Tuesday, March 23, 2004

   My Shiny Teeth and Me.
So, to talk about those things I put off yesterday.

Numero uno, of both importance and on the list, I had a great afternoon with Victoria and Christina. My dad drove me to Sacred Heart after school, and let me stay for the daycare program. I didn't really have much homework, and he didn't really need me to be at home.

So, I got to spend the afternoon with my friends. ^_^ We played wall ball for about an hour, with our usual game of tag mixed in. It makes things a tad bit more confusing, but much more fun. _^_

When most of the other kids had left, and it was just the three of us (Me, Christina, and Victoria) and a tennis ball, we they decided to play Monkey in the Middle. I started in the middle, naturally. I can't really say why I enjoyed the afternoon as much as I did except to say that I like to be with my friends. Just to be with them, not necessarily doing anything. It's great. I had a fantastic time.

Next up on the list. Confirmation class. Oy...

We had our usual hour and a half long meetng, which, for once, was firmly stuck to. We were almost forced out at 8:33. Our parents had been irate about our last meeting, which had gone 20 minutes longer. In a different building, to boot.

I found out that I'm actually being Confirmed on April 13. Which is great. I can't wait to get out of these damned classes. I'm liking the majority of the kids in my class a bit more, but I still don't like being stuck with them for an hour and a half every week.

RPG Update:

Children of Sharess: I just posted recently in an attempt to keep the story going, and TVE and Raiha picked it up after that. We'll see if it has what it takes to keep on moving.

W.H.A.T.E: I posted a reply to Boba Fett's post, and then Raiha posted. Her character is currently trying to seduce Boba Fett's. -_-;;

Digimon - Way of the Worlds: Solo has every right to bug me about this, if he wanted to. :p I haven't yet posted in it, and it's already been up for several days. One of the things I must get around to.

Yu-Gi-Oh (something or other) - I just signed up for a Yu-Gi-Oh RPG. It's not the best quality I've seen, but it's the first Yu-Gi-Oh RPG I've joined that involved cards and dueling. I joined Deathbug's a little while back, but that was something different.

The High Shelf of RPG Ideas

Shelved RPG ideas:

Convergence of Power: Practitioners of different forms of magic come together. To do....something....

Yu-Gi-Oh - War of the Clans: Sort of like what Deathbug had, with the Duel Monsters alive and in their own world. Just with a much different plot.

So, that's all of yesterday's news. I'll update again later tonight. You can be sure of it. ; )
Comments (0) | Permalink

Monday, March 22, 2004

   *waves hand* You will visit MyO....
I've got to make this quick, as I need some sleep. Today was actually an excellent day in the life of Ben. ^_^

I got up at the usual time and got ready for school. I had Spongebob Squarepants cereal for breakfast, which was a cool way to start the day.

I didn't make it to homeroom, since I was watching Mark and Matt play Yu-Gi-Oh before school started. So, I was signed in late. :p

My first class was Theology. We had two quizzes, one on this weekend's readings and the other on our vocabulary. Then we watched a bit of a movie on the Dead Sea.

Next was Photography. I spent more time just sitting in the classroom doing nothing. We were given an essay to do, but I could not concentrate with the ruckus my classmates were making.

So, I have that yet to do. Next was Algebra II. I did the practice problems we had to prepare for our test tomorrow. I'm ready. Bring it on, Mr. Pukstas.

Next was English. We handed in our critiques and the last presentation was done and graded. Then we worked on vocab for the rest of the class.

In History, it was the usual note-taking. Whoo hoo. I have homework due tomorrow that I haven't yet done. -_- The quarter ends on Wednesday.

After History was Lunch. And here comes today's Yu-Gi-Oh Report.

Ben's Yu-Gi-Oh Report

Today at lunch we had a two-on-two duel. I was hesitant to agree, since the terms of the duel was that the winning team would earn first and second place in our standings. Since I was in first, I didn't really want to risk my position. Especially since my partner was Mark. Heh.

So, the duel got underway. It was touch and go for a while, until I gave some very stupid advice, which Mark followed without questioning. Next time I'm going to let him think for himself. -_-;

Anyways, my ill-thought out advice wound up getting Mark knocked out. We decided to keep going, Matt and John doubling up against me. So, the power of two Decks and the strategies of two minds against my single deck, and my single mind.









Of course I beat them. :p






I'm #1 for a reason. I wiped out John first with a few repetitive attacks, and then I destroyed Matt's only monster left and pounded him into nothing as well.

I r the yU-Gi-hO maST0r!

Sometimes, I just rock.


After lunch was French. We did more discussions on French heroes and French history. Good stuff.

I had Off after that. I tried to entice some people into going on my Youth Group's Ski Trip this weekend. We're short a hefty number of people, and that will severely dent our treasury for every seat we don't fill. I gave each of my teachers a flyer to put up in their homeroom and I gave one to Mrs. T, who's in charge of the morning announcements. She should be making an announcement tomorrow morning.

Which brings up another topic. I'll be going to Stowe, Vermont this weekend on a Ski Trip. ^_^ I'm not skiing, as I was terrified the first time I tried, and I really can't afford to do it anyways. But I really liked the trip last time, and so I decided to pay and just get away for the weekend. I just pray I don't get a lot of homework this weekend. -_-; That would be bad.

I'll be sure to report back to you guys as soon as I get back. ^_^

And now, I must be off to bed. After doing my History homework, of course.

It's just a shame that I can't discuss the very best part of this day. My self-discipline had kicked in finally.

Things to discuss tomorrow, or after homework is done:

1. Fantastic afternoon with Victoria and Christina. _^_ (stole this smiley from Mimmi :p)
2. Confirmation class. (eh...)
3. More on ski trip. (?)
4. RPGs
5. Taylor Hewitt. (rant on rules and such)
6. Sleep (or lack thereof)

Here's a quote for Shin. :p
There's an old Tibetan saying:
"Let us drink beer...."

"...and be happy."
Comments (1) | Permalink

Sunday, March 21, 2004

   WAZOO!
With an additional two visits, I was pushed past Wondershot again!

Many thanks to Shin, who I know gave me at least one of those two. ^_^

HA HA! I will win yet! :D
Comments (3) | Permalink

"The extreme irony..."

Kudos to those who recognize the quote. : )

Now, how bad is this: I recently gloated over the fact that I passed Wondershot in the MyO popularity list.

Guess who just passed me?
Comments (1) | Permalink

Yesh...and stuff...
First off, I'd just like to say this:

HA HA! I PASSED WONDERSHOT AGAIN!

During the period of time I wasn't posting often, Wondershot slipped past me. But now I am above him again! Muahahahaha...and stuff.

Here's what has happened since my last post, approximately.

I went to Mass at 4:00, as predicted. After Mass I walked home and packed some things in my backpack to get me through the night at the dance and then at Eric's. A pillow, contact solution, a case for my contacts, my pet rock named Brain, the turtle shell my mom bought me, my Yu-Gi-Oh cards and some other stuff. You know, the essentials. :p

I walked from my house down to my grandparents' house. It was is cold outside, and my nose was a bit runny as I reached their house. I went inside, had some goulash for dinner, and then my grandfather drove me up to St. Bernard's.

I got there at about 6:20, 40 minutes before the dance was supposed to start. I put my bag and jacket in the auditorium and then bought my ticket. The DJ was already set up, and some of my classmates had been there since about 5:00 setting up, so there wasn't much for me to do. I sat down and watched as more and more people slowly drifted in.

After a while of snacking and talking with a few friends, I decided to play Yu-Gi-Oh with Mark and John. They had both brought their cards as well. Now, we hadn't planned to come and play cards, but it worked out that way.

We decided to start off with a three-way duel. It was touch and go for a while, and I could have been knocked out rather early on. But, since I was in such a tight spot, Mark and John didn't see me as much of a threat, and so they focused on each other, allowing me to rebuild my arsenal. Mark had cleared John's field, and it was my turn. John pleaded with me, but I wiped him out. Then it was just Mark and me. Within 2 turns, it was over and I was the winner.

This didn't affect our rankings at all, so I challenged John, who was number one at the time. Ka-ching! I beat him and won 1st place again. ^_^

Throughout the night, Mark challenged me again and again. Again and again I beat him. We must have dueled about 6 times last night. Each and every time I beat him.

WAZOO!

So, I'm #1 until someone beats me. That may be tomorrow, but then again...it might not. ¬_¬

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.......

About an hour into the dance, Eric finally shows up. He informs me: "Party's off, my mom's being a jerk. You got a ride?"

Well, my night had just gotten worse. My parents were out of state for their anniversary, and there was no way my grandparents were picking me up at 11:00 at night, especially after I had assured them several times over that I was staying the night over at Eric's.

So, I attacked him. :p I grabbed him by the throat with both hands and started to choke him. Well, not really. Eric is a very large young man, and he was wet from the rain. So, I couldn't really do anything except put pressure on the general neck region of his body. :p

I went and got Brain, my rock. I've had Brain for about four years, and I wrote a story about him at one point. ^_^

I walked after Eric, Brain held menacingly in one hand. Eric ran, eyes wild like a frightened animal. I didn't actually hit him with it, but I looked and moved like I intended to. So...yeah.

I didn't dance, really. I stood around at one point, moving my body to the music, but that didn't last long. What my peers constitute as dancing was locking hips (front to front, or front to back) and rocking back forth. Or if a guy got lucky, he'd have two girls on him, riding his legs like a horny dog would.

I didn't want to be a party to something like that. And so I didn't participate. I watched, and I would have commented on it to my friends had the music not been blaringly loud.

I spent most of my time in the auditorium, where one of the Juniors was spending her time playing beautiful music on the piano. I preferred her music to the crap that was being played in the cafeteria.

After the dance, I went to Eric's. Apparently my desperate predicament was enough to overcome any of his mother's objections.

We watched a bunch of Futurama, as I had expected. *laughs* Yeah. That was about it. ^_^ When we woke up, we watched more Futurama, and then ate breakfast. Eric's mom drove me home, and I went online. All of my homework was completed on Thursday, since I didn't know about our snow day on Friday. Obviously I didn't know it would happen, because it hadn't yet. :p

So, I've had a homework-free weekend. And, Friday would have been the end of the 3rd quarter. So, it's the last quarter of school! YAY! ^_^ School's almost over! My friends are going to graduate soon!

While most people would be sad that their friends are graduating and going away to college, I'm primarily happy. I only have one good friend who is a Senior this year, and half of our friendship is online anyways.

On the other hand, a number of my friends are graduating from 8th grade, and are coming to St. Bernard's next year. :D I can't wait.

Oy...so much to do, or not to do. So much to say, and not to say. So much to paradox, and so much to not. :p

I think that's all for now. I'll most likely get back to this, though. UPDATE INEVITABLE!

There's an old German saying:
"Cheerful company..."

"...shortens the miles."

Which reminds me, I had a lovely chat with Mimmi today while cleaning my room. And a short one with Sara about her weekend. And right now, I'm talking to Nerdsy. ^_^ I know such great people.
Comments (1) | Permalink

Saturday, March 20, 2004

   Saturmaday is fantasmatic to Shinmoomaru!
Just a little experimentation with extra syllables. :D

Okay, where did I leave off yesterday...?

Ah, right. I had things to do. I got the dishes washed, I cleared a path from my door to my computer, and I went to Stations of the Cross.

My dad ended up making soup for the soup & sandwich supper after the service, as he had forgotten to get me ingredients beforehand.

In the Stations service, I carried the cross from Station to Station. I was all dressed up in my red and white altar server's robe; it's got a red body-length jacket and a white veil/vest thing that goes over it to cover the torso.

I'd done something like this before, but I forgot how tiring it is to stand still throughout all of the readings. I could walk for as long as I stood, and not be nearly as tired. I shifted my feet, stood on the sides of them, locked and unlocked my knees. Nothing seemed to really work. :p

Eventually, though, it was over, and I escaped to the cafeteria. I had some soup and bread and then went to a going away party for my Uncle.

My uncle's wife moved to Florida after she and my uncle had some trouble. My uncle had been an alcoholic (while they were married) and was in the process of recovering. She thought it would be best to spend some time with her parents and then they could start again.

So that's what they're doing. My uncle is moving to Florida to be with my aunt, and to hopefully live happily. :) When I got to the party (I was late, because of the Stations) I walked in through the kitchen. Sitting on the counter were a tray of meatballs and a tray of sausages. They looked and smelled very good, so I grabbed a bit of sausage and popped it into my mouth.

Like a trainer correcting a dog, my sister sharply reprimanded me.

"AT!" She snapped, and swatted me on the back of the head. "Spit it out, it's Friday. No meat on Fridays."

I quickly spat the sausage into the garbage and thanked my sister for reminding me. Because of the snow day we had, I'd nearly forgotten it was Friday.

After the party, I went home, and then got a phone call from Eric. We made plans and went to see the movie Startsky and Hutch.

That was the funniest movie I have seen this year. That probably isn't saying much, since I haven't seen all that many movies this year; but it earns a spiffy-sounding title.

I got home at a little after midnight, after waiting for my brother who was 15 minutes late in picking me up. -_-; The cinema workers were starting to fear me, I think. I was like the classic psychotic murderer, a hooded guy who didn't say anything. I thought I heard a sigh of relief behind when I stepped out the doors.

I got home, ate a few meatballs and went upstairs to my room. I stayed online until 3:00-ish, relishing the staying power of my internet connection. For some reason, it hasn't broken down for since yesterday and I've been able to stay on for hours straight. I doubt it will last. :p

So, here's my projected schedule for the rest of the day-evening. (It's about 3:30 now)

I'm going to Mass at 4:00, so that I won't have to go tomorrow morning. After Mass I'm walking home, where I will pick up what I need for the night and then walk to my grandparents' house for dinner. At about 6:15-ish my grandfather is driving me up to St. Bernard's so that I can help set up for the dance, which I hope will be a blast. ^_^

My friend Tim is going, since he's on our Sophomore student council too; and I convinced my antisocial friend Matt to come as well. [opt.]This will be so much fun! [/optimism]

After the dance I need to stay after for a little while to clean up, and then I'm going to Eric's house for the night into the morning. We'll most likely spend the time watching Family Guy, Futurama, or the Simpsons; all of which are great.

I need to go get my stuff put together, along with my outfit. Since the theme of our dance is: "Western/Frontier" I'll be going in black cargo pants that look almost like jeans, with a blue denim button-down shirt. And I know I have a sheriff Benjamin badge around somewhere. So, I'm off to find them. ^_^

See y'all tomorrow.

There's an old Zambian saying:
"The lizard runs no farther than..."

"...the heap of cow dung."
Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, March 19, 2004

Prayers answered, sort of
Currently Listening to: The Real Slim Shady + Summon the Dragon

This has been a nice week, if a bit disrupted. Tuesday I got out of school early, which gave me time to get all of my homework done and do the things I wanted. (OB, MyO, webcomics, etc.)

On both Wednesday and Thursday I had 90 minutes delays. Oh, heh. I forgot to mention.

It's been snowing all week. ^______^

That's why we got out early on Tuesday, had two delays, and that's why I'm typing this now. I've got the day off because of snow. Sometimes I really like New England Weather. :D

Anyways, this week has been a great reprieve. Wednesday and Thursday's delays gave me a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep, as did today. This is very nice, because of the rough weekend I had last weekend.

My status as #1 Duelist was called into question on Tuesday. I was beaten by someone who was not in Second Place. So, we wondered: Did I give up my place to the person who was in second, because I had lost? Or did I remain in place, with the duel having no effect whatsoever?

The impromptu ruling we came to was that I was brought down to second, and that Mark, who was in second, became first. We later decided that the ruling was incorrect; that I should have remained in first, but by then it was too late.

I dueled only once again this week, I think. Tuesday we didn't have lunch, so my duel in the morning was all that I had. Wednesday Mark forgot his Deck, and he was the only one in my Lunch Period. Thursday I dueled my friend John, who was using Mark's Warrior Deck, which is pretty competent. I beat him, which didn't really have an effect on my standing, I don't think.

Matt, my friend with all of the rare cards, says that he may be able to get me a Magic Cylinder and maybe even a Raigeki.

Both of those would be a great help to attain. They're two of the rarest and most powerful cards in the game. Matt has both already, and John has Magic Cylinder. That's one of the only things that gives John a competitive edge.

Here's the breakdown of the four of us, from my point of view.

Matt: Relies on powerful, rare cards to win. He generally dumps strong monsters into the graveyard and then revives them with one of his three revival cards. With Raigeki and Harpie's Feather Duster he can effectively clear the field of any threats. He bluffs constantly when he's not in a good position. He seems like he needs to prove something to whoever he faces.

Deck: Chock-full of rare cards and powerful monsters. Dragons made up most of his high attack force.

John: Relies heavily on bluffs and his powerful Trap cards Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, and Spellbinding Circle. By stalling with these cards he is generally able to summon a powerful monster, which may or may not be destroyed. He plays the game much like they do in the show, with overdramatic flair and bravado.

Deck: Yugi Wanna-be. Consists of many of the same cards that Yugi uses in the show, including the weaker 1200-1500 ATK Monsters.

(It's pretty hard to categorize yourself, but I'll see what I can do.)

Ben: Constantly changes and rebuilds decks in order to keep from being predictable. Someone facing one of his decks for the first time has no idea what to expect. Makes use of cards rarely used by anyone else who plays the game, and knows the rules to the letter. Uses involved strategies to get around his opponent's defenses. These strategies sometimes fall apart, leaving him wide open and subject to a beating.

Deck: Varies.

Current Deck: Extreme Beatdown. Uses powerful monster like Giant Orc and Goblin Attack Force to pound away at his opponent, with monster removal Traps to both defend himself and destroy his opponent's forces.

Mark: A very Joey-like player. At the beginning of the year he was just starting out as a duelist. Over the past few months, however, he has traded and attained new cards. Playing with duelists such as John, Matt, and Ben has picked up his game quite a bit, introducing him into the basics of strategy, and bringing him up into the level of tournament play.

Deck: Warrior Beatdown. Uses a slew of Amazoness cards with The A. Forces to relentlessly pound at an opponent.

Second Deck: Card Destruction. Uses a Giant Trunade + Card Destruction combo to destroy many of opponents cards and forces them to draw cards. Also uses Bistro Butchers and Helpoemer to further force draws and destroy cards.

So, yeah. A Yu-Gi-Oh related post. :p For those of you who know nothing about the game, feel free to click on the card names; they have links to pictures. ^_^'

I got up at about 10:00 this morning, which was simply fantastic. I woke up to my alarm at about 6:15, but decided that if I really did need to get up, someone would eventually come and get me up. No point in making any effort. :p

I need to wash the pots and pans today, and I need to make a soup for tonight's Stations of the Cross that my Confirmation class is doing. We have a little soup & sandwich supper afterwards. My room should probably be worked on; I might actually get to that due to my crappy Internet connection and a lack of anything better to do.

I want to go to Toys R Us and get one or both of the new Starter Decks. They have some of the powerful cards I mentioned here, which would greatly help me out.

I just played Yu-Gi-Oh with my younger sister, Emily. As expected, I creamed her. :p She did manage to pull off a few unexpected moves though, and managed to take away almost half of my Life Points.

So, yes. Things to do. I must get to them. :D

There's and old Dutch saying:
"A house full of daughters is a..."

"...cellar full of sour beer."
Comments (6) | Permalink

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

   Random Fact
I was the first child that my parents planned on having. ^_^ My mom had my older brother, Tim, in college, and she ahd my older sister, Jess, shortly after she married my dad.

Apparently she was unintentional.

^_________^

That, and I am my dad's first biological son. Tim had a different father, and so my dad adopted him several years ago.

Just random stuff about my family. :p
Comments (3) | Permalink

Today = Good day
As said in the title, today was a good day. It flew by and I got stuff done, so that makes it a good day in my eyes.

It started pretty shakily. I got up late because I forgot to reset my alarm. I set it a little while earlier than I actually intend to get up, and then I'm supposed to set it to when I really intend on getting up. I forgot to set it the second time, is all.

I managed to make it to school on time, and I had eaten breakfast on the way up, in the form of two cinnamon pop tarts. What the arrangement has been for the past few school days is: my mom drives us to the hospital where she works, my sister drives herself and me to school from there. We get out of school. I get a ride home somehow, and my sister drives to whatever medical examination she has to go to. Then she picks up my mom from work when my mom is finished.

It's worked so far, although getting bus fare is a pain in the butt.

So, first period. History. Same old boring notes and lecture. More homework. :p

French, we continued discussing French History; nothing much going on.

Off: I spent it in the computer lab, trying to get the mouse to work on one of the computers. Incompetent Programming students....

Then I had Chemistry, which we spent balancing equations. Once I got the system down again, the work was easy, but time-consuming.

Theology, we watched a bit of a movie on the Dead Sea. Interesting fact: Swallowing just a glass of water from the Dead Sea could kill you. The salt concentration is so high that it could effectively dry out your stomach.

After Theology was lunch, which meant Yu-Gi-Oh. ^_^

I bought the school chicken today, which is...ergh...not worth the $2.25 it costs, but I could eat it fast, which was an objective at the time. Matt, my friend with the rare cards who had taken my place as #1, wanted to face me again. I guess I intrigued him or something.

Anyways, we dueled.

Remember when I said that Matt was going down? Do you? Well, guess what?

Three or four turns into the game, I won. He didn't draw any monsters, and my overpowering ones tore through him.

John challenged me, as I was once again on top. He was badmouthing Matt because of the embarrassing defeat. I beat him in fewer turns that I did Matt. I had them play rock-paper-scissors to determine who would challenge me again. John won, and so I beat him again. ^_^ Matt and I started another duel, but it was interrupted by the bell, with me in the lead. :D

So, I'm once again #1, having beaten Matt. I saw that as a huge accomplishment, and a bit of a fluke. Had he drawn better cards, he surely would have posed more of a threat.

After lunch I had Photography. Mrs. Kainz is going nuts trying to get all of the Seniors' pieces ready for the Senior Art Exhibit coming up soon. The rest of us sort of wasted away the period. I went and looked around the gallery, and then walked to the Admissions office to volunteer for being a Big Brother for next year's Freshmen. I know a few of them, and they wanted to have someone they knew helping them out. There may not be much of a chance that we're paired, but we'll just see.

Apparently, though, that was an issue with the Student Ministry office. The Admissions director assured me that I would be contacted, though.

Then I had Algebra II. We were given a few hard problems to solve, and we were allowed to work together. So my friend Tim and I went to the back of the room and solved the problems on our own while everyone else struggled vainly with them. We two are the best in the class. ^____^

After school I stayed briefly for my Student Council meeting, but I had to catch my bus and so I left early. We were sorting out the details of our dance on Saturday and what we had left to do. It promises to be fun. I'll explain more about it later, as I'm in a rush right now.

I went to Sacred Heart and put my brother and sister into Daycare until my dad came. Once I had gotten them watched over, I went and started a 1000 piece puzzle for one of the Middle School teachers with Victoria and Christina. It was a difficult one, with a single picture composed of many. And the pieces were about the size of an average thumb nail. :p

My dad came and drove us home. I watched a bit of TV, checked out my usual online stuff, and revived my RPG, W.H.A.T.E. I put in a new, central antagonist, aptly named Cione. According to the site I got it from, Cione means "someone who comes from nowhere". I pretty much just inserted him into the story, so I thought it would be an appropriate name.

I also did the History homework that was assigned today and started on some of the assignments that I had missed out on earlier in the quarter. Grades close on Friday, so hopefully I can get them done in time. If not, my grade may marginally suffer. :p

I had an odd dinner consisting of hot dogs and pizza. o.O Then I went to Confirmation class, which was refreshingly not like normal. They let us sit on the couches, for one, and two, half of the class was taken up practicing for the Stations of the Cross that we are doing on Friday. *notes* I need to make some soup for after that....

I lucked out and got the only non-speaking part; carrying the cross to each station. I think it was my teachers' disinclination towards the other interested people that got me the part, primarily. That and their sympathy for me. I'm arguably the best person in the class, as far as contribution and behavior is concerned.

It ran 20 minutes late, and my mom was very agitated by that. We've almost never gotten out on time, and she resents that fact. Also, we were not in the Upper Room, where our meetings are always held. We were in the Church, and none of the parents knew that. There were quite few parents upset about that.

So, all in all, it was a good day. I'm hoping tomorrow will be another one. I might have to give my English Oral Report tomorrow, which I'm not looking forward to. But at least it would be last period of the day, which makes it seem much better for some reason.

Incidentally, I have a lot of cool friends. On and offline. ^_^

There's an old Chinese saying:
"If there is no wind..."

"...the trees don't move."

EDIT: This post was referring to Monday, not Tuesday. :p
Comments (1) | Permalink

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Faith Factor: I survived.
I'm back from my weekend Confirmation Retreat. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had made it out to be, but it did contain many of the aspects that I had dreaded.

They gave us all small notebooks and those neat pencils that have about nine tips in them. When you need a new tip, you just take out the one you have, and press it into the back of the pencil. You know about those, right? :p

Anyways, I kept a vague sort of record of what happened over the weekend, the good and the bad.

We left Sacred Heart at about 5:00, maybe 5:30. It was an hour and a half to get to the retreat center, which was located out of state. They wanted to be sure that no one would hear our screams....


Okay, so that wasn't the reason. Regardless, the trip took a while and I was tired (as usual, heh). So, I slept. I got up a little before we reached the place and listened as my "peers" talked about random things. I do a lot of listening in this group/class. So, we got there, we unpacked, ate, got our rooms, etc. etc.

Then, we played Jeopardy. Only, this was Jeopardy with a Catholic twist. All of the questions and categories had to do with Catholicism or something related to it. We had 23 kids, so we divided into three teams.

My team won; all of these years at Catholic school paid off in a competitive way. The rules kept changing and confusing people, due to the number and temperament of all involved. It made for a fun evening.

Unfortunately, that was not all they had planned for the night. And they were already running late. So, we stayed up until 12:00 in the morning discussing being dictated to. Anyone who wished to salvage what free time they could get stayed up after. Which was pretty much everyone.

I wound up staying up until 2:00, watching the movie: Radio. I don't trust my "peers" when it comes to sleeping and the immature pranks associated with it. Just about everyone went to bed at that point, so I felt a bit more secure.

We were woken up at 6:45 and made to sing for our breakfast. We actually wound up singing for all of our meals, and after all of them as well. It was a form of prayer, granted, but they made it seem derogatory. -_-

Later, they threatened to take our lunch away because a few kids weren't listening. Similarly, they constantly held our Confirmation over our heads as a way to maintain order. They've put us through almost a year of classes and another retreat, and they dare to threaten to take it all away. Just for something as small as taking a cup of juice into the sleeping quarters. It makes me angry that they have the gall to threaten us with that.

After breakfast, we went on an Egg Hunt. Not an Easter egg hung, a Passion Egg hunt. We searched for twelve eggs, each numbered accordingly. These eggs all held something inside of them to represent a part of Jesus' Passion and death.

After that exercise, we had lunch.

Then we did what was definitely the most fun of the entire weekend. It was sort of like an obstacle course, only with different activities at each station. My team finished first, and got extra points for working together the best. My team consisted of me and my friends Alicia, Jake, and TJ.

Our first task was to pick up some water balloons, transport them several feet away, and pop them.







Without using our hands. ^_^ TJ used his mouth to grasp the balloons by the tied end and waddled over with the balloon in his mouth. Jake poked it with a stick, which was, apparently, acceptable. Alicia used her thin arms to deposit balloons into my forearms, and I ran over. I stomped on one of the balloons, much to my dismay. My left leg got soaked. -_-;;

After every station we were asked one or more questions about the Church or the Bible, and shown a picture. If we could identify the building in the picture, and answer the questions correctly, we got extra points.

Next we had an eight-legged race. We had to tie our shoes together and walk to a certain point, and then make it back to the start. We wound up just walking backwards to the start, as turning was too much of a hassle.

(By the way, on just about all of the bonus questions and pictures, I totally owned)

Next, we had to simultaneously do the macarena three times in a row without err. Blackmail pictures were, of course, taken without hesitation or permission. -_-

Then there was a weird station where we could only cross by stepping on three pieces of paper, the four of us not touching the ground. Once we understood what exactly we were trying to do, we got it done with no problem.

Next we were blindfolded, one by one, and made to search for cherries in a vat of water and Jell-o. The catch was, they could only move their hand when we told them a direction. So, yeah. Fun, fun, fun.

Next was arm-in-arm limbo. We had to divide into pairs and do the limbo with our arms locked together. Alicia and I did fairly well, but the win kept blowing the bar off for TJ and Jake. :p

Next, we were told to stuff our mouths full of marshmallows. We obliged, and then we were told to name the 12 Apostles of Jesus. (Which, I discovered, should actually be 13, as Matthias replaced Judas, who was one of the original twelve) We managed to get ten of them, far better than any of the other groups did. Jake and I chewed up the marshmallows and swallowed them. TJ and Alicia put them in nearby napkins.

The next station was called the "Giant's stand-up." We were told to sit on the ground, two of us back to back. Jake and I were together. We were told to link arms, and then we had to stand up, still linked.

We did it with ease. Then we had to all four of us stand up, arms linked. That was a bit harder, but we managed.

At the next stations we had to pop some balloons and piece together the Scripture reading contained within. There were ten balloons, and only five pieces of marked paper. The others were blank. Popped balloons with no marked paper in them deducted points, and unpopped balloons with unmarked paper gave you points.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in random discussion, up until we watched the move: The Passion, performed by Radix. It was a very interesting movie. It was a one man show; one man playing all of the parts portrayed in the Passion of Christ. It was a good movie, I thought.

Then we had a long meditation on sin. It was dark; the lights were out and only a few candles were lit. It was a powerful meditation, and it caused me some pain afterwards.

Two priests had come to hear Confessions after we were all deeply in thought about our sins. One was my local parish priest, the other was a funny little man from another church that half our class goes to.

I am not comfortable with our priest, and I did not trust myself to truly confess all of my sins to the other one. So, I took one of our instructors aside and told her that I did not wish to be reconciled just then. She said it was okay, and I went off into a dark corner.

I felt so ashamed. Everyone else was under the impression that they had to go. In their ignorance of the Catholic Church, they didn't realize that they couldn't be forced to do it.

So, in my guilt, I prayed the Rosary five times. I shed a few tears as everyone walked around somberly. I wanted to have my sins forgiven, but I just couldn't bring myself to confess them; and this one matter of our faith is the one I seem to have the most trouble with.

I have not yet had a satisfactory answer as to why it is necessary to have our sins forgiven through a priest. Because of this, I'm not entirely certain that I believe in the practice, and so I'm not sure if I can call myself a legitimate Catholic.

It's a mess, this religious turmoil of mine. -_-;;

One of my instructors, Mr. Luginsland, gave me a note and a small book of poems to sort of console me. I must have seemed like I was distressed, sitting in the corner with my eyes closed, softly counting out my prayers of the Rosary. I don't know if anyone saw my tears.

Everyone got a small bag with letters from their families in them and letters from some of our instructors, too. My mom had forgotten to get the letters, and so my bag wasn't as full as the others. Mr. Benjamin, our main instructor, came over and gave me my bag. What he said next was like a knife digging into me. It went something like this:

"This is mostly for your classmates' benefit, Ben. I know that you go to Confession all the time."

In truth, I don't got to Confession often at all. We were required to go to Confession during Advent, and yet I didn't. That would make the last time I had Confession sometime during Freshman year. I had a chance to go to Confession during school a few weeks ago, but I wasn't able to stay after school to do so.

Bah....it was depressing.

Then I went up to my room and read the letters that I had gotten. Some were personalized, most were general.



EDIT: Not much more happened. We had a meditation on the sins that we they had all been cleansed of. I then went to bed; it was about 12:00.

This morning, we were woken up at 6:25. As you can see, I didn't get much sleep this weekend.

It seems to me that I remember sleep deprivation being used for something else...I think it was mind control, or torture. Meh.


Maybe it's both.


We had a meditation about forgiveness, and then we went to breakfast. After breakfast, thanks and rewards were given out. We all got nice yellow shirts that say "Faith Factor" on the front. The theme of the Retreat was based loosely on the reality show Fear Factor. Maybe I'll get a picture of me in the shirt. ^_^

And maybe I'll post it, just like those pictures of me and Dave. -_-;; (The camera is sitting on the ground next to me :p)

We then cleaned up and packed up our stuff. When we were finished we went into separate rooms to reflect upon the trip. Several times I tried to point out the extreme lack of sleep, but I couldn't figure out the proper way to word it.

Next we went to Mass at a very opulent church. The priest got the name of our Church wrong, and then he told us to correct him if he said or did anything wrong. Several people almost took him up on it at that point; me included.

After Mass we had lunch, took a few group pictures, and left.

I had an extended moral discussion with two of our youth leaders, concerning all sorts of controversial issues; capital punishment, abortion, gay people and marriage, my Youth Group, etc., etc.

I got home at about 2:40, and was I ever relieved. My mom was there with letters from everyone in my family. Except my older sister. I went home and caught up on MyO and webcomics. Then I opened and read the letters. They were all very heartfelt and touching, but I didn't cry until I reached the letter from my little brother, Michael.

I think I mentioned this before, but Michael had a stroke when he was born, which affected the left side of his brain. Because of this, he wears a brace on his right leg, and doesn't have full motor control of his fingers. Until a few years ago, he couldn't keep his right arm straight by his side; it was always pulled up to his chest.

The stroke obviously had an effect on his mentality as well. I don't know the specifics, but he talks differently than others and requires help with reading comprehension. Because of his peculiar mentality, however, he would make a phenomenal chess player, says his doctor. If he learned the game, he would possess the ability to see moves many turns in advance. I thought that would be pretty cool.

Anyways, his letter went like this:

"Dear Ben,

I like to play games with you.

I like to swim with you.
I love you Ben.

Love, Michael."

It was very heart-wrenching to see that in his scrawling handwriting. The letter was no doubt at the prompting of my mother, but it still meant a lot to me.

I then started working on this monumental post. One that I doubt anybody will wish to read through. Except maybe Mimmi. ;)

And Boba, but he's got nothing better to do because it'll help him procrastinate.

I'm tired. It's 11:00. I'm going to bed now.
Comments (3) | Permalink