Whale Watching

Tuesday, July 31st 2007, Wake up time: 9:45am


I woke up and continued reading, and subsequently finished The Shawshank Redemption. It was a great read, although as I've seen the film the narrator was always talking in Morgan Freeman's voice! :D Bev, Lyle, Ralph and I started the morning with a walk around the area we were staying. After the walk, which woke us up nicely, we went into back into Province Town. While there, we noticed that there was a Whale watch later on in the afternoon. We decided to go have an early lunch and then go on the watch for the afternoon.


For lunch, I had some pizza with Dr.Pepper to drink. We waited around for a while by the harbour until the boat was ready to set off for the Whale Watch. While waiting, we looked in a few more shops in and around Province Town. We finally paid and got on the boat in time for the watch. 


Whale watches are a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you might be lucky to see one, sometimes you might see lots! I was very, very fortunate to see as many as I did! We saw humpback whales, we saw them feeding, diving and sleeping. Ralph had his camera with me and here are a few choice shots of the whales.

Whale Feeding

Whale Hitting the Surface

Whale Swimming

Whale Diving

Whale Tail

It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We saw a variety of whales but the ones I really liked were the fin-back and minke whale. While watching, as it was a two hour watch, I had some corned beef and ham sandwiches (not together!) and some cold pizza. Once the watch was over, we went into town to get some ice-cream. I had French vanilla ice-cream and  it was so good! It was home-made too, which made it even better. After the long day, we set off for the house we were staying. Bev wanted to watch the film 'Legal Eagles' because it had Robert Redford in. He's a fantastic actor but this film was rather mediocre :/ It was so cool seeing the whales that day though, and I was very glad we saw so many!

Thanks for listening. 

Eww, Seaweed!

Monday, July 30th 2007, Wake up time: 10:30am 


I woke up to a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon. We set off for the beach for a swim. We were using a map to check out all the local beaches, because we wanted to find which one was the best. This one...was not one of the good ones. The beach itself was absolutely fine but the sea was full of seaweed! Ewww. 


I had bought my book with me, so I continued reading The Shawshank Redemption. For lunch I had my favourite of pastrami and melted cheese. After lunch, I went swimming again. We only when for a short while due to the disgusting seaweed. After we dried off a second time, we went to one of the local towns. Province Town was one of the big tourist areas...it's also famous for its large homosexual community. Not that I have a problem with this! I wanted to get my parents a gift from my time here, so I bought them a calendar which had a different picture of a famous Cape Cod landmark for each month. 


There were a number of small shops that we looked in. However, it was mostly hand crafted things, which although well made was too expensive to purchase. We stopped in one of the cafés and I tried Claire's favourite drink of a 'Shirley Temple.' (Named after a child star of the thirties.) Although it had a pleasant taste, I'm not a massive fan of ginger ale so it wasn't delicious. We continued onto The Beachcomber which was a restaurant in Cape Cod for dinner. I had nachos with cheese to start and a burger with cheddar cheese and bacon for my main. There was lettuce too, so it was slightly healthy ;) 


We came home, and Kate who had only been with us for the one night and was going home with her family. We said our farewells and we sat down to watch the Tom Hanks film 'Big.' It is a fantastic film, and I actually used a clip from the film recently! It's one of my favourite Tom Hanks films, it's an early one of his but it really does show what an amazing, varied actor he is. A great trip out and a really good end to the day!


Thanks for listening. 

Beaches with Good Weather for Once...

Sunday, July 29th 2007, Wake up time: 2:30pm


I woke up surprisingly late and had to quickly finish packing because we were going to Cape Cod. Cape Cod is the most North Eastern point of Massachusetts. It's a collection of islands and sands and it has some beautiful coastal towns and beaches. We were going as a family and with Claire's best friend Katelyn's family meeting us there Before we left, I cleaned the downstairs bathroom for part of my weekly allowance. Bev gave me the usual $10, and $30 which was the $20 from cleaning the kitchen and an extra $10 as we were going away. 


We finally set off for the Cape. We stopped off on the way to eat lunch. Lunch was ham and lettuce but I also tried baloney. That's exactly what it tastes like...baloney! It was gross. We went for a walk around the rest stop. We don't have many these in England, it was just a small wooded area to eat a picnic and see the views. We drove on further to a National Park, about half n hour from the place where we were staying. While there, we saw a video called 'Sands of Time' which sounds thrilling! It...wasn't. It was just about rock formation in the Cod. It was cool how it was all naturally formed, but mostly it was rather dull. 


After seeing more of the National Park and its museum, we headed to the place we were staying. On arrival, we unpacked our stuff. I had a quick drink and checked the place out. It was a very lovely cabin, quite spacious with a good garden! We wanted to go to the beach a lot while we were here so Ralph suggested checking one out for the afternoon. American beaches are so smooth compared to typical British stony ones! We do have the odd beautiful one, but they're usually densely populated by tourists. I went for a quick swim, and was hit with a huge wave! 


We got out of the water and met Chris and Craig and Nolah (Katelyn's family.) We went to a nearby restaurant and I had a lobster roll (not proper lobster) with fries. We finished off the evening by playing some mini-golf by the restaurant. I did...quite crap. I'm not that bad at mini-golf normally, but I got a par of 70! It was pretty bad. After the round of nine holes, we headed home. 


I started some of Shawshank Redemption and then we sat down to watch the film 'Just Like Heaven.' The cabin had provided lots of videos and DVDs to entertain us. There were episodes of Friends, and one film with Matthew Perry (Chandler) which we made a mental note to watch later. Just Like Heaven was pretty good, though a little clichéd and cheesy in parts. I was very excited to be spending the week here!


Thanks for listening. 

For Once, A Meal with no Meat

Saturday, July 28th 2007, Wake up time: 10:30am


We went to breakfast that morning at a new diner that had opened up in town. It wasn't healthy food by any means but it was delicious! I had a delightful selection of chocolate chip pancakes and a root beer on the side. Ralph paid the bill and we left. We headed for Walgreens, which is more of a pharmaceutical Walmart, it sells deodorants, aftershave, toothpaste etc. I needed a new shaver as I was growing a modest beard. I picked up a cheap electric shaver that should last me, as my hair wasn't growing very fast. 


We got home, and I began packing as the following day we were going to Cape Cod. After I'd finished it, apart from anything I'd pack the next day, I read more of A Hole in my Life. I was beginning to enjoy it as I got more into it. I have this problem with a lot of books, if it takes a while to get into it, I will sometimes give up. (Especially if I have to read it!) I managed to get half way through and actually took most of it in. 


Claire's friend Kelsey came round. I met her and we played with Claire's bunny for a short while. I stopped to get some lunch, pitta bread and hummus. A meal without meat for once ;) After I finished, I went to play ping-pong with Lyle. I won 15 games to 11! I decided to go back and try and finish A Hole in my Life, which I did! I had thoroughly enjoyed it by the end, a heartbreaking, blunt look into life in American jails. Although this man was a convicted criminal, I could not help feeling a small amount of pity for him. 


It had taken me the rest of the afternoon to finish the book, so Bev got dinner ready. She had bought pizza bases so we could put whatever we wanted on them. After I finished that I had dessert of brownies that we baked, using an easy bake recipe. They were rather delicious! One thing America truly does well is it sweet foods. 


To finish the evening I watched some classic American television, namely "America's Funniest Home Videos" with the rest of the family. A relatively relaxing day, but I still had a lot of fun and was glad to finish one of the required reading book.


Thanks for listening. 

Damn Required Reading

Friday, July 27th 2007, Wake up time: 8:35am 


Our plan for the day was to go to Walden Pond (which I've mentioned before.) We had a long swim, and actually swam from one end to the other! After the long swim, I wanted to get an ice-cream as I was getting hungry after all that swimming. We went to a Friendly's and I got a cookie dough and choc chip ice cream! After I finished off the delicious treat, we headed home.


Once I got home, I checked my e-mail quickly. The school had sent through letters about my courses and one part was that I had to read some books for my summer reading. I wasn't too mad as I was happy enough to get the opportunity to study, but I was a little pissed off. I have to admit, I hate required reading (as the letter called it.) I like to think I can pick books for myself, I'm not an idiot!


The first was 'A Hole in my Life.' by Jack Gantos. It's a true story of how Jack Gantos sailed with a full boat of hashish and then got busted and about his time in prison. The second was Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's about the voyage of the first ship to sail from England and sail the Pilgrims to American shores. 


We headed to the library to pick up the books. I couldn't get a copy of Mayflower, so I got out The Sicilian which is a Mario Puzo novel, Different Seasons, a Stephen King collection of short stories. It appealed to me because it contains both the short story of Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption which is the original story of the film, and The Body which is what the film Stand by Me was an adaptation of. I also picked up a crime novel, Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. I never actually read that book but I may one day. 


We returned home with the books and I began reading A Hole in my Life. It was pretty dull at first and it tired me out so I went for a nap before dinner. Dinner consisted of chicken paprikash and pasta. It was rather exotic sounding! After dinner, the whole family sat down for a game of Yahtzee. I lost...miserably. I did the worst. It's not actually a game of skill, except judging what scores to mark down. After the loss, I thought I'd cheer myself up by properly watching A Night at the Opera. 


Thanks for listening. 

Haircuts and Shopping

Thursday, July 26th 2007, Wake up time: 8:35am 


I woke up early and immediately began reading the rest of Harry Potter. I was almost finished so I wanted to finish it that morning. I did indeed finish and I immediately rang my Nan (as she was the only one in the family who read Harry Potter as well as me.) I talked to her about my reaction to the book. We concluded it was a great end to a well written series, despite it being rather convoluted in parts.


I went to the hairdressers with Claire and Bev, I'm not sure why women feel the need to 'make an appointment' to have a haircut. Men just have it cut, job done. I then took a walk to CVS Pharmacy, which is the American version of Boots. I needed to pick up something the doctor had prescribed to treat my skin. As I didn't have regular health insurance, it cost a bomb, but I was desperate to clear up my skin. After I picked it up, we headed home. 


I needed some new pairs of boxers and socks as I was wearing just enough to last me until that weeks wash. I went with Bev and got 5 pairs of boxers and six pairs of socks for $50. That's not too bad if you do the conversion. I wanted to get my haircut, so we went and found a barber shop on Mass Ave. I was in a phase where I just liked to have it cut real short, so I just had it all shaved off. Real easy. I then let it grow out so it suits me. 


When we got home, Bev invited her friend Fran over. We had a talk and I had a pastrami and cheese sandwich (my clear favourite at the time). I went to hang out with Lyle. We played a few games of Ping Pong. He beat me 11 games to 9. I was close though. We then played Yahtzee which is a game of dice. You have five dice and then you just roll them to get different combinations. You have to score them off individually. An example would be, I roll three 5s and a 4 and a 6. I might then mark down 15 next to the 5 score, as I got three. You can roll three times. If you roll five of the same number, you get 'Yahtzee' which is worth fifty points. 


Lyle wanted to watch A Night at the Opera and although I was enjoying it, I was rather tired, and I fell asleep during it. I watched the end of the film and then went to bed after a day that mainly consisted of haircuts and shopping. 


Thanks for listening. 

Into the Unknown

Wednesday, July 25th 2007, Wake up time: 11:30am 


We began the day by picking up Greg as Lyle, Greg, Bev and I were heading off to the Science Museum in Boston. We started off in the Gorilla Exhibit. This isn't a zoo though, it was just various facts and information about Gorillas as animals. We passed through and got to the musical stairs. They're stairs which each play a different note. If I was a musician at all, I'd do this...


Big - Piano Scene


Greg wanted to go to the Planetarium which is where they show education films about Space and the Earth in an I-Max cinema. They have different showings of films and we chose to watch 'Into the Unknown' which was just a film about the latest exploration into space and what we might discover. It was fascinating to watch some of the visuals but the information didn't thrill me. I'm sure it is interesting and cool what might be out in space, but to me it seems a bit pointless to look. Can't we just focus on what's here? Probably why our planet's so fucked, we spend all our time and money looking at other ones.


It was getting close to lunch time so we stopped by the monkey exhibit, which actually did have monkeys and we watched them play while eating. I had pastrami and cheese sandwich. We went to the optical illusions exhibit and saw many cool patterns and things that made my eyes feel funny. We also checked out the computer zone, which was just an area with loads of different educational games to play. It was mainly for kids but I still had fun. I played a truck game where you had to deliver different materials across America. I got confused though, thinking you had to do them in order so I wasted a lot of petrol delivering the coal first. I'm clearly a retard. 


It was time to head home, we passed the gift shop, which you always seem to pass through even if you don't buy anything. I bought a chocolate bar and then we got in the car and headed home. On the way home, I read more of Harry Potter. I was already over half way through, so I was glad to get it finished so quickly. Once we got home, I had dinner of chicken nuggets, steak, potatoes and green beans. 


I read some more of Harry Potter and then Claire asked if I wanted to watch America's Next Top Model with her. It's not my favourite show...obviously. It wasn't bad though, but I couldn't help laughing out loud at some of the really stupid parts. It was an amusing end to an enjoyable day. 


Thanks for listening. 

Déjà Vu

Tuesday, July 24th 2007, Wake up time: 10:45am 


I woke up pretty late (compared to the times I'd been waking up before.) I got myself some Maple Oatmeal for breakfast. It was delicious! Lyle was going to Eben's again, so I said I'd join him. Eben already had some friends round, Sam and Jack. They said they were about to play a card game. I think it was called Munchkin. It was a parody of your typical card role play games. They taught me the basics and said I'd pick it up as I went along. It wasn't really my thing and so I didn't pay full attention. Yet somehow, I managed to win... I think everyone was surprised...and a little pissed off. I'd beaten them at a game they loved. O well ;)


After we packed up the game, we went downstairs to play on the Wii. Eben's mum called down and asked if we wanted her to order pizza. I ate a lot...again. Not sure how many slices. After the pizza, we bounced around on Eben's trampoline. This is very reminiscent of the last time I was at Eben's house :D 


Bev picked us up mid-afternoon as Lyle had an appointment with his doctor. I was exceedingly lucky as Bev had bought the final Harry Potter book and Claire, Lyle and I argued over who would read it first. I was lucky because, while Lyle was seeing his doctor, Bev said I could read the book! I started reading immediately, attempting to get through it as quickly as possible. I'm a fast reader, but then it is a massive book, a good 700 pages. 


After Lyle had seen his doctor, we returned home for dinner. I had roast chicken with peas and carrots. For desert, I ate some freshly picked cherries. Following on from dinner, we sat down to watch Forrest Gump. I do like it, though my film teacher once read a review of it that criticised it and it made some fair points. I wish I could find that review, but I've done a number of google searches and can't find it at all. If I ever do, I'll make sure to post it in a later blog on wallij.wordpress.com ;) When the film ended, I retired to bed and read some more Harry Potter. 


Thanks for listening. 

A Film about Male Strippers

Monday, July 23rd 2007, Wake up time: 9:10am 


We began the day by picking up Claire's friend Leah (who's the sister of Eben) as Bev, Lyle, Claire, Leah and I were all going bowling! I for one, love bowling a lot. It's odd though, sometimes I do really, really well, yet other times I manage to do terribly. This time however, I came second in both games which I was very pleased about. I even managed to get three strikes in a row in my second game. I had a Hershey bar as a reward and then we left for home.


Once we got home, I had some lunch of a ham sandwich. More meat, sorry Mira. We needed to return the films we'd rented, so Lyle and I walked to Hollywood Video, there was a fine of $3 for late fees, which wasn't too bad as it was over a week late. We then walked up to the Library to rent another couple of films. We picked up Forrest Gump, which is a great film (although my film teacher hated it!), The Full Monty which is hilarious and A Night at the Opera (A Marx Brothers film.) 


We returned home and I got a call from my mum who I hadn't talked to in a while. She called because my Nan was round hers and we hadn't spoken since I'd left! I spoke to everyone, mum, dad and my sisters and my nan. My grandad had stayed at home, I don't think he was feeling too great. After I talked to them for a while, I went on the computer and chatted to friends online until dinner was ready...


Dinner consisted of some ham and chicken nuggets, tasty but nothing fancy. After dinner, we ended the evening by watching The Full Monty. However, Ralph came home and he wasn't happy at all with Claire watching it. To be fair, she was only 13, and although it's a 12, it is a film about male strippers, so not necessarily suitable. However, don't write it off, it's a fantastically witty film that examines life in Sheffield after the steel industry went under thanks to this writer's favourite leader Margaret Thatcher. (That line was dripping with sarcasm, in case you missed it.) It was good to talk to my family and almost win at bowling, shame about the awkward end to the evening!


Thanks for Listening. 

Swimming, Lots and Lots of Swimming

Sunday, July 22nd 2007, Wake up time: 8:30am


I woke up early and rose to the smell of breakfast. I had a big breakfast, consisting of spiced eggs, some meat a doughnut and a slice of tart. I was stuffed full by the time I had finished. I can't get back to sleep once I've woken up, but I was still pretty tired. To wake myself up I decided to go for a refreshing swim in the lake. With the same rock as mentioned in a previous blog as my marker, I headed for it and then back.


Once I got back, feeling considerably more awake, Claire had found a  bug that she was looking after. We decided to call it Lenny, don't ask me why. We played with Lenny for a little while but then I said we should let him go. I then went swimming with Claire and then Ralph asked if we wanted to try our hand at fishing again. What did I catch? Absolutely nothing. I got bored pretty quickly, fishing requires patience and I don't have a lot of that.


Pete suggested we go to a place called Wind Island. We packed up a lunch so we could eat it there. We headed out on the boat. However, as I reached back to let the boat rope go, I scrapped my arm between the deck and the boat! It hurt like hell...and I had a scrape all up my arm. I was lucky I didn't wrench it out the socket. Sorry, too much detail for you? 


We got to Wind Island, which includes some rocks that are perfectly formed that you can jump off them into the lake and then climb back up. I did that a couple of times, it's scarier than you might think. It feels like you might accidentally jump too short and hit the rock...but you're always fine. After the rock jumping, we had our lunch. I had some ham and a blueberry bagel which is surprisingly tasty. I had some cheese goldfish, which is literally cheese biscuits shaped like goldfish...lovely!


We went swimming (yet again) but then you only visit these kinds of places a couple of times in your life. I tried once again to fish (I'm not sure when I'll learn to just not bother.) We then packed up and returned to the cabin. When we got back, I'll give you 10p if you can guess what I did? Why such a low bet? That's right, I went swimming...again. I took a rest in the hammock that was laid out and took a short nap. 


After I awoke, Pete and Kath wanted to show us some pictures from their trip to Albania (which is where they were when we first stayed at the cabin.) They were very interesting. After we were done seeing them, I passed the rest of the afternoon reading my favourite comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. 


After I'd read for a while, I was called for dinner. An interesting combination of burgers and tortellini. After dinner, we packed up our bags and said our farewells. On the way home, we stopped at Friendly's which is an ice-cream parlour chain. I had the Ultimate Cookies and Cream which is a vanilla ice-cream with cookies on top. We finally got home, I unpacked my bag and played some video games to pass the rest of the evening. Apart from the scraping of my arm, I enjoyed every part, from the food selection to all the swimming and jumping from rocks.


Thanks for listening. 

Seven Squared

Saturday, July 21st 2007, Wake up time: 8:10am 


I woke up quite early so I could pack up my suitcase as we were going back to Lake Winnipesaukee! I then went and picked up a copy of the Boston Globe, the article I linked you to in the last post was the one I wanted as it was about the game I had seen. We let for the Lake at about 9:00am. The reason we were going again was because it was Bev's friends 49th birthday. The reason she was celebrating her 49th is because she wanted something big then, as everyone does something big for their 50th. Pretty fair logic. 


We arrived at the party at about 11:00am and we met various people. The host hadn't arrived yet, but they gave out t-shirts with 7 squared on it. Why? What's 7 squared maths nerds? Very good, now you get it. The party was held by the Lake (obviously) so Lyle and I went swimming. We swam until we got hungry, so we grabbed some sandwiches and soda. I told a lot of people all about my time at the baseball game, it had been very exciting for me! Lyle and Claire were sick of hearing it though. 


The host arrived and we all wished her a happy birthday. We went to swim again. They say wait half an hour after eating but we didn't care! We swam some more until cake and desserts were served. There were a LOT. I kept going back! I had about six slices from each different cake and I didn't have everything. We swam some more before we left about half five.


We headed out on a boat to Pete and Kath's (the cabin we stayed at before.) I met them and also their son Garret. We sat outside for a while and got to know each other. They were very welcoming and asked me a lot about me and my life in England. I liked them immediately. I was pretty tired so I took a ten minute nap and then came inside with everyone else and talked some more. It was getting late and Garret said he was going to pick up his brothers Tyler and Josh. I went along with him for the ride and we had a good talk on the way. 


We picked them up and headed back. Once we got back, we talked some more for the rest of the evening, general talk and laughter. I was getting pretty tired so I said goodnight, went to my room and unpacked my suitcase. I had quite a lot of fun at the party, especially as one of the people there looked EXACTLY Jeff Garlin. That was pretty cool. I felt a little sick after all that cake but I had a pretty good day. I do love Lake Winnipesaukee though.


Thanks for listening. 

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Friday, July 20th 2007, Wake up time: 7:10am 


I woke up so early as I had to go see Don and do the gardening work he'd asked me to help him with. I walked over to his place in Sheraton Park (it was a part of Manor Park, a road just off of it.) It was mainly weeding that I had to do. It was long, hot and labouring :/ But I worked for two hours and got a good $20 for it! So all in all, not bad at all. 


I got back around quarter past 11, and found the living room turned into a fort. Claire asked if I wanted to help her finish building it. It was a lot of fun and I felt like a kid again,,,in a good way. I was getting hungry and it was around lunch time so I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 


After lunch, Bev asked if we wanted to join her in going to this big department superstore. It had  everything, from Jordan's Furniture, to a Base Jumping activity and a Jelly Bean shop...where the floor was glass with Jelly Beans underneath! There was also a Bose which is a huge electronics store...top of the range stuff. We moved onto Market Basket to get some groceries and then Dagostinos which is a sandwich place. I had a Pastrami (which is a meat that is a mix of different meats) and cheese sandwich. 


We headed home, and Bev told me some great news! Her friend had a season pass to the Red Sox and she had two spare tickets for the evening. As it would be my only real chance to see the Sox, I should take her up on it and go along. Lyle didn't really like baseball and Claire wasn't fussed. It was really hot so I jumped in the shower and got changed. We then headed out for the Red Sox game! 


Red Sox Game


We got to the game about 6.20. We did the typical thing of buying overpriced refreshments as there is nothing else available. Remember the coke that cost me $1 for 3 litres? This coke was considerably smaller and cost me $4! We went and found our seats.


There were some dogs on the field as a pre-game warm up playing frisbee. We then saw the ceremonial pitch, which is normally a celebrity throwing the pitch. They sometimes do a good job, but sometimes fail miserably, which everyone laughs at in a jolly way. Then a little girl comes out and says the infamous words "Play ball." 


I'm going to take a moment here to explain the basic rules of baseball for anyone who has no idea...as some of the references might make no sense. There's two teams...and nine innings. A inning is over when a team gets three players out. You're out if you strike out three times. It's quite hard to actually type out all the rules without losing anyone...I should really just explain things as I go along. 


The first two innings, nothing much happened. There was a run for the Sox, but that was about it. A run is when a player makes it round all four bases to 'home base.' In the third inning, there was some controversy. There were two players on base, and it seemed it was a home run. Manny Ramírez was easily my favourite player. He just strolled round the bases, knowing he had all the time in the world. If it's a home run, all the players get to go to home, counting in the runs. Manny, strolled away. But then it was decided it wasn't a home run! Manny was between the bases, as he took so long to walk and he was out :( It wasn't his fault, it was just unfortunate.


The White Sox, a team from Chicago, scored back three. But in the fifth inning, the Red Sox scored four more runs! I saw almost everything I could see in a game. I even saw David Ortiz steal a base! Stealing a base happens when the pitcher throws the ball, and the player attempts to quickly run between the bases before the pitcher gets the ball back. It's normally only the speedy players who manage it as you have to run super fast. David Ortiz is a BIG guy! He managed to make it, but hurt his shoulder in the process... bad move really. 


During the sixth inning, some people started the wave, and both Bev and I joined in. The seventh inning called for a stretch, where all the crowd sings 'Take me out to the ball Game' The stretch is just because most games can go on for a long, long time! It's all based on how quickly people are struck out. 


It was the eight inning where everything kicked off. Manny hits it, and got to second. There was a bunk line hit and as far as I know, Veritek did a sacrifice fly...the end result, however it happened was that the bases were loaded. Bev said the ominous words 'As the bases are loaded, with a man on every base, if there was a home run now, all four players would get run home and it would be called a grand slam." Julio Lugo steps up to the plate...third hit, sailed right over the Green Monster (the famous biggest wall at the side of the park) and was a home run! All four players were run in. 


After the 8th inning, we sang the song 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond. It was chosen because of the chorus...which is to help players believe. Although the Sox won the World Series in 2004, they hadn't won it for 87 years...it's called the Babe Ruth curse. The year they sold one of their greatest players to their rivals The Yankees, and after that never won the World Series...All exciting stuff!


Although I may have not accounted for every run, the game ended in high spirits with the Sox winning by 10 runs to 3. It was an added bonus as The Yankees had lost to the Devil Rays! 


I'll share some things with you...here's an article from the game, if anything needs clearing up. 


http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/07/21/big_bang_theory/

Also, here's the song 'Sweet Caroline' by Neil Diamond. Sweet Caroline


Overall, a very exciting evening and quite a good day! 
Thanks for listening. 

A Lot of Running...

Thursday, July 19th 2007, Wake up time 8:35


I woke Lyle up along with me, because I wanted to use his computer. I uploaded some of the pictures I had taken, to empty some of the space on the memory card. Lyle and I then took a long walk to the cinema to see when Harry Potter : The Order of the Phoenix was playing. It was playing at 12 and it was already 11. I sprinted back to wake Claire up and we walked all the way back to the cinema to watch the film. I have to say, it was more enjoyable than I thought. I normally find the Harry Potter films disappointing because they cut out so much. However, I hadn't read the fifth book in a while so I wasn't sure what they'd omitted.


We left the cinema and got home at around 3:00pm. Lyle and I played some Timesplitters 2 to pass the evening, one of the best FPSs ever. I then checked my email and watched some television.  I called up England to talk to my friends Rory and Amy for a short time. 


It was already time for dinner, I had my favourite of pizza! (You'd think I'd be sick of it, you'd be wrong.) I played some Red Alert 2 to pass the evening. Ralph got home from work and asked if Lyle and I wanted to see his building design. We went down to the basement and he laid out the plans on a table. He showed us how it was going to built and showed how big it was going to be, as a rough estimate. I wanted to get to bed early, as tomorrow I was going to do the garden work for Don at his house. I needed to be up at ten past seven, so I said goodnight and set my alarm. Overall, a lazy day, but the film was pretty good and Timesplitters 2 is so much fun. 


Thanks for listening. 

More Food than I Needed

Wednesday, July 18th 2007, Wake up time: 7:15am 


I woke up early and got myself a blueberry muffin for breakfast. I sorted out my room as it was getting a little untidy. The first place we had to go was the doctors as I needed some injections for school. Being foreign I had to protect myself against various diseases that America might throw at me. I arrived at the doctors. Now I can briefly say something about the American health care system. I was seen by the doctor very quickly and everything was done efficiently. However, it cost a lot for one appointment! It was just a check up and a test of my basic state of health. 


I was fine with the physical, except for one test, being the 'cough' test. I am sure that if you're male you know what that is. I didn't know this woman, so it was a little awkward. We left to go home at about ten to 11 and arrived home about 20 past. I checked my email and then Lyle told me he was going to his friend Ebon and would I like to come. 


I was happy to tag along. Ebon is a lovely kid, but he has extreme autism so it can be a little hard to get on with him. We began by playing on his gamecube (I seem to play a lot of video games round other people's houses.) We then went on his Wii, my second time with it. Eben's mum asked if we wanted any pizza. We did, of course, and she ordered some up. She ordered a LOT. Like three large pizzas! I had eight slices which I was very proud of!


Eben then asked if we wanted to go on his trampoline. We jumped around for a while although I quickly felt quite sick...I can't imagine why ;) We then got off and went down to his basement to play table tennis. I'm not sure who won, I'm not great at it though, so. We finished the evening off with some virtual tennis on the Wii. We hung out a bit longer and then came home.


I was already hungry again and so Bev cooked up some hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. I ate them up readily and then sat down with the family to watch some television. We watched Everybody Loves Raymond which is an alright show, but the jokes are all around the same subjects. We then watched Kings of Queens which had a cameo of Adam Sandler! Afterwards, we watched another film we rented from the library, Edward Scissorhands. It has to be one of my favourite Johnny Depp films, a fantastic soundtrack, and so sad in parts.


Thanks for listening. 

A Pile of Rocks

Tuesday, July 17th 2007, Wake up time: 8:35am


I woke up pretty early as we were going for a picnic. I had sent an e-mail out for some work in the neighbourhood to earn some extra money. A man called Don had asked me if I could do some weeding and trimming of hedges for him for some money. I headed over to his to see what sort of job he wanted doing. as I wouldn't be working that morning. We greeted each other and arranged a time for me to come over later on in the week. I returned home and packed up the pack to head off to Worcester. 


Worcester was where Bev's mum lived and we were going with her to visit Purgatory Chasm. Bev had tried to get us to come but Lyle and Claire weren't interested, I came to be lovely but it didn't sound thrilling, Bev had described it, word for word as "a pile of rocks." We packed up the car and set off for Worcester. I met Bev's mum, I had met her before but not during my time in America.


We got re-acquainted and went to the Chasm. It was around lunchtime so we sat down and had roast beef sandwiches on a bench by the entrance to the Chasm. Bev's mother had an operation the week before (why Lyle and I stayed in Connecticut) so she didn't fancy the long walk. Bev and I set off on the Chasm loop trail. It was more impressive than I realised. It was a great naturally formed...pile of rocks. But it was quite a wondrous site. Bev and I walked around the whole trail, examining the more interesting ones. 


We got back to Bev's mother, waiting patiently for us. We packed up the car and headed back to Bev's mother's house, she lived in a retirement home area. We didn't go straight inside as there were the Three Tenors playing in the Retirement Centre Area. They were three men from the home singing old classics for the older generation. We listened to them and at the break got some éclairs, punch and and cookies! (The main reason I came.) I actually enjoyed the music quite a bit.


We returned back to Bev's mother's home and came inside. I'd bought my copy of the Godfather Returns to try and read while dinner was being made. We had some afternoon tea before hand and then I went and sat in the arm chair and fell asleep! I slept until dinner was ready and Bev woke me up. I guess I was tired out by all that walking. We had some dinner of beef, peas and fries. After dinner, Bev's mother suggested I learn Liverpool Rummy. 


http://www.ehow.com/how_4597726_play-liverpool-rummy.html 


There's the rules for you. It's hard to type up and explain. It's quite hard to win at and I lost to more experienced players, though I still had a lot of fun. After my loss, we watched the end of the baseball game, as the Red Sox were playing. They were playing the Kansas City Royals and unfortunately lost 9 runs to 3.  :( We switched over at the end and I caught the end of Stage Nine of the Tour De France.  I had a very fun day, despite what may have seem not to be too interesting, I enjoyed the Chasm and the Three Tenors. Shame about the Sox losing, but you can't have everything!


Thanks for listening. 

Best Burgers Ever

Monday, July 16th 2007, Wake up time: 8:40am 


I woke up relatively early and fetched myself a bowl of cereal. It was one that was advertised on television, so I thought "O boy, this must be good!" I finished it and went to read some more of The Godfather Returns. I gave up quickly and came to the assumption that as I haven't read The Godfather in a while and so a lot of it didn't make sense. Claire asked me to help find her bathing suit in her room, a typical mess for a teenager. We hunted through the piles of clothes and eventually found it. 


It was coming up to lunchtime, and I was hungry, so Claire made me some Clam Chowder. It's a really typical Bostonian dish. It was from the tin, so it wasn't amazing but still pretty tasty! If you're ever in Boston, make sure you try it! Lyle finally emerged from his room, he woke up most days just after 12. He said he was going to go into Harvard Square with Greg and asked if I wanted to come. It's a great place to go shopping. It has almost anything in one place. 


After lunch, we took the subway from Alewife to Harvard Sq. We arrived and the first place we went to was Newbury Comics. Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but it sells CDs, DVDs, games, book etc. I picked up a Buzzcock's Greatest Hits and because I was feeling a spending vibe, I bought a Kiss Alive 1,2 and 3 for $20! An album set I've never listened to properly and I'm not even sure where it is. We then moved on to a book store and browsed but nothing caught my eye. 


It was around 3pm and I was getting pretty hungry, the chowder hadn't filled me up properly. We went in a place called Bartley's, it's such an amazing Burger place. Here's the menu, 


Bartley's Burger

I ordered a Yuppie Burger and a Root Beer Float. That's Root Beer with ice cream for those uniformed people. After we finished up, we got the bus back home, it's only a 15 minute ride or so. We got home and played some video games to pass the afternoon. Greg called up and invited us round to his. Bev gave us a lift over and there's this kid lying in the drive way. His name was Justin, he played video games intensely, he always has headphones in and he loves saying random things. Seriously, this kid is hilarious. We played some more video games to pass the time and chatted away. We went in his pool briefly, but once again the freezing water made us get out pretty quickly!


As the afternoon turned to evening, Greg's parents invited us for dinner of risotto and ham. It was quite delicious. We finished off the evening with some more role-playing games, because we're cool, and then we finished off the evening in the pool which was quite warm in the evening heat. I had a lot of fun exploring the more commercial areas and those burgers were seriously good.


Thanks for listening. 

If there's one more swear word...

Sunday, July 15th 2007, Wake up time: 6:11am 


I woke up really early, so I passed some time by reading The Godfather II. It's not written by Mario Puzo though and is nowhere near as good. I read a couple of chapters and then game down for breakfast. It was a lovely nutritious serving of waffles and maple syrup! I packed up my bag as we were going home today. We went for a short drive to look at some more of Connecticut and it's scenery. We then packed up the car and headed home.


We got home around 10 to 1 in the afternoon. I had a chicken salad for lunch and then did some chores. I raked the lawn of leaves, then mowed it and weeded the patio. I washed car too and was done by about four pm. I could tell you more detail but I'm not sure how interesting it is!


Ralph said we could rent a film for the evening, so me and Lyle walked down to the video store. I suggested Shaun of the Dead, a British comedy about Zombies, it's very funny and clever. We got back and had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. (Spaghetti, like hot dogs, is something I ate a lot of.) 


We sat down after dinner to enjoy the film. However, Ralph quickly got annoyed as it has a lot of swearing in and he didn't want Claire hearing all that swearing. It was almost funny though because as he said the words "Okay guys, if there's one more swear word, Claire has to go up to bed" this scene came on...


Angry Scene

That's the censored one, I couldn't find the original, but if you swap funk with...you can guess, then you can see why it's funny that it was THAT scene that came on as Ralph complained about swearing. After the film was over I passed the rest of the evening playing some old school Dungeon Keeper II!


Thanks for listening. 

Meet the Family

Saturday, July 14th 2007, Wake up time: 10:54am (I like to be specific)


I came downstairs, late in the day and popped Aladdin into the video player. I got about half-way through and then went out to do some yard work with Lyle. We came inside when we were finished and watched the rest of Aladdin. It was the day of the baby shower, as Lyle's cousin Erica was having a baby. We first met Fran and Jake who are Lyle's Great Uncle and Aunt. We had some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch with them and got acquainted. 


The film Jungle 2 Jungle was on television, so we sat and watched most of that and then an episode of Seinfeld. Jungle 2 Jungle is an okay film, funny in some parts, but not brilliant. Claire and Ralph arrived and so after everyone had said hello, we went to the Baby Shower. 


I met Lyle's cousin Stephen and his wife Erica. They already have one child, Zoe, so we met her too. We also met Josh, another cousin of Lyle's. I can't quite remember all the family connections, so you'll have to forgive me if it doesn't all make sense. While Stephen and Erica were setting up for the Baby Shower, Zoe wanted to watch Ghostbusters II. It's a pretty good film, but quite mediocre compared to the first one. I got bored with the film so I went to help set out, putting out food, laying tables etc.


As the guests arrived, Lyle, Josh and I played some games. We played keep ups with the football, and our own version of Volleyball with Claire. Then Lyle and I played a couple rounds of badminton. I'm pretty sure I won but I could be wrong. I was getting pretty hungry, as usual, so I went to get some of the food. It was a buffet style, and I had some pizza with crisps and carrots and pepper (the vegetable...) For desert I had some brownies and I drank some coke and some of the fruit punch. How's that for detail? 


We sat and talked, letting our food go down, and then it was time for the opening of the presents. We all watched as Zoe opened most of them. It's really great people get all these presents for the baby...but I'm not a fan of baby showers. It's not a British thing because we think it's tempting fate, and for once, I don't disagree. What if something goes wrong with the baby? It's a awful thought but it does mean that all those presents were bought for no reason. 


When all the presents had been opened we returned to Grandmas and watched some television with cheese and crackers. Quite an eventful day compared to the rest of the week!


Thanks for listening. 

This is a Knife

Friday, July 13th 2007, Wake up time: 7:10am (Friday the 13th! :o )


I woke up early and came down and watched Crocodile Dundee while I waited for people to get up. This is easily one of the best films from my childhood, and it never gets old! Favourite scene of all time...




Crocodile Dundee - "This is a Knife"

We watched the rest of Schindler's List...unbelievably sad film! :( When it was over, I noticed the weather had cooled a little so we went outside to do some weeding. Lyle and I got some done but it was still pretty hot! We came inside for some ham sandwiches and then Lyle suggested we watch The Pink Panther. It's one of his favourite films and I hadn't seen it, so it seemed a great idea. It isn't a bad film, but I was pretty tired. Do nothing + heavy heat makes you sleepy and I inevitably dozed off.


I woke up and had a snack. It was the late afternoon, and quite cool, so Lyle and I went outside and weeded and then trimmed the hedges. We came inside and watched some of The Simpsons and then dinner was ready. We had meatball sandwiches, (sounds gross, actually lovely) and then we went back to the living room. Grandma showed us an old video tape of when she was on a game show. It was so cool! It was called The Connecticut Lottery. We then watched a couple more game shows, 1 Against the Mob (which is our version of 1 vs 100) and Standoff. 


After we'd finished watching those, I headed up to bed, glad I'd done something productive today! 


Thanks for listening. 

One of the World's Biggest Casinos

Thursday, July 12th 2007, Wake up time 6:40am 


I woke up rather early and came down to breakfast of English muffins. The first film we watched was Hunchback of Notre Dame. A great Disney film. Lyle's Grandma asked us if we wanted to go to the Pequot museum. The Pequot's were a Native American tribe. They were slaughtered in the Pequot war and the Mystic massacre near Mystic river. America can certainly feel bad for that one. We finished watching the film and then Grandma's friend Dorothy arrived. 


We did brief introductions and then headed for the museum. On the way we passed Foxwoods Casino, one of the biggest Casinos in the world! I'm not a huge gambling fan but it does excite me, seeing one of the biggest Casinos in the world. We arrived at the Museum and went inside.


The picture on the left is the casino itself. On the right is a model of the Pequot tribe in some boats.

After we'd paid and seen some of the displays, we went outside where they were having a tribal dance. It was pretty hot and already close to lunch time. We grabbed some hot dogs and lemonade. We stood and watched the dancers for awhile and then when it was finished we went up the top of the observation tower.

The dancers

At the top of the observation tower was a spectacular view across Connecticut. I took a couple of photos and then we rode the elevator back down. We began looking at the exhibits, going through different periods of time, one of them being the Ice Age. We saw some videos about the history of the different tribes.

Once we had finished up, (the museum wasn't too large) we went to the shop. I purchased a necklace as a gift for someone and then a card for a friend back home. We went outside for more tribal dancing. We had seen most things so we headed back home. We had ham sandwiches with lettuce for dinner. I was pretty tired out, and we watched Schindler's List...but I fell asleep in front of it.  I went up to bed, after some more television. At least today, was a lot more eventful! 

Thanks for listening.