking again, but I had to go to school so I quickly dressed and rushed out the door! I arrived at school, and I was late again! I had a drama lesson first, but as I was late I didn't get to do much. I then went to maths where we did more work on graphs, but I used the time to learn my vocab instead, as I had a quiz in my next period!

I went to my literature lesson, where I took the vocab quiz...it went quite well! I then went to American history, where watched a video on President McKinley. He was one of the few Presidents to be assassinated, and it was because he claimed he wouldn't need any bodyguards to a guest appearance that he did...turned out they were an excellent idea as he was shot. Well done to him.

It was lunch time, but I only had a nutritious meal of cookies. I used some of my lunch to go see my guidance counsellor as I was stressed about quite a few things! My biggest being my rehearsals and line learning and also homework and to some extent Gracie! What a lot on one plate. She helped me talk about it though, which is always something. I had film class fifth, where I used the time to run lines with Leah, as Mr. Byrne was still absent. My directed study was used in much the same way! I was seriously stressing about the lines I still did not know, so many paragraphs.

I then had rehearsal, where I met Ryan's friends Mikayla and George. Mr. Byrne was back for rehearsal, but I still did not enjoy it and was stressing over my scenes. I got to relax after school in Sweet Sue's though, where I met Rob who was one of the funniest kids I met that year! He and his cousin, who I met at a later date were too funny! We hung out for a while with various people before I decided to head home for dinner.

Dinner was a large meal of hot dogs, pizza, chilli dogs and carrots, it was a great meal! Bev suggested we go to the film store to pick up a film for that evening. We picked up two films, both that I hadn't seen. One was the film version of The Green Mile which I had finished, the second being It's a Wonderful Life which starred James Stewart. It is a film that is shown every Christmas in America so Bev felt I should at least be aware of it! It's a bit like The Snowman for us Brits ;) We arrived home and I chose to watch It's a Wonderful Life which was a lovely feel-good film. I think you have to be pretty soul-less not to enjoy it to be honest. After the film was over, I got an early night, I wasn't planning on getting up late again!

Thanks for listening.

Monday, 1 November 2010

Hot Shots Part Deux

Thursday, November 1st 2007, Wake up time: 9:25am

I woke up so late because either I had the day off or everybody did...not quite sure! I called Mum and chatted with her, I think it was half term in England...lucky bastards! America doesn't do anything like half term, they just have wicked long holidays! I played some of Knights of the Old Republic before just hanging out for most of the day. I didn't have any homework that urgently needed doing, so I didn't see why I would! I took a walk to the park, to just say I'd done something for the day!

I walked back home and it was already time for dinner! I had sat in the park for a little while, I like to just sit and think, it was a very peaceful place. Dinner was sausage and beans. I had a drama rehearsal that evening, as it was getting very close to the performance! I walked to school but stopped off at a Red Sox merchandise store on the way. However, I didn't purchase anything because there wasn't much I liked the look of. Ralph said he'd take me to the Fenway Park shop...where I did get some stuff at a later date!

I arrived at school and headed to the theatre. However, my rehearsal wasn't great though as I hadn't really practised my lines in a while! I vowed to learn them as soon as possible! I headed home, a little depressed because of how the rehearsal had gone...but then it had been my fault! I got home and watched some telly to try and cheer me up. Shame the only show we watched was Smallville! :( If you don't know, it's a rubbish prequel to Superman...i.e. a young Superman. It's not great and it didn't cheer me up! However, my desert did :D It was a delicious slice of Red Velvet Cake! What made the evening funnier was that we accidentally stumbled upon a film which was ridiculous! It looked like a copy of Rambo...but the acting was terrible! We quickly found out that it was Hot Shots: Part Deux which is a parody action film starring Charlie Sheen! It was pretty funny. I finished the evening off by calling Tani and having a pleasant talk with her, it was nice to have a new friend!

Thanks for listening.

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Halloween!

Wednesday October 31st 2007, Wake up time: 6:50am

I got up and got dressed up in my suit quickly. Ralph did my make up before I left, a lovely scar that went across my eye...just like Al Pacino's! It was very well done. I arrived at school, and I loved the excitement around and enjoyed seeing people's various costumes. Unfortunately, people were uncultured so many of them hadn't seen Scarface so they didn't recognise me :( It's okay, I had fun telling people!

My first lesson was algebra which went okay! I then had a substitute for drama...so more fun with Mr. Kim! Aaron Aptaker, who was hilarious, told Mr Kim that he had an idea for a musical and he wanted Mr. Kim to star in it. Honestly, the funniest thing I've seen in a while! Mr. Kim actually sang and made up his own lyrics. It was about a homeless man who just wanted to be inside a house...it was very good quality, best I've ever seen, until that afternoon!

I then went to my history lesson where we studied the American war in the Philippines in their attempt to colonise it. I then had a psychology quiz, which had a bonus Red Sox question, which I was very glad to say I got right! It was lunchtime, and I had a delicious meal of mozzarella sticks, pizza and some milk. The day was going great! Lunch was greatly improved by the fact that four guys had got together to dress up as the Village People and even performed a dance to their song 'YMCA' in the canteen!

I then went to gym class, but I was in no mood to work out! I just hung out with Julian and chatted. My last class was film, again with Mr Kim! We devised another musical, this one even better than the last! It was about a midget and a basketball player, both portrayed by Mr Kim to great effect. His improvised songs were what really made it. They argued and fought because they were such diverse heights, but it ended with them getting on beautifully!

After school, I hung outside. I saw Tani for a little while and talked with her and saw more people and their fantastic costumes. I hung out in Sweet Sues, but went home soon after as most people had to get ready to go out that evening! I got home and played on Knights of the Old Republic for a little while. Trick or treaters began arriving around five pm...so much early than in England! Most were cute kids with their parents, but a couple were quite old! If I ran the country, kids over ten would not trick or treat! One group was ridiculous, it was two girls and they hadn't even dressed up! Yet they still expected candy...I gave them a little but told them they didn't bother. No word of a lie, they were back again in half n' hour. I said, "do you think I'm retarded?" I sent them away!

Dinner was soon ready, a tasty dish of pork, broccoli and mash. There was some lemon cake for desert. I had been invited by Danielle to watch a horror film and hang out at her friend Fiona's. This may seem weird, but she had said I could go! I freshened up and Ralph dropped me off. I knocked on the door...and was greeted by Maggie from my literature class! She laughed at the confused expression on my face and explained she lived with Fiona. I laughed too and said I was just glad that I'd got the right place. I saw Andy, Danielle, Fiona, Hannie and Eugene. We spent the evening laughing, listening to music and watching Halloween H20 which is yet another sequel to the Halloween films about the killer Michael Myers. It's a pretty poor film but there are a couple of good bits and Jamie Lee Curtis makes it bearable. I always like the fact that the black guy survives, even though he, like all the other victims, gets stabbed about ten times. Lucky I guess ;) We had school the next day, so when the film was over we all headed to our separate homes and retired for the night!

Thanks for listening.

Saturday, 30 October 2010

Red Sox Parade

Tuesday, October 30th 2007, Wake up time: 9:45am

I got myself ready and got my stuff together for the parade! I was so excited! I headed up to Alewife where I met up with Ben. I called Hannie to find out where he was, but he was still asleep! He said he'd try and meet up with us later. I was pretty hungry so I got myself a coffee muffin before Ben and I set off.

We got on the train and headed down to Government Centre. This was where the tour bus with all the players, and more importantly, the trophy would pass through! We walked down into the centre and found a spot along the barrier. It was already close to lunch time and I was pretty hungry. We headed up to burger king, I got myself two cheeseburgers, a coke and a strawberry shake...I was getting myself energised so I could stand around for a long time! I ate my food while we waited for the parade to come by...

I thought I'd have some pictures...but I can't find them :/ However, we saw a lot of cool sights! A couple of buses with the players on waving at us while we cheered their marvellous success! We walked down with the float, it was so busy! Despite being a week day, no Boston fan was going to miss this! We eventually reached the centre of Boston where people were celebrating in their own way, busking or dancing or even just chilling out as it was such a lovely day! There were some great drummers that we watched for a while. We passed a bar where people were throwing down free necklaces with a baseball pendant! I grabbed one, hey it was free!

Ben and I hung around in Boston for the rest of the afternoon, just enjoying the sun and the happy mood around. We headed back to the station, where I got myself a caramel iced coffee. Hannie hadn't come after all, but I still had a great day with Ben! I got home and played Knights of the Old Republic before cleaning the kitchen. I decided to watch some of Scarface before my costume for Halloween, to get the voice just right! It was dinner time this was a lovely chicken pie with cucumber on the side.

After dinner, I headed off to Walgreen's to pick up some make up for my costume tomorrow. I got some good face paints that would allow me to do a nice scar. I headed back home and spent the rest of the evening watching some television. I watched an episode of House and it was followed by a very strange episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus! I was quite tired after all that celebration, so I cleaned the kitchen and headed off to bed!

Thanks for listening.

Friday, 29 October 2010

Casablanca

Monday, October 29th 2007, Wake up time: 7:05am

I got ready too quickly, as I was already kind of late! I rushed to school, very hungry due to lack of breakfast! I spent the morning learning about the Spanish American War in history and then playing with calculators in maths. That isn't as fun as it sounds, I meant we really learnt how to use them to do certain equations! The calculators had a cool feature though, they had a list and facts about each American President! Why? Who knows?

In American literature we were peer assessing our essay, after which I had psychology. I talked to Ben, who told me he was taking tomorrow off for the Red Sox World Series Parade...I really hoped I'd be able to go! I felt pretty good after having some lunch and then having a really intense work out session in Gym class! My last lesson was film where we began watching the film 'Casablanca', a very popular film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman (who I always confuse with the name Ingmar Bergman who is a very famous director...) No relation though!

I went to Sweet Sue's briefly before heading off for rehearsal. It went very well, and Rosalie and I had a lot of fun talking about the game last night, she loves Papelbon so much! Which reminds me... here's a video of him dancing after the World Series game! Jonathon Papelbon Dance

I headed home, stopping at Sweet Sue's to hang out for a little while with Julia and Cecille. I walked home with Cecille, and on arriving home I had a lovely meal of hot dogs with some healthy salad on the side ;) I talked to Bev about the parade and she said she already was planning to let me go! She thought it would be an experience I couldn't miss! I was very excited. I called Ben to let him know and planned to meet up with him at Alewife so we could both go to the parade. I also called Hannie, and we planned to meet but that never happened...I can't remember why! I'll have pictures from the parade tomorrow ;)

It was, as you know, close to Halloween. It's a much bigger event in America and everyone dresses up for school! I wasn't able to go trick or treating (which I've never done anyway) as I was too old, but I did plan something to be for Halloween. Most people came as famous people and spoofed them...so I chose Al Pacino as Scarface! Clearly a traditional Halloween costume! I talked to Ralph about borrowing a suit and I was going to get some face paints tomorrow for the 'scar'. I was quite excited! I ended the evening by getting my chores done by cleaning up the kitchen and the dishes, I went to bed early so I'd wake up refreshed for a, hopefully excellent, Red Sox parade to celebrate their World Series victory.

Thanks for listening.

Thursday, 28 October 2010

World Series Win!

Sunday, October 28th 2007, Wake up time: 11:25am

I had raison bran and a cereal bar for breakfast. I needed the energy as were moving an air conditioning unit! We took a while doing that, I was worn out...and hungry again! It was time for lunch (yes, already!) It was a delicious lunch of a bagel with jam and a turkey sandwich. Stephen and Erika and Zoe came round... I played with baby Miley for a while, she was so adorable!

I decided to go outside with Lyle and kick some leaves around. It sounds sad but it was a lot of fun! We came inside after much frolicking in the autumnal weather! There was some episodes of Mr. Bean on television. Mr. Bean is actually a British comedy by Rowan Atkinson about a bumbling idiot who is well intentioned but does very silly things. I find it quite funny but only in small doses...it can just be stupid. Unfortunately, the episodes were in Spanish, no clue why! After Mr. Bean was over, there was some music videos that we watched, including a Roy Orbison video of him playing 'Crying' live...what a good song. It was very sad the way he died :/ A heart attack at only 52...

We said our goodbyes mid-afternoon after packing up our bags. We headed home and we wanted to get back for the fourth (and little did we know...final) game of the World Series! I fell asleep in the car, I was still so tired from the night before! We did stop off for dinner though! A lovely Italian place called Bertucci's. I had some tortellini as my main course before a lovely tiramisu for desert...and we can't forget the bread for starters! Refreshed and stuffed, we continued home!

We arrived home and the first thing I did was unpacked my stuff. I had left my homework to the last minute! I wanted to finish it off before the game started. I quickly did my literature and maths work before settling down in front of the telly for what I hoped would be another great win! Boy was it close! It was a final score of 4 to 3...only one run in it! The game itself wasn't the exciting...it was that build up, bottom of the ninth as Papelbon threw that final fast ball... STRIKE THREE, HE'S OUT! The cheers erupted round the room, it was late but we didn't care! They'd done it again, against all the odds, those beautiful people had fucking done it... Honestly one of the best moments of my life. I retired to bed with the biggest grin on my face...

Thanks for listening.

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

An Adventure in Time!

Saturday, October 27th 2007, Wake up time: 8:20am

I spent the morning finishing my packing. For breakfast I got myself some toast with jam. It wasn't quite time to leave so I passed the time before we left by reading more of 'The Green Mile.' It was time to go! We packed up the car and set off...but I quickly ran back inside to grab 'Wallis'! I couldn't leave him behind at all. We drove for a while, I read a little but I always get car sick so I tried to get some sleep, as I was so tired but it wasn't easy.

We stopped off at a rest stop, where I had a blueberry muffin and some milk. We set off again, and I continued to read more of my book. We finally arrived at Grandma's house! I was glad to be able to get out and really stretch and relax without the cramped conditions of the car. We had arrived around lunch time, so Grandma kindly prepared us some turkey and ham and cheese sandwiches! They were wonderful. I scoffed them down and finished it off with a brilliant slice of cranberry pie.

We planned to spend the day out and about. We travelled a short distance to a place called 'Time Machine Hobby'. It was a wonderful place with lots of different toys and models from the past! What made them better was you could buy them...at exorbitant prices! Ralph was very interested in model trains, so we had a look at them and he bought some pieces for his set at home. We headed down to the basement where the shop had some old games and dolls houses. There were some excellent baseball cards though at the back, some really worth something! I bought a couple of the cheap ones, ones that were mass produced and not in mint condition. I've still got them now, and I love looking at them. I picked them specifically, mainly because they were members of the Boston Red Sox (or most of them were). I even got the 2007 Team Set! I loved 'em. The individual ones I got were...

- Mo Vaugn - A player for the Red Sox, famous for his record number of home runs!

- Jim Lonborg - One of Ralph's favourite pitchers, he played for the Sox but I have his Phillies card.

- David Ortiz - This man needs no introduction! Current Red Sox 'big hitter'.

- Dwight Evans - Another pitcher for the Sox (We got the card because he kind of looks like Ralph.)

- Manny Ramirez -I hope you remember this guy! I got his card from when he played for the Cleveland Indians funnily enough!

-Terry Francona - The reason we picked up this card was because he's the current manager of the Boston Red Sox...it was from his early days, playing again for the Cleveland Indians!

Last but not least...
Bruce Hurst - Another excellent pitcher for the Red Sox, a formidable match to any batsman!

We'd seen all we wanted to, so we headed outside. On the way out, we each got a tootsie pop, mine was a lovely cherry one. We got home, and I had a nap before waking up to a song I'd never heard, but loved immediately. It was Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. It was a song that made me really warm inside yet feel an odd sense of melancholy at the same time... give it a listen! I might go re-listen actually, it's a lovely song.

I went upstairs to have a shave, before coming back down to watch some television. I only watched it for a little while, before it was dinner time. It was actually a birthday dinner for Grandma! We sat down for a sumptuous selection of spaghetti with meatballs, salmon pie (not a favourite of mine!) and some succotash, which is a bean and corn mixed dish...quite lovely! We finished the meal off with the obvious desert choice, birthday cake!

I had to go upstairs to make the bed I was sleeping in, I did it as quickly as I could. I didn't want to miss the beginning of the third World Series game! It was a lot more interesting than the game on Thursday night! The Sox won...again! They were playing brilliantly. Pabelbon was on top form yet again, and the final score was a satisfying 10 runs to 5. What a game! However, we knew we couldn't rest on our laurels...look what happened to the Cleaveland Indians in the play offs against us! After the game, it was late so I headed straight to bed to get a good nights sleep.

Thanks for listening.

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Poker Fish

Friday, October 26th 2007, Wake up time: 6:50am

My first lesson of the day was maths, where we did more graph work! For my drama lesson we practised other scenes for the freshmen assembly. We had a substitute for American literature, so we headed to the Old Hall for our lesson...it was pretty fun as we hung out with Mr. Kim! I have to tell you about Mr. Kim. He was a very odd teacher, who always took photos for the year book. He pretty much let you do whatever you want, as long as it wasn't too extreme. He made us laugh a lot but only because he said so many weird things! He was a friendly man though and pleasant enough.

For our psychology lessons, we read about boy's emotional development before lunchtime. Lunchtime was more pizza! I love it though and would never get tired of it. I washed it down with some more delicious milk. I then headed over to film where we talked and watched more of the documentary about Screwball Comedies...a fine era of film, that I can guarantee. (Apart from my favourite film genre, film noir.) I had directed study last so I went with Tiago and Tyler to the 'sketchy bench'. I don't like the term sketchy, it means the same as dodgy...i.e. something that you might want to avoid! (Or dodge!) It's just a place people hang out to do weed...don't worry, I didn't touch the stuff!

I went back to school, to see some people before the end of the day. I hung out briefly with the usual gang at Sweet Sues before coming home. I called Hannie, but he was out! :( I cleaned kitchen the floor for my regular weekly allowance. We were going out to get Chinese for dinner. I had a delicious meal of duck, beef, chicken and rice. It was lovely, though Chinese food isn't my favourite. I called Hannie again and we arranged to go out. I got $20 allowance and then Hannie picked me up.

He drove me to his house, stopping off for petrol on the way. I arrived at his, a small but cosy home. We spent some time playing on his Wii... I was pretty good, and beat him at a couple of games ;) He didn't like that! Hannie got me a glass of coke as I was quite thirsty! He then introduced me to his brother who was playing some Poker online. It may sound like this is a bad thing, but he was so good. You wouldn't believe it! He once went to Vegas and entered a poker tournament...no word of a lie, won $50,000. It's not the most admirable of careers but I suppose if you're that good, why do anything else? He was pleasant enough and made me laugh as he called stupid players 'fish'. These were players who fell for his bluff, if he made one, and then he won their money!

Hannie and I spent the evening chilling and making some mix CDs of different music, before I had to get home as I was going to Connecticut tomorrow to see Lyle's grandma and I still hadn't packed! On arriving home, me and Hannie had a long talk about women (particularly Gracie), life and other things! We even briefly talked about me moving into his after the time at the Cadorette's ended...I still wish this could have happened sometimes. :/ I bade goodnight and headed inside. I packed up my stuff for the trip to Connecticut and crashed down on my bed!

Thanks for listening.

Monday, 25 October 2010

Club Day!

Thursday, October 25th 2007, Wake up time: 6:50am

I grabbed myself some left over pizza for lunch. My first lesson of the day was drama. We kept rehearsing this party scene. It may seem we were over-rehearsing, but remember half of our lessons were spent chatting before we ever got started! In my maths lesson we spent the time doing graphs.

For literature, we did a webquest...no idea what that is! We had a substitute teacher in psychology, so we didn't get much work done before lunch! Lunch was the delicious left over pizza and a cool drink of milk. I didn't actually have a full fifth lesson as it was club day! We had about half of our fifth lesson taken up to go down and see all the different clubs that the school offered and boy were there a lot! Each club wanted people to sign up and had posters or pamphlets on why you should join their club. I was already a member of GSA...I did sign up to a couple of other clubs that looked interesting, but I didn't commit to them though. I did get quite a lot of free snacks and cakes from each club though!

My fifth lesson was gym, so I had a short work out session with Julian before heading off to history. We studied something called the Boxer Rebellion. It was a revolt in China and something happened, not sure what as I can't be bothered to read up on it! At least I gave you a name! It was a Thursday, so after class I went to GSA. I got more free food! :D We hung out and had a discussion about gay rights. We also played a game called Zah! to warm us up. Zah is a game where you stand in a circle...you pass the 'energy' to the right or left or across the circle. You can block it to send it the other way and if you go the wrong way or don't say it quick enough...you're out! Yeah, I hate it too. ;)

I headed home, but not before stopping in Sweet Sues! Julia and Talia were hanging out, so I chatted with them and it wasn't long before Alex, Jeremy, Luke and some others came in and joined us. I didn't stay too long as I had to get home to dinner. Once I got home, I did some maths homework before running outside. Why? There was a stunt plane spelling "Go!" in the sky...pretty cool!

Dinner was a lovely mix of chilli, pork, vegetables and corn bread! I love corn bread, it's one of the few things that aren't really available in England. Just like root beer, it's amazing! After dinner it was time for the second Red Sox game! It was a lot closer...but Red Sox pulled through again, winning by 2 runs to 1. As you can tell, not a very interesting game! However, I got to see the excellent form of Jonathan Pabelbon who is a relief pitcher for the Sox. This means he pitches in the last innings, just to end the game quickly. He's wicked fast, but this means he gets tired too quickly to pitch all game. See? ;) He's also a hero of mine because he did this cool dance when they won the Series...which you'll see in the appropriate post!

Thanks for listening.

Sunday, 24 October 2010

First World Series Game!

Wednesday, October 24th 2007, Wake up time: 7:20am

Despite waking up slightly late, I managed to get myself off to school. However, I didn't leave before having ice-cream for breakfast! I was late though (obviously) and it was my fourth time! This meant that I would have a detention if I didn't watch myself! In maths, we learnt some more skills with the calculator. I wasn't there long though, due to my lateness. I headed to drama where we continued to rehearse the party scene. As it was the final scene, involving all our class (an ensemble piece...little term for you there), Mr Byrne wanted to get it just right!

In our literature class, we just spent our time listening to the radio...a good reason for it! We just wanted some background music while we read. In psychology, we read some sheets. Once again, I must apologise for the lack of detail! It was lunchtime, so I headed over. I had a cheeseburger and some milk.

It was time for history and a quiz... I think that went okay, but more importantly I got an A+ on my paper! This was the one where I had to watch the whole of Dances with Wolves and then write the paper. My last class of the day was film, where we watched a interesting documentary on screw ball comedy.

I had some time before rehearsal, so I went to Sweet Sues to get some literature homework done. I also had a delicious blueberry muffin to go with it though! It was time for rehearsal...I really needed to get my lines sorted and stop ad libbing! For the most part the rehearsal went okay! :) I returned to Sweet Sues where I bumped into Cecille, Talia and Matt (Greg's brother). We hung out and I had a cool, refreshing root beer!

I headed home, but I ran into Tiago, Nick and Tani on the way! We had a short chat, but I needed to head home for dinner. Bev had decided we order pizza! I ordered one called the Al Pacino...so typical of me! We also ordered a meat feast and a Dabliano (I think) Calzone. A calzone is a pizza folded over...it's pretty amazing! I had a bit of everything of course...it was wonderful.

We sat down, after such a fulfilling meal to watch the first game of the World Series. Tensions were high, could the Sox do it again? They began with a flying start. The biggest win so far! They won by a massive difference of 13 runs to a measly 1. The Colorado Rockies were rubbish! They were far easier opponents than the Cleveland Indians. I am being a little harsh. I believe the reason the Sox did so well was partly due to this momentum they were playing off of after coming back 3-1 down in the play offs. During the game (as it's not all exciting) I did my various pieces of homework...before retiring to bed, very glad we'd one this first of, hopefully all, World Series games!

Thanks for listening.

Saturday, 23 October 2010

Sick Day!

Tuesday, October 23rd 2007, Wake up time: 10:20am

I woke up so late because I'd taken the day off. As you know I'd been feeling ill...so it wasn't surprising. I got myself some sausages in some bread for breakfast. I'm afraid I spent the morning playing Oblivion...great use of time! I was ill though ;) I did use some of the time to read more of The Green Mile though! I was highly enjoying it...despite it being rather sad...

I began browsing youtube for old videos from Never Mind the Buzzcocks to amuse myself...some very funny and memorable moments! I did try and do work after realising that I'd wasted a lot of time! I did feel quite ill still though, so this wasn't a great success. I did manage to get the kitchen cleaned!

I lazed around in my room before school was out. I gave Gracie a call, but there was no answer... :(. It was time for dinner....already! I had some pork, veg and potatoes but didn't eat a lot of it. I wasn't feeling great still. However, after dinner Hannie called! We had a good chat and some laughs and I felt better after that. I spent the rest of the evening watching House and eating caramel ice-cream. Hey, ice-cream is always good for when you're sick right? ;) Sorry this hasn't been such an interesting excerpt (when are they anyway?) but once again,

Thanks for listening.

Friday, 22 October 2010

Singing Songs!

Monday, October 22nd 2007, Wake up time: 6:45am

I woke up feeling very ill! I manned up though, got myself some toast with jam and set on my way! I got to school, and before lessons, met up with Michelle to practise the song that we'd written for history. This shit was embarrassing! I headed to my maths lesson, where we marked some work. I then headed to my drama lesson. We practised the party scene from our Freshmen assembly. I wish I could remember the details... I think it was about alcohol abuse.

In history, we sang our rubbish song! Actually, it was a masterpiece. One of the groups had done a fantastic song, with history lyrics to the tune of "I'll Make a Man out of You" from the Disney film, Mulan! Ha, very fun to do! Psychology was the next port of call. We made a poster about gender.

My lunch hour wasn't that interesting. I just sat around and hung out. I then had gym class, but my priority was learning my lines! I didn't get a great work out because of this. My last class of the day was film. We finished watching Bringing up Baby and began a film called Titus Andronicus (another fun film rather than one we'd write an essay on it.)

After class was rehearsal. I learnt that all scenes are HIGH STAKES! We had to keep the pace of the show up to keep it exciting as some of the speeches drag on! We sang some songs to keep the energy up and then rehearsed some more. After some hard acting, I came home...and had a nap! I was very tired and feeling slightly ill. I woke up rather refreshed! I talked to Gracie on AIM, and we had a really good chat. It's so sad we didn't quite work things out for us. I'll miss her greatly :/ I spent the rest of the evening doing my usual cleaning chores before reading 'The Green Mile' in bed.

Thanks for listening.

Thursday, 21 October 2010

Rugby World Cup Final!

Sunday, October 21st 2007, Wake up time: 9:15am

I woke up relatively early, as I had some garden work I was going to do for a neighbour. However, I got a visa application off the computer as I needed to extend my sixth months to cover the length of time I was staying. I then went to a woman called Joy's house to do some gardening work for her, various stuff...weeding, raking etc. I got a nice payment of twenty dollars for my work!

I got home and called my mother about the possibility of staying longer! I'd have had to sort out a place of my own for the remaining time after my nine months at the Cadorette's were up... I could have sorted it but I never really put my mind to it. :/ After I'd finished talking to her, I pretty much lazed around for most of the afternoon, before finding out the Rugby World Cup was on the telly.

I watched it in anticipation, hopeful that we would win the rugby World Cup for the second time in a row! I finished my review of Across the Universe...and then continued watching the game. I'm afraid to say, as I think I've said, England lost to a very, very good South African team. We should be proud we made it to the final though! We lost 15-6 :/ Next time eh ;)

Michelle called up, and we sorted out our song for history as it needed to be done! I then was called for dinner. Dinner was a delicious meal of hot dogs, nachos, peanuts (odd) and fries. It was time for the final Red Sox game. I did some work while the game was on...as it was on for a while! I also called Gracie and asked if she'd like to go out for dinner sometime. She said no, but only because she was worried about the fact we went to different schools. I'm afraid to say Gracie was in a serious accident...and was taken off of life support yesterday. I really miss her. I watched the rest of the game and...the Sox won! (Of course!) They played so well...and won a staggering 11 runs to 2. They were off to the World Series after one of the best comebacks in a long time, winning 4 games to 3 after being 3-1 down! It was very late after the game, so I just cleaned the kitchen before heading off to bed, tired but satisfied!

Thanks for listening.