FeatureStory.doc

J10. What a joyous class. There are a few things I dont like much, but for the most part, its a good class. The Hero Project inparticular is one i dont find that enjoyable. It has a good intention, but the fact that it is sooo big freaks me out!The Feature story was a good one though. I wrote my story about the famous Maranda Glassel. She is writing a book about her high school life and its bound to be amazing. My story is ok. I put quite a bit of time into it, so im hoping that i get a good grade. I had the two Ahlahasa editors edit it, so i have an advantage.  

Decibel Decrease

As you all know from one of my earlier blogs, I am in the worship band for my youth group at church on Sunday nights. We have run into a few problems that are seriously kinda sucky. Parents are complaining that the music is too loud and that we are going to destroy their precious kids' ears. Of course the loudness of the band is based on the drummer, and so of course, me being the drummer is the one most affected by this. I can understand that we are very loud and it should be toned down a bit, but when my expression that I put into playing is affected by that, it pushes my buttons. When I play drums, I like to have fun, rock out, and do some headbangin. That is how I like to worship God and express myself. Of course I don't do that on the slow songs, but on the fast ones like Undignified or Every Move I Make, the first point is to worship God, but the second point is to go crazy and get up off your feet! It’s impossible to get the crowd into it if I'm sitting back there like I'm bored!

The solution that we came up with is to put a curtain behind me and completely enclose me with barriers. We also put a bunch of foam inside my little enclosed room. Hopefully it will work out so I can get back to my jammin.

There is finally snow!!

Snow!! In October!! I cant wait to shred at Buck Hill and set up rails in my back yard. Snow is the greatest form of precipitation there is. Its so fluffy and soft. I love making snow angels and snow forts for snowball fights. The one problem right now is that the snow isn't sticking, so its probably going to melt and then not snow again until winter anyway, but I can dream can't I?...

Pikes Peak State Park

Pikes Peak State Park in McGregor, Iowa is a place filled with falling leaves and autumn colors. There is an overlooking peak that looks over where the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers meet. The park offers camping and plenty of walking trails. My family and another family go there every year. The first year I went was quite a few years back, and I found a ravine off of one of the trails and built a fort out of it with a couple of my friends. We also found some big cliffs that we decided to rappel off of. We bring our bikes every year we bike to Point Ann, which is another point near Pikes Peak, but the only way to get there is to bike of walk. I would definetly recommend going there.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Right now I am watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that was made way back in the 80s. It brings back so many memories of sword fighting and wearing costumes for holloween. My favorite turtle is definetly Michealangelo. He's the biggest goof off of the whole group and he has nunchuks which I think is the most unique weapon of the four. When I was in 1st grade, I had a Michealangelo costume for Holloween. I remember sword fighting with my friends and jumping from coutches pretending them to be buildings. It was just like being a turtle myself.

Perspective students at Northwestern

I went to Northwestern this weekend to visit my friend Paul. Now this sounds quite fun, but it was also quite awkward seeing as I was 3 to 5 years younger than everyone I hung out with. First we went to the Eagle's homecoming football game, but we left at halftime. Paul took us out to lake Joanna to go rope swinging. We climbed a long dead tree hanging over the lake, grabbed a rope tied onto a branch of the tree, let loose and plunged into the ice covered lake Joanna. Well, it wasn't really ice covered, but it could have been. The water was about five feet deep and the air was warmer than the water. Next on the list of college activities was Paul's birthday party. It was also Paul's roommate, Jonny's birthday. There were a bunch of random people I didn't know hanging out and eating food. The better than sex cake was by far the tastiest food there. We played x box in one of Paul's floormate's dorms. It was quite the college expierence.

Why did God make fish different colors?

I think that God made fish different colors to show how creative he is. God is like an artist that sculps and paints living things. Well technically, he created artists and artists ideas of painting, so artists would actually be like him, but thats beside the point. For a moment, just think of how difficult it would be to try and invent a color. This wouldnt be taking different colors and putting them together, I'm talking about creating a completely new color that nobody has ever seen. Its mind blowing! How did God come up with the idea of colors? A rainbow is also a crazy idea. How would you reflect light off of water and get a bunch of colors?

To be honest there is one easy answer to all of these questions...God is God and he is in complete control of everything, so I'm pretty sure he can do whatever he wants.

Done and Over With

I am personally glad that I am done and over with soccer. I had a lot of fun while playing, but there was way to much drama with our coach. Freddie is a pretty funny/cool guy, but he doesn't know how to coach a team. He's not organized for practices at all, and he doesn't make good decisions when it comes to who he is going to play for a game.

Now that I am done with soccer, I am going to have a little bit more free time in my schedule. I still have the musical to do, but those practices aren't usually very long. Those practices are also really fun. I can't wait till we get farther into it.

"Good Game"

   I hate morning soccer games. Getting up early in the morning is one of my least favorite things to do, especially on a Saturday. To start off the day perfectly, my alarm clock went off 2 hours early because I forgot to change it from the day before when I had to be at school early for show choir. It was supposed to go off at 8:00, I'll let you do the math. I get completely ready and my ride showed up, so we headed to Hammer Field to get on the bus.

   We were the first ones there, so we got to choose our own seats, which was kinda nice. We took off for our 1 hour and 30 minute bus ride to Byron, MN. I slept the whole way and was quite annoyed with the bright sun shining straight into my window. We got off and the first thing we noticed was the size of the Byron soccer team. They had enough players for almost 3 soccer teams! We were quite imitated by them, but then we manned up and beat them 4-1. At the end of the game, we got on the midfield line and shook hands saying "Good Game" the whole way down. 

  

Eagle Eye

   At 9:20 on Saturday, I went to the movie theater with a group of guys to see the movie Eagle Eye. The ads before the movie were rolling across the screen informing us of the buttery popcorn and thirst quenching fountain pop. I thought to my self if I should go buy some, but then I remebered that I had to pay a rediculous price of $7 to get in I didnt have anymore money. 

   When the movie started, The secretary of defense was deciding if he should bomb a Middle Eastern Terrorist while he was at a funeral. To be honest, I think decidng if someone was going to live or die would be one of the worst decisions in the world. The movie continues on with Jerry Shaw (the main character) finding out that his brother died. One day later all these weopons and spy gear, show up at his apartment. He gets a phone call telling him to run because the cops are going to be at his apartment in 30 seconds. The voice threatens him to do a bunch of terrorist acts or else he will die. I don't want to ruin the movie, so i wont tell much, but the good guys win in the end.  

   I would probably give the movie a 3 out of 5. It was very stressful and intense, but they could've dont way better on the ending. At least let the two actually kiss at the end. The cheek shouldn't count.

Drummer Day Dream

The blaring music and screaming fans is the norm for a rockstar on tour. People are always trying to get there autograph or at least one short peak of the famous musicians. Most of us dont get to experience the sound of people chanting the name of something you came up with in your basement one night. Every Sunday at 6:00 PM i get to have a small glymps of what it is like.

I am the drummer of a rockin', God glorifying youth group worship band at Crossroads Church. It is probably the most fun thing I have ever done/do. I love getting on stage on Sunday nights and leading people is some amazing worship. We play some "go crazy" kind of songs, like "Undignified" by David Crowder, that will get you off your feet and bouncin'. And also some songs, like "I'm falling on my knees" by various artists, that have such powerful and poetic lyrics that i almost cry when i hear them because I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit when those words are sung. One phrase in particular of "I'm falling on my knees" that i love is the chorus:

I'm falling on my knees
Offering all of me
Jesus, your all this heart is living for

Now, what this means to me is, that God is so amazing that when we are truely worshiping him, its hard to keep your legs in a verticle position. The second line means that I am offering ALL of me, not just a couple things in my life like church or reading my Bible, this means giving everything I am physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and all the other "ally's" out there. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." The last line goes with the second, we need to give up our whole selves for Christ.

All that I have talked about so far is all the main reason that I play. The love of Christ is the greatest thing to sing about and to play to. Another reason I do it is because i just love to play drums. Beating the plastic circles and metal circles with American Hickory wood sticks to drive the beat of band, theres nothing better.