#40: Go back to the Blue Moon Cafe.

I can eat again, and I'm eating it up...

#40: Go back to the Blue Moon Cafe.

Backstory:
Each summer, my mom and my aunt "swap" children, meaning I go and spend a weekend with my aunt and uncle while my cousins come up to PA and spend the weekend with my mom. Last summer, as a surprise, my aunt decided to take me to this place called the Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore which was famous for its breakfast food. She had seen it on the Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and, knowing my insane obsession with all things breakfast, she knew it was right up my alley. She dragged my uncle and Maddie along with us. When we got there, the line for tables was out the door and around the block. The building itself is just a rowhome painted blue in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and the lady who owns the building converted the downstairs into a [VERY] small dining room. As a result, we were not prepared and ended up waiting nearly two and a half hours for a table. My uncle was whiny and grouchy because he had been woken up early and deprived of his breakfast only to have to sit on an uncomfortable bench for three hours waiting to be seated. By the time we got in, the kitchen was already almost out of ingredients, so we were unable to order one of their world-famous cinnamon rolls. We did manage to get an order of their specialty, Cap'n Crunch French Toast. My aunt and I both loved it though and vowed to return someday.

Then I got sick.

I didn't think I'd ever be well enough to return, but I knew that if I ever DID return to even partial health, I'd go back for another round and this time I'd do it the right way. Come August, I was feeling much better and Mom and I decided on a whim that we'd go back. We brought John along, too.

This time, we got up super early (around 6 AM) and left immediately. We were the second group at the restaurant. When we got there, we ordered the cinnamon bun right away to ensure we had one reserved for us. All three of us ordered a stack of the Cap'n Crunch French Toast as well.

The cinnamon bun came fresh from the oven and the waitress poured the icing out from a gravy boat, drowning the bun in sticky vanilla goodness. The cinnamon in the bun was freshly ground. As I put the first bite in my mouth, my taste buds were serenaded by a medley of sweet icing, sumptuous dough and a spicy touch of cinnamony delight. It was sinful if ever a food was.

I hadn't even gotten halfway through my first course by the time the french toast made its way out of my dreams onto my plate. I should start by informing you that I have never been a fan of Cap'n Crunch. My dad used to LOVE it and would eat Crunch Berries for breakfast every single day. I never really acquired a taste for it. And yet, that being said, the Cap'n Crunch French Toast is quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever put in my mouth. The cereal crumbs carmelized as the french toast was being cooked and made a crunchy sweet outer shell around the soft, chewy toast inside. As my good friend Barney Stinson would say, it was "Legen wait for it *pauses to give you time to enjoy the beauty of this culinary creation as it swims down your throat into your stomach* -DARY!!!"

It was so good that I went back the week after with Aunt Leah and the kids. And I'm going a fourth time later this month. And not only that, but it converted me to become a fan of Cap'n Crunch; in my most recent stay at CHOP, I ate 4-5 mini boxes of the stuff (pretty much all I ate the whole time I was there, save 2 Icees).

So yeah, it was pretty great.

#84: Open one of your old letters to Santa.

Hey...it's been a while since I last updated, but I still have a BUNCH more goals I've crossed off to write about. I can't fall asleep, so I decided to catch up on some of them.
-----

He's making a list, checking it twice... then going back ten years later and checking again.

#84: Open one of your old letters to Santa.

Background: my amazing mother keeps "brag books" from each year of my (productive) life... AKA since Nursery school... which contain various creations and achievements and awards I've garnered. As I went through the brag books a few years back, I noticed that in each one was a sealed envelope addressed to Santa. Naturally, I was intrigued and wanted to find out what I wished for when I was little.

In August, Mom and I decided to clean out my room so it would be ready for when school started. We literally dusted, organized, alphabetized, or flat out trashed every single thing in the entire room. (Needless to say, Iggy Pop the Piranha made the cut, while, sadly, my dried out gum collection did not.) When we got to my closet where the brag books were kept, I decided why not reward my hard (and much protested) work in cleaning by crossing an item off the list.

Mom wasn't sure there even were still any letters in the brag books, but I assured her that I had seen them on multiple occasions. I pulled out the brag books from Pre-K and Kindergarten and took those two letters out. The Pre-K one was in a red envelope with Mom's handwriting on it, neatly addressed to Santa Claus, North Pole, North Pole 00000. The other one... well, let's just say, the other one was special.

I could tell from the minute I pulled it out of the plastic sleeve in the brag book that the second letter, the one from Kindergarten, was the one I was supposed to open. It was in a white envelope on which I had written in my childish handwriting "SanTa" in big letters with a bunch of green and red holiday stamps of caroling bears wearing coats and scarves with Christmas-tree-light border stamps. It was very Christmasy, very innocent and very me.

Mom did not want me to rip the envelope, and understandably so, so I got to cross something off my unwritten "Things everyone HAS to do before they die at least once" list: using a letter opener. I got a quick and poorly-taught lesson on how to use it from Mom (she may be an amazing math and science teacher, but heaven help us if she tried to teach Home Ec). Then, Mom filmed me as I crossed the item off.

(I have the video somewhere on my hard drive... I'll find and post it later.)

I opened it up to find a folded piece of white paper with many more green and red stamps of the same designs all over the back. I flipped it over and read it allowed.

Dear Santa,
Could you please bring me ____(Look at video and type what it says)_______. Also, could I have lunch with you sometime? We could have leftovers.
Love, Nate

I laughed to tears at this. It was perfect. Only precocious little me would have, at 5 years old, wished as my big Christmas gift to have lunch with Santa. I can only picture myself, barely 4 feet tall, communicating with Santa's agents to organize a time that would work for both of us, meeting at a formal location, being served leftovers, and discussing many academic topics such as politics, religion, military tactics of the Elf Army, economic success of candy cane production, toy factory efficiency and quotas, worldwide concern over decrease in "holiday cheer", the negative image of Christmas portrayed by Ebeneezer Scrooge... Only me. The same kid who, the year before this, had hopped up on Santa's lap and told him that I wanted strawberry yogurt for Christmas.

[Looking back at the yogurt wish, I regret it sincerely. First of all, why strawberry? And secondly, YUCK... the doctors PRESCRIBED me yogurt earlier this year and I still didn't eat it. YOGURT? OF ALL THE FOODS! I couldn't have wished for Jell-O or Cool Whip instead???]

As I was saying though, the letter was absolutely perfect and helped kick up some old memories of childhood innocence and imagination. We think we lose those senses when we become adults, but we don't. They're still there as much as ever. We don't lose our wonderous childhood logic, but rather we just gain the reasoning of adulthood. Any adult could go and pick up the same action figures they used as a kid and make up adventures with them just the same... no laws of physics, no strings attached, just pure storytelling with adventure, imagination, and sincerity at the heart. (Some of the greatest plot twists come from childrens' minds... M. Night Shyamalan should take note. Tarzan's in trouble? Here comes Megatron to save the day! What's that? It's a bird... it's a plane... no, it's... Flying Tigger!)

You don't know to savor it when you're a child, so you feel you miss it when you are an adult, but truth be told it's all right there inside you just the same as it ever was. This goal helped me remember that. The childhood innocence is not a temporary gift; Christmas spirit is not a once-a-year feeling. If we lose that Christmas spirit, that childhood innocence, that sense of wonder about each and every aspect of life, then we lose the purest part of ourselves, and that's a gift far better than anything you can find under a tree.

Dear Santa,
This Christmas, help me remember that.
Love, Nate
(And P.S.- Don't you DARE bring me strawberry yogurt again. I'd honestly rather get coal. =P)

#28: Buy a rap song on iTunes (and listen to it). and BTP shoutout

What the heck is a "shawty"?

#28: Buy a rap song on iTunes (and listen to it).

So it is widely known that I don't really care for rap music. If every other word is an F-bomb, if the lyrics have no meaning, and if I can't understand a word that's being said, how am I supposed to enjoy the song? Every mixer and semi-formal these days is basically 50-75% rap music, so I've had no choice but to endure the painful bass drum and synthesizer combos, ridiculous auto-tune, and hateful, raunchy lyrics. I have never stooped to the level of paying $1 for a rap song though. That is, until now.

Eminem (one of the very few rap artists I actually have respect for) released his new album "Recovery" a few weeks back and I decided that because he was much better at putting meaning behind the words and making beats that actually were catchy, I'd give the best song on the album a shot. I was disheartened at first because the single he released before the album, "Not Afraid", was terrible in my opinion. I listened to it on YouTube before wasting money on it and didn't like it one bit. I began to think maybe I'd never be able to find a rap song I could endure more than once.

When the album came out, things changed. The song that shot up the iTunes charts was "Love the Way you Lie", a duet between Eminem and Rihanna about abuse (cough cough Chris Brown cough). Not only could I endure it, I really liked it! Sure, there is a fair amount of swearing and bass drum, but the lyrics are kind of like a poem with a much deeper meaning than just "I'mma get laid" (what up, Lil Wayne?).

Since then, it has become a staple on my On-the-Go playlist and one of my favorite songs this summer. I am open now in the future to possibly getting some other rap songs to listen to, but I just have to be selective. You know me, super picky.
-

So while I'm busy with my list, a few of my friends are working on their own. Three of my friends (Marissa A, Marissa G and Anne Marie) and one of their friends have teamed up to work on their own goal of trying to get the guys from the Nickelodeon show (Wes' favorite and my guilty pleasure) Big Time Rush to go to their senior prom with them. They have opened a YouTube channel and are doing weekly skits, music videos, and much more to convince them to come with them. As part of my unwritten goals along with my list is helping people with their own lists, I have decided to plug them on here. I know that as of now they and myself are the only ones reading this blog, but my hope is that once Mom sees and approves the blog, I can open it up to more of my friends and then the girls can get some extra publicity!

Visit their YouTube channel at this link: Big Time Prom

Oh, and in case you thought it was a joke or something, it's not. Kendall (one of the four BTR guys) has already subscribed to them and is no doubt sharing their awesomeness with the other three guys. So yeah, there's a chance.

#31: Become a minister online.

Call me Sir Nathan, Master of Wicca.

#31: Become a minister online.

Let me preface this post by saying that I am a happy, proud Catholic man. With all the endless issues I've faced, there's no way I would have made it through without some kind of faith. I fully understand this goal to be solely for FUN, and nothing else. I know I have no true religious power, but I like the idea that I am now able to marry Dora and Boots if the opportunity presents itself. Moving on...

When summer started and I was still violently ill, my optimism went on a bit of a decline. Aunt Leah caught this and decided she wanted to help cheer me up. We vowed that we'd make the rest of the summer great. She wanted to find a big goal on this list and cross it off. I didn't have many big goals at that time... Up until June, the list was a little bleak and then I went through and changed a number of goals. One of the goals I changed was #31, which went from being "Walk up a down escalator." to this goal I am now writing about, and 100% of the credit for the idea goes to Aunt Leah. She said her friend Nolan had done it a few years ago for fun and that she thought it'd be a neat and fun one for us to accomplish.

A few weeks later, we finally went on to the website for the Universal Life Church (the online ministry in charge of these fake ordinations). As a minister of the ULC, I am not allowed to trash talk it, so I will simply state facts and allow you to poke fun at it yourself.

1. The ULC will ordain literally anyone of any faith so long as they have a valid e-mail account.
2. The ULC allows you to name your own title for a nominal fee; suggested titles include "Pope", "Child of the Universe", "Minister of Rock 'n Roll" (or "Rock Doctor") and "Master of Wicca".
3. The ULC policy states any ceremony performed by a ULC minister will not be legally valid unless the minister has [aka has bought] their certificate of ordination, minister identification card, and letter of recommendation from the leader of the ULC.

Aunt Leah and I must have spent hours babbling like hyenas on laughing gas over some of the things on the site. Finally, we had me ordained and ordered a book of ceremonies that I could use to officiate unlawful marriages. [Oh yeah, I'm bad! No, I just didn't want to pay them $30 to be validated as a minister.]

We got the book in the mail a few weeks later. Right around that time, John, Mom and I went to cross something off of both of their lists, which was to get some fish and plants to fill his fish tank. Mom picked out two small glowfish (members of the goldfish family who were genetically altered during the gestation period to include jellyfish DNA that makes them both neon-colored and incredibly hyperactive) that she named after her first two imaginary hens, Henny Penny (reddish-orange) and Hurdy Gurdy (orangey-yellow). Both are still happily alive and well as I write this. John picked out a few plants that he liked, although he declined to name them. Unfortunately, they also came with a few snails that Mom and I have decided are John's pets. (He still refuses to name them, though, and has threatened on several occasions to evict them from the aquarium should they continue to eat his beloved seaweeds.) He picked out a small frog for Ashley, that she named Oliver (against her father's wishes, as he insisted it be called Kermit). I got three Black Molly fish, which are these really pretty black fish that are almost velvet looking and love to nibble on your finger if you dip it in the water. The problem with mine is/was that they all look pretty much exactly the same, so it is/was difficult to tell them apart. We ended up choosing one distinguishing feature from each fish to help identify them. I named them each after a Jersey Shore castmember. The one with the black rectangle on the end of his tail is "The Situation", the one with a white dot on his forehead is "Pauly D", and the short plump one with a white spot under her right eye is, of course, "Snooki".

After a while, Mom felt guilty that she had only gotten two of the four hen-fish that she loved so dearly. (It's been a running joke that Mom has always wanted hens simply because she keeps finding fun names for them. Henny Penny, after the childrens' tale, Hurdy Gurdy, after the strange accordionlike instrument, Tallulah Bankhead, after the Hitchcockian actress who also happened to be a heavy smoker, and Jackie Jormp-Jomp, after the episode of 30Rock where the character Jenna is denied the rights to Janis Joplin's life story for a biopic and invents a "totally unrelated" film character named Jackie Jormp-Jomp.) As a result, she had no choice but to go back to PetSmart and buy two more fish. This time, she went to the one in Bel Air instead to see if they had any different kinds of fish, She said the tanks were much dirtier and the fish were not as healthy, but she still felt she needed to get her last two so she picked two guppies, a yellow one and a blue one, and named them respectively Tallulah Bankhead and Jackie Jormp-Jomp. Five minutes later, Jackie passed away at the age of five minutes.

This looks like a job for the newly ordained minister of the family! After smuggling the dead fish into Aunt Leah's house and out onto her back porch, Mom decided to have a funeral and memorial service for beloved Jackie. I pulled out my handy-dandy minister's manual and performed a beautiful ceremony that closed with me rejoining the soul of Jackie with her (actually, his, but shh don't tell anyone) beloved creator. My first [un]official ceremony!

Several days later, Tallulah passed away in her sleep. She was several days old.

We then proceeded to go back to our original, trustworthy PetSmart to get a new blue guppy and a green glowfish to give Henny and Hurdy a pal. We decided not to replace Tallulah as she was a heavy smoker anyway and her emphysema would've killed her no matter how many times we reincarnated her. We named the blue one Jackie Jormp-Jomp Junior and allowed John to call the green guy Kermit as he never got to name the frog Kermit.

A few weeks later, Jackie Jormp-Jomp Junior committed suicide from her loneliness as she didn't have any friends in the tank. Kermit had a heart-attack from swimming so fast and then died of shock when he forgot where he was. I was not invited back to perform their funeral services. We're back to the original five fish and little Oliver. Oh, well! Alex and Wes' fish are hanging on by a thread so I'm sure my funeral expertise will be put to good use again before I can say "Jackie Jormp-Jomp Junior jumped!"

(And I hear wedding bells in Dora's future! Hint, hint Diego and Boots! Fight over her amongst yourselves.)

To get ordained online or see the "wonderful" spiritual titles available for your purchase, please visit: www.themonastery.org

#18: Eat at a Sonic.

Sonic's got it, others don't.

#18: Eat at a Sonic.

For those who have never heard of Sonic, it is the nation's only chain of drive-in-only, eat-in-your-car restaurants. Anytime you sit down to watch TV in the Philly area, you are bound to see at least one commercial for one of their $1 mini-entree specials or their world-famous fruit smoothies. And yet, I have never ever seen one in person. You'd think from the number of ads that they would be springing up left and right, but honestly I've never passed one that I can remember, let alone eaten at one. Granted, it could have been that I just wasn't looking for them.


On our way home from the beach, Mom and I decided we were in the mood for Sonic-type food. We called Pop-Pop back at the house to look up the closest one to Rehoboth. He called us back with a number to call to find nearby Sonics. Mom was aggravated by this, but we were desperate for Sonic, so we did whatever we had to do.

Eventually, we passed a sign that said "Sonic: next exit", so we took a detour to cross one more off the list. Not knowing how it worked, we parked our car, got out and walked over to the drive-in station to view the menu. We then realized the error of our ways, hopped back in tbe car and pulled into the drive in space. Mom ordered a corn dog and a strawberry lemonade smoothie while I had chicken nuggets with ranch dressing and honey mustard plus a grape smoothie. Within (no exaggeration) three minutes, out food was brought to our car by a nice Sonic employee wearing roller skates. (How cool is that?! When was the last time you got your Big Mac on a skateboard? I think NEVER!)

And it was DEEEEEEEELICIOUS.

Honestly, it was worth the extra five minutes out of the way and the number of carbs it was worth (Mom's point, not mine... I need all the carbs I can get =P). I would absolutely go back to a Sonic. If I could find one... oh, well! At least I found ONE!

#15: Try PB&J.

Note: I'm writing this post from a hospital bed, so I apologize if my writing is not up to par...)

A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of these sandwiches before graduating from high school. I will have eaten one.


#15: Try PB & J.

Let me start with a little backstory. When I was a child, I was told I had to avoid all things peanutty as my dad was deathly allergic to peanuts. Many people think that means I was a deprived child, denied the joys of Peanut M&Ms, Nutella, NutterButters, Snickers, peanut butter crackers, peanut butter and banana toast, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (the #1 selling candy in America, as I learned while completing my 83rd goal at the Hershey Factory), and most importantly, PB&J sandwiches.

I was just raised to have a distaste in peanut products. I haven't known any other way. In recent years, I have finally been given permission to eat peanut products, but I've just had no interest in even trying it. I realized though that I have to be missing something if so many people eat one every day and rave about it. Plus, I love jelly!

At the beach, I told Aunt Amy about this little experiment I'm doing and she insisted that I read her the list. When it came to this goal, she told me she had never tried a PB&J sandwich either, but for the opposite reason of myself: she has a soft spot for peanut butter but hates jelly! She thinks the texture and consistency are weird. I will admit, jelly is a little difficult to spread, but come on... it's fruit and sugar! (I mean, really, how do you enjoy a semi-solid spread made out of crushed legumes more than a sweet, sugary, fruity concoction???) Anyways, she said she would happily help me to cross this goal off my list before the end of the week if I would let her and, timid as I was, I agreed. It calmed me to know I'd have a partner in this new experience.

When we went grocery shopping, Mom picked up a small jar of grape jelly and a small jar of Jif smooth peanut butter. Aunt Amy and I reached an agreement that we would each get to spread one piece of bread with the ingredient we didn't like, that way we were fair with the amount of nasty we each had to endure. That doesn't mean we were unfair and put one little drip of each, but we didnt cake it on either to make each other gag.

On the morning before Mom and I left the beach (we had something the next day so we had to leave early), Aunt Amy and I agreed to have the sandwich with breakfast. We each got a big glass of water to wash it down afterward. We took some pics of each of us with the ingredients. I spread a fair share of peanut butter on one slice of whole white bread and Aunt Amy (still somewhat cautious) put a modest amount on the other. We pressed them together, cut it in half, and counted to three...

One... two... three... *munchmunchmunch*

Before I start talking about my feelings on the sandwich, let me just say you must recognize that I already resented peanut butter without even tasting it, but I tried to be unbiased. I gave it a shot. That said, while I fully expected it to be terrible, it turned out not to be quite as bad as I had gone into it expecting. That is... not QUITE as bad. I still have trouble understanding why kids would request this for lunch every day. Not just this, but this in a warm, mildewy brown paper bag. I don't know; my best hypothesis would be that parents force their children to eat it since it's so easy to make, but I honestly couldn't even finish my half for breakfast, let alone eat one or two for lunch every day for the entirety of my high school career. It made me appreciate Mrs. Kalivas' cooking even more than I already do!

Aunt Amy said it wasn't half bad and that she'd give jelly a try in the future. I might try some other peanut products in the future, but I highly doubt I'd ever enjoy them very much. No matter, I still accomplished it. I have to thank Aunt Amy for being a part of this... I hardly ever see her so it means a lot to say she helped me with a part of my list, and I csn't think of anyone I'd rather have eaten my first PB&J with. Other than maybe PB&J Otter, but they got cancelled.

So, there you have it. I am no longer a PB&J virgin. But I think I'll be taking a vow of PB&J celibacy now. =)

Watch the video all the way til the end, when Uncle Marty makes a short but funny and notable cameo...

#42: Win a round of either mini-golf or bowling.

I did better... I did BOTH!

#42: Win a round of either mini-golf or bowling.

As a kid in a family with many competitive people, it is rather difficult to win at either of these games until you're old enough to play by the rules. When I was three, my dad still counted every little movement of the mini-golf club as a stroke, so I ended up with a score in the high 200,000s every time.

Now, I'm old enough and I was determined as anything to beat my family in these games for two reasons: one, for my own (admittedly selfish) recognition, and two, as punishment for all the torture I went through playing these games as a little kid.

First, the bowling:

In early July, Mom was down at the beach with a friend so I was with Aunt Leah and the kids hanging out. We decided to take advantage of an offer the bowling alley had that said all kids under the age of 16 could play free on weekends. I put my acting face on and went Benjamin Button-style, turning 15 before everyone's eyes. (Actually, I just raised my voice about a half octave so the guy behind the counter would believe that this 6'1" kid was under 16.)

We decided to play two rounds. The first round went pretty badly for me. I ended up in fourth (behind Alex who won, Nana who is 4x my age, and Aunt Leah who was playing one-handed while carrying Maddie in the other). Embarassing, right? Wes finished last, though, having gotten mostly gutterballs, so we decided for the second round that we'd put the bumpers up. This, tied in with my exponentially greater determination having failed miserably in the first round, led to a better outcome the second round.

That outcome was called first place, baby.

I did a little victory dance with Maddie (who was covered in lemonade, chicken finger crumbs, vomit and eyeshadow and not happy about it) and accepted my trophy (getting to put all the bowling balls back on the racks) and skipped out of the alley happy as a clam. I was disheartened, however, when Alex mentioned that technically he won the game as he had a higher combined total between the two rounds than I did.

So we called for a rematch.

Granted, we were a little bowling-alleyed out, so we decided the rematch would take place on the Wii a few days later. When that match happened, it was absolutely neck and neck. In fact, Wesley ended up winning that match (we let him play too), but since it was meant to be the determining factor in Alex and my heated battle, we were playing just for the two of us.

And I won (only by two or three points, but hey, it still counts!).

Alex put up a very good fight, but ultimately he succumbed to my bowling awesomeness. That's not to say our heated competition is over, as Part II of this epic saga is still to come, in the form of goal #71: Beat Alex in Wii Boxing. When the [boxing] gloves go on, the gloves come off...

Mini-Golf:

A decidedly less exciting victory, as it was somewhat rigged in my favor. On the last full day of the beach trip with Dad's family, we got up and went to Viking Golf in Fenwick Island (my personal favorite golf place). Our party was too big for just one game, so we had to split, with Uncle Marty, Aunt Mer, Uncle Kevin, and Grandpa Mike going head to head in one group, and myself, Aunt Amy, and Lauren in the other. (Ellie, Lucas, and Abby played too, but of course they didn't keep score.)

That's right. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I rigged it so I'd go against the two people in the family who admitted how terrible they are at golf. If I had played any of the people in the other group, I would have lost terribly. But I decided to take the low road. Before you judge me though, you have to realize it paid off, cuz I won anyway. So ha!

It was fun and, along with the Boardwalk that night, a nice ending to the trip.

BUT NOW, I AM VICTORIOUS! All those years I was taken advantage up. Seen as no competition. Well, now, if you're playing me in mini-golf or bowling, watch your back because I am coming after you!!!

#75: Write a song for your guitar.

Took me long enough!

#75: Write a song for your guitar.

Many, many years ago, my parents got me a guitar as a birthday gift. From then until last September, said guitar sat in my closet collecting dust. Then, my mom and I decided we would try to get me lessons at George's Music (a music superstore near our house). Suddenly BAM! I became obsessed with playing. In the most stressful few months of my life, guitar was one of a very limited few activities I still enjoyed. Others included singing, acting, watching TV, socializing, playing games, and [the one I am best at] writing.

Granted, I am best at writing poetry. I have written some kickass poems that nobody has ever read...they're all in the bottom drawer of my desk, and probably enough to fill a whole anthology by now! Songs were a whole new forum for me.

Since this was my first song and as I am still more of an advanced beginner at guitar but a much better writer, I decided I'd write the lyrics first and then add the chords later. I wanted to write something that spoke to me, something that could influence people. I decided to write a song with the same message as this project, to look at the great things in life rather than the ones that bring you down. That brought to mind the idea of a "glass half full", and that became the title and basis for the song. Then I came up with a simple chord progression that matched perfectly.

The night of Aunt Leah's birthday, I sang it for the family and when I looked up, everyone was in tears. That was a cool feeling because it meant the song accomplished what I wanted it to. Even my mom, who is completely anti-arts (theater, music, etc.) told me that it was good enough to become a hit. I don't know about that, but Pop-Pop (my grandpa) is going to help me get it copyrighted so I can at least record it and post it to Facebook or YouTube without any possibility of plagiarism.

Without further ado, here it is... I hope you like it.
The Glass Half Full:

Staring through a painted glass
The glass stares back at me
The water reaches for the brim
But half full is all it can be
There’s not enough to be full
But too much to be empty though
Room for error, room to lose
But there is also room to grow

And as I look at this glass
I can’t help but ask

Is it what we’ve had that we have lost
Or what we have still with no cost
What we’ve gained or what we lack
What we’ve been given or what we’ve given back
There’s just enough to keep us going
Just enough to wet our cup
We’ll only ever get halfway there,
Halfway down or halfway up

In this life full of successes
We all have our share of fails
We must risk to make it anywhere
And this glass asks heads or tails
It gives or souls something to feed on
An endless questionable pull
Does this glass have any purpose?
Are our lives empty or full?

And as I look at this glass
I can’t help but ask

Is it what we’ve had that we have lost
Or what we have still with no cost
What we’ve gained or what we lack
What we’ve been given or what we’ve given back
There’s just enough to keep us going
Just enough to wet our cup
We’ll only ever get halfway there,
Halfway down or halfway up



So may this circle be unbroken
May any lies be unspoken
Pray the Lord my soul to keep
May I see the shallow water deep
And may I live but one more day
May I say all I have meant to say
And may this glass next to my bed
Put thoughtful dreams in my head

And as I look at this glass
I can’t help but ask

Cuz it’s what we’ve had that we have lost
And what we have still with no cost
It’s what we’ve gained, and what we lack
What we’ve been given, and what we’ve given back
There’s just enough to keep us going
Just enough to fill our cup
We’ll only ever get halfway there,
I’m happy just to be halfway up
------------

Hope you liked it! I'm glad I got this experience crossed off because now I feel more confident to go write even better songs! I might sing this at one of our concerts this year. Who knows, maybe someday you'll hear it on the radio! =)

What can I say? I like my glass half full.

#19: Try a donut with a weird flavor combo at the Fractured Prune.

Just because things taste good separate does NOT mean they will taste good together!

#19: Try a donut with a weird flavor combo at the Fractured Prune.

For those who don't know, the Fractured Prune is a "donut shoppe" in Ocean City, MD where the donuts are made custom for you (unlike that other donut place... Dunkin' Somethin'?)

All of the toppings are delicious of course. I, however, am willing to take a challenge and try to make a disgusting flavor out of the tasty ones they have.

Last year, I tried their mint chocolate chip donut and it was DISGUSTING. However, as that was a premade flavor, I don't count it. I am a mint lover, but for some reason mint on a donut does not work. So I decided to stick with mint as the glaze flavor. Then, I had to choose a sugar: powdered, granulated or cinnamon sugar. Of those three, the one I figured would go worst with mint was cinnamon sugar so I picked that. From the toppings, I was torn between coconut and sprinkles, but I don't eat coconut and I wasn't gonna push my luck getting sick at the beach, so I stuck with sprinkles.

We can all agree, I'm sure, that separately, a donut, mint flavor, cinnamon sugar and rainbow sprinkles are delicioso (as Dora the Explora would say), but how did they taste together?

Honestly? Not as bad as I expected!

I almost felt disappointed. Granted, Aunt Mer called it, saying that the combo sounded awesome to her, but I had faith that it would be nasty. And it let me down.

Would I order it again? No, I'd probably stick to the maple cinnamon donut or even the prune donut (much tastier than it sounds), but overall it really wasn't that bad a combo. Maybe Baskin Robbins should consider adding a 32nd flavor- Cinnamint (with optional rainbow sprinkles for the kiddies)!

Oh well. Better luck gagging next time.

#9: Send a message in a bottle.

I'm Nate Stauffer, and I approve this message.

#9: Send a message in a bottle.

Another thing I have always wanted to try is this, but I never could find the right words and I didn't want to litter. Well, I decided there's no better time than the present. The opportunity presented itself while I was at the beach with my dad's family, and I seized it.

I found an empty Perrier bottle in the recycling at the condo and it said "biodegradable", so that relieved my worries. I didn't have any real paper so I had to improvise, using one of the courtesy "ResortQuest" post-it pads that was in the main realtor's office (luckily, Gram had grabbed a few so we had them handy! We used them to keep score in board games too.) I sat quietly in the room that Mom and I shared and just wrote what came to mind...
---
Dear Reader,
I don't know who is going to read this, if anyone at all. My name is Nate. I'm 16 and I live in PA. I've had a rough year and it wasn't until just recently that I learned how to live life the right way. One thing I've always wanted to do is send a message in a bottle, so here it is. Now I want you to go send a message for someone else to read. And as you go through your life, remember this letter and, more importantly, remember to live each day to the fullest while you can and don't be afraid to show your real emotions. I don't know if we'll ever meet, and if we do, I can't be sure we'll recognize each other, but I hope the person I meet is a better person because of this letter you're reading.
-Nate
---
Mucho corny? Chet, you betcha. Nonetheless, my whole goal with this list is "Carpe Diem" basically in that I'm trying to enjoy every moment of life (especially those where I'm not sick) and at the same time to try to pass that along to others. This was my way of trying to do that yet again. I just let my words pour out so they could be washed away by the tide.

I sealed the lid shut and snuck the bottle onto the beach (NO LITTER!)... actually, I kind of smuggled it in Mom's purse. When the time came, Mom grabbed the camera and I took the bottle. The wind was blowing so hard I could hardly keep my eyes open. Sand was whipping along the ground, scourging my feet and leaving little miniscule scrapes that itched for a few hours afterward. Nonetheless, I trudged on toward the water. I tried to avoid getting wet since my jeans were the only semi-nice pants I had with me, but they still got a little damp from the foamy remnants of the waves that lapped up against my ankles.

I wanted to keep the bottle close enough to shore that someone would be able to find it but not so close that it would come right back to me on a rolling wave and get stuck in the sandbank. I gave it a moderate-powered throw which worked perfectly as it managed to push against the wind and catch a wave maybe 20 feet out. I watched as my message surfed the waves, pushing back against nature, The wind pushed it west of me and I watched it until it was a little speck on the distant lefthand edge of my sightline. I never saw it again.

I don't know where that bottle ended up. I don't know if anyone found it, or if they even took the time to read it instead of just throwing it out.. I don't know if it dissolved in the salty water and the papers were carried off until the fibers broke apart and my words were lost at sea. I'll never know what happened to that message, but I can only hope someone read it and that it influenced them in some minor positive way. For the rest of my life, I can wonder what happened to it, who received it if anyone at all, and while that would bother most people, I like that feeling. In this definite world where there is a place for everything and everything has its place, there is now one little detail that is eternally indefinite, about which I can forever ponder, forever wonder, forever dream...

#73: Wear something crazy in public.

We may look weird in the picture (the sun was reflected off the car and glared into our eyes), but we looked MOOOO-velous in our COW-stumes!

#73: Wear something crazy in public.

How it all milked out...
Near Aunt Leah's house is a Chick-Fil-A. Mom and I don't have any of those nearby, and she thought it would be fun to stop in sometime. I had a movie I wanted to see, so one morning, she dropped me off at the movies and took Nana and all three kids to Chick-Fil-A. While they were there, she noticed a sign that said "Cow-preciation Day! Pick up your costume packs at the front!"

For those unaware, the mascot of Chick-Fil-A is a cow who is upset because people eat so much beef and not enough chicken. This was a "cow-vent" hosted by the mascot for cows to gather at the Chick-Fil-A and get free chicken meals for surviving the bloody, horrifying Beef Holocaust that so many of their ancestors succumbed to.

In plain English, it was a publicity stunt where anyone dressed in a cow suit could get a free meal. Of course, Mom saw the word "free" and jumped at the chance faster than the cow that went over the moon. She got black fabric, tape, markers, stickers, white hats and cow masks and had each person (except Uncle Mac, who was in Michigan the day of the event) grab an undershirt and make a cow costume.

It was fun to begin with, but when we actually pulled up on the day of the event, we were instantly ashamed. As we were walking in, we looked around the parking lot and saw not ONE SINGLE COW! We were sure we were the only idiots that had paid any attention to it. When we got inside, though, we breathed a sigh of relief. Almost everyone inside was in costume and the mascot was walking around greeting his relatives. Some people, believe it or not, went even crazier than we did with the costumes!

Well, I can say taking that long walk of shame through the parking lot was plenty embarassing, but once we got inside, it was so much fun. Maddie was freaked out by the mascot at first, but when he walked away she kept asking "Moo?" (In fact, the rest of the day, her conversations were peppered with "Moo? Haha!") If nothing else, we saved about $50 on food between the 8 of us.

I've worn some embarassing stuff in my time... viking hats, superhero costumes, the occasional princess dress (courtesy of Olivia), milk carton masks, bunny ears, clown wigs, big blue and purple fuzzy tophats, Elvis getups, but never anything quite like that homemade cow costume. And it wasn't even Halloween! (Granted, it WILL be my Halloween costume this year!) But it made it even more insane and enjoyable to be doing it with the WHOLE clan. It was an A-MOO-zing experience, and I personally can't wait for the next "Cow-preciation Day"!

#76: Visit the SPCA again.

Our lemonade money went to a good cause.

#76: Visit the SPCA again.

Two days after our lemonade stand-stravaganza, Alex, Wes and I went with Pop-Pop and Mom to the local humane society to donate our proceeds. We had also collected a rawhide bone and two toys for the doggies there. Even though it was only $40, it felt so great to know we were able to help to some extent. Max, my doggy, was adopted from a pound so I have a special place in my heart for shelter dogs.

My original intention for this goal was to go back to the SPCA where we got Max, but it occurred to me that every kennel is equal in the sense that all the animals there are in need of a home, so what's the difference which one I go to or help out at. As a reult, for the lemonade stand, Mom and I came to an agreement that we would go to Aunt Leah's humane society instead.

After dropping off the donations, we took a few minutes to walk around in the cage area where all the puppies were chilling. Most of them, as soon as they heard us open the door, came right up to the edge of their cages to see us. It makes you feel even more special seeing the actual animals your donation is going to help and how happy they are just to see someone come in to pet them or talk to them. A few stood out. One dog had just passed his "Canine Good Citizen Test", which I took to mean "Behavior Rehab for Dogs". There were a brother and sister that were a cross between a bloodhound and some other huge dog... Imagine the adorable sad face of a bloodhound on a 7 foot, 400 pound body. There was a tripod (three-legged) dog that I had remembered from my slideshow. Mom fell in love with a medium-sized black-haired dog with a white spot on her chest (forget the name, but I think it began with S.) They were all so adorable. There were a lot of Boxers there too. (The dog, not the athlete... Lord knows Mom would've adopted Sugar Ray Leonard.)

We left feeling good about what we had done. One of the unwritten parts of my list is, along the way to never turn down an opportunity to help someone out. I'e stuck true to that, from offering to bring the laundry down for Grandma and Pop-Pop to helping the Diveleys with Bridget's heart to dancing like an idiot with a bunch of little kids for Baobab Blast to, now, helping out animals in need. It makes the list even more important, enjoyable, and fulfilling for me.

Thank you to everyone who supported the lemonade stand and to the puppies who we met for helping me remember why I should help out whenever, wherever, and whoever I can.

#63: Open a lemonade stand.

Makin' money makin' lemonade!

#63: Open a lemonade stand.

You know, as a kid people always talk about lemonade stands. On TV, characters will have lemonade stands (or in Spongebob's case, bubble stands!) You'll drive by kids in your neighborhood that are having them. But I'm one of those ones that never really took the time to hold one. (I was much too busy playing in a cardboard box castle with my Tarzan action figures.)

Well, now I'm older and I have the drive to do stuff, so I wanted to gie this a shot, and boy am I glad I did!

On July 2nd, the night before the stand, we started with the basics. First, we had to decide which charity to put the money towards. We narrowed it down to either a local park dedicated to a little girl who died of cancer or the local animal shelter. The park looked well funded, though, and we wanted to try and cross another item off the list (Visit an animal shelter), so we went with the humane society.

Mom pulled out some posterboard and markers and the boys (mainly Wes) and I went crazy. We made a big sign to put out on the table (stand) and then a bunch of smaller signs that we put throughout Aunt Leah's development.

Later that night (after chasing my naughty dog through the neighborhood before catching him sneaking back into the yard through the fence), Aunt Leah and I went to their local Giant and bought two things of lemonade (little did we know that we already had two back at the house), ice, cups and ingredients for brownies.

We were up super late baking three batches of brownies, two things (gallons?) of lemonade and a slideshow of pictures of dogs from the local homeless shelter. We ended up not using the slideshow, but I still have it and it is nice to look through. Plus, I got to meet the dogs a couple days later! (Stay tuned for that post.)

The next morning, we awoke super early. By the time I got upstairs for breakfast, the stand was already up, the cooler was outside, and the boys were already manning it for me! I had a quick bowl of cereal (and I snuck a brownie =P) and then jumped outside to get started. I grabbed Uncle Mac's outdoor speaker and hooked it up to my iPod (I made a kid-friendly playlist).

Business boomed in the first hour of the stand. All the neighbors and the kids' friends were guilted into coming over and buying at least one cup. People actually hung around in the yard to talk to the grownups and as a result, ended up buying multiple cups. It was really hot out that day (and yet we were still very strict about how much ice we gave people).

After a few hours, we were pooped out. By the time that Mom, John, Aunt Joyce, and Grandpa George got there, we were almost done with the stand entirely! Maddie was a little crabby from getting up so early, so she stole some of our money and ran away and played with it on the front porch for the whole time we were out there (supervised, of course).

I would like to take all the credit for the stand, but I have to hand it to a few people... Mom's work on the posters, Aunt Leah's baking skills, Alex's support and Wes' all around help (he did more than I did, actually!) really made the stand as great as it was. But I'll still take SOME credit. After all, it WAS my idea!

The stand was so much fun and we ended up raising an even $40 for the shelter (which we delivered in person a few days later... I will post that adventure in a few days.)

Another item checked off the list, another childhood dream fulfilled, another awesome memory to look back on, and another set of dry throats and empty stomachs satisfied. All in a day's work!

#50: Try Hawaiian (Pineapple) Pizza.

Yuuuuum.... or Yuuuuuck?!

#50: Try Hawaiian (Pineapple) Pizza.

I did not require myself to put the ham on the pizza as well as with whatever condition I have, my body seems not to process salty foods very well and ham has not gone down quite right the past few times I've tried it. (It's come back up just fine though =P)

Well, a couple factors played into this. First, the pizza was not professionally made; rather, it was made by me and was looooaded with cheese, which looking back couldn't possibly have helped the pineapple taste better. Secondly, we used rings, not chunks of pineapple, so the juices spread more and it infected the whole pizza like it was infected with necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria... impressed with the terminology? Thank you, Wikipedia!) Now that the disclaimers are out of the way...

Let me start by saying I have always said that hate is too strong a word to use. Okay, that being said...

I hated it.

Haha! I really don't know why. I like pizza and all of the ingredients (cheese, sauce, pepperoni, olives, etc.) I like pineapple. Why did I not enjoy pineapple ON my pizza. Well here's an analogy... I like ice cream. I like mac and cheese. I would NEVER eat the two together. Or... I like the show The Big Bang Theory. I also like Morgan Freeman. Would I like it if in the middle of an episode of TBBT, Morgan Freeman began narrating with his booming godlike voice? Probably not. (Although, honestly, can't you just hear the choir of "Bazinga"s?)

Again, hate's probably too strong. I very very much disliked the presence of a juicy tropical fruit on my fatty Italian delicacy. That said, I'm glad I put it on the list because so many people do enjoy it so I wanted to see what the hype was all about. THAT said, will I ever try it again?

Answer that question by answering this question. Is Morgan Freeman a mere mortal, just like the rest of us?

[Hint: the answer is no. He has some supernatural abilities, and the pizza was just plain nasty. No, thank you very much.)

#44: AIRZOOKA FIGHT!!!

One of the really fun goals on the list that was added at the very last minute...

#44: Airzooka fight!

We got three airzookas, six cans of silly string, and a crazy sprinkler and had an afternoon of crazy fun! It was super hot when we first started, so we were all a little tense but the airzookas were good stress relievers! Alex, Wes, and I chased each other around, shooting the airzookas left and right. I may have hit Max a couple of times... He may have gone crazy as a result! We then gave everyone else the honor of being shot with airballs. Maddie thought it was the greatest thing although she made her scaredy face every time. Within 15 minutes though, all three were broken. Quality stuff right there! [Luckily, Uncle Mac fixed them all with duct tape and they still live to fight another day!]

Then we whipped out the silly string. Wesley of course took blue. Alex and I took whatever other colors there were. Wes used the tactic of shooting long (looooooooooooooooong) strands of silly string at one person at a time so they had to spend half an hour cleaning it off themselves. Alex went for the burst method where he would wait a long period of time before taking short, sniper-like shots at Wesley and myself. I, on the other hand, used the short-shot defense method where I was impartial until someone came after me and then I would barrage them with kamikaze like force until they fell to their knees, stared up at me and begged for their mommy. Okay, not really... Actually my first can of silly sting malfunctioned so it just made a sizzling noise every time you pressed down on it and I lost the fight as a result. If anything, I ended up screaming for my mom several times, but she was too busy laughing at me to help. Oh, cruel silly string world where teenagers can be taken down by pint-sized polymer marksmen...

I surrendered within 5 minutes. Wesley ran out of string within 3. Alex still had a whole can left at the end.

It was SOOO much fun and good stress relief. That is until we had to clean up, of course. =P

Once we finished making balls of dried-out, grass-covered silly string, we were able to hop into our swimsuits and jump into the sprinkler. It was a long orange tupe that had little extensions... fingers, flagella, cilia, whatever you want to call them... each with a hole at the tip so they ended up waving water around uncontrollably. It was so much fun to run through. We brought water guns out with a cup to fill them up, which was a blast. The force of the water was so great that at one point I aimed one of the little wriggling arms at my teeth and it felt like that water pick that the dentist uses. Unfortunately, Wes saw me do this and liked the idea, but he misaimed and hit the back of his throat causing him to gag uncontrollably. Then he went back and did it again. And again.

[And again.]

Maddie decided to join us, but was terrified of actually getting wet. When she first came out, she started running to the very edge where she could get water droplets on her toes and then run away as fast as she could as if she had just come from a monsoon. I decided to have some fun with her, but she wouldn't walk by herself up to the sprinkler (she would trot in place so she could feel brave... so cute!) so I picked her up and ran her in. I didn't know whether to expect her to burst into tears or laugh hysterically. Luckily, she picked the latter. She liked it so much that every time I'd ask if she wanted to go again, she'd say yes. In fact, we might have been out there all night if we could have! As soon as I put her down, though, she was back to her cautious little self.

Once again, it was super fun and another great item on the list!

#57: Be at Maddie's Baptism

In all honesty, probably one of the most important goals on the list was this one.



#57: Be at Maddie's Baptism.

I know the wording sounds strange. "You're the godfather! Of course you have to!" But truthfully with everything that has been going on, I can't make honest-to-God commitments to be anywhere at any time to do any thing, no matter how important. And as much as I adore my goddaughter, I would rather have had to miss out on that day than jeopardize it by going despite being violently ill.

Lucky for me, the sicky fates cut my string a little longer so I was able to attend her baptism. Mom and I had gotten her a cross necklace and a bracelet to wear from Shuler's, but she only agreed to wear the necklace. I felt special but I felt bad for Mom that her gift got... "rejected", per se. =)

Maddie strutted her stuff with that necklace though, man. She thought she was hot stuff. Everyone that came up and said congratulations to her, she first gave a confused look like, "Congrats for what? Getting water poured on my head?" and then proceeded to show them her beautiful necklace.

I've seen 5 baptisms in my life that I can remember (not counting my own, since I was a little preoccupied at the time being a baby and stuff): Aunt Leah, Alex, Wes, Declan, and now Maddie. They're really powerful, although I think there's a little too much hype about them. They'd almost be more subtly beautiful and meaningful if people didn't throw huge shebangs afterwards and videotape it for future generations.

In terms of the actual baptism itself, Maddie stayed relatively calm. For the minutes leading up to it, standing in front of the congregation, she insisted that everyone hold her at least part of the time - her mom, her dad, me, Mom, Aunt Joyce - but when it came time for the blessing, she went right back to her mommy. She had one other little caviat...a request... a clause in her contract. She absolutely insisted that she hold her friend Dora throughout the whole thing. =)

All in all, it was very nice and I'm so glad I could be there. Maddie, if you're reading this some day, I hope you know just how much I love you and am happy for you. I hope to God that I'll be there to witness all the big events in your life, but even if I miss a few I want you to know how special you are to me and I'll always be proud of you. I feel so blessed to be the godfather of such an amazing little girl. <3

So, here's the dealio....

Well, it's quite clear by now that I am not a very good blog admin. Haha!

So since I've crossed SO much off and yet have to keep it all in order, I am going to post smaller separate posts for each goal rather than larger monthly posts with several plus updates. Any updates will be given in a separate, specially-titled post as needed.

I have crossed off MANY items from the list since my last post, so over the next couple days I will be updating you on all the little goals I haven't yet written about. (Plus my wisdom teeth are coming out so I'll be in bed bored for 3-4 days. =P)

Here goes... The ones I've crossed off are..
#9, 13, 15, 18, 19, 28, 29, 42, 44, 50, 53, 57, 63, 68, 73, 75, 76, and 83.

Am I forgetting any???

Anyways, I have a lot to write about so... I guess I should get started!

Nah, I'm tired... let's wait til tomorrow! =P
(You can't spell procrastinate without "Nate"!)

#11- Sleep downstairs one night; Update on #37; #96- Give Ben a going away party

Let me start this post off by saying that sophomore year is over, and it's actually a little bittersweet. Sure, we had to suffer through AP Bio and AP Beothy this year. Sure, I may have been sick as a dog almost every night. Sure, the workload was enough to flatten the Taj Mahal. But this was our last normal year. Of course, no year at DP could ever be "normal" in a truly normal sense, per se. But next year is going to be so killer that we're going to be bitter and asocial until next summer, and then we're seniors and we will have to start letting go, a prospect which I'm really not sure I'm cut out for. Hell, if I was this emotional when LOST ended, senior year is going to turn me into a puddle of emotion and wood glue. Not to tip people off, but you may want to take some shares in Kleenex and its affiliates that year because I'll be sending their business through the roof. =)

That being said, I only have 2 years left to get these goals completed! I've actually made exceptional progress so far, crossing off a few goals I didn't even expect to. That being said, I've also changed a few goals. Some of them I realized were just not exciting enough or wouldn't be possible, so I changed them. You'll never know what they were though, as I changed them in the first post so as not to confuse readers.

On to the goals I've completed recently:

#11- Sleep downstairs one night.

Last night, as a sort of spur-of-the-moment thing, I decided to get this one crossed off. When I was in the shower, it occurred to me and I just decided, "Aw, hell, why not?" Mom and I were planning on getting up early anyway to go for a walk this morning, so I figured it was good enough. I went down just after midnight, popped up the recliner and watched Letterman. [Sean Hayes of Will & Grace fame was on since he's hosting the Tonys tomorrow... if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have watched cuz I'm kinda anti-Letterman.] As soon as that was over, I turned off the TV and turned on my iPod. I watched some episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, but I had a hard time getting to sleep. I tried dimming the lights in the dining room so the light getting into the family room (aka my bedroom for the night) was not as bright. Eventually, I resorted to laying on Max's dog bed as a sort of mattress. While it was indeed less comfortable (and far more furry and smelly) than the recliner, it allowed me to lay completely horizontally, something the recliner did not. I then brought my pillow and sheet over (along with my iPod, of course). I listened to a few episodes of Doug Benson's movie podcast and played Solitaire (on my iPod) until finally I fell asleep around 3 AM. I awoke around 9 to find Pop-Pop standing over me looking confused. From there, I got up and dressed and went for a 2.5-mile walk on the Conestoga track. All in all, an interesting experience that I would never have had if I hadn't put it on my list.
---
I believe in COBO...

#96- Give Ben a going-away party.

And we certainly did. We all met up at Hugh [Phelan]'s house and had a nice barbecue. Then we went down and had a jam session in the Phelan's little music studio / basement. Hugh took piano, Connell had guitar, Mac and Johnny D did bass, Zach, Ellen, Becca and I took vocals and assorted percussion (bongos, cowbell, xylophone / marimba or whatever the heck it's called, rain stick, etc.) JMac and Rich took turns on drums, and Joe and van Kayak just played along. It didn't occur to me til now that Ben really just sat and watched us for like and hour!

After that, we went further into the bowels of the Phelan household only to find an awesome game room. We watched the Flyers get pummeled by the Blackhawks, played pool, pinball, and air hockey, and then went back upstairs. We horsed around with a ventriloquist dummy while Connell and Hugh played some Ben Folds music. We let Ben do the honors of cutting the cake, which he very much enjoyed (he got to control how big our pieces of cake were =P). Once we were full, we went back down and watched the Ben Olivas tribute video that I put together (it was met with rave reviews) and then headed back outside. We decided then, in true Devon fashion, to set off fireworks in celebration of this momentous occasion. Did I mention that the Phelan's live basically in the middle of the woods with neighbors on both sides of them? Yeah, we probably scared the living daylights out of the people on either side. But it was fun. And we managed not to catch the house on fire. Then we played with sparklers for a while, which did cause a few minor mishaps but nothing bad happened. We tried using the little racing car thing (not really a soapbox... IDK what to call it) but the motor wasn't working, so we just pushed people in it. Then we took turns jumping and trying to hold on to the rim of the Phelans' basketball net. Ben couldn't reach, so Tom lowered it, Kayak picked Ben up, Ben grabbed the rim, Nick let go and Tom raised it. Oh, and then the backboard cracked... NBD. =P

All in all, it was a super fun night with my closest friends and it was a truly fitting way to say goodbye to one of our own. Not that he'll ever read this, but I hope Ben knows how much we're gonna miss him and just how much he meant to all of us and brought us in his five years here at Devon. With that, I check one more off the list but even so, I won't forget the memories of Ben. I'll never forget.

#12: Hide an Easter Egg; #98: Get a better cell phone; #25: Get your permit

Triple threat!

I know... it's been months since my last post. I'm sorry; I've been kind of (blech) preoccupied. =P So now, I'm gonna catch everybody up to speed...

#12: Hide an Easter Egg
Sshhhh! Don't tell the little ones. Yes, indeed... I did hide my first Easter egg. Actually, I hid about 20! We were up super-de-duper late the night before Easter since Aunt Leah wasn't going to be with us the next day (aka- had to work), and the adults were almost too tired to hide any eggs. Mom and I took the initiative and hid a whole bunch. And we were MEAN too. I put one in the stereo speaker, one in Maddie's microwave, one in the infamous rooster box, and a bunch of others. I thought I was sneaky, but those boys... tsk tsk they're too good for me. We found ALL the eggs within like half an hour and moved right on to our Easter baskets (P.S.- I got a slinky in mine and LOVED IT!!!) Even little Maddie found a few of my eggs!! Next year, I'll have to be even trickier... I'm gonna be like Uncle Marty- so tortured by impossible egg hunts in my childhood that I take it out on the next gen. It was really fun though! #12- Check.

#98: Get a better cell phone.
Welp... this isn't EXACTLY how I thought this one would happen... I accidentally left my cell phone in my pants pocket a couple weeks ago and it may have taken a little teeny tumble in an extra-large, cold-water, Tide-infused rinse cycle and then a nice little desertifying, staticky and linty trip in the drier. AKA- It was major dead. Like MAJOR dead. It didn't even charge when we put in on the charger.
Of course, with the constant possibility of me having an episode and needing to contact Mom, I needed a cell phone. As a temporary replacement, Mom lent me Grandma's phone. Did I mention that Grandma's phone is a purplish-lavender color with flowers etched into the cover? Yeah... Not the best phone to bring with you to an all-guys school. I was deathly afraid of someone catching me with that phone, and even moreso that I'd be stuck with it for another year until my other phone's contract was up. Mom decided to surprise me though by getting me an AWESOME NEW PHONE!!!! It's like a BlackBerry, just without Internet capabilities. I love it. Thanks to Mom, #98 = Dunzo.

#25: Get my permit.
Alright, this one's actually a secret so don't go spreading it, bub. On Wednesday, Mom and I came home from Mattei Radu's funeral, grabbed a quick lunch, changed out of our formal wear, and hopped over to the DMV in Frazer. I got right in and took the quiz and got to the very last question; my score was 14 right, 3 wrong. If I got the last one wrong, I would fail, and it I didn't, I got it. Stupid me second guessed myself though, and I got it wrong. Mom and I agreed that we'd get up early the next day to go try again.
Thursday morning came. We ate breakfast, hopped in the car and drove back over. Little did we know, Grandma and Pop-Pop were going to the exact same shopping center to visit the Dollar Tree, so we had to be super sneaky. We tiptoed into the DMV; this time we had to wait a little while because it was kind of busy, but I got through anyway. Once again, it came down to the very last question. I was saying in my head "Nuh-uh. Hell no. Not getting up early again to take this stupid quiz." The question, luckily was one I had the day before (and got right the day before) so I passed! I got my permit; the lady at the counter was very nice and funny, joking about parallel parking and stuff. She made me take an eye test, as I expected. It was easy though, just 12 letters and some flashing red lights. Mom was so excited, although I was a little upset that I still got three wrong. The only reason though is because I second guessed myself thrice. I remembered the joke about "What do you call the guy who graduated last in medical school? A doctor." and it felt a little like that. I was Dr. Driver, even though I had only gotten a D in my classes.

Well, there's three... Hopefully come summer I'll be feeling a little better and will be able to update more frequently. Until next time...

-Nate

#62: Cry tears of joy.

Well, looks like I broke #62, and with good reason.

Bridget got a heart.

For years I had wondered how it worked. How is it possible that you start crying if you're just insanely happy? Well, I just found out. Of course, while I'm working on my list, I'm helping my family and friends with theirs. The biggest thing I've been helping them with right now is fundraising for my baby cousin, Bridget, who needed a heart transplant. And now, she has it.

It was the strangest thing... I NEVER wake up early, especially on weekends, but for some reason, this past Sunday I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't fall back to sleep.

I then overheard my mom saying they found her a heart and she was going into surgery at 12:30.

The day whizzed by, and then at 7, we got the call.

The surgery went better than anyone could ever have expected, she was waking up, her parents and two aunts got to visit her...

...and best of all? She made it.

Our little girl who has been in pain for so long now has the opportunity to grow up and lead a normal life.

While this is sad because one family has lost their child so Bridget may live, it is also an incredible relief.

I won't write much more. I just thought it was important to write.

I just started this experiment two weeks ago, and already I've made some incredible memories. I can't wait to see what the other 97 bring.

Thanks for all your support, even though "you" is no one since this blog has no readers yet since I haven't shared it!

#80: Have a real heart-to-heart with someone.

God, this world is cruel.

#80: Have a real heart-to-heart with someone.

One of my closest friends in the world, and my self-proclaimed (by self, I mean me) most loyal friend, and I just had a real heart-to-heart.

As a friend, I can't say what it was about, but I can say a few things.

This guy has been the ears for me since 6th grade; anytime I had ANY problem, I could go to him and he would listen and not say a word.

He, on the other hand, was incredibly reserved in terms of feelings and personal things.

This was the first time I have EVER seen him just let go of his hesitation and just let me listen and do for him what he had done for me for so long.

I'm not gonna write much more, but I just want to say this; if anyone, especially him, ever needs advice, a shoulder to cry on, or even ears, not just to hear, but to listen, I am ALWAYS here. I am probably the best person for it too since I have so much of my own stuff going on that it won't bother me at all.

And to this guy: you're my bro, you have been for 5 years, and you will be for life. And, while I know you like to stay introverted, my ears, mind, and heart are always open if you feel like you can't take it anymore. Everyone has a breaking point, and no matter how strong you think you are, some times it is better to talk it out.

And when that happens, I'm here.

In the words of Father Rich (Ph.D. =P), "Sometimes you just need to slow down and let life catch up to you."

Keep it real.

And so it begins...

*N.B. Bolded list items are ones I have completed, even if I have not yet posted about them.

What do you want to do before you graduate?

I've been thinking a lot lately. And I mean thinking. Why do certain thingss happen to certain people? What defines human nature? And why does life have limits?

This experiment is my little way of figuring that out for myself. I don't care if no one ever reads this blog. I don't care if no one ever knows what I find out. I'm doing this for me. I really haven't done anything for myself in a long time. For that very reason, I start this experiment.

My goal:
Defy the "limits" that are set in my life and do things I would NEVER do otherwise.

My list:
1. Jump into a pool with my clothes on.
2. Eat a bowl of cereal with water instead of milk.
3. Write an awesome script.
4. Run up the stairs of the Philly art museum.
5. Meet someone famous.
6. Audition for American Idol (Disney World counts.)
7. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
8. Stay in solitary confinement for 24 whole hours.
9. Send a message in a bottle.
10. Sing a song solo at a concert.
11. Sleep downstairs one night.
12. Hide an easter egg.
13. Ride a roller coaster.
14. Go on the Scranton Office Tour.
15. Try PB&J.
16. Cook dinner for the family.
17. Wake up at 3 AM.
18. Eat at a Sonic.
19. Fractured Prune
20. Shout at the top of your lungs.
21. Shoot a gun.
22. Attend a Pit game.
23. Spend a day with Cousin Tony’s kids.
24. Eat at the Melting Pot.
25. Get your permit.
26. Come out of the closet.
27. Go see a movie you didn’t want to.
28. Buy a rap song on iTunes. And listen to it =)
29. Go to darts with Uncle Mac.
30. Make a show with Maddie in it.
31. Become a minister online.
32. Go ice skating.
33. Get your driver's license.
34. Go on a college road trip.
35. Eat nothing but fatty foods all day one day.
36. Eat nothing one day.
37. Try Maine lobster.
38. Run in an election.
39. Give a big speech.
40. Go back to the Blue Moon Cafe.
41. Look at / count the stars.
42. Win a round of either mini-golf or bowling.
43. Go Black Friday shopping with Aunt Leah and Mom.
44. Airzooka Fight!!!!!
45. Go to prom.
46. Explore the secret parts of Devon.
47. Stand somewhere important (a monument, an artifact) entirely by yourself.
48. Take pictures with a bunch of wax figures (Madame Tussaud’s)
49. Order the first thing you see on a menu.
50. Try Pineapple Pizza.
51. Show people the acting chops you’ve been holding back on.
52. Run in a 5K.
53. Go on a ride-along with Aunt Leah.
54. Rewrite “Pools of Yellow”.
55. Spend a day in silence.
56. Go a whole day without your iPod.
57. Be at Maddie’s Baptism.
58. Take the NBC tour in New York City.
59. Visit the Mutter Museum.
60. Take the boys somewhere special.
61. Win an award.
62. Cry tears of joy.
63. Open a lemonade stand.
64. Hold a yard sale.
65. Go to Cumberland Farms.
66. Milk a cow.
67. Get a cooking lesson from Aunt Claire.
68. Try every flavor snowball.
69. Make the super awesome Madzilla sequel.
70. Start a blog.
71. Beat Alex in Wii Boxing.
72. Go to a morning Mass at school.
73. Wear something crazy in public.
74. Learn to make something in origami.
75. Write a song for your guitar.
76. Visit the SPCA again.
77. Spend a day going through photo albums.
78. Release a balloon.
79. Spend one whole day wearing flip-flops.
80. Have a real heart to heart with someone.
81. Attend the midnight opening of a movie.
82. Tell your friends how much they mean to you.
83. Visit the Hershey Factory.
84. Open one of your old letters to Santa.
85. Walk from your house to school.
86. Make an awesome yearbook.
87. Pass on the theater art to your cousins (aka let them do a whole show by themselves)
88. Try to learn to juggle.
89. Do a magic show one last time.
90. Thank each and every one of the teachers you’ve had.
91. Bake brownies with Mom.
92. Apply to your dream college.
93. Make a rocking senior yearbook page!
94. Beat your score on the SATs.
95. Participate in the senior prank, no matter how much trouble you get in.
96. Give Ben a going away party.
97. Give the strawberry man back to Swifty.
98. Get a better cell phone.
99. Leave some kind of legacy behind.
100. Complete the K-12 book that Pap-Pap and Grandma Virginia gave you.


What I hope to accomplish:
Tie up all the loose ends before I go to college, and, in doing so, make some amazing memories and discover things about myself I would never have otherwise known.

Ambitious much?

I hope to do each and every one of the things on the list. If a few slip through the cracks, oh well. They can go on my next list!

I'll describe the experiment in more detail later when I have time. I'll be documenting all along the way, providing pictures and detailed posts on each item I cross off. By the end, I hope to look back on this blog and remember just what makes my life so great, despite all the dangers, toils and snares I have to overcome.

Of course, things may happen that aren't on the list that I wanted but never expected to accomplish. Those things will be tacked on to the end of the list.

And so, with that, I officially cross off my first complete goal.

#70: Start a blog... Check!