Wake up call!

Mother nature once again threw a powerful blow to my dwindling pride. Yesterday I had just waken up when I looked outside. I saw a parking cop about to give us a ticket for parking in the street on trash day. Without thinking I bolted outside to the cop to try to keep from getting a ticket! It must've been a funny sight for the cop to see a sleepy teenager with bed head and just wearing basketball shorts, running in the freezing pouring rain, to keep from getting a ticket!

Yeah it was raining buckets outside and about 50 degrees! I didn't get the ticket, but I really was sick of all this rain we'd been getting. I have noticed though that all of these events have happened when I was shirtless...

Mother Nature Kicking My Butt!

Yesterday I was mowing one of my client's lawns, and since he doesn't have much money I give him a great deal. I add more pressure to myself by letting his lawn grow for 2 weeks so he only has to pay half as often as everyone else. His grass is extremely long, especially this certain patch which tempts me to use a machete instead of a lawn mower.

Right before I went to work my mom told me that we were going to get a storm in about 45 minutes so I have to hurry up. Normally mowing a lawn in 45 minutes is a piece of cake, but not this one since it was so long. I had just finished the jungle patch in his backyard when it started to sprinkle. I thought, "Ok you have 5 more minutes just try to get as much done as possible." Then suddenly this fierce wind starts up and it was so strong that it even scared me a little bit. I remained calm and thought "It's ok, it's not raining hard, you have another minute or two"

Then as if God wanted to show me that I was a stupid teenager, he then smited me with a great heavenly thunderbolt!... Ok I wasn't struck by lightning, but right what happened was that I was instantly consumed by this massive storm! I grabbed my mower and started booking it for home.

Fortunately my house was just on the other side of the block. If you were driving by me at that moment you would see a shirtless dude tearing across the sidewalk, yelling at the top of his lungs, pushing a lawn mower, and keeping up his shorts with his other hand!

By the time I got home I was completely drenched. My family and neighbors had a good laugh though.

Lobster boy!

On Saturday I was working for 4 hours in the blazing sun, and my back got burned REALLY bad. I was supposed to move these big bushes from the front yard to the back. I also had to get rid of these smaller bushes with prickles all over them. I knew I was going to get burned, and with this lack of sun lately, I figured to make the most of the sun. I put on SPF 4 sunscreen... yeah when my mom suggested it, she didn't know I was going to be working for 4 straight hours in the sun. I personally think 1 SPF per hour is plenty!

At least I'll be a nice bronze...eventually!

Summer Plans: Lifeguard Hiking trip

I've had a quiet week so I decided to share with you some of the plans that I have for this summer. The first major event that is going to take place this summer is the summer trip for Lifeguards (my youth group).

We're going hiking in Kentucky with this organization called leader-treks. We're going be split into 2 groups of about 15 and go on 2 separate paths. We'll be only with our group of 15 people for most of the trip. There are pros and cons with only being with half of the group for most of the week.

Pros: You're almost forced to bond with the members of your group with that small of a number for a long like that. You will have such great memories and inside jokes with that group.

Cons: You don't have much of a chance to bond with anyone in the other group. The youth group as a whole has 2 different sets of inside jokes.

I'm totally syked for this trip. I love nothing more than having to test my physical abilities in a group effort. I plan on being a work horse for my group and helping out the people who are struggling under the workload. We'll be carrying 30 pound backpacks and hiking 4-6 miles a day. I want to be conditioned enough to be able to carry someone else's backpack for them, at least for a portion of the trip.

We'll be going hardcore hiking, no rest rooms, bathe in the river/lake, and eat crappy dehydrated food! The poop situation is "bury it or carry it" I wonder how many guys are going to end up carrying it...

Everyone in the group is going to have a chance to be the leader of everyone and will plot out the path for everyone else. The leader won't get any help from the guides, and have complete control of our path. Leader treks is about producing leaders and improving you spiritually as well.

I'm sure some of the freshmen are going to have a harder time being the "leader" over all of the Seniors and upperclassmen, so I'll try to show them that I back up their decision 100%.

Super Smash Bros

My siblings, Hunter (age 13), Sienna (age 15), and I have become Super smash bros addicts. We just really enjoy the idea of beating the snot out of each other and nothing beats the feeling of sending your sibling's character flying across the screen. When we were little, we would physically punch/slap/maim each other during arguments. Now that I have a vast size advantage 215 lbs to about 140 lbs, we decide to take it out in mindless virtual violence. At least that's how it first started.

When we first were playing it was just Hunter and I. After a while Sienna decided she wanted to join in the fun and despite not liking video games, we all had a blast. Sienna's strategy is simple, just stand off to the side and watch Hunter and I beat the crap out of each other, then when we have less lives she comes in and tries to make an alliance with one of us.

Now sometimes these alliances work out successfully, other times there's back stabbing, and Sienna doesn't like treachery. If you betray the alliance before Sienna does, you usually get either a punch (in my case, to the face) or a nipple cripple. So half the time while we're playing we have mini fights between us.

Funny how we resolve to physical fights if Donkey Kong (me) decides to betray Zelda (Sienna) by beating her with a banana. You gotta love my family.

Needed: Sleep

Ever since I went to Nebraska and only got 7 hours of sleep that weekend, I've been really behind on sleep. Normally I get about 9 hours of sleep per day, so you'd think that I'd catch up really fast, right? I haven't sleep too great lately and for some reason I can never sleep in too much on Saturday! I was just about caught up on sleep when I had to wake up at 5 am on Thursday for a minority summer internship interview.

I wish I was better at taking naps. I could really use one right now. Summer needs to come pronto!

The crazy games we do!

On Saturday, we had the progressive dinner for lifeguards. It was really fun but the highlight of the night wasn't the food, it was the crazy things we did afterwards. First we just watch Nathan do flips and acrobatic feats. Then we came up with "jousting" which is when we have two pairs, have them get on piggy back, and run at each other until you knock the other team's "rider" off of his "steed".

Being one of biggest guys in the youth group I was always the horse, and let me tell you it gets violent down there, you're getting punched, kicked, and headbutted. People were always surprised if I lost, but my weight is more on my upper body, causing me to be top heavy! I still did good but I definitely got several bruises.

One match in particular, was when we played this round "Sibling grudge match" where we had the siblings team up. I grabbed Sienna and she got on my back, but at first she had a death grip on my shoulders, which gave me some pretty intense pain because I got sun burned there that day. There were at least 5 different teams and I realized with that many teams I could just plow through people to knock them over since they didn't have their full attention on me. So between Sienna pulling people down and me ramming into people we soon made short work of them. Except for the fact that they kept getting back up and trying again! We had to have beaten Michaela and Tommy 3 times but they wouldn't stop. We still ended up winning, but I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. And apparently instead of grabbing my shoulders Sienna had been grabbing my moobs (man boobs), thankfully I didn't really notice.

After the jousting, we decided to see how big of a human pyramid we could make. I was always the center base of the pyramid, which was understandable since I was the strongest, but after attempting to build this about 5 times my back started to get tender from having so much weight put on it. Most people were switching in and out being the base but I wasn't, and the person on me usually had knobby knees and liked to shift them around, which grinded my spine to dust!

Among these attempts there would be other distractions like once while someone was climbing to the top their foot went down my pants, or someone would set on my calf. I don't think we ever completed the pyramid, but despite the pain and suffering I endured, it was fun.

This whole time, our youth pastor, Brad is sitting in a chair laughing at us kill ourselves and is encouraging us to do it again. But while we were trying to figure out how to do a human janga game, he said "Dog pile!!" and he just jumped on all of us. After realizing that he was fair game we quickly turned the time on him and within 15 seconds, he was dog piled. We soon found out that Brad is claustrophobic because he started freaking out at the bottom of that pile!

I'm officially a man!

As I mentioned in my last post, this past weekend, I turned 18. I would love to tell you that it was the best birthday ever...but that wasn't the case. I had a bunch of ups and downs that day. I didn't sleep well and had to take a placement test for college at 8am. I finished the placement exam pretty swiftly and my dad got me some new shoes. I had planned to take a nap from noon to 3pm because I had to help with the dinner fundraiser for my youth group. But before I could take a nap, Kate called me and was kinda spazing out how I needed to get there early.

Kate sounded pretty desperate, so I headed out there as quickly as possible. I soon realized that was a mistake, because there really wasn't anything to do. I figured that she probably needed some heavy things lifted or moved but I just stayed there and talked to Joy, Tommy, and company!

The dinner is a formal auction dinner, so we all have to wear dress shirts, ties, and black pants. I probably was the last one to get dressed because I frankly hate dressing up! I probably spent about a half hour to get all ready, because I totally was avoiding to put on the tie.

I eventually did get dressed and found myself serving my parents GREATEST. BIRTHDAY. GIFT. EVER! In reality it wasn't too bad because I got sent in the "Dungeon" to watch the muchkins of the parents because apparently there had been some fighting going on.

During the live auction portion of the evening I decided to start changing into my normal clothes. I was just finished putting on my shirt and was just about to put on my belt when all of a sudden, Michaela (pronounced "Makayla") opened the door, grabbed my hand and said "Come on Connor! They're waiting for you!" I don't think I was supposed to be in my casual clothes yet so I was thinking "Oh crap!"

Holding up my pants with one hand, I go throught the doors and everyone starts singing happy birthday to me! I was shocked. Then they made me walk to the front where I saw my dad holding a pie. I instantly knew what happened! At the end of the auction they give a "Pie to the face to a lifeguard of your choice!" to the highest bidder! Knowing my fate was sealed I sat down in the chair of eternal pie punishment and waited for the action to be preformed.

I closed my eyes and waited...10 seconds... then peeked to see what was going on. My dad told me to stand up, still confused, I stood up expecting a pie to the face then. But he handed me the pie and sat down in the chair! Then I realized that he was giving me a birthday gift! To pie him in the face.

That had to be the best gift I ever got! Because I totally was expecting a pie in the face but instead I had it flipped. I accidently hit him with the pie a little hard, but it was awesome.

The Doctor!

Yesterday I had to get a physical. Thankfully I hadn't had one in 2 years but unfortunately my mom made me get one. I had just turned 18 on April 30th but I went to the pediatrician for the last time. My appointment was at 2:15pm so my fellow patients consist of a toddler wearing a super man cap, and a 2 year old picking his nose. I got checked in and instantly realized how I long it had been since I had gone to the doctors and how I'm a little bigger than most of the kids that go through there.

I went in a room where you get your blood pressure, ears, and eyes, checked. It took the nurse probably 5 minutes to adjust the machine to test my eyes because I was so much larger than most of the kids.

After I found the room, I sat on the bed right next to the trash can that had a picture of pooh bear and said "Please don't throw dirty diapers in here" Yes, I felt right at home there.

My doctor, Dr Doss, is Egyptian and has a really strong accent and my mom has to translate for me. Dr Doss is really cool and likes to joke about how many girlfriends I have and what not. I'm going to skip the whole physical portion of the appointment but basically I ended up getting a shot.

As I was walking down the hall I also found a box of suckers, JACKPOT! I took one and walked happily away. As I opened the door to the waiting room, I saw about 6 little kids with the oldest being around 5 years old. I said "Hello fellow pediatric patients! Remember to always get the sucker!" I would like to say that my inspirational speech changed every one of the little kid's lives, even the nose picker, but I doubt it. Kids these days.

Sorry!

Sorry for not posting frequently for the past few weeks. I've had a bunch of stuff going on from finals, and helping out the dinner, to a just being busy with stupid stuff. I'll try to keep the posts going.