Tomodachi

Friends.

Yep, today was quite the day.
It started off when I woke up to Tess Losada calling me, even though if she accuses me of sleeping in late, I'll delete this post and deny all claims. :-P
But anyhow.
We met up at Chili's, which, I might add, I have not been to in a WHILE. So that was fun. Oh, and it'd been a while since I'd seen Tess, too. =]
On a highlight from lunch, I finally managed to give her her birthday present....yeah, her birthday is in April, thanks for asking. Made me feel good though.

Then, when I was at Best Buy, Jeff Raines called me asking if I wanted to hang out. So, yep, he came over and we played a lot of Brawl, and then we tormented my dog. Haha, not really. Although we did wear him out from chasing him around.
Figures...Shiloh is so lazy.
But it was really cool seeing Jeff.

Then, at 6:30 I went to CHAOS at the park. Believe it or not, a program with that kind of name is actually a church program. Claiming Him As Our Savior, or something along those lines.
Go figure.
But it was a lot of fun, even if we didn't do much aside from getting a soccer ball, nerf ball, and football stuck in a tree. Ah well, we got them out and even had some time for a good ol' game of Egyptian Rat Screw.

To top it off, after CHAOS, I went to go see nothing less than The Dark Knight, with Wil Ward, Abby Hoeniges, and Anythony Behrends. The movie was, naturally, epic. But I figure most of you have already seen it and/or heard plenty of it, so I'll say no more on that topic.

Needless to say, today was a pretty awesome day.
Just made me realize how I'm going to miss everyone here though,
You guys are awesome.

And before I close this note up, I have to give a shout out to the one and only Brooks Bankord, who is finally celebrating his 16th birthday today. :-P
Happy birthday, buddy =]

A Surprise Party

Wow, this is actually quite late.
Let's hope this doesn't start a routine.

Anyhow, Sunday night my parents took me to the mall to eat [for those of you that are unaware, I have a serious passion for Great Steak and Potato Company. I will miss their Philly Cheese Steak very, very much.]

Anyhow, after that they rushed me off to...the Coffehouse? Of course. My mom had planned a surprise party.
Should of seen it coming.
Anyways, it was a lot of fun, and so many people were there for it being middle of the summer and all. I loved it.

And of course, they ordered me a giant cake.

But besides seeing everyone, perhaps the best part was Troy and Brooks playing up on stage. That was neat. And they wrote a song for me, and wow. That was really awesome.
And Troy, if you ever read this, I just really wanted to thank you for singing for that song.
I know you don't like to, but you did anyways, and it sounded great. I really appreciate that.

You guys are awesome.

Host Family

Wow, guys, I must say. What with me writing about this blog on my facebook, I guess I now have quite the horde of readers.
Omoshiroi. Interesting.

Anyhow, I've got some news to report...I now know about my first host family!

I'll be staying with the Yamamoto family (yes, that's an incredibly typical Japanese last name).
Father: Katsuyoshi
Mother: Fumiko

Whoo! I don't know much about them, but I guess this suffices for now.
Also, I have the address, so if any of you would be interested in it to write me something, just ask. I'm just not gonna post it here for the world to see.


Also, on a communication note...several of you have been asking about internet/cell phone/ etc.

Internet is tricky. My family may or may not have it....but even if they don't have it, I'll try and look into an air card to have Internet. But we'll see.

As for my cell phone, no, it will not work in Japan. In fact, not even those trippy global Blackberries and stuff will work there because Japanese phones use a completely different signal transmission. Or something along those lines. That's what I've been told.
However, I should be getting a new cell phone there as soon as I can. Once that number is revealed, I'll share with you guys, but I have no idea about international costs, so be careful.

Also, for all who haven't heard, my flight plan has been determined. I will be leaving Bloomington Airport the morning of the August 4th for Detroit, Michigan. From there, I'll get on a flight to Osaka, non-stop. I'll overnight at a hotel they have in the terminal at Osaka's International Airport, and then the next morning, I'll take a flight to Asahikawa.

Anyways, I think this will be a long enough post, so I think I'll stop for now.

Thanks for all your support guys. =]

Workcamp

Wow.
As usual, what an exhilarating experience at this year's
"Land of Lakes Workcamp" in Wheaton, Minnesota.

Here's the gist of it:
400 people - mainly teenagers in high school and early college - spend a week of summer sleeping in a school to get up every morning to work for several hours on houses in the community that need repairs.
Already apprehensive of the idea?
Let me tell you this:
It's not about the work.
It's about the amazing experience that binds strangers into close friends and feeling like you're making a difference.

The theme this year was "Love Out Loud."
How appropriate.

A brief soundtrack of my week for those of you interested in it:
We Win! - David Crowder Band
Come to the Cross - Michael W. Smith
The Show - Hawk Nelson
Take It All - Hillsong United

Among many others.
But those songs give me the feeling of being there.
Of not just existing, but living.

Together, I really feel like we brought new life to a tired community.
Made a difference.

Crew 31 ½, I love all of you guys very much.
I really feel like we were a family, if only just for a week.



My original intention of this was to write a fully detailed recount of all my experiences this past week.
But then I realized.

I could never harness the feeling and emotion at that camp.
If you were there, you understand it fully well.
And if you weren't, I hate to say it, but you wouldn't get it anyways.

Sonic Racing?

So I'd heard of Sonic Riders, and it did seem interesting, but I played it for the first time today.
I guess it makes sense: Sonic...racing.
Eh.

Well, I thought it was fun, but like all Sonic games, the learning curve is much too steep.
Mudrekh and I just got kinda thrown in.
Pretty crazy.
But it's fun, if you can get the hang of it.

That's my quick verdict.

An Old Friend.

So I suppose this means my blogs are getting more and more predictable. What can I say; it's the fitting title.

Yesterday, Saturday the 12th, Matt Grooss had a soccer game here in town and I went to go see his team play. And after that, he got to come over to my house and spend the night.
Which was already incredibly awesome, considering the fact I hadn't seen him in over two years.

As it happens, yesterday night was also the night Mudrekh Goderya was coming to stay at my house after staying at his friend TJ's. So I suppose I was slightly tricky in my title; I got to hang out with two best friends from my past.

When Mudrekh came over, TJ stayed here for about an hour and a half for us to play a ton of Smash Bros. Brawl. And everyone who's played that game knows that 90 minutes of 4 player on that game creates moments. Crazy stages, and everything (mainly my own fault =P). It was a real good time.

So eventually TJ left, and Mudrekh, lazy as always, drifted off to sleep around 1 AM(Who am I kidding, it was more like fell like a rock. You'd know this if you've ever had Mudrekh over.)
But Matt and I were determined.
And yes, we played Smash Brothers. In fact, we didn't sleep.
We stayed up, the whole night, fighting ridiculously hard computers (difficulty level: insane).
And it was all just a big laugh. I guess that's what I like best about Matt. He doesn't take himself too seriously and everything's just plain funny with him. I was afraid that he would have changed, but I guess I was worried for nothing.
He'll always be crazy.

Today, we were both totally out of it of not having slept in over a day. I still haven't slept since then.

Matt probably won't even see this because he's not the type to be online often.
But yeah.
He's a great friend, and I miss him a lot.

I only hope everyone's lucky enough to have such great friends in life.

WALL•E

Alright, I figure the title of this post says it all anyways, but I called Mudrekh tonight, and at last minute, he invited me to come see WALL•E with him. Yes, the movie "started" at 7 PM and I left my house at 7:12. Thank God for previews though; I didn't miss a thing. Go figure.


But anyhow, to the bulk of this movie.
For those of you that aren't in the know, this movie is another Disney/ Pixar collaboration. Brilliant people.
You know...Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Raratouille, etc.

The movie centers around WALL•E, of course, the only remaining operational machine built to clean up the Earth, while the humans that ravaged the planet leave for extended stay in space.
The poor robot doesn't say much besides his name, but he's got a charm that really draws you in.

He meets EVE, a...well....considerably more advanced robot (which looks very much designed by Apple, doesn't she?).

I won't reveal any more of the story, but suffice it to say it has a deep meaning about what we're doing to the Earth. A movie about losing sight about what's important. Something to consider.

I'm not one to refer to movies this way, but this movie showcases a shrewd version of the future. Gives me something to think about. Check it out.

Congratulations, Disney/ Pixar.
You've done it again.

Irony Knows No Limit

Today I saw a guy wearing a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) t-shirt. And guess what?
Yep.

He was smoking.

A Summer Party

So earlier today, I went to a "summer" party, and it was really good for me.
It had been a while since I had seen a lot of people, and it was good to see them again.

There was major supersoaking involved, of course. But that's what made it fun.

I really appreciate my friends, even if it doesn't always seem like it.

The Beginning

Well, I guess this is my attempt at shooting among those die hard bloggers. Right, like that'll happen.

Well, let's start with a bang, shall we.
I'm going to go live in Asahikawa, Japan for a year under a Sister Cities Exchange Program.
How's that?

I'm still not sure about many details, but that will come in time.

Now, I guess, is the time for preparation.
Let's get this show on the road.