Vacation check up

Alright everyone as I said I'm not going to stop posting and I guess this means that it is about time for a check up on the holidays. The major holiday has passed and that is Christmas but that doesn't leave me in the clear. Up next is the new years and plans have already been made for family to get together and celebrate the new year. This means that New Years eve will be prep work to get ready for New Years. I don't know how much work will be required but like I expected I'll be happy to have it. I've come up with the theory that is along the lines of you give someone complete freedom and they will usually want some restriction. In this case it's one of the biggest breaks of the year and if I didn't have some kind of responsibility every once in a while I would be left bored with having so much freedom. Of course its having complete freedom that is hard. For example living out in the desert with food water and entertainment for the rest of your life would get boring eventually. With nothing outside of the usual entertainment provided you will start to slowly stop enjoying it. I don't know if this little problem is just for me or if there are a lot more people that go through the same thing but I know I am lucky when I start getting something to do over the weekend other then reading or being on my computer.

I deliberately did not jump right into info on Christmas because it seems almost like bragging. Even if you get something like socks and underwear for Christmas to jump right in immediately is like bragging to the world. I did not get socks and underwear but I did get a bunch rather spiffy clothing like khakis and other nice looking long sleeve items. Along with this I got a sled, new blanket, and other miscellaneous  stocking stuffer. The big gifts this year were a new mattress and my very first phone.
I know it sounds like all I have been listing is my gifts I got and I could continue towards the gifts that I gave as well. The thing is though that Christmas nowadays doesn't mean very much outside of this anymore. Family is already well connected for us so were not that distant and getting together for the holiday makes sense but it doesn't feel that much more special than usual unless there is the presents and the tree and the decorations. I'm trying to start saving money to get presents for everyone in the family which isn't going to be easy but the idea is that it shouldn't be that hard to get done. Money isn't everything but I feel cheap otherwise. This is how Christmas has progressed. Its a year to receive while trying to give to others and feel that you got something to everyone else that doesn't disappoint. When you don't have to worry about the presents as a kid other then receiving things are easier. Now I'm making sure that everyone is happy during this time of year.

The holiday's will never be the same for me but friends will always be there when you want them too. I have few friends at the moment that I can honestly call friends and not just acquaintances.  These are to the people that have been there with me through thick and thin even if they don't realize it. I hope they realize how much help they have been and how good of friends they have been but if they don't I have to remind them. My best friend Alex has been through the rougher times of life with me and still feels like he owes me and despite telling him he owes nothing he always feels indebted to me making him one of the most loyal friends I have ever seen in my entire life. Then there is Kale who is very close second with Alex and will drop by occastionally just to hang out. The most interesting part is that these two were friends before I was ever around and they get along perfectely despite them being so distant half the time. Alex is very quiet and ends up being secluded most of the time unless I go over and visit him and Kale is almost boisterous and likes being loud and funny. They are different types of people but both are the kind of friends that can last for ages through thick and thin. If I can help it even if I were to move I will work hard not to lose these friends like so many before.

Progress Towards the Future

.Finally I have started working on my beloved Nerf gun. I'm getting what parts I do have ready. In fact the piston for the gun is almost complete at this point and could be finished in a few minutes if I was allowed to finish it. The problem is that today was supposed to be the end of this project which should show you how badly this has turned out but as I mentioned yesterday its also not that bad. The reason behind this is that I needed to have this all done by now but because I don't have it done I now have something to do over the course of break to make things a little bit more interesting.

I am also here at Hammer space right now with my brother who is working on his own project. I'll leave that to him to discuss if he wants.. Still it's always nice to be back over here with some amazingly awesome people. One of the people over here finished up a little robot that would hunt down sunlight or an equivalent for the plant that it carries on its back. This is awesome stuff and I got to see this little robot move slowly but surely towards the brightest part of light. If this doesn't convince you yet the owner was discussing today about one of his classes which was like an evil genius class where you do just fun stuff like make what looks like a doomsday device but can't do anything but look pretty. Other things like logos for your lab coat and just miscellaneous things that would fall into this category like proper compensation for minions. I love this place if you couldn't tell and for some darn good reasons. The place is helpful and the atmosphere is perfect but the thing that makes this place so cool is the people. Everyone has something to do that will make you stop and want to know what they are doing. I honestly could not hope for a better location to work on my project.

I bet you all out there can guess what today is. If you don't know this is my last day of home school for the year and probably ever if I can help it. This means that I have to sit down and acknowledge what has happened throughout this year and a half of learning. First off a section about my teachers for the year. Starting off the bat is my main teacher Kristi. She wrote my curriculum and was there with me for the entire time I was home schooling. Next up is my grandma Kathy who has helped me through some of the more emotional times along with some of the rocky starts. I can say that there are many people that helped from friends to family through my time in home school but to list every one of them would be very hard to do off the top of my head,

I've read a lot of books in the last year or so as well. Easily over 10,000 pages at that. Thats more  then most kids can in all of college. But lets look at one of my first books that I read back then. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. That book will always have a special place in my heart as the kid in that book reminded me of me. I was actually kind of scared and even refused to admit to how similar we are at some points. I in fact love the book now and looking back I see just how similar we are even now. The point is that I remember those first days and how bad I was at learning in general.

The goal in all of this time though is that I have changed since then. Well lets go over the facts over the years because now I'm really curious. My grammar has improved along with my reading and writing. I'm not nearly as stuck up as I used to be.  I think the best part is though about all of the trials I have gone through is that I am still as much me as I was back then. I have not lost my identity and if I were to meet up with an old friend when going back to public school they would notice me as almost a new Galen hopefully. I feel that over the years I have been pollished and not just changed which is exactly how I had hoped I would be. I didn't need to be torn apart from the bottom up as I had the ability to many of the things that I have now done like get work done and become more friendly towards people. Still working on these things as there is always room to improve but more then anything I have an obligation to return to the hallways of school along with the schedules and the teasing and I guess even the teachers that hate my guts. The reason for all of this though is because I have worked hard to learn to become a better person to make it so that I can appreciate the world in front of me and what I had. I can honestly say there was never a boring day in school and even the teachers that seemed to hate me were always looking out for me. Friends were there to comfort me in times of need and even help me get some work done while I fantasize over a better tomorrow that never needed to come. I was content but wanted more. I will miss home school honest to god but out of an obligation to myself and my future and all those that are waiting for me I'm going back. For my friends like Jack Connor, Sean Higby, Carson Schutter, and me. I have gained techniques and perseverance I could never have had in public school but without the safety net I have in my head I can't progress. This is why I must say goodbye. Not for someone that wants to see me back in public school or someone pushing me to go. This is for me which sounds selfish but I'm the only person that can make me go out that door when the day comes. I have a cozy life with a cozy routine and now I'm ripping the carpet out from underneath my feet. I know what happens from here but its through choice and I will keep you all posted but this is goodbye home schooling and I may never see the ability to wake up at 10:00 in the afternoon or work the entire days to finish my work for the week and all of the other perks I'm going to miss but this is for me and to all of you out there I'm not abandoning you either. I'll work on posting still and this entry will remain untouched from the moment its released. This is for everyone to see that I never ran away but I was preparing for the storm I caused for myself. May the original Galen Seaton rest peacefully where they remember him but let teachers and foe remember the new Galen as a friend, a hard worker, and someone that would always pull through.

Nearing the end.

It is almost time to end my time in home school. Of course that is after the 3 week break which will be used to finish my project. That's beside the point though and I just have to say I have enjoyed every minute in home school but I feel that I need to return to public school for my own personal gain. Some opinions never change because of how hard you have believed something. For example my opinion on the other kids in school and the social circle. Opinions like this should not influence who I do or do not like because of how they treat their day to day lives. Everyone figures things out at some point or another and I had and have no room to criticize all of my peers back in public school. The point of this is saying I have changed in some ways but many of my original opinions remain. I'm more patient, determined, and even relaxed then I was back in public school. I have learned enough discipline to get back on the right track from where I was the only hard part is to start going down the right tracks.

I still have some work to do during the break so I will probably still be posting something at least once a week since its break. The Nerf gun project must be finished before I can go back to school as is the requirement from Kristi. Since I don't have everything done at this point I have to work through break and I'm honestly not as mad about this as I thought I would be. The main reason for this is because this going to be about 3 weeks worth of break. In consideration things will most likely get rather boring around the house during some of the more free days if I were to have them. Also if you don't keep your mind sharp when on a break or vacation going back to school and learning something is that much harder.

I will also be going back to Hammer Space tomorrow to start getting things prepped for putting the gun together. I don't know if it's going to work but it doesn't have to at this point it just has to be assembled with all of the pieces. I also have to actually try because if I wanted to I could launch a dart out of the barrel already with my breath at a somewhat decent speed. The idea is that it has to be made and it has to be attempted properly because there is no guarentee that my modified design is actually going to work. Even then, if my design works it is not the final design as I still have to try to make it smaller with some more work on my part.

Ranting to the teacher!

I've been known time and time again to start ranting on something that I feel strongly about. I have a couple including teachers not doing anything about bullying, Disney and where it has come over the years, and the one I had to go on about today which is today's kids in school and how everything is a bigger beauty pageant then there should ever be in school. The popularity contests that decide how easy things are going to be socially in school. If you rank low or decide not to participate in this large circle of perpetual ego boosting then you are immediately ignored by almost everyone else. If you do happen to fall into this clever trap though you will be acknowledged as cool as long as their is someone else to back you up on this. In other words this contest of who looks more gangster or pretty is just absolutely ridiculous.

The rant from the previous paragraph was a conversation that I had with Leif after we were done tutoring for the day. I honestly felt really judgemental about saying all of this because I feel that I never got to know some of the other kids even if I did see them multiple during each day for a few months before not seeing them for 3 months. In other words I wonder if this will happen again even if I'm aware of what I'm doing. I might just be like this at the moment and it could pass but feel like this caused my problems the years in public school.before I started home schooling. Lets just see where this takes me when I actually acknowledge my behavior though since not addressing problems in the past have caused me troubles in the present. The point is that I have the power to change these problems. I noticed this yesterday as well for my original post but that got edited due to some very negative opinions towards someone I've only met once.

I am looking forward to the holidays about as much as the normal person. The only problem that I do have with the holidays is that there is so much stuff going on. The prep for the holidays, the celebration of said holidays, the clean up of said holidays, and then celebrating them with different people at different times. Even birthdays are delayed to make way for this one strip of constant celebration. I feel like the season is good and the festivities are in good spirit but they are drawn out so much and since there is so much of it the holidays are just to much at times. My birthday is 10 days from Christmas which is definitely not easy for me or anyone trying to get me gifts for either of these. Simple things like a gift card are all I ever want but it ruins some of the feel of things and people want something that I wanted specifically. This is sidetracking though so let me sum this up before I lose my mind. The holidays are good but they are not easy to get through because of how much goes on during the month of December.

Another day at the Shop

Today I worked at Hillcrest which is good since I haven't been there for a week. This doesn't sound like much but since the entire place runs on volunteers they need someone that they can rely on to be there when things need to be done. I really don't mind going to work in fact my major concern is that when I start back up into public school I won't be able to show up as often to help out. I planned for a little bit to go and work on Saturdays but I only ever did it once and even then I don't know if I will do it again at any point.

Lets move onto some of the more memorable stuff I found while working the electronics table. One of the items was a disk set of never aired episodes of the original Green Hornet. By originals I do mean the old radio version as well so this thing was really cool to see. While I didn't work on it myself we found a functioning Ipod on the table as well which I have to say was a huge shock for me. We get in cases for those things way to often but I never expected to actually find one that worked. Not to mention all the other bits and bobs that there were around there.

Not much else has happened today after all of these other things. but I do have to say I love my new hat from my mom. I love to collect unique and awesome hats and this one is my favorite so far.

For some very obvious reasons as you can see. Honestly This hat is just fun and that is why I love it so much. The other hats I have is the minion from Despicable me and a very festive Santa Claus like hat with two tails intstead of one. This one is really cool since the part that goes over the mouth can be moved up to the rest of the hat which goes with the looks of the hat and I don't need a scarf anymore. I'm definetely posting this to my google plus account and maybe Facebook just to show this hat off. If anyone wants something similar I can get you some contact info on who made it for me. Just send me a question through either my Facebook or Google plus account.

Birthday bash

Yesterday was my birthday which means that I have to say something about it on my blog at minimum. I woke up in the morning to fresh home made biscuits that would make a southern mom happy with some awesome sausage gravy. I usually don't like to eat breakfast but I couldn't pass up a meal like this. After breakfast I got to relax while prep was being done for the December birthday celebrations. At about noon we all start packing up and heading out so that everyone can get together and celebrate. We all ate some carnitas for what was something like Dunch or dinner and lunch. Presents aren't that important for my birthday considering that it is ten days from Christmas. I was lucky to get a couple of gift cards so far. Especially since I'm so hard to shop for apparently.

I get back from the weekend and check on my blog and what do I see? I see that I am 4 views away from 6000 views so I'm going to say thank you all as this is perfect since I have been doing this for a decent amount of time but considering the actual time put into finding new people well I just have to say that this all means a lot to me. I'm not really consistent as using the hash tag brought in  many extra views to my small blog but I never seemed to use it after a couple entries. I might just have to set myself a reminder which I think that this little entry will help me do as well.

also for a reference I'm sorry that I get sidetracked so easily. I have noticed this for a while but I just can't help but start branching off slowly from one subject to another. I can't help it most of the time but I wonder if this is a bad thing. I type things how they come to mind and moving through subjects like this is how I would talk to someone in real life if they let me. I'm one of the people that starts talking about Wikipedia and somehow get to what does cheese have to do with Steam the software distributor. Not really but this is all just an example I try very hard nowadays to be as much of me on my blog as I can be.

Easy as Snow

Today all of Missouri is getting a possible snow warning right before the weekend. Of course since we live in Missouri its not that simple because it first has to create ice on the ground in the morning. This is followed by a confusing level of rain which later in the day is supposed to turn to snow as the temperature drops. The ice on the ground is gone over here at this point and the rain is definitely coming down if not just lightly but this means that 2 of them are predicted so I'm really hoping that we get the 6 inches of snow that is being broadcasted on the news.

Other then the weather today has been rather uneventful and that is exactly the way I want to be at the moment. As I mentioned yesterday this weekend is going to be pretty hectic no matter what happens due to all of the events going on right now. Birthdays and holidays along with all of the little stuff working towards these events make this season just that much harder to get through. A day like this can easily be welcome right before all of the things that will happen between now and Christmas.

Every year I end up wishing for some snow but half the time I don't get any. This happens to come with the territory as I have mentioned already about Missouri. Since the weather is so unpredictable here snow can be predicted but that doesn't mean that there will be any because at the last second the temprature could rise or the warm front hits the cold front in a different spot. Even worse then both of these though is when snow falls but you can't do anything with the snow. I know that people out there know what I'm talking about. The really powdery stuff that doesn't stop anyone from doing whatever they were planning on doing. I want the snow that is so thick that you can hide it by laying down. I can only hope at this point but so far I'm not seeing any signs of snow yet. In fact the forecast has pushed the time of it snowing all the way back to 11:00 tonight so we'll see what happens.

Birthday Time!

The time has come where everyone around me starts celebrating their birthday's. The first one that comes to mind is my dad whose birthday is today and when he reads this happy birthday. Next up will be my birthday this weekend which shows how hectic this time of year is for us. Instead of just celebrating a couple birthdays though they will be celebrating most birthdays all together. Yep thats right on Kristi's side of the family there is still more people with birthdays during this month and there is so much in fact that we'll be celebrating all of them at the same time. This just shows how difficult things are at the moment when it comes to events.

Speaking of events I managed to get my next belt in Tae Kwon Do. I am officially a purple belt which is putting me on the fast track to getting my black belt. You see the next belts if I remember correctly go in the order of blue belt, brown belt, red belt, recommended black belt, and then black belt. This is sounds awesome but there are two very little known facts. First off recommended black belt can take a year at minimum to surpass and finally move onto your black belt. In one year I have gotten half way through all of the previous belts which should tell you something about how it affects the overall time required to reach the next belt. Finally there is the black belt which many people would describe as the beginning of your actual education as their are about 9 achievable ranks in black belt alone which is not including the grand master rank which is 10th rank and only one person in the world may have it at a time. While I am close to getting my black belt it is a lot farther away then it initially appears from the viewers angle.

Grandma Kathy is in town currently to help out around the house while all of this other stuff is going on as well. Certainly sounds good to me because we really need someone else to help out around here. The main reason for this is because while all of this other stuff is going on around our lives Kristi is currently in the hospital and I don't want to say how much we rely on Kristi in our daily lives but apparently it is a lot more then there should be. In other words Kristi is what keeps this entire house from collapsing around us without warning. I feel that there is really no better way to sum this all up as when Kristi ends up going to the hospital things around the house slowly seem fall apart starting with Zoe who doesn't want to listen to anyone other then dad or Kristi and even then she puts up a fight a good chunk of the time. She's not as bad as she used to be but there is still the fact that without one of the two here at home she seems to want to do anything else other then what she has to do at one point in time. This is all one of the most elaborate ways to say Kristi we all miss you and I hope to see you again soon because the house is just not the same without you. While there is easily more reasons to miss you then just keeping things in order like missing you as a step mom who is horribly sick it is still a good way to some up how things are when you are gone how much you affect the actual household.

Review time!

Usually I would send this stuff directly to Kristi and the people that read my blog would never see any of this but I thought why not. Kristi will read this all anyways when she gets around to it. Because of this I have decided to post my Review of my collection of Charles Dickens collection. I will say that all of these opinions are subject to change because despite finishing the books I feel like I am not done with this collection due to the time to soak up some of the material of the books in the later parts. Also since I have finished most of my other books this seemed like the perfect chance for one of my rare book reviews. I will also say that the collection that I have was worth every penny I spent since it was fairly cheap and good quality everything.

Charles Dickens Review

With the finishing of my collection of Charles Dickens it is time to give some of my opinions on the entire book. To start off lets go over which one of the book was my favorite. I don't want to rely on tradition for this but due to how much I have heard and loved the story A Christmas Carol certainly wins right there. The main reason for this is because from a young age I have heard the story many times and loved to here it. The story of a greedy man becoming the nicest man ever after suffering through the wrong deeds that he has done. Notice how I did that without mentioning the fact that it was Christmas based? Well thats because this goes for all of us out there and no matter the season we learn from our mistakes in the past, and we make the right choices in the present to make the Future a better place.

While my favorite book was A Christmas Carol it certainly does not have my favorite character. Oliver Twist takes the lead here and for its own special reasons. I love the small orphan primarily because Oliver's life in the beginning was based on the writers actual life and while later in the book wasn't near what he lived there was still many references to his childhood. Along with all of them including Dickens first friend inspired the name of Mr. Fagin the main villain in the book which there is still no explanation for this at this point in time but it is always fairly interesting to think about. I enjoyed seeing Oliver as he starts out as an orphan from off the street and you see how terrible his life happens to be. This sounds horrible but this is how life used to be like back in those times for a person in his predicament. While Dickens makes character that people love young Oliver just spoke to me the most.

How is Dicken's books still relevant to today? This is actually quite simple because while most of his books were fiction that does not mean that each one doesn't have a useful story to tell. The moral of a story never changes and a moral's usefulness comes from how much you would need the advice that it gives you and if you can spot the advice. For the most part even if the books are old they teach the same lessons that they did a couple years ago and since many books do not even attempt to do something like this anymore it makes books like Oliver Twist that much more valuable. This is why there are classic books because a classic book will teach you a lesson no matter the mood, setting, characters, or plot.

Final question is How has reading Dickens influenced your own belief about life choices? Well this one isn't exactly simple but I think I can do this one. First off life choices are important no matter what you do but these books show you how one decision can take you to very different places then someone else. Lets look at two characters from Oliver Twist. One is Oliver himself and the other is the thief Dodger. Dodger decided to stay as a thief despite being able to run away and make a living for himself. We don't know his exact fate but he doesn't get that much said about him after being a thief. Oliver on the other hand decided that he didn't want to remain in this occupation and ran away. Because of him running off he managed to have the entire crime den destroyed without intending for this to happen. No matter what you may think Oliver may have done the right thing but he destroyed a few lives on the way there. Even if this isn't voluntary he still affected someone else without meaning too. Dodger on the other hand seemed to lack any impact on the other hand even if it did mean running away from the life that he knew. The point is that no matter your choice you can help or hinder others without even realizing it. Dodger lost his “family” due to Oliver's choices.

This wraps things up so I hope that you have enjoyed my opinion on some of these topics that coralate with my recently finished Charles Dickens collection. Thank you everyone for giving your time to read this far and have a good day.

No Exscuses

Alright sorry guys but there was seriously no reason for me to be posting this late at night without consent for anyone out there. I apologize for this and now that the elephant in the room is addressed lets jump right on in. Today was for the most part a break for the simple fact that after a couple things to do in the morning I was free for the day. This did throw me off and make me forget that I had a blog to do since I didn't work on actual school but instead worked ahead in my work for the week.

For the things that were accomplished today there was first off the finishing of the Book Thief which I will say is an extremely depressing book at the end. Other then that though the book was an extremely good read after you get past the really hard to read parts. Next up I was reading ahead in my Important decisions book but I didn't get nearly as far in that one. Next up is the most exciting that that happened to me today and I'm quite happy about this one at that.

Next up is I went and met the counselor at my new High school. She seemed fairly distracted even though she was definitely working with us. It doesn't matter though because she also sat down and went over what classes I might be able to attend when I start. After this though dad had me renewed on my shots which will allow me to participate in school now and yes the shot did hurt but nearly as bad as I remember my first one being and trust me that first shot I remember in my past was extremely painful and I will always remember that moment when I got my first shot because of that.
The main reason why I was only doing work ahead work is because Kristi my teacher and my usual ride to and from volunteering is in the hospital again and this time she isn't doing to hot. When you read this Kristi I hope your doing alright.

Success is Sweet

I have finally done it everyone! I have finished my collection of Charles Dickens. Due to me finishing this though and despite how ecstatic I am I sense an oppurtunity here to expand on this. Also since the parents are requesting that I do this tomorrow I'll be going over my favorite book out of the whole thing. I don't know if anyone is going to be willing to guess which one but if you do I think that will make things a little bit more interesting. While I mention this I do know that the comment section seems to be screwed up but I will catch what ever you guess if you use Google plus or something similar.

While on books I got another book that I have been reading that has gone with one of the other books I just recently finished. This book is The 6 most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make. The book is designed to make you consider what you are doing with your life currently and see where you want to take it. It pairs very well with the first book Life Strategies for Teens and by this I mean that the first book readies you for Important decisions and while the first one helps you get yourself on the right path the second one helps you make the decisions. One of the decisions that it starts off with is who do you want to be in the future and how do you want to be looked at as a person. This helps as it is designed to be step by step on who you are and where you want to be. Of course this all just happens to go with the chapter about what job you want in the future which makes things that much more interesting.

As you can tell it is nearing the end of my time in Home School and I would love to start doing the woe is me how I will miss the wonderful times that I have had but first off I cannot due this until my final post for this semester and secondly I just don't think that the whole thing is appropriate at this point. The woe is me act wouldn't fly with the parents first off and even for me I don't think that it would work very well unless the final day of home school was going to be my final post. I plan to not have to do this but I will say that posts might just be a little bit more infrequent when the next school year comes along. Other then that though things will be somewhat the same. Much like a good sequel to a book. Things will change but just enough so that you recognize the book and what came before the sequel.

I've Done it!

I have finally found the last parts that I needed and it is relieving to the point of peace. I feel kinda sad about the last couple of days though since I spent almost 2 whole days looking for parts when I could have had them in one day. It feels almost like I wasted two days looking for something just to find that I had been sitting on those exact items and it leaves me feeling pretty stupid alongside the relief. It kinda balances out in the end and due to the work today my weekend is now free!

This morning I got to go around with dad laughing and chatting the entire car ride. I have been loving my time with dad as at this point in time we are the closest that we have ever been and it has been this way ever since Nate went off to Job Corps. I have enjoyed our quality time together and all the fun times we are having together no matter how small. We are simply closer and because of this we are able to enjoy each others company and understand what the other person is talking about more.

This has been a fairly small post so far but I think it is time for yet another restaurant review. This restaurant is called 75th street and I once again got to eat at a wonderful restaurant with a unique spin on things. The main thing is though that this place isn't exactly a restaurant and instead it is a brewery with a restaurant attached which is fairly unique but to top it all off there is still the menu which definitely has its own personality. Along with the beverages I cannot have yet there was a large assortment from steaks to burgers to salmon to salad.  Now these things aren't exactly cheap but for a menu with such variety they were able to carry out the items that we got extremely well. The atmosphere is perfect for the area resembling a old fashioned factory and it fits so well I barely realized how much I loved it until I sat down and looked around. Of course once again this place isn't exactly cheap to eat at but certainly worth looking at when you have the extra buck or so. It may not exactly be cheap but it isn't fancy either which means that you could go there for a casual eat but I don't recommend going there in torn jeans or equivalent.

New day same tune

I have to get this blog in today at some point and I just remembered an hour before bed so I once again apoligize about any of you who were expecting this earlier today. Once again I have been working all day to the point where I haven't finished some of my other pieces of work. Icing on the cake just happens to be that the thing that has kept me from posting earlier today is the same thing as last night. I'm making some progress on looking for the parts for my project but this has got me working from the minute I wake up to the second I take my shower before bed.

I don't know if I'll be going to Hammerspace tomorrow because I still don't have everything I need to actually get anywhere else in my project but I will be going with dad to his work still because he says that he might have a place to find what I'm looking for. If so then there is a chance that I will not be having to do some work tomorrow and if so I'm going to grasp that chance as hard as I can and try to grind in my two lessons in Math that I'm missing before I get home tomorrow.

I have been so busy lately I haven't been able to see my friends the last few days which isn't that bad most of the time. Its the fact that I don't even have the option and even then usually I would make a habit of stopping by my friend Alex's house when running a chore or something like that but I can't even do that with the work on my table. I haven't read any of this but I'm feeling s little depressed at the moment if you couldn't tell so I'm very sorry if this is another blog entry that is almost painful to read because of me sitting here moping.

Break at last.

I'm very sorry to everyone expecting an entry today sooner but I have been way to busy most of the day. You see with my project I have been looking for the small remaining parts for my gun that without them the gun cannot be finished. This may sound easy but apparently I'm asking for the equivalent of a dump truck of diamonds to unload all of its cargo in my garage. In other words this entire day of searching for these parts has seemed useless because what I am looking for seems to be rare to nonexistent. Because of this I finally was given permission to stop searching for these pieces today considering that I have been working on this since 12:00 today right after lunch. I only managed to find 3 out of 5 of the parts that I was looking for which isn't bad at all but some of the original idea is confusing to work with.

Due to my work today on my project I have fallen behind on everything else. I have makeup work to do in math sometime this week before Friday, I have laundry to finish up, and I barely got in my reading today. Now, I want to make this very clear that today did end very well for me and that today was successful towards the goal I was hoping to achieve. The problem with today though is that in order to get to that goal I had to give up time on the work that I still need to do in order to finish the main job at the moment. I will not have everything that I need by the end of the week in order to try and get everything back on schedule. This is kind of a problem but I also have time galore coming during the Holidays which is not an ideal time but you do what you have to and by that point in time I hope to be finished with getting the parts by then but with that much time available if I didn't get the parts up until the day right before the vacation I would be upset but I would have plenty of time to work with to still get things done.

Since not much has gone on today outside of project work I can still talk about what I will be doing tomorrow which should be easier. I will be going to a Dentists appointment after not having had a checkup in a couple years now. In fact I can't remember that last time I went for an appointment at all which makes this that more scary for me since for all I know I have something wrong with my teeth that could potentially make this checkup a little bit more interesting then intended. I wouldn't know myself but for people that are trained to look for imperfections for teeth they just might spot something.

Hurtful Trees

Today I went to work over at Hillcrest to see the store in Christmas frenzy. Certainly not the easiest time of year but the icing on the cake was working on the darned Christmas trees for most of the day. I volunteered to work on them without anyone asking me mind you but I still have scratches and punctures from moving and hooking up those trees. The worst part is that large chunks of the pre lit trees just wouldn't light up due to at least one little light needing to be replaced or just other things going wrong like one of the stands collapsed under the weight of the tree that it was designed for. Lucky for us though we had an extra stand available. Either way things were certainly interesting over there trying to keep up with the steady flow of random Christmas everything. If it was slightly Christmas like people would donate it and then come in and try to get something else.

Outside of Christmas things were rather slow today but that doesn't mean anything really because there is still things to do today including working on finding exact locations and purposes of items on my homemade Nerf gun. It should only take a couple hours because I don't need to do all of the parts just the ones that I still need which shouldn't be that bad but because of me not working on it last night I will probably not be able to start working on my gun until sometime next week. Either way I plan on at least starting today in my free time because while the work is going to be tedious it certainly is going to have a good reward at the end.

Finishing up my books for the last of homeschooling which is pretty cool. At this rate I will be done with Charles Dickens in about a week or two at this rate which is really nice considering how long I have been working on it. I also am half way through the book thief but expect me to try and finish that one in my free time in order to finish on time for me and Kristi to go and see the movie before I go back to public school. The main book that I have been enjoying though happens to be the book titled Life Strategies for Teens which is a fairly generic title but it certainly has helped a lot more then I expected it too at all. By going over some of these things I find myself a lot more prepared for some of the things in the future that I will be going through. I find myself striving to break more of my bad habits. The main thing I have noticed though is that I seem to be a little bit more floaty then usual. A good example is almost delivering the rent check over to the house of one of Zoes friends instead of the office. While this is going on though I'm working on getting myself back together because I'm no good if I keep this up.

Ode to Leftovers

It is that time again where leftovers from a Thanksgiving sit in your fridge while you try desperately to finish all of them due to their wonderful taste. Yep its the days after Thanksgiving and while I know that not everyone celebrates this holiday I know that I certainly enjoy the time with family and eating all of the delicious food that people bring to the table only this time I was helping make the dinner for the family to enjoy as well. Mind you it wasn't exactly easy staying up until midnight working stuffing and the Turducken and other miscellaneous items. I honestly enjoyed working on all of it and seeing what the cook has to go through on one of these days does help me understand how hard it is for many of the average person to cook for Thanksgiving. Even with 3 people working in the kitchen took most of the night and some of the morning all the way up until the meal to get everything ready if that gives you an idea.

After the holiday though everything calmed down again which is kinda to be expected after a holiday since all of the drama and other stuff is over most people just want to relax in my family at least. Yes Black Friday was right after Thanksgiving but I don't know if anyone in my family participates at all because I know that my dad's side of the family does not. Either way other then Thanksgiving not much happened this weekend which is definitely not a bad thing at all because it is the calm before the storm that is the Christmas season after all.

Speaking of which this December is not going to be any exception to the history and patterns of this difficult time of year. It makes sense but that doesn't make it any easier because a lot of stuff starts cropping up for people to do around this time of year. A couple of examples are the church potluck this weekend, my dad's birthday on the 12th, my birthday on the 15th, and not to mention the ever loved Christmas. This will all be done around the unstable Winter weather. In other words something to keep everybody occupied and also I plan on having my project finished before Winter vacation but that doesn't make anything easier considering the fact that I don't have all of the parts that I need yet and because of this I can't test out the gun or start building a final presentation. We'll see how my final month of home school works in the end.