Friday, October 22, 2004

   Ready? Set? WHOAH!
Now, for something you've all been waiting for.....












Something so elusive, and difficult to find.....











...that some of you have been waiting for years to see it.









Brace yourself....









For a picture of Ben!









Matt and Ben! Or, Ben and Matt? O_o


Whee. ^_^ Matt's mom took a picture of us after the Junior ring mass and uploaded it to their computer. So, despite my lack of scanner, there's a picture of me available somewhere. :D





So....which one's me, do you think? ~_^

EDIT: Be sure to plug this, so that...um....everybody gets a chance to guess. =p

Besides, it's a monumental event! :o
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Thursday, October 21, 2004

   *filler*
I've got something really, really neat to put up here, but I'm not going to do it until tomorrow during the day, so that everybody will have a chance to check it out (and notice that MyO has been updated). Trust me, it'll be a nice surprise. ~_^ *tease* *tease*

Yikes, what to talk about?

We had our Junior Ring Mass, which pretty much destroyed our school schedule for the day. We had a couple short, pointless classes before the Mass, and then we wasted time in a reception. There was cake, and punch, and cider! The cider was awesome. Sugary things like cake and punch have been giving me upset stomachs, so I didn't delve to deeply into the cake, and I didn't have the punch.

After the reception, I had my Super Off, which is when my Off period and lunch overlap and become this huge time where I have no class. I used the time to do my French homework, which I need to do some refining on either tonight or tomorrow.

I showed off my ring(s) to whoever asked about it/them. You see, I already had a ring from Sacred Heart, and so I now have two. One blue-stoned silver ring on my right hand, and one red-stoned silver ring on my left. The blue was my birth stone, and one of Sacred Heart's school colors. The red is one of St. Bernard's school colors. We have red and gray, even though our soccer teams wear red and white. =/

The only homework I have due tomorrow is French, which is already mostly done. I've got questions due for Sociology and Psychology on Monday and Tuesday, as well as note cards and make-up stuff I've yet to do. The quarter ends next Friday, so I've really got to get cracking. >.>;;

And, um....yeah.

Until tomorrow. ~_^
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004

   The healthiness goes on....
I had an appointment with Becky (my nutritionist) tonight. She had the results of my blood test, and she was smiling about it when I walked in. I took that as a good sign. ^_^

I truly don't understand what a good deal of the stuff she tells me means, but when she says something is bad or something is good, and tells me how to make the bad things good, and the good things better, I do what I can.

So, my triglycerides were far too high. (Whatever the heck triglycerides are... >_>) They were in the 400 range the last time I had my blood checked. As of Monday, my triglyceride count was down to 145. Becky was absolutely floored. Apparently such a dramatic loss so quickly was totally unheard of. I was doing something right, heh. ^_____^;;

Some of the other levels could have been better, but I think she said that none of them got worse. I reduced the risk of cardiac difficulties by about 21%, which is definitely a good thing. Another random level going up helped that out. As a result of some of my levels not budging, Becky upped my dosage on a particular supplement. I was taking 1000mg before hand, now she wants me to take 1500mg. *shrug* Whatever works.

Now, onto things that may be a bit easier to understand, regarding my fitness and weight loss.

Each time I go to see Becky, she hooks me up to this machine she has. Two probes are stuck onto my foot, and two are placed on the back of my hands. A small current of electricity is sent through the probes, and the machine comes up with a readout of what my body contains.

1 Heart
2 Lungs
2 Kidneys

I've lost 5.1 lbs of fat alone since the last time I saw her, on August 19. *hears cheers* But wait, there more! :D

I also lost 5.1 lbs of excess water. I had a number of inflammatory something-or-others in my system, I guess, and the water was retained in order to quench those, or something. I cut back on the foods that made the inflammation and I lost 5 lbs of the excess water. ^_^

Since the last visit, I've lost 12 lbs exactly. The last 1.8 lbs was lean muscle mass. While it's certainly not a good thing to lose, losing such a small amount is negligible considering what else I lost.

The first time Becky recorded my weight, back on July 19th, I weighed 215 lbs. Tonight, on October the 20, I weighed in at 194 lbs. And I have kept the weight off. I haven't had huge fluctuations in my weight; I don't randomly jump up to 200, and I don't just dive to 194 all the time. I've maintained a steady weight around 194-196. Hopefully once fencing season begins, and I start to move around and exercise, more pounds will drop, and any risk of diabetes will be ultimately squashed.

Coolness.

Junior Ring Mass tomorrow. My whole schedule is thrown into disarray. :D We have a couple of very short classes before Mass, the Mass itself takes an hour and a half, then we have a short reception/brunch thing, and after that I have my Off period, for longer than usual due to the screwy scheduling. Things are just rocking. Or, they will be.

And heck, it'll be Thursday already. It seems like yesterday I was wondering if I'd make it this far, heh. Time flies for me most unexpectedly, or something.

Catch you all later. ^_^
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004

   La da da da da-WHOAH I NEED TO UPDATE!
Wow, I totally blanked and almost forgot to update. O_o'

My parish council meeting tonight went from seven o'clock to a little after ten, and so I've been reading up for my History paper, which is due tomorrow. It's another DBQ, so all of the information is already laid out in front of me. I just need to form an opinion and use the documents as evidence. From what I've been told, the AP History Test is the exact same thing; you get documents portraying a certain event or period of time, you form an opinion, and then use the information in the documents (and personal knowledge) to support it. Simple enough, I think.

My tests in history this year have not been spectacular, really. I got a 74 on my last one, and I don't think the one I took today fared much better. Apparently I can write, though, so my DBQs ought to raise my average.

I've begun to use my space heater again in my room, as it's been getting quite chilly in my room again. That means that my eyes are drying out even as I type this. *exaggerated blinking*

So, I guess I get my ring tomorrow, after I pay the balance. Or, at least, they check and make sure the ring fits, or something. I really have no clue what's going on, except that I need to pay off my balance for the ring. And on Thursday I get my ring. From the bishop. On stage. In front of the whole school. I get to dress up.

I've got a very nice blue denim button-down shirt that I've been wearing for dressy occasions lately. There was an announcement today as to what we could wear, and they said collared shirts with ties. This shirt could probably go okay with a tie, but I'd really rather not wear one. I'm going to see if I can get out of said stipulation tomorrow.

Eh.....

DBQ needs to be worked on. It's ten of twelve now, and I'm only now reaching the last document. I've just got to whip out a couple pages of A+ material, and I'm all set. :p

Even though, Mr. Currie admittedly could find no fault in my last one, I got an A. I'm not entirely sure he gives on an A+ scale. But, yeah. Whatever. I must get to working.
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Monday, October 18, 2004

   AH BLAH ESP ON YOLE ?
WADABLAAHDADSDH
GFOSFGHSDIPGF
JSDOGIHSFGOHJSFIG
JSDUFHAQPSFOIKWA[FW9UFR038UUFAQDF
KJADBHVIFUHSVEGOWAUF
83YFH3IUHW893YTW8
74YT785YGHIUSHFNIS37FHYSIUFH398WYSFIEUH

Try to decipher that, all you intelligent types. I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with boredom and frustration. Or something.

So, this morning. I get up, and get ready to go to the hospital. Because some of the tests on my blood required that I fast, I couldn't eat anything this morning. So, that allowed me to be ready to go earlier than normal. I dozed on the couch while I waited for my dad to get up. =p

When he finally did get up, I packed up some cereal in a Ziploc bag so I could eat it after getting my blood drawn. I was hungry enough already.

Instead of going to the hospital, though, as I thought, we went to Pequot Emergency Walk-In Center. It's a closer sort of clinic that does this sort of thing, too, I guess. I've been there before for throat cultures and stuff. So, my large mouth bass of a nurse comes over and shoves the needle into my arm.

Before she did said shoving, I made sure to inform her that the last time I had blood drawn, the nurse found it easier to use a butterfly needle. It's incredibly small, and you can barely tell it's there at all. Well, whatever station this lady was, she pretty much told me that my veins were fine and that butterfly needles were for babies. ;_;

So, in the needle went and out the blood came. After I finished, I went and started in ravenously on the cereal I brought with me. My dad came out, also having had his blood drawn, and we started on our way to school. My dad stopped by a gas station and let me grab a drink so that the cereal would not completely dehydrate me.

I was late to school, by about ten to twenty minutes. I signed in late at the office, and then went upstairs to my locker to get ready for first period. There was still about half an hour left of the period.

I'm kneeling in front of my locker, shifting books and notebooks between my locker, my backpack, and the floor. Mr. Currie comes out of his classroom, which is just besides my locker.

"Good morning, Mr. Currie."

"Good morning, Matt."

...

Mr. Currie walks back into his room, and I just continue to prepare. A moment or two later, Mr. Currie steps out of his room.

"I called you Matt again, didn't I?"

"Yep."

"Sorry, Ben."

"No problem."

Heh, and off I got to Sociology, where I've got a test to do. A test, incidentally, that I am totally unprepared for. v_v;;

I think I put down some guys from Psychology instead of the people I learned in Sociology. It gets kind of confusing when you have the same teacher for both classes. I'm sure I passed; I've got a sort of built in "Failure-is-not-an-option" device that keeps me from falling below the 65 mark. Comforting. *snort*

Skipping right along...

I've got tests coming at me from all angles this week. Two tests and a quiz today, a test or so tomorrow, and more to come. Two in English, one tomorrow, and one the day after. Yay...

It's not too bad though. All of these tests means that I probably won't have much actual homework to do. So, no worries from those of you that like to worry. ;p

Eh...rehearsal tomorrow night and Thursday night. I'll probably go to some of Conditioning on Wednesday, and then I have an appointment with Becky. I'll get the results from the blood test then. Hopefully I'll have improved.

You know the rest, I guess. I'm tired, and in need of sleep and studying. So, I'm going to cut this post short.

*slices the end to ribbons*
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Sunday, October 17, 2004

   Same old, same old.
Life's been pretty much the same old tune for the past few weeks. School, work, extracurricular stuff, weekends with more work and/or not enough time in them. Pretty much the only major change thus far has been the temperature. Now, instead of being freezing in the mornings and tolerable in the afternoons, it's freezing all day long. ¬_¬

I'll have to break out my space heater soon. Or maybe buy a new one, or something. My room's slowly moving past the "tolerable chill" mark. That, and I can't feel my toes. >.>

But, things are due to change this week. For good or for ill, here's how things are going:

Monday: First off, I go to the hospital to get blood drawn for testing. I have to get up super early for this, and then get to school on time, to boot. Cool beans. And the thing is, it's not like I have to get to school on time. It's just very likely that I will, considering how freaking early we're going. ¬_¬

Then, a wonderful day of school. With no Off period. All seven of my classes with only lunch in between. Not fun, especially when I've got a bunch of homework I've yet to get done. Oh yeah, and a test or three.

Just kill me now. v_______v;

But wait, there's more! And it's still on Monday!

After school, from three-thirty to seven-thirty I'm working at the library. They gave me an extra hour! I don't have enough time for things as is! X_x

Tuesday: Wow, never thought I'd make it this far. In the event that I don't make it to the hospital Monday morning, I'll have to go on this day. Yay bloodwork.

Not.

Tuesday's school isn't so bad. I've got an Off period last to relax in. Homework will be have to be done before each class, though. Meh.

*shrug* Parish Council meeting in the evening; nothing too super drastic. DBQ due the following day for history. Got an "A" for "exemplary" last time, having done the paper the night before. We'll see if lightning strikes twice. =\

Wednesday: Hump Day! It ought to be called "OMG Ben is Really Really Busy! Day."

I've got school, with an Off second to last period and Sociology last. Not bad.

After school, work from 3:30-7:30 conflicts will all sorts of stuff. Other than work, I've got Fencing Conditioning from 6-8. Also, there's rehearsal from 6:30-8:30. Oh, and I've got an appointment with my nutritionist at 8:00. You might as well stick a fork in me, I'll be just about done. >________>;

Thursday: It ought to be an interesting day in school. We've got the Junior Ring Mass that morning, which ought to cut out all sorts of classes. ^______^ Not to mention that I get my high school ring. And a brunch following the Mass. And if they time it right, we'll get off at the lunch period. And I have Off that period. Coolness all the way. :D

And I think we get to dress up, which will be a nice relief from my uniform. ^_^

Friday: Wow. It seems so far off. ;_;

As far as I know, I haven't got anything in particular planned for Friday. Which scares me. o.o;; So much happens this week, but Friday is strangely empty....

And now, I'm off to frantically throw myself at the beast that my homework as become. Armed with my trusty laptop and my uber-cool Procrastinator King abilities, I'll vanquish the beast!

Or at least find an excuse to defeat it later. >_>;

Oh, and I posted in hero. If I had time I'd link it, but since I don't, just check it out on your own. 'Tis awfully cool.

Ciao.
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Saturday, October 16, 2004

What color is your P?
So, yesterday in Psychology class we watched a short movie about synesthesia. Synesthesia is a strange disorder that some people are born with that sort of fuses two of their senses together.

A few examples:

One woman who was interviewed could feel music when it was played. Some instruments would trigger a sensation in/on her ankles, others would feel like "a light breeze across my face."

Two other women saw every letter as a different color. They could look at a page with black inked letters and one said: "I can see that, yes, but I also see all different colors." The two both saw letters in color, despite if they were black on the page, but disagreed on the colors. Apparently the condition is not the same for all people.

A young man they interviewed could see colors whenever he listened to music. Symphonies, for example, triggered a sort of "waterfall of color." He said that it was like different kinds of brightly colored paint were being thrown in front of his eyes.

The interesting thing is, the man had been blind since he was twelve, due to some form of gradual deterioration. And yet, scientists discovered that whenever he listened to music, both the auditory and the visual centers of his brain were stimulated.

Heh, there was one last guy that I remember. To him, every word had a taste. I forget what some of the sample words were, but some of his sample answers were: lumpy mashed potatoes, well-cooked SPAM (of a certain thickness), and a flaky pastry.

Heh, he said he sometimes had trouble dating because of the names of the women he went out with. One of them (I don't recall the name) brought the flaky pastry taste to his mouth. And he just could not bring himself to go out with this woman, when all he could think about was a flaky pastry. :p

When the woman who was interviewing him asked him what her name tasted like, he replied something to the effect of: "Crayons. Definitely crayons. A little greasy, maybe. But definitely that crayon taste."

Quirks in the human population are cool. ^_^
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   Peter's Laws
The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Compulsive

1. If anything can go wrong, FIX IT! (To hell with Murphy!)

2. When given a choice - Take both!

3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.

4. Start at the top then work your way up.

5. Do it by the book....but be the author!

6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.

7. If you can't beat them, join them, then beat them.

8. If it's worth doing, it's got to be done right now.

9. If you can't win, change the rules.

10. If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.

11. Perfection is not optional.

12. When faced without a challenge, make one.

13. "No" simply means begin again at one level higher.

14. Don't walk when you can run.

15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.

16. When in doubt: THINK!

17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.

18. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.

19. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.


My Sociology/Psychology teacher has a poster with these on her wall. I got bored one class period and copied them all down. =p
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Friday, October 15, 2004

   I've once again managed to survive an arduous week of school. Assignments have been done satisfactorily, I've passed the tests and quizzes I took this week, and I've got homework tucked away for this weekend.

More now than ever, I'm appreciating the weekends. It's just they're not long enough anymore. :p

Today in Sociology, our class watched Beth, Child of Rage. It's a collection of interviews and recorded therapy sessions revolving around a six-year old girl named Beth. Beth was neglected and sexually abused as a baby, and grew up to be a conscience-free terror.

She admitted on the video to attempting several times to kill her younger brother and foster parents. She wanted to stick pins into them "a lot." She abused her younger brother when she was only six years old. She knew about parts of the anatomy of humans that she probably shouldn't. =/

And all this time, she showed no remorse about anything. Punishment did not phase her in the least. She did not feel guilt.

At one point in the movie, they show parts of an interview with Beth's foster parents. Her foster mother recalls an instance when there were several knives missing from the kitchen. They were gone for several weeks, and she suspected from the beginning that Beth had them. And yet, she did nothing. She didn't ask Beth, she didn't search them out to make sure Beth did not have them (because, who knows what she was doing/would do with them?); I was thinking to myself, does the mother have a death wish? O-o'

She's attempting to raise a child who wants to kill her, her husband, and their adopted son. And she freely admits that. They tie her door shut at night to keep her from abusing her brother. With knives, who knows what she would do at night? That was just stupid, I thought. I would not let missing knives go without investigation.

Then again, within the program. Beth mentions that she liked to stick pins into her brother and her parents. And I'm sitting there thinking: "Where's she get the pins from?" O_o;;

Keep an eye of the sewing basket, you fools!

*shakes head* It was an interesting movie. After we finished watching it, our teacher brought up an idea. What if we made an army, or a team, made up of these beings with no conscience? They'd have almost no inhibitions, simply because they were never taught any.

*ponders*


Oh! I know what I can put here.... *grins*

It's a special list from my Psychology/Sociology class. ~_^
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Thursday, October 14, 2004

   The number 11

"11 has become to be a very interesting number. It could be a forced coincidence, but in any case this is interesting. You decide for yourself:

1) New York City has 11 letters.

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W. Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence... (Could it be?)
Now here is what is interesting...

1) New York is the State # 11

2) The first plane crushing against the Twin Towers was flight # 11.

3) Flight # 11 was carrying 92 passengers Adding this number gives us: 9+2=11.

4) Flight # 77 who also hit the towers, was carrying 65 passengers Adding this: 6+5=11.

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11. Adding this: 9+1+1=11

6) The date is equal to the emergency number 911. Adding this: 9+1+1=11

Now we have a very upsetting piece..

1) The total number of victims inside the planes are 254: 2+5+4=11

2) The day September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year: 2+5+4=11

3) After September 11, there are 111 days more to the end of the year.

4) The tragedy of 3/11/2004 in Madrid also adds to: 3+1+1+2+4=11.

5) The tragedy in Madrid happened 911 days after the tragedy of the Twin Towers.

Read on! This is really eerie,,,

Since America is typically represented by an Eagle. Saddam and Bin Laden should have read up on their Muslim passages...
The following verse is from the Quran, (the Islamic Bible).

Quran ( 9:11) -- For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace."




I love weird coincidences like this. :p

I especially like the part about the eagle in the Quran. It seems all too appropriate.
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