"Nighthawks"

Yup, it's late. It's almost 2:30 am Thursday, June 30. I am still up, and I am not tired at all.

I think my body has started making the transition from "work/study" mode to "night owl" mode, which is how my body likes to operate during summer(when there are no classes) and during Christmas break. I've been ready to be in this mode for awhile. There is nothing quite like staying up until 2, 3, or even 4 in the morning(when some really good, old movies come on the tube), sleeping until noon, then going outside and enjoying the day at its best time. It's really great. Starting Friday, I plan on being in this mode until I start work in the fall(which I really don't even want to think about right now. It's summer time for Pete's sake!). Obviously, I'll have to adjust my schedule the next few days, as the final rounds of Wimbledon are in the morning; I will interrupt my mode agenda for those few days. Speaking of The Championships, my girl(Sharapova) is playing tomorrow morn around 9am CST. Definitely tune in; she's taking on Venus Williams, who as of late has a renewed sense of confidence. Sharapova defeated Venus's mammoth of a sister in last year's final, so maybe she's out for revenge, haha.

You're probably thinking, "But Henry, exams are tomorrow! You should be getting some sleep."....well, the first part of that is true; my one final exam is tomorrow. The test isn't until 1:00, and that's good for two reasons: sleep and Wimbledon(see above).

I also have to pack tomorrow :(. Everything I hauled up here for summer school must now go right back into my jeep. I will have some extra luggage/personell this time, though. Trevor has invited Amber to come spend the July 4th weekend with him; however, there is a catch. Trevor is at camp right now, and he will not be returning until Sunday. What on earth will he do!? Of course, he summons his best friend to the scene, and I am charged with the task. Miss Parrot will ride down with me Friday, and she'll stay at the Horne Ranch over night. Trevor will then pick her up on his way back from camp Saturday afternoon. I really don't think Amber is prepared for this; very few ever are or ever will be. The Horne experience is not something to be taken lightly, haha. I'm kidding of course. I think she'll have a good time. My parents met her at Gareth's wedding, so they already know something about her. I warned her, though. If the weather is shotty, chances are good that I will be sitting in my room playing the deluge of games that just arrived from my ebay orders. Hopefully the weather will be nice, and I'll have time for some disc golf.

I am seriously craving some of my mom's cooking. True, I have been sticking to certain foods for workout purposes, but as long as my meals are built around those foods, I am good to go. With that said, I am ready to eat!

This weekend is also going to be exciting for one very simple reason: War of the Worlds. I am seriouly pumped for this movie, and I have tried my hardest not to watch the tv spots or trailers that tend to show too much as the movie approaches(can you say Fantastic Four?). I eagerly await Saturday night...

And we all knew this time would come. Yes, it's true. I have begun to pre-shop for my next television purchase. No more cathod-ray tubes anymore. No sir'ee. We're talking flat panel, LCD, HD-ready, PIP, ultra high resolution televisions. I'm in the big leagues now, so I need a tv that is up to the challenge. I also am lookin for a new sound system. Obviously, both of these will cost some serious cash, and since I already have a perfectly fine television, I will concentrate on the sound system. I probably wont have a new tv until summer '06, but it's never to early to start looking :)

I guess I'll read a little bit before I hit the sack. I figure I can review some of the stuff I have forgotten since my last "real" college class.

-H

Like, It Was, Uhmm, You Know, One of Those Days

hmm...what to talk about...

Today was our final speech in my Public Speaking class; it was a "special occasion" type speech, which gave us tons of freedom in developing it. "Special Occasion" referred to speeches such as a wedding toast(done that), a graduation speech(check that too!), or an award presentation/acceptance speech. I considered my options, and since I had done both a graduation and wedding, an award acceptance speech presenations seemed to fit the bill. An award presentation would have been weird with just myself acting the parts of mc and acceptee; therefore, I enlisted the help of my good friend Zach(Jason's roomate last year) to help with the process. We brainstormed and came up with a rather humorous idea: an awards presentation for Zach's uncanny ability to break wooden boards with his bare feet/hands. We created the "2005 Nominees for Best Board-Breaking Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role." The whole speech went extremely well, I thought. I walked in the room to applause, quieted the crowd down, and began to talk about the award. Next I presented all the nominees(complete with hilarious pictures of our friends attempting to break boards) via powerpoint, and then I announced Zach(dressed in his karate uni) as the winner, handing him the Golden Board Award(we just spray painted one of his boards gold). As he walked up to accept the award, I used a flashlight to put the "spotlight" on him as he made his way to the podium. He then delivered a great acceptance speech...

After we were done, I thought I was going to have to give Stacey(our proff.) extra oxygen or something. She was balling her eyes out! That's when Zach and I realized that we had succeeded.

Well, ok. That wasn't our last speech. I lied. After everyone was done with the special occasion speeches, Stacey went around the room and placed a fortune cookie on each of our desks. She wrote on the board:

Uhm, Ahh, Like, You know, OK

...and as you probably guessed, we were about to play the " Uhm, Ahh, Like, You know, OK" game, where each of those words is a forbidden word. You mention one in your speech, and you are done. What speech, you ask? When each person was called up to speak, he/she had to stand up in front of the class, open the cookie RIGHT there, read the fortune, gather his/her thoughts for several seconds, then begin to impromptu speak about the fortune. The entire speech didn't have to be solely on what was on the paper, but it was to be a point of departure for the rest of the speech. It was hilarious to see people go up there, and end up talking about things that were in no way related to the fortune...

So I am sitting there, watching these people speak. I tried to gather a game plan as to how I would attack this speech. When I was finally called, I thought, "Ok, I got this. The longest time so far has been 2.5 minutes. I can SO beat that." I open my cookie, and there I see some proverb about "a good friend is a friend who blah blah blah" or something like that. I quickly think, and I begin to talk. I started by mentioning the importance of friends and what my friends are like. I then jump to how some of my friends enjoy(not like!) watching the show Friends...and then I went dead, haha. Right after that, I blurted the imbecilic "Uhmm...", and BOOM, my time was up. How far did I get? TWENTY EIGHT SECONDS. Hahaha, I was kinda upset I didn't go longer, but we all got a good laugh with that game. I now realize that there are some things I need to remove from my speaking habits, such as "Uhm", "Ahh," and "Like." I plan on refining my speaking abilities(as they relate to these words) before I head back to the big N.

So I was about to whisk my eggs for my daily egg sandwhich today, when all of a sudden, disaster struck: a piece of egg shell fell into my bowl as the last egg was added. I have been doing this since I got to Starkville this summer, and this was the FIRST time this had happen. Let me tell you something, getting a small piece of egg shell out of a bowl of 4 eggs is NO easy task. After much cursing and many different utensils utilized, the egg shell was FINALLY removed. The battles I fight each day.....

On a completely random note, I have begun a new musical group infatuation. I have been downloading every U2 song I can find. I freakin' love these guys. I should have listened to you all along, Zach!!! Better still, they are coming to Dallas in October; I hear their shows are amazing, so I may try to go to that with Colin, as he is a huge U2 fan. I have amassed songs from Boy and October, and I am working on War, The Unforgettable Fire, and Joshua Tree as we speak. The cds just keep on coming...

The art test today was a breeze. I'm gonna miss ole' Bill Andrews. I can say with almost 100% certainty that I will not have a more fun teacher the rest of my tenure at Mississippi State. I seriously might have to take Art History or something in the spring, so I can have him again. I'm going to bring my von Braun card to him before I leave to go home; I am hoping he can give me a ballpark date as to the time period of the drawing on the card.

Sports Note: Roddick and Sharapova in to the second week of Wimbledon, with no signs of slowing down. My picks are still lookin good :)

well, I didn't get much sleep last night, so I should be getting to that right now. Night!

-Henry

2.5

It's a great number. Why? I'll provide a clue:

CLUE

Just thought I'd point that out to everyone. Good times, indeed!

I'll do a "real" post later tonight. Right now, I'm gonna sleep; I have yet ANOTHER art test tomorrow to think about. Instead of counting sheep, I'm sure I'll be enumerating all the works of Monet, Renoir, and Degas....those crazy Impressionists...

Night!(or is it morning now?)

Good Movie

Okay, I just finished watching Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. Normally, I tend to stray away from movies such as this(read: chick flicks); however, tonight was an unusual circumstance. With nothing on television except reruns, and my adamant decision NOT to watch hours of regurgitated coverage of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, this movie was all that was left. It was SO good. I really really enjoyed it.

Oh well. Just thought I'd mention it. If you've never seen it, I recommend it. Then again, what do I know about movies?

Night!

Hail Britannia!

There are several things I think of when the first days of summer roll around: the upcoming MLB All-Star Game(with 3 BoSox starting :) ), doing some kind of outdoor activity, no school(on normal occasions), and of course, Wimbledon: The Championships, probably my favorite tennis event of them all. Why do I like it so much? I wish I knew the answer. I think it may be because it has that kind of grandeur about it being in England. Didn't they invent tennis over there? Also, it's the only Grand Slam with the name "Championship" in the official title, so that's definitely a reason it should be revered. I've always enjoyed the grass courts too; they're very quiet, yet the ball travels at high speeds on the surface. I'm not a fan of clay, and hard courts are alright, except the ever-present squeaking of the shoes as they slide across it.

On the women's side, I pick Maria Sharapova to win her 2nd Wimbledon title in a row. Besides being beautiful, she has improved her game immensely since last year's tournament, when she was already pretty good. She's fast on the grass, and she has begun to play at the net more, resulting in her opponent's trying to play over her or trying to blast one by her. That works to her advantage, 1) because she's tall, and 2) as I said before, she's ultra-light on her feet when playing on the grass.

With the men, I wanted to pick Raphael Nadal before today, until he was ousted by Gilles Muller(who?!). So I guess I'll stick with my boy, A-Rod(the good A-Rod. The one that doesn't slap baseballs out of the hands of a pitcher in order to reach base safely. The tennis A-Rod: Andy Roddick). You really cannot emphasize this guy's serve enough; especially on grass or hard courts, his first serve is usually around the 125 range. It even gets higher as the match progresses. Roddick has never won a Wimbledon title, and I do believe he will have one before his career is over. He could still meet Federer in the final, which would be fantastic; however, Federer has had Roddick's number the last few meetings.

Well, the boys are back in town tomorrow...Dan and Adam are coming in from Huntsville. Adam Brown is coming up from Madison. Trevor has copped out of coming; for what reason, I'm sure we'll never know. Reggie "says" he has a never-ending supply of homework, yet he only has one real class; the other two are online. Nevertheless, the crew and I will have a blast this weekend; I think the agenda so far is soccer, Sox game on Saturday, Land of the Dead at some point, and definitely some gaming time.

"We named the dog Indiana..."

FANTASTIC NEWS ahead....

Ok, so the AFI was honoring George Lucas last night at a banquet in L.A. He was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. I know, that's not exciting, but read on...

So of course, they show featurettes on each of his films, and eventually they got to the Indiana Jones trilogy. Harrison Ford is there at the banquet, and he comes to the podium to talk about the movies and kinda roast George a little bit. Then, at the very end of his talk......

"[talking to George Lucas and Steven Speilberg, producer and director, respectively, of the Indiana Jones Trilogy] George, Steven. If you guys can dream it, then I'm more than ready to do an Indiana Jones 4."[cut to George and Steven, smiling ear to ear. THEY KNOW something!]

So there it is!!! Indiana Jones, ladies and gentlemen, is ON HIS WAY BACK! Now I know you might think this guy is old(and he kinda is), but at this banquet he looked rather young. He looked pretty much like he did in The Last Crusade, except with gray hair(but that can be fixed!).

Just thought I'd let everyone know this great news...later.

How Things Have Changed

Well, as stated earlier, I decided to do a retrospective on the past few years of my life, but with a twist. I wanted to compare how things would have been different had I remained in Grenada during high school. This list took me longer than would be expected, mainly from the insane amounts of hysterical laughing that occured while typing alot of it. Enjoy!

Sports

Grenada: I played both soccer and baseball, although I wasn’t exceptional at either

Paris: Due to the weird nature of how TN schedules its high school athletics, I had to make a choice as to which sport to play. I chose soccer. I’m rather certain I became better than I would have been had I stayed in Grenada, especially my senior year. Coach Belong got me in the best shape of my life at that point. I was also closer to my soccer teammates here; they were a much more lively bunch. The TN teams were also far superior to even the best teams I played against in MS.

Athleticism

Grenada: Ok, I’ll be the first to admit it. I did just enough to get by in the sports. I mean, com’on, you could easily tell by looking at me. I was never inspired or pushed to do more.

Paris: Two words: the Loop. My first day of soccer conditioning… HOLY SHIT! Now I know that thing is only 1.5 miles long, but whoah. First off, I’m not the best endurance runner. Secondly, I had not seen it before, so it felt like it went on for ages! I knew right then that I’d have to keep in shape to keep up with the rest of the guys and earn my spot on the starting lineup. And I guess that attitude just stuck with me. Now I can smoke the loop, and I can run farther than I used to; however, I'm still the slowest out of my soccer friends when it comes to long distances.

Band

Grenada: Band was IT. Ultra competitive envorionment. I was prolly on my way to some sort of leadership role there. I would have been able to travel all over the country had I stayed. I also would have been on national tv during Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 2002.

Paris: Band? Ehh…not so much. Quit playing trombone and didn’t join the HCHS band; going from 325 members to less than 60 isn’t that inspiring. They were decent, don’t get me wrong; I just was used to a higher level.

Social Skills

Grenada: I had so many good friends, but I probably wasn’t as outgoing as I should have been. I was still shy to an extent, especially when it came to authoritative figures.

Paris: I guess being in a new town and being the new kid prompted me to meet new people. I tried to be more social and outgoing. I made tons of new friends here, and I became more comfortable talking and shooting up conversations with adults, teachers, etc.

Work

Grenada: Good god, who knows. I’m guessing I would have ended up at Video Shop or Video Store.

Paris: CornAustin is probably one of the best things to ever happen to me. I became good friends with Nick, Lauren, and the Wilsons. Bill Wilson is definitely a good person to know. This is when I actually began to care about how I looked.

Style

Grenada: Wow. Let’s just burn all the pics of me in 9^th grade. Style and good-looking appearances were not my friends.

Paris: Thank God for Cornaustin. Ok, I’m no Richard Sewell when it comes to style, but I’m sooooo much better off than I was in the pre-Cornaustin years.

Haircut

Grenada: I’d have the same dorky bowl cut Jim Carrey style(from Dumb and Dumber).

Paris: Thankfully, Katy Scammerhorn told me one day that I should try a different approach with my hair. Thank you Katy! Now I pretty much keep it short short.

Schooling

Grenada: Okay, I basically had one awesome teacher at GHS: Mrs. Rena Dantone. Damn, that woman was awesome. She taught Carolyn and John throughout high school, so that was a shame I didn’t receive the same. Other than that, however, GHS was rather sub par.

Paris: In contrast, HCHS had a deluge of great teachers (at least I thougth they were great). Rushing, Wade, Brashear, Bucy, Neese, Geller, Shankle. I was thankful to have teachers that really pushed me to think. All of them had one thing in common: they made the class fun. Much of my success so far in college is due to them, mainly Brashear, Bucy, and Geller. Damn. I shiver to think what I would have missed had I stayed at GHS.

Girl

Grenada: Haley Moore.

Paris: Mallory Hacker. Oh com’on! Can you blame me? She baked me cookies the first time I met her! No one else has ever baked me cookies, haha.

Posse

Grenada: Ahh, the historical triumvirate: Reggie, Trevor, and Henry. Unfortunately, just like the triforce, we were split after June 1, 2000. Trevor went south, I ventured north, and reggie stayed right there.

Paris: I don’t think a powerful trio such as that existed here, but I did make some very solid friends. Friends that could easily join me to form a force: Josh Collums, Joh-Michael, Matt Lewis, Travis Jones, Jacob Crouch.

Humility/Ego Check

Grenada: I somehow had the idea I was the shit in Grenada. I thought I was the cream of the crop when it came to academics. I guess I began to take it for granted…

Paris: Then I moved here…and quickly realized I wasn’t squat. Who was? Pretty much every one of my now-friends. SUPER SMART. And at the top? Miss Hacker. Humility is a great thing.

Football Pride

Grenada: born and raised Alabama fan. Everyone knew it. The Hornes were crimson.

Paris: sucks living in a town pretty much painted in Orange. When word got out that I was a Bama fan, I had to defend the Tide with vigor. It was much easier after Bama waxed TN in 2002.

Hockey?!

Grenada: Honestly, I had not one lick of interest in hockey. I hated it with a passion. Soccer, baseball, football, and in that order. Hockey was a last resort if I had to watch something on tv.

Paris: Enter Matt Lewis: “Hey henry, wanna come over and watch the Avalanche play the Red Wings?” The who?!?! So began my never-ending tutelage under Matt. I became completely enamored with hockey. It was fast. It was precise. It was graceful. It was the same mindset as soccer. Most importantly, the goalie position looked like the most fun thing to do in the entire world. From there, and after meeting Richard, I began playing in college and regularly keeping up with the NHL. To this day, I still learn stuff about hockey from Matt and Richard

Short and Sweet

I went to the Redbirds game tonight in Memphis with Mal and her dad. What a COOL stadium! It was really great to just watch baseball while hanging out and getting to know Mr. Hacker(or Tim). Great weather too. That side of Memphis aint' that bad.

Well I had a great idea on the drive home. I'm gonna do a post where I'll differentiate several aspects of my life and how they were affected by my home location during high school. In simple terms, how my life would have been different had I stayed in Grenada in high school and compare that to how my life was in Paris during high school. When I really thought about it, I definitely would not be the person I am right now had I stayed in Grenada. Thankfully, most of these differences were for the good...I'll explain next post!

Kudos to Bill

ok, Bill Andrews has shot up the cool list all of a sudden. I just finished a test of his, and this was a sample question:

Harold Edgerton invented the : (a) strobe light (b) linear perspective (c) mobile sculpture or (d) flux capacitor.

HAHA. Any professor that puts the "flux capacitor" as an answer choice in a college exam is awesome. And if you don't know what the "flux capacitor" is or what movie it is from, you should be shot, slapped, punched, and forced to watch ESPN's coverage of the U.S. Open of golf for 4 straight days.

That's all for now. Thank God it's the weekend.

Dare I Say...En Fuego

well this boring week of school didn't turn out as bad as I originally thought. Trevor drove up Wednesday afternoon to surprise Amber(I know, awwwwww), so we've been able to hang out extensively. Trevor's trip up here was fortuitous, as he was able to swing by my house and pick some items that had been shipped to me. Several of the items were games I had ordered off ebay; we've been tackling those the past few days. It reminds me of the good ole' days when Trevor and I would go over to each other's house EVERY weekend JUST to work on beating a certain level or getting a certain special item. Those days were the greatest...

Trevor also came up because one of our favorite bands, U.S., was planned to play at Rick's tonight. I was rather excited, even though I hate Rick's with a passion; nothing but guys that can't dress, girls that are beyond stupid, and air that is waaay past the saturation point with cigarette smoke. I usually make an attempt to look beyond these shortcomings when U.S. comes to town; I DO play hockey with their drummer, so I'm even kinda obliged to go to the concerts....so we had that planned. Until this morning threw a wrench in the whole deal. BOTH of my professors scheduled tests TOMORROW. Yeh, I know. What the crap. It's summer school, so i guess they can do that stuff, but it still sucks. As you can probably guess, I had to forego the concert and pursue studies of the visual elements of art and speech making. *sigh*. Oh well...that's life.

We saw Batman Begins last night. FINALLY, they based it off the DC Comics and not a director's "vision." This movie rivals the first Batman in almost every respect. Great villains, deep characters, great fights, and an overall dark atmosphere. This is what the dark knight should have been like from day one. From what I gather on the IMDB message boards, the sequel is already in the works, and if you watch this movie, you will already know who the villain is :). Christian Bale is a fantastic cast as Bruce Wayne. His has the perfect "bat-chin." Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, and Michael Cane turn in great performances that really round out the already superb cast. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequels...

Watson and I are going to test out the newly opened Mississippi State Disc Golf Course tomorrow afternoon. I'm almost afraid to see how bad it is, haha.

Trevor, Amber, and I went out to the soccer fields today and kicked the ball around and threw the frisbee. I can already tell that I'm getting darker, slowly but surely. Maybe this summer will be the year!

well, trevor just called. We're about to hit up the Waffle House.

Peace!

p.s. Here's a pic of my Art Professor. They caught him in the "act" yesterday.

Ahh, Bill Andrews. He's making some work of art that is made from or inspired by coathangers. Those dang visionary art professors....

UPDATE!

Update Tonight...sorry for the long hiatus.

20

Ahh yes. We all knew this day would eventually get here.

I have finally left the friendly confines of my teenage years, and I have welcomed with open arms the beginning of the roaring twenties.

But two decades?! Are you kidding me? Jeez...Back in the Medieval ages I'd be pratically an old wiseman. Now, today, I'm considered to be just hitting my prime. According to research and well-known facts, the next 10 years of my life will be the apex of my all-around well being. I'll be the smartest of my lifetime. I'll be the strongest of my lifetime. I'll be the fastest of my lifetime. I'll be the best looking of my lifetime(I'm in no way saying I'm attractive or lauding my appearance. I'm simply stating what is already known: that you are the most attractive during your twenties)....so on and so forth.

Twenty?!?! Jeez...

All that information is hard to belive, but it's true. After my twenties, it's all downhill(not like I'd be almost dead, but in reference to the previous paragraph, I'll be no where near those levels after I turn 30).

So the way I see it, I should do everything I possibly can in the next decade. (Again, I'm not saying I'll be completely immobile and helpless after 30, but I just want to do stuff while I'm in the best condition to do so). When I have the oppurtunity to do something, I'm gonna do it. There's no real point in saying NO to something when I know deep down that I might not ever have a chance to do it again. So if you thought I was active and did all kinds of things in my teenage years....oh boy, you ain't seen nothing yet.

So that brings us back to right now, my birthday. Actually it's around 1:00 am on Sunday, so my birthday is over. However, it has been one of the best already. Read my previous post about the gift mom and dad got me...it's un-freakin-believable. I LOVE IT.

Originally, Mal was going to take me to the Memphis Zoo today for my birthday. However, hurricane Arlene(or whatever her name is) decided she wanted to crash the midsouth this weekend. Needles to say, we ditched that idea. So I was kinda bummed about that...until she mentioned that she had two days off this weekend and suggested I come to Paris instead. BRILLIANT! I quickly packed my bags and on Friday, right after class, I drove up here as fast as I could. Friday night, Mal treated me to dinner and a movie(Mr. and Mrs. Smith) for my bday. No surprise here, but we had a good time...I mean, we hadn't seen each other for about 2 months; how could we NOT have a good time? In addition to food and flick, Mal got me this AWESOME picture by Norman Rockwell. It's a great drawing, showing three different scenes from baseball. The first scene, on the left, is the locker room of the BOSTON RED SOX as they are preparing for the game. The right scene is the dugout of the CHICAGO CUBS as they prepare for the game. The central pic is of the umpires, looking into the sky to determine if the weather is good enough to play. (I included parts of the drawing below as pictures). The illustrations are great, and I cannot wait to frame this bad boy right above my bed. Oh yeh, and another thing. Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. The last time those two teams played each other? The 1918 World Series. The winner of the Series? Boston Red Sox. They had not met in 87 years until THIS WEEKEND. That's right. The two teams are playing a 3 game set in Chicago THE WEEKEND OF my 20th birthday, and THE WEEKEND I got a drawing that displays both teams getting ready to play. How (sorry for my language) FUCKIN' cool is that?!? So that's a neat little story to tell when people ask about my picture as they enter my room :)

"Root, root, root for the Cuuuu-bies"

"Let's go Reee-d Sox, Let's go! *Clap* *Clap*"

Mal also got me some schnazzily decorated cd's, as well as an Eyore glass for drinking. Why Eyore? Just ask me someday...it's a long story. Let's just say this increases my Eyore collection of items.

So Satruday rolled around, and of course, I was excited. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to receive any phone calls from my parents and siblings. Why? Because Cingular doesn't cover Henry County........yet. Next week they plan to have the towers up and running, and that means this summer I'll be able to use my phone here in Paris!....anyway, I couldn't get calls from my family, but I did get a notice on my phone that I have 3 voicemails waiting on me. That brought a smile to my face. They couldn't get in touch, but they left a message anyway :) So I am very much looking forward to listening to those voicemails.

Tomorrow, Mal is being a gem once again(see a pattern here?). She is going to watch Star Wars Episode I, Episode II, AND Episode III with me. We'll start the first two around noon. Then we'll get some grub, and we'll head over to the theater to see Episode III. I mean, com'on. How (again, sorry) FUCKING cool is that?!

Then, Monday morning, I'll leave around 5:30 to head back to Starkville, JUST in time for Art Appreciation. WHEW! Wild weekend, eh?

Well I am tired, and I know YOU are from reading this post. I need my rest before tomorrow's Starwarsathon.

May the force be with you,
Henry of Twenty

Trava-sham-ockery

son of a bitch.

a just typed a long post and my window closed all of a sudden.

here's an abbreviated form of what i had just typed...

The whole Horne clan(minus me) will be in D.C. the next two weeks.

Mallory is taking me to the Memphis Zoo this Sunday for my birthday :) (they have pandas!)

Mallory, her Dad, and I are going to see a Memphis Redbirds game on the 18th in conjunction with an ALS benefit parade and picnic.

I might be returning to D.C. this summer. Mal is taking her family, and she has invited me to go along as well. Details in future posts!

Mom and Dad gave me an awesome birthday present...quite possbily the most unique gift ever. What is it? A Christmas card sent to my mom's family in the 60's. No big deal, huh? This card was sent from Wernher and Maria von Braun. My mom lived right down the street from the man! Don't know who he is? Go HERE. Uhm, yeh, this guy basically was THE REASON we were able to get to the moon(yes, we landed on the moon. We didn't fake it.) He designed the massive moon rocket, the Saturn V boosters....the card isn't even the end of it. It has been put in a beautiful wooden frame with a nice, dark finish. The glass that holds the card is the same glass used to preserve historical documents and the like; it doesn't let UV rays in, it keeps dust out, etc. This frame was specially made to be viewed from both sides, as to allow the viewer to see BOTH sides of the card. BRILLIANT! I've included pics...

The front of the card. Is that not beautiful or what? It's an illustration of the earth, moon, and sun, and the cycles of each.


Here's the back...


A closer look at the back...

I've finally gotten a new cell phone *Joy to the World is played*. It doesn't cut out any more! Woo hoo! Pics below...

My new, schnazzy phone. I don't need a camera in my phone, but you can't buy a flip phone without one these days.


The phone...opened.

well there you have it people, in abbreviated form. I hate blogger sometimes...

G'night...
-The H

Big Update...

coming tonight...lot's of COOL stuff to talk about. Heck, I'll even THROW in some pictures! Stay tuned...

Welcome Back to Academia

WHEW! First week of school is gone, and I am exhausted...

I'm kidding, of course. This week of school flew by. I'm taking Art Appreciation and Public Speaking, trying to fulfill some of my electives while also taking a class I have to eventually take. Art App. is actually quite interesting. My teacher is a hoot; he looks like a cross between Peter from Office Space and a younger, skinnier Oliver Platt. Anyway, he's just cool as hell. He knows his shit, and he's funny to boot. I alreayd know this class will be a piece of cake. Public speaking is already fun. I have no problem whatsoever getting up in front of people and talking( I was a paid magician during middle and junior high, after all), so this is just a class I can use to talk about things I enjoy. For example, my teacher said she had a student do a speech before on how the U.S. faked the moon landing. She said he(the student) did a really good job, and that means that she prolly believes him. Obviously, this got me riled up, so I decided that later on in this class I'll do a speech that debunks the conspiracies and proves that we DID land on the moon. I swear, some people are so so so STUPID. You throw any one of those theories at me, and I can disprove it in a heartbeat. All it takes is a little common sense. I think that all those who don't believe we landed on the moon should be deported.....or shot or something, I dunno.

Sorry, I got into a rant.

My first speech was an "icebreaker" speech, where I brought an item and described how it related to me. I brought my newly acquired Ultimate disc, and I used that as my vehicle for describing how my life pretty much revolves around sports, baseball and hockey in particular. I knocked them dead, although that really wasn't too hard. Some people, though, WHOAH. They really do suck at public speaking. No one has any animation or boom to their voices. I kinda cringe whenever I have to endure some of the really bad speeches...

well I sincerely believe that my cellphone is the root of all my phone problems. Amber and Bell both have Cingular, and their phones work fine. My phone, even though it has full bars of service, cuts out all the time. I rarely have a full conversation on the phone because of this problem. I can't even recieve calls in my room or the apartment!!! So, I'm gonna try to go to the Cingular place here sometime soon and maybe get a new phone. I firmly believe that will solve my problems. I mean, this thing has been happening for almost 1.5 years...time for it to go away.

I think our summer trip has been decided. We nixed the Busch Gardens Williamsburg idea......kinda. I suggested Busch Gardens Tampa, instead. Why? Well, several reasons:

• Tampa is about a 250 mile shorter drive(that's cutting off 3 hours of driving!).
• The Tampa nightlife is probably much more exciting thatn Williamsburg's.
• Busch Gardens Tampa has SIX thrill rides, as apposed to TWO at Wburg.
• Finally(and probably most importantly), the Red Sox are coming to Tampa in July.

So it's really a no-brainer after all that. The Sox will be in town the 25-27th of July, so that is our target date. We're workin on the details. For some reason, I have a feeling that one of those days will be the date Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral....but that's just me.

Today was the first sunny day since I've been in Starkville, so after Public Speaking I threw on my soccer shorts and went out to the fields to kick the ball around and work on my touch for a few hours. That was actually kinda nice. No one is here to begin with, and Bell left for the weekend to go home; that leaves very few people to hang out with. It was good to just go by myself to the fields, kick the ball around, get some sun, and just relax by myself...very soothing, if you ask me.

Sox are starting to play in championship form again. We got a nice streak going, with a walkoff homer last night and a strong win tonight agains the Angels. Orioles lost today too, so now we're only 2 games behind them. GO SOX.

well it's late. I'm not tired, but it's late. Maybe I'll read some new recipes in my smoothie book.

everyone have a good weekend. (Sox are on FOX television tomorrow at 1:15 Easter. Tune in!!)

-The H