Happy Birthday!

Today I turn 17!
FINALLY!

SAYF woes....

After one year and a half, I have only missed one retreat since I have been going to SAYF. I am going to have to go to half of the retreats this year. I'm NOT cool with that.
I'm not liking cheering because of it. I haven't been liking it as much as I thought because of how the sport is, anyway. I've decided if I were to get injured, I'd not compete. I don't want to get injured again, for one, and I want to go to SAYF.....and competition team gets in the way of that. Competition team is pretty much the reason why I'm slightly regretting joining back up with it.
I was so excited to be going to Chattanooga in November, and I'm not going to be able to go because it's the weekend before our first competition. Ugh.
I'm not going to see any of the other SAYFers until January....and then after that....April. What am I going to do?
I'm pretty okay with missing October for Homecoming. We only have four of those left, so yeah.
But it's sad that I'm going to have half of SAYF after a full year of it.
Worship sharing Saturday night was lovely. I shared all of this with everybody...and in my epistle.
The only thing that got me down this weekend was the fact I'm going to have to wait this long.
We'll just see what happens.

Junior year....

It's alright. A ton of work, but I'm still holding up. Not a 4.0 like the past couple of years, but still, I can get that up.
Cheering is slightly hurting my body. I've been injured twice. I don't like it. One more fall on my left shoulder and I'm not doing competition team, just varsity. I at least would like to finish the year if it does happen.
Running for class president. Hope I win. I'll get to be in charge of float building and prom. It'll be fun even if I don't. I'll still help.
Also, SAYF isn't gonna be as often this year, which makes me sad.
But a happy happening.....LEKEY'S HOME FROM INDIA!

That is all.

#40

I am really excited!
Proposition 8 has been overturned and ruled as a violation to the Constitution.
This is only one battle of the huge war, but it's one battle won.

I don't like how they have to ban gay marriage because it really is dictating how other people can live their lives. Plus, these were other US citizens who voted for this.
Why must there be a vote on peoples' marriages?
That's not really making me try to understand that it's not just intolerance, but it's also just peoples' beliefs and I do understand that, but the annoyance usually comes first.
I just don't like how they go about it. I wouldn't be as upset as if they just said that they believed being gay was wrong. I am sort of okay with that, but I would have a lot more respect and understanding if it was just that. But in saying that, there's no hatred, violence, judging, prejudice, or even intolerance. It's just the personal belief of a person.
But I still don't think that everybody who voted for Prop 8 just believed marriage was between a man and a woman. I'm sure there was intolerance.

Isle of Palms!

Had so much fun at the beach. 9 hour drive, but still. It was fun and highly needed.
Went to Downtown Charleston and walked around. Ate supper at Sticky Fingers. Kind of a Southern chain. It was good.
Did a little shopping. Got a Charleston T-shirt. It was the word "Trip" and a hippie van on it. It was trippy! LOL! Went to a cool riverside park called The Battery and saw a jellyfish.
Various beach visits.
I SAW DOLPHINS!
Ate at a cool seafood place called Gilligan's. We all sang the theme song to Gilligan's Island. Yes, I know. It's cheesy and lame. LOL!
Went to Fort Sumter. Took an awesome boat ride. Saw more dolphins!
Then we came home. Ta da!

How the beach trip is going...

It's going pretty well!
I'm not as burned as I thought I would be. Only my shoulders a little bit.
Man......as I'm writing this the 3rd firetruck drove past our house with its sirens on. Must be serious then.
We've gone to bed at 3am and have been waking up just before noon......I love it.
We've gone to the beach at low tide....when the waves were better at high tide.
Went to a cool submarine museum in Charleston.
Went to Piggly Wiggly twice!
Now I'm on our screen porch! YAY!

Beach tomorrow!

Going to Isle of Palms, South Carolina tomorrow!
WHOO!

So....

Dead period's over.
First cheer practice in two weeks is this afternoon.
Three more weeks of conditioning left.
School starts in about 30 days. It was a short summer. Went by fast. At least I went places!
SAYMA, Knoxville, going to West Virginia this coming weekend, beach trip the last week of July. And that's my summer. With various cheer activities. FUN!

Eclipse Soundtrack!

I bought the Eclipse soundtrack at Hot Topic today (and got a Gay Pride peace sign button for $2 and a frequent buyer's gift card for free)!

I love all of the songs on it.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Life on Earth - Band of Horses
2. Eclipse (All Yours) - Metric
3. Neutron Star Collision (Love is Forever) - Muse

Life on Earth is SO PRETTY! Look it up.
The other two are cool. Of course since it's Muse. Haha!

But anywho, I can't wait for Breaking Dawn. It's sad that it's almost over.

Violence in Nashville...

I have a friend who was violently assaulted at a place he used to work at on Monday night. It was a racial/gay bashing attack.
He was thrown on the ground by the neck and was called the N word and faggot.
He's in a neck brace and a foot brace because a table fell on it.
This was encouraged by the owner. The place was established for the purpose of equality.

Fellow Quakers who read this, hold him in the Light.
When will some people learn this is NOT okay?

Rest of July

So I'm actually going to be doing stuff soon.

Tomorrow: Going to see Eclipse again tomorrow. My friend Heather had nobody here willing to go see it, so I'm going with her.

Thursday: Hangin' at the Florence Mall with long-time family friends who are moving to Florida.

Next weekend (the 16th): My brother might have a gig at the Black Feather and after that, we're going to West Virginia for mom's family reunion.

Last week of July: Beach trip with my friend Laura to Isle of Palms, South Carolina. "Twill be awesome!

So yeah, dead period ends on Friday. Sigh. My shoulder isn't completely healed yet, so I'm still doubtful I would want to tumble on it on Thursday after Florence. I'm just taking precautions in case I might injure it. I wouldn't mind being injured. It'd hurt and suck like hell, but my schedule would be free and I'd be able to go to the SAYF retreats I would have to miss (August, October, and March....as far as I know).

Band camp tonight was okay. Semi-productive.

But yeah. That's me for now.

Opinions, opinions!

I have a friend mad at me because I called them out on their opinions....which don't even exist. It's over stupid things, but that's us. We fight over stupid things.
It's about Twilight, which I do like and they don't, and that's fine.
But it's not fine when I've read all the books and have seen all of the movies and they've only unwillingly seen the first two movies. I highly doubt they paid attention, which is also fine, but if you're going to have an opinion about something, make sure you pay attention and not just sit there and mock it.
If you want to prove you have an opinion about a book, try reading it. Same for a movie. Try watching it.
It's okay to not like something and not want to see/read it, but just don't say it sucks unless you actually know what it's about.

*sigh*

Even if I didn't mean it as an insult, I still regret saying it because it still hurt them.

Eclipse.

These movies just keep getting better and better! The books got worse and worse (sorta), but the movies are just awesome.
It was seriously epic. Cool battle scenes, sweet love scenes, and it was just overall: so good!
I loved it! Can't wait for the last two.

I also saw the HP7 trailer again and I'm pumped for that. That will definitely be the best film ever.......well two films. Haha! Can't wait.
I'm jealous that a couple of friends get to go/and have gone to Harry Potter Land at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. My ultimate vacation! So going there when I graduate if not next summer!

Toy Story 3

I just saw Toy Story 3 tonight!

I'm not giving any spoilers, but it was AMAZING!
It brought back memories from childhood, just like The Lion King!

Those were the days. With REAL, CLASSIC movies, TV shows, and music. Ahh, the 90's.

I seriously almost cried and I laughed a lot. It was so funny!
I loved it!

I highly recommend that whoever reads this goes see the #1 movie in America.........right now!

Stonewall Riot.

I recently discovered that today was the 41st anniversary of the Stonewall Riot.
The Stonewall is/was a bar in NYC and they were serving to openly gay, lesbian, bisexual people and apparently that was against the law.
So the police were like, "Boo! Don't do that! That's not right!" Only this was in raid form.
The gay community didn't take this well, so in the early hours of June 27, 1969, they fought back.
It was The Night That Changed The World.
It was the start of the fight for gay rights.
WHOO!

GAY PRIDE

Animal Crossing!

This is an AMAZING video game. I haven't played it in 17 months (it told me that).
It's about this humanoid person who moves to a town (you get to name both the person and the town) where animals live as humans do. They can speak and live in houses and wear clothes.

The town is awesome! There's a dump, a store (that grows throughout the game), a post office, a museum (where you have to donate paintings, fish, bugs, and fossils), a police office/lost and found, and a Wishing Well where you go for festivities. Oh yeah, they have HOLIDAYS! It's amazing!

New Year's: There's a countdown by the lake.
Halloween: You just run around and try not to get tricked unless you have candy. There's even a ghost that comes out.
Thanksgiving: There's a feast with a live turkey (that's on the run).
Toy Day = Christmas
Labor Day, various festivals and a fishing tournament every Sunday during a specific month.

It's all awesome. It's like a little kid/animal version of the Sims (except you don't have needs ;D).

So much has happened since November 2008......

2009:
~ I realized I was bisexual and actually fell for another guy.
~ Saw Wicked for the 2nd time.
~ I started my SAYF (Southern Appalachian Young Friends) experience.
~ Won 5 awards at Awards Night (one of with was a medal in Computer Apps)
~ I ended my freshman year with all A's.
~ I realized I was actually gay (and I love it!) ||||||
~ I went to my first Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting & Association.
~ I went to Chicago over the summer (We were on the way there the day MJ died and left the day before the Gay Pride Parade).
~ I started my sophomore year.
~ I turned 16.
~ Won first place in Science at my last JV Challenge (first time I individually placed in three years)
~ Saw New Moon.
~ Got my first iPod on Christmas.

2010:
~ My house was broken into.
~ A huge fight happened during one of my dad's games.
~ A huge and completely unnecessary fight happened with my friends.
~ Got my permit finally
~ Went to my first April SAYF retreat and loved it.
~ Started watching Glee.
~ Saw Wicked for the 3rd time (had same Elphaba as the previous time and LOVED her).
~ Performed as Uncle Henry, Oz Guard, and Winkie General in The Wizard of Oz.
~ Won three awards and a recognition at Awards Night (another medal for Health)
~ Found out that Berea College didn't rehire my dad because of who knows why.
~ Finished sophomore year with a 4.0
~ Started cheering and tumbling again (it's already having me plan on NOT doing it my senior year).
~ Cast my first [insert shape here] with my friends Laura and Lekey for the summer solstice. It was really cool and a new experience that will happen again and improve.
~ I also have been talking with friends in the gay community as well. It's been nice. Now I just hope I meet one that I can date. Haha!

Now I'm just living life with a sore shoulder from when I fell on it from doing a back handspring on the trampoline last week.
So yeah! It's been fun.