Kooza is Awesome! LOVE the Trickster!!!

Well. It has been very little time since i last posted, and have i got a LOT to tell you people. Well, it was Thanksgiving this Thursday and guess what we had for dinner?? POPCORN, SODA, and A PRETZEL. Very original aren't we? Yeah, see, my friend was having a last sleepover with me (she moved Friday! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!) anyways, we stayed up like ALL night (we slept for two hours, 2am to 4am ish) and in the morning, we had pancakes! After that we dropped my friend off and then we went to the movies. Okaasan and Ani went and watched Bolt while me and Otousan went and saw Twilight! (me for the second time, him for the first) Ya gotta love that movie!!!! After that, we went to the Harbor where a giant tent was set up. Guess what?? We went and saw Kooza, a Cirque Du Soleil show! And, one of its best to me! ^^ Hm... Cirque Du Soleil..., a thing of wonder and magic, with breath-taking, heart-stopping moments. May it always bring joy and amazement to those who watch it. And yes, i wrote that! Anyways, Kooza is about this "Innocent" who is pulled into an amazing world by the "Trickster" (who by the way, is my FAVORITE CHARACTER, like, EVER). On this journey, the Innocent sees many wonderous things. The Trickster supposedly controls this world with his wand, but even after the wand is stolen, the Trickster is in control. However, this entire journey is about the Innocent's soul, so in all reality, the Innocent is the one with control. Some of the acts in this thing was such as the Contortionists and the Wheel of Death. Now, while i am sure (and hope) that Ani (that's you Bro!) will explain the Wheel in more full detail, i can give a rough basis. See, Ani would be better at explaining this though, because, as he has said many times, it is all physics (i am only in 8th grade here people!!). So, the Contortionists. o.o Now there are some girls who can move their bodies in ways thought impossible. One of these girls, sat on her head (head was on the ground) she was lying on her stomach, and her legs went up over her head (basically, her spine bent backwards, reach toward your heels not your toes!) and then she ran around her head O.O. seriously. The Wheel of Death is basically two giant circles attached to each other (i looked it up, it weighs 1,600 lb.) and these two guys, run inside them and it goes around and around. and they do tricks in them while its spinning. And then they ran on the outside of the circle. and jumped rope. and it was still spinning. and i am going to let Ani explain this, because apparentally i can't. Another act was the balancing on chairs. This guy, stacked chair after chair on top of eachother and climbed up on them and like balanced on one hand on them, these chairs were like 23 feet in the air (once again, looked it up). Kooza was just really, really, cool. AND I LOVE THE TRICKSTER! *cough*i'mcrazyiknow*cough* Anyways..., not much else happened so... Sayonara! ........................................~AnimeTink-chan This is the Wheel of Death (points above) Kinda scary isn't it? Can you imagine doing tricks on that? on the outside of the wheel? The Trickster! Like i said, i LOVE him! Meet the Innocent (points to person on left) and, in the red white and yellow stripes, the Trickster again! To be honest i like this costume a lot more than the other one. But they are both awesome costumes! W-o-w. Meet the Contortionists. This is one of the simpler poses they do too... I can't even imagine bending backwards, and they do it like it's nothing! Truly Amazing.... Sayonara!

First in a while, yay?

Konnichiwa. Hm...it has been a while since i posted o.O since a lot of us have posted... where to begin? well, there is the beginning but...12 years is a lot to describe in a blog. Oh what the heck, let's see, Nov. 9 is the last posting date, it is Nov. 25... well, first thing i can remember is that we went on a field trip! Yeah, we went to a play and saw 5 'short' shows including: The Telltale Heart (by Edgar Allen Poe, if you haven't read it, you better!), Sleepy Hollow (most people should know this one, Headless horseman! ^^), the Monkey's Paw (this one creeped me out the most, only because i have a very VIVID imagination), The Necklace (irony is bitter sweet.) and the Leapin' Frog (the point of this play was...? to be honest, this one was just messed up, and it wasn't even a horror play and it scared me the most o.O). I liked the first three the most, the last two were kinda weird... Afterthat, lets see that was on the fourteenth...? hmm.... Turned in my Español project, i thought it turned out kinda cool, we had to make it 3-D-ish and textured so that our Spanish teacher, Señora Craig, could feel it, since she is blind. She said she really liked mine and that she loved my ideas. My country was El Salvador. Um...today was Greek day! We painted urns (sp?) (yeah...would have been fun if i hadn't arrived at the art room late and did a two min. job, it actually turned out really nice though!) and then we did a chariot race, where one person was in a wagon, another was pulling in front and a third was running after holding onto the back of the wagon. I just watched like a lot of people, a lot of the 'chariots' crashed though... after that we tried some Greek foods like humnus (yuck), Feta Cheese (goooooooddd....), pita bread (also gooooddd), some type of greek dessert (sugary yum! ^^), this some kinda shell i think...? with spinach in it, (that was pretty good too!), and can't forget the grapes and olives! (didn't have the olives, just the grapes). And we did a bunch of other fun stuff too such as how we all wore togas made out of bed sheets, which was really cool! I actually used a blue sheet, but some people had power rangers and the incredible hulk on.... weird. Geometry is going okay, i am understanding it for the most part. I have a science project due tomorrow and (i'm going to say i haven't started, wait for it...) I'm Done!! (oh..that wasn't expected...i'm no fun, i know). So, yeah, i can only remember like, three things from this previous what, 15 days? Oh yeah, Dad is home, got home Sunday and i am having random moments when talking to my spanish teacher, i want to answer her in Japanese. i can imagine THAT conversation.... i catch myself in time but...one of these times i am going to messup... glad dad is home though!! he was gone a while on this previous trip. Hm... i can't think of anything else to type at the moment so... Sayonara! . ............................. -AnimeTink-chan

............K

Sorry I skipped a week...I know that you all missed me :). Happenings within the family... well my Dad is on another trip, my sister is feeling a decent bit under the weather, Mommy is putting on a strong face, and I am pretty much in the same frame of mind that has persisted for the last little bit: TIRED! No matter how much I sleep or veg or whatever my mind is always running at many miles a minute and it just wears me out. I have all my eggs in the Stanford basket, but I also have prepared myself for the likely "we regret" letter. My academic team lost its match on Thursday, 155 to 150, not my fault. ... ... ... ... *pause to consider words* I miss Disneyworld/land. I know that you all know that, but I feel inclined to repeat it. Oh yeah, Tuesday. I was an election page, which for some meant handing out "I VOTED" stickers, but for me meant directing traffic. In our precinct we had a bajillion people wanting to vote, and it was my job to get them through this itty-bitty cafeteria door and into lines based on last name. Too many people had last names between G-M, and they were P!$$3D. (I wrote it funny because that is how mad the people were @ times.) I was jumping on chairs, telling people to push in just a little bit tighter, and a whole slew of other things. All the grief, and all i got was a t-shirt. And to end the day I took my NOVA math midterm, which I don't even want to know the results of. I then got to come home just in time to turn on Fox News to watch Barack Obama win the presidency. YiPeE?! I reserve the right to hold judgment until the man has the chance to do something real. I think he is a very liberal idealist, but I am going to wait and see what he does when faced with sitting in a chair that demands a realist. A lot of people see this as some miraculous life/history altering election that will forever rid the world of problems, and others see this as evidence of the world going to a very hot four letter word. I choose to keep a level head, and I'm kind of getting some heat from my classmates. If you ask me, their politics are the last thing that I need. I know I'm ranting, but this is the best place for me to do this, no? In GEMS, my gifted class, we're starting Metaphysics. Basically we are trying to answer the question "What is 'is'?" Talking about identity and logic why's and what's. Already this is much more fun then aesthetics. If we change the world, I'll let you know! What else is there... ... ... ... ... Nope can't think of anything. If I do, I'll post it when it comes to me. ---All the best K P.S. Jungle Cruise One Liner: "Now, as you're leaving the boat, if you find your shoes rapidly filling with water, you've gotten out on the wrong side! "

Sorry I couldn't post last week, well here i am now!

Konnichiwa! Hm.. Well whaddya know. Okaa-san said that she was the first to post last week. We were all so preoccupied that she was the only one. Oops. I was really tired last week... still am. I go to bed around 11 or at least that is when i fall asleep and i get up at around 5... Doesn't help that i have gotten sick recently... still am, Ani is too, as much as he hates to admit it. Though Okaa-san agrees that he isn't as bad as me... Got a spanish project due in 11 days, it is on El Salvador. No one kill me, but i haven't started it... this week is going to be fun. We babysitted Benson, a little boy of some friends on Friday and yesterday, Kaa-san and Ani will probably go into more detail. I have to finish up a math project that is due tomorrow... it is actually just 26 math problems, but they are long ones and you have to show Every SINGLE BIT of work. It is being graded like the Cambridge Test thingy or whatever... meaning that if you don't have your work but the correct answer, your grade is not going to be high. but if you have the wrong answer but all your work, you are still going to get credit for that question. Anyways, there isn't much that happened this week... let's see, oh well, my friend Hannah dyed her hair blond. It looks really cute. Anything else? Hm... Hannah slept over on Monday to Tuesday, we had Tuesday off because it was election day. Obama won. Whoopdedoo. I really don't care, but ya know. We had a fun time, went to see High School Musical 3. It was pretty cool. Not much happened the rest of the week from my memory, but sometimes my memory sucks so... especially when i can't concentrate because my head is pounding and my eyes wanna close. I guess i will finish up, Otou-san left on Friday, he will be gone a while this time... Until next week, Sayonara, AnimeTink-chan

The Old Man Speaks

• Okay, first off, let me apologize...I really had intended/desired/hoped to make up my missed Post last week, and here it is this week. What happened? Life happened, I suppose, but that is no excuse...I just didn't make it happen. Sooooo, I guess I will just do this week and beg forgiveness for last week. Without further ado...
• I am currently sitting in my hotel room in Bucharest, Romania (please reference the "Where's family" clocks), which, being that we are 7 hours ahead of D.C. time, explains the hour associated with this post. We are here to work with the Romanian Open Skies folks to give them a better understand of the way that WE at least do business to fulfill our obligations and rights under the Treaty on Open Skies. Next week (as in Monday, 17 Nov) we will accompany the Romanians on their newly certified AN-30 aircraft into Moscow do conduct an Active Mission over Russia. (“Certified” means that all the countries that are signatories on the Treaty have signed off on it agreeing that the plane, and all its associated sensors (cameras), comply with the dictates of the Treaty.) Today is a day off to at least TRY to overcome a bit of our jetlag. The fact that I started this Post at 10:30am local time and the Blog thinks that I started it at 3:30 in the middle of the night illustrates the need for this. I think we are going to go look around downtown in an hour or so.
• On the home front, things are pretty all right, I think. The kids are staying in line (mostly), my lovely bride is behaving (mostly), work is not OVERLY frustrating (mostly), I am getting comfortable in my new Calling (mostly) and I am fairly happy (mostly).
• I mentioned in my last real Post that I am one year out from my PRD (projected rotation date). Being that I am over 20 [years of service], I have a myriad of choices…
• I can get out or stay in;
• I can get out and not move or I can get out and move;
• I can stay in and not move or I can stay in and move;
• I can get out and not move and work for the government
• I can get out and not move and work for some company/contractor
• I can get out and move and work for the government
• I can get out and move and work for some company/contractor
• I can stay in and not move and work for the DTRA
• I can stay in and not move and work for some other Command
• I can stay in and move and work for the DTRA
• I can stay in and move and work for some other Command
• …and the choices keep branching off from there again, and again, and again.
• The miracle of the Internet really is…well…miraculous. To be living in a time when I can be sitting in a hotel room in Romania, some 4992.7 miles from my home (according to Google Earth, as the crow flies…give or take 10-12 yards) and look through a “virtual window” into that home to watch my family, and talk to them, and see that they are well…that is a blessing that would have been considered complete fantasy 50 years ago, and something for only the extremely rich and/or powerful and governments a mere 20 years ago. Proof once again that today’s science fact was once yesterday’s science fiction, and much of today’s science fiction will soon be tomorrow’s science fact. And this is happening at an ever increasing rate! I may have to write more on this subject in the near future…if I remember.
• Well, this is all I am going to write on this particular day. Perhaps you will get more out of me somewhat soon…perhaps not. We will just have to see…
• More later…???

Gee, I'm first.......

Gee, I get to post first this week. Actually Kieran is doing homework and Brenna is taking a nap. Scott is doing I don't know what in the basement. Well Halloween has come and gone. Of course, I held on to my Trunk or Treat title as best decorated trunk. It was a fun evening. Scott made some mean chili, and anyone who was brave to eat it, thought it was delicious. It was good. Brenna had a sleepover that night. Molly and Hannah spent Halloween night and the next morning Scott made them french toast for breakfast. The french toast was truly delicious. Then Brenna had her hair cut. It looks really cute. She had about 10 inches taken off total. Well it's Monday. We all went to bed early yesterday. We were all pretty tired. Brenna even had taken a nap earlier in the afternoon. Scott and Kieran went to home teach a family from church. It was really a quiet Sunday. Kieran had his first academic meet. His team won both matches. A very challenging thing to watch. The matches this week are at Forest Park. Kieran takes his vector calculus midterm this week. He took the SAT on Saturday. He thinks he did better than the last time. He feels good about it anyway. School is going alright for both kids. School and homework is pretty much how things are going. Scott leaves on Friday for Romania. I'll have to fix the clock. This should be the last trip for this year. YEA!!! Nothing spectacular planned for this weekend. Pretty quiet, especially with him gone. Orion and Tchai have vet appointments this week. Shot time. Tchai is still enjoying watching Six. Scott and I can't figure out if Six is actually eating any of the crickets. I mean we know some drown, but we figure as long as Six is still alive, he is getting nourishment. Kieran and I are working the Polls on Tuesday. He's at Graham Park Middle school in Dumphries and I'm at the community center in Quantico Town. First time for me to working at a polling place for an election. This could be interesting. I'll let you all know how it went next weekend. Kieran will probably mention it as well. So until the next time I write, hugs to everyone. Love you all Me