Crap. Well, my sister announced to me today she wants to join cheerleading, since she's moving up to the high school this year. Let me make it clear, I do not support this This is bad in so many ways...

1.) First of all, the reputation of a chearleader isn't exactly one that I want my sister to be flaunting. They're renowned for being downright bitches and pretty...ahem...$luty, if you know what I'm saying ...not exactly categories that I want my sister to be identified with.

2.) WHY must her every move be dictated by popularity? It's gotten to the point where I have to question anything remotely suspicious, becuase often times its another one of her schemes to garner more friends and social power. It drives me absolutely crazy. Cheerleading is obviously another attempt at gaining "popularity points" so to speak lol...although I'd rather not relate NUtang to something like this

3.) If you couldn't tell, I'm one of those anti-scene people who really doesn't like folks who are so willing to follow the crowd. Now that doesn't mean I dress in crazy boots, wear eye-liner, and strut gothic-style clothing in an attempt to deviate myself from the norm...lol it's not like that at all. It's just that doing something because it's "cool" or "everyone else is doing" just really disgusts me. That's probably why I like jump rope so much. I have to take some crap because other people don't consider it a sport, or they can talk becuase they play a sport more popular, but I really don't care. I'm doing something unique. Obviously, my sister and I have philosophies that clash .

So if any of you have comforting stories about cheerleading that my ease my pain, than by all means share them

--In other news--
Bah, another uneventful day (besides the above )...spent most of the day working on my blasted AP summer homework that I should've finished approximately 3.5 machillion years ago. I still have a little bit more to go, but at least the worst is over. Good news though, it sounds like my family can make it to the jump rope workshop I'll be teaching in Oregon...yay get to spend time with Elaine and the other former jumpers . Seeing Hazel is again is always a plus too. Gymnastics again in 3 more days! Maybe i'll get a backhandspring on my own this time .

I updated the gallery a bit, added some more pictures of j-rope and another one of me doing a really good impression of a dork. Examine at your own risk ;-)

Peace!

P.S. Just so you all know, I can't view some NUtangers sites :( I don't know why, I try using both Firefox and IE, but neither work! It just shows a bunch of CSS :-\. So if I haven't been commenting your page...that's why! Sorry :(

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Evolution is a tricky little bugger...especially when it grows thorns to keep you from harvesting the #1 berry of all time: blackberries! Me and my parents went over to my dad's friend's house to pick some of these amazing little things...and ended up coming home with a few pounds haha (not including the ones I digested while we were on site). My sister was conveniently away at a party, so I guess she's not getting any. There were sacrifices of course...involving sharp, needle-infested bushes and me having a lack of balance . I won't go into the gruesome details (lol), but I did have a little fall while reaching out from the ledge I was standing. Thankfully I was fully garbed with a sweater and jeans, but holy hell those thorns sure know how to pierce through anything! Lol I landed on my back, and immediately sensed exactly 8.7 machillion les attempting to feast on my flesh. Sadly, I was forced to lay there for a while as my dog attempted to come to my rescue because the thorns were attaching to my shirt and holding me down....

But I'd say it was worth it. Add another point to the "Brian gets hurt because of stupidity" chart lol....but I have learned my lesson. Never f*ck with blackberry bushes. Just pick the damn fruits and get out lol.

Ope, dinner time. I'll update this later. After dinner it's time to feast on them blackberries! And brush my teeth shortly after because they stain everything XD. Peace!

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Well, went to my first funeral today. As most of you know, it was for my great aunt Eileen...she was old, 82, and her husband had died in February. It was all a matter of time I guess. Originally, me and my sister weren't supposed to be going. The night before my mom got an e-mail from Amy (Hotdog coach) saying that there was a party at her house for kids 10th grade and up. They were having pizza, watching ESPN tapes from Nationals, and discussing goals for this year. Me and Elaine were both really looking forward to going, and I was looking forward to spending some time with her and the rest of my new team. But my parents made a last-minute decision to bring me and Marissa (my sister) along, apparently because they heard most of the other cousins were forced passengers as well. Heh, irony works in the cruelest ways. It turns out that all the other cousins bailed out, and so me and Marissa were stuck being the only kids there .

I had issues with part of the funeral though. This was a catholic thing, so there was a mass held. I've never been to church...I don't believe in God, and hence when two men in white robes began preaching to us I was a little bemused. Wasn't this supposed to be about Eileen? Instead I keep hearing stuff about God and the lord Jesus and Christ and blah blah blah...at one point they even started talking about Eileen and said: "but this song isn't about her, it's about God," and prompted another speech about some other religious blah blah that I didn't really care to listen to. This may seem a little critical, but I really wasn't expecting something like that. My parents explained that the whole family was religious and it seemed fitting in that respect, but personally I definitly would never like a mass to occur on my funeral

I was surprised by the degree of caring that my family expressed. Not just my immediate family, but even people whom I had never met before in my life. I had gotten sick of hearing all this terrible stuff on the news, and reading the recent shocking headliners on the newspapers...strange how it took a funeral to remind me that people still care in the world. The whole ordeal was pretty emotional. It was hard to see all my relatives in tears, or struggling to hold them back...I shed a few of my own...although I'm a little emberassed to admit it. It's just so hard for me to see all of these people around me who have been so deeply effected by the removal of one woman from their lives...the gravesite burial was especially hard, on all of us I think. I kept imagining it from a movie scene...where the people are gathered around...the sun is up, the wind is blowing, and everyone's head is bowed. The image will probably stick with me for a while. First funerals aren't exactly easy to forget.

Well, haha sorry to horde you all with another boring, depressing entry, but I needed to get that off my chest. Sorry if it's all jumbled, I just sort of wrote it as I typed. I don't feel in the mood for editing and all that wholesome goodness...just relief. Once Hotdogs and more gymnastics/school start up, I'll hopefully have some more exciting news for you . Until then, you stay classy NUtang!

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Ahh...good times w/ the team. We all went to Red Robin today, and spent about 1 and a half hours camped out at our table just talking. Gahhh...everytime we get together I remember how much I love these people! We were originally going to walk across the street and play a few games of Laser Quest, but after stuffing ourselves we decided that intense physical activity probably wasn't the wisest of choices...so the s concluded that shopping was a good idea instead. Not exactly what I would've elected as a pastime...lol but whatever, I played a long.

Several times I had to break apart from the group and head over to EBgames...those females are rabid shoppers! That and the fact that sometimes I couldn't be seen in the same store as them...like Claire's lol. Elaine had to catch up on some college shopping....which only reminds me that there are only a few weeks left before she has to leave for UW .

Alright let me give you a little background on this next character from my life...her name's Hazel, she's a sophomore in college, and she used to be on our old team about 3 years ago before she graduated high school. Since then, she's started her own team down in Orgeon (where she goes to school), and has invited us down several times to teach a workshop. She spent the summer up here in Washington and our team, despite having disbanded, did a demonstration for the Boys and s club where she volunteers. Well it turns out that Hazel wants us to come down to Oregon and teach another workshop for her own team...lol our team refuses to die! We're supposed to have ended this year, but by the looks of it we're still jumpers lol. This is by no means a bad thing...I would love to work with these guys again. Doing Hotdogs is great, but I probably won't be practicing with my former teammates like the good 'ol days...

It turns out I have to go to my great aunt's funeral tomorrow...I'm not really upset though. I guess I feel like I sort of owe it to myself to be there...even if I didn't know the woman as well as I probalby should have. It's going to be a lot of sitting and a lot of me excercising my patience...but I can make it. My sister may have issues however....

Ahh, well, that's been the recent additions to my life. School starts in a week...and I haven't even started on the 53 vocab words and 2 essays I have to write! Me and procrastination have a thing for mixing very well...and that's not a good thing.

Ciao folks, until next time...

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