Give-it-up Challenge

I challenge everyone of my readers to take this on

What it is: The Give-it-up Challenge is a challenge designed to better ones self.

What happens: While taking the Give-it-up Challenge you are to specify one thing you are giving up and give that thing up for a set amount of time.

Items Needed: Sharpie Marker and Willpower

Instructions: Think of something you are wanting to give up, a certain habbit, a certain action, a certain person. After you have decided, take your Sharpie marker and write a big "NO" on your palm, if that's not visible enough for you feel free to write it elsewhere (I wrote mine on my belly) Now that the "No" has been written, you are forbidden from doing what you decided to give up until the Sharpie marker wears off (I suggest Red, it turns fluorescent pink when partially cleaned.)

Rules: You cannot wash the marker off, you are allowed to do your regular washing but no more than needed. It's a given but I'll say it anyway, you are not allowed to do what you decided to give up.

I've been doing this for the past two to three weeks and it's been helping me get over a habbit. I think it's a great idea to challenge and better yourself.

Huzzah!

I went to Chicago for vacation... Thankfully I wasn't mugged, shot, or stabbed! Huzzah!

Sweet. Short, And To The Point

I'm clingy. That's it... I've known this for a while and I've been told this multiple times. Well, it's who I am and I can't think of one reason anyone wouldn't want me around them.

Memories

I was going through my closet and I found a folder. Not just any folder though, it was my eighth grade band folder that I kept most of music in. On top of the folder was a stack of music from last year, cadences, rudiments, fundamentals, compositions, etc... I started to remember all of the good times I had last year. I started going through my folder later on and I found so many pieces that I remember playing in eighth grade. Jazz Band music and Normal Band music, it was so much fun and I looked them over to find that I could remember pretty much the entire song. You never know what you may find when you're going through some odd places.

Old Times

Sometimes you just have to stop and slow yourself down, drop everything you're doing and go back to the way you were when you were a kid. I've been caught up in school and music that I've been neglecting my friends. The weather is nice, and I needed some exercise (Don't get me wrong I exercise every weekend morning 5am-7am, usually on my stationary bike exercise thing but a little fresh air doesn't hurt.) so I download an app from the Droid Market (Zombie Run), it's really fun and it got me running. Later in the day I went for a bike ride and I was stopped by an old friend that I hadn't talked to in a while despite seeing each other everyday. We went on a bike ride together, we caught up with some of the recent events going on in the others life. It was fun just to hang out and catch up with a friend in such nice weather.

Instructions

I'm not talking about the little pamphlets or booklets you get when you buy an item that requires "Some Assembly". I'm talking about the "Don't do this." or "Go over there." sort of instructions, directions I guess you could call them. Anyway, I had written the word "No" on both of my palms and I've been re-writing it since Monday night. It was to stop me from using my phone, but I didn't listen to myself and I did it anyway. I'm terrible with instructions, I really am.

Strangers

The crash, it's all I remember. Our plane, it was blazing orange as I saw it hurtle through the sky, at least the half that I wasn't on. There were others with me, I think we all survive, the tide set me adrift towards this island. The sun has been beating down onto my forehead for about an hour or so, it's hard to tell the time when your watch is broken. My pants are shredded and my clothes are ragged and wrinkly. Looking out at the ocean gets boring after a while, no one seems to have noticed I'm missing. I start to walk along the beach but stop as I turn around, facing the jungle. There's a silhouette, someone has been watching me from afar. Who? Who is this person? I start walking towards the figure in the tree line but they seem to notice me and slip though the trees like a shadow. I let it pass and keep walking. I need to look for shelter, I need to look for any survivors. The waves, I see them moving but I can't hear the crash of them on the beach. My hearing's gone, or it's faded... Off in the distance is a large rock spire, I might as well climb it, what if I find a survivor off in the distance. I was always told that a vantage point can never hurt you. As I was climbing the spire though, I slipped. Luckily I caught myself before I fell all the way down. I climb a little ways up and look out towards the beach. There's a group of people near part of the planes belly. I climb back down the Spire and make a B-line towards the group. As soon as I hop down though, a sharp pain shoots through me and I fall to the ground. My knee has a large gash, about the size of my hand. It's bleeding profusely, I must've cut it when I slipped on the spire, how I didn't notice before is beyond me. I work through the pain and start a limping stride towards the group but before I can get to them, something in the trees catches my eye, it's another person, this time I can make out distinct body characteristics. Curves, a lean body, large chest, it's a girl, it's the same girl that was watching me earlier, when I was thinking of the crash. I can't help but to look back at her as she watches me, with an injured leg, limp to the others. I stop and it's like someone has control of me, I start limping towards the tree line, in the general direction of the girl. One of the boys from the group spots me and runs to me. He seems short, he might be a little younger than I am, maybe fourteen or thirteen. He seems to want to talk but I have no interest in him, I'm focused on something but my mind won't tell me what, I'm just moving. I walk into the trees and follow a dirt path, it's hard to make out but I can just barely see the trail. After what I assume has been a few minutes I hear crickets and frogs, there must be water around here. After a few more seconds of walking, I reach a large plant, it's dark green and illustrious. I push it over enough to climb around it and see a little spring, it's the clearest water I've ever seen naturally occur. I sit next to the edge and dip my feet, it's so soothing. The water is warm but it's cooler than the temperature around me, I close my eyes and I just drift away. There was a rustling in the bushes, it woke me up late in the evening. The sun has nearly set, the sky is every shade of yellow and orange. I know that the sun is in it's golden hour and I think that it would be a great opportunity to take some photos... that is if I had my camera, it must've gone down with the other half of the plane. I sit back up and before I knew it, my heart had leaped into my throat. Someone is standing across the pond from me, it's that girl, she keeps showing up around me. I see enough of her this time to make out definite characteristics. She has dirty blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, she's a little pale, she's about four inches shorter than me, and she has a large cut to the torso. Her shirt is ripped down the right side and it's stained with blood. She looked at me once and before I could get a word out, turned around and ran off back into the jungle. I feel compelled to talk to this girl, something about her is attracting me. Who is she? Why is she following me? What does she want? Why does she seem so familiar?

Lent

No, I'm not Catholic but it's fun to participate in things. I was compelled to participate in lent this year because of my friends Catherine and Carmen. They're both Catholic and when they came to the lunch table with barely any food I asked them why. They explained it was for Lent and I decided to give something up. What did I give up? Facebook. If you're a friend of mine on Facebook and you've managed to keep up with my blog, thank you. Anyway, I haven't gotten on Facebook since Lent started and I won't get back on it until Easter Sunday. It's actually not that hard to give up Facebook but then again it's not a huge change.

The Language of Love

I'm not talking about French, I'm talking about Music. Tell me, when your pseudo-spouse comes and says to you "Examinons le sexe" you don't think "Ohhhh That's so beautiful" You think "What?" Music is a universal language, everyone know what music is. Love songs in particular are what I'm trying to get to. My favorite love songs are acoustic songs with a loud guitar playing. Tonight, Sunday March 18th, my sister's boyfriend let me borrow the guitar he first learned how to play on. Thank you so much Jacob, if you are reading this. I've already learned a few chords in the hour or so I've had it but it's late and even I need sleep. World, get ready for another guitarist!

3.141592653589793

These are the first 16 digits of Pi!

Deterioration

Can you believe it? I'm sick again. I went to my doctor to get a diagnosis. He says I have the flu. He's very surprised at me though, having previously active shingles, getting a sinus infection and getting the flu all within a week. He says because of the stress that activated my shingles, my body has been weakening. His exact words were "Ever since your problem a few months back, your body has been under a huge amount of stress. Technically you're deteriorating." Of course that made me a little nervous. So my body's deteriorating and I'm losing the ability to fight off infections, Oh boy.