We're back..........

Well hello everyone..... Seems like we haven't posted since Christmas and for this I feel bad. Christmas was very nice. The kids were blessed with lots of presents from grandparents and parents alike. They enjoyed it very much. I made a turkey breast for Christmas dinner and it came out really tasty. The New Year came in quietly. Kieran was at a church dance and Scott, Brenna and I had our appetizer food fest with out him. My birthday came and went. It was quietly celebrated. I don't know if that was a good thing or not. I know I was a little bit upset, but I could not figure out why. Brenna had a combined birthday party with Molly, since her birthday is a week later. They had a sleepover here at the house with some girlfriends from church. They had fun. I made a bee hive birthday cake and they had pizza and a bunch of snack food. February was also the month that Kieran had his first accident. He was hit from behind and then pushed into the car in front. I describe it as being the cream filling of an oreo cookie. He handled himself extremely well. Kieran called his Dad and Scott met him there. Kieran made the initial call to the insurance company. The young lady who hit him, ended up being responsible for the entire accident. The Beetle ended up being in the shop until the 11th of March. It was a long couple of weeks. Scott had to get him to seminary or I had to get him to school or work. Then I had to go pick him up. You don't realize what you have until it's gone. I missed him being able to just get himself anywhere. It's nice to have the little bug back. Kieran is now waiting to hear from his schools. He applied to nine schools. He has heard from one so far. BYU has accepted him for the winter semester, which starts in January. We're also waiting to hear if he is going to get an ROTC scholarship. Lots of waiting. Brenna just finished filling out her schedule for next year. A freshman....can you believe it. She's taking Art and Russian 1 as her electives, plus Algebra 2/Trig, and advanced Earth Science. Her brother had to take biology as a freshman and she doesn't and like her brother she didn't want to and isn't. It's hard for me sometimes because Kieran is a senior and Brenna is going to be starting high school. Where has all the time gone. Kieran brought his cap and gown home last week and when he tried it on, I got teary eyed. Does not bode well for June. Well I better sign this blog off or it will get to long. I promise to be better about posting. And we'll try to get back on track so that you will be able to hear from the kids as well. Oh yeah, maybe from Scott too. Miss all of you...........

The most non sequitorious post ever.

Hello my adoring public...or just public. There is no semblance of flow in this post, so bear with me. Life has this crazy habit of sneaking up on you and tapping you on the shoulder, but when you turn around he isn't there, but there is tap on your other shoulder. That makes sense right? Anyway, things have been pretty good over here. I finished my Vector Calculus class yesterday, which is a huge relief. Tell me if there is a logical fallacy in this statement: Crazy people go out during the holidays. I was out during the holidays. I must be crazy! Christmas is almost upon us, and our tree is very well supported by presents. I am a very blesséd child. I have winter reading over break: Heart of Darkness and Midsummer night’s dream. Midsummer night’s dream is a funny book to be reading in midwinter but hey whatever. My friend Crystal got married yesterday. She’s eighteen and went off to school only in august, and has now gone and gotten married, but what are you going to do. My sister and I aren’t quite done shopping, so guess what we are doing tomorrow? Oh yeah we went to see Mannheim Steamroller a week and a half ago. Very cool! I’ve now put my application in for USC, Stanford, Yale, a Pennsylvanian school Swarthmore, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, BYU, and MIT. That is a lot of opportunity for “We regret to inform you’s” Cross your fingers everybody that there are only a few if not any! Working the day after Christmas, which means no shopping with mother. I am actually really bummed about this, since as most of you know, and you do now if you didn’t, shopping with my mom is one of the most awesome things to do. N-E-Ways…not much else to report. As things pop up, I’ll let you know. Kieran P.S. You have to take foreign language classes at Yale, and I seem to thing that Italian would be cool. So here is you Italian lesson for the week: O mangiar questa minestra o saltar questa finestra. English translation: Either eat this soup or jump out this window. Idiomatic meaning: Take it or leave it. And Ogni regola ha un' eccezione. English translation: There is an exception to every rule. Ciao!

Merry Christmas Everybody, It's brrrrrrrr cold here in Northern Virginia. No snow, but we did have some rain. Granted it was cold rain. It's really sad when they get snow in Las Vegas and it's only cold and rainy here. The kids had a really busy week. Band concerts, final exams, mutual and such. But we got through it. YEAH!! Brenna's band concert went well. The eighth graders sound great. Sometimes it's hard to believe that she is an eighth grader, especially hearing the sixth graders play and that used to be her a year and a half ago. Kieran had his vector calculus final on Saturday. Yeah that is over with. He also worked yesterday afternoon. He said he had some really bad customers and then he has some real nice ones. An okay day at work for him. Tithing settlement was on Wednesday. Went okay. Finishing touches on Christmas. Really have to work on those Christmas cards. Hopefully we will get them out tomorrow. The kids want to go shopping tomorrow. I have visiting teaching to do tomorrow. I am currently very tired. Maybe I will post again tomorrow or Tuesday. We will definately try to post the day after Christmas. Hugs and kisses to everyone. Me

Merii Kurisumasu!

IT IS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay. Well, i was actually originally working on photoshop, but Okaasan said that if anyone wanted to be on the computer they had to write in this first. So, because i want to finish my drawing, here i am! Continuing, it is now winter break, which means i can finally get some proper sleep. My friend, Crystal, just got married yesterday, she was my flute teacher. Her and her new husband look so cute together! ^^ My band concert was on Thursday, everyone says we did really good. I know that we impressed the sixth graders. Our favorite song to play and listen to is, no contest, The Tempest by Robert W. Smith. Like i said in the beginning, it is almost Christmas, and of the five people i need to get presents for (Okaasan, Otousan, Niisan, Mizuko(Molly) and Rekai(Deena)) I have gotten three, i need to get two more, and of the three i have, only one is officially wrapped. So, basically, i am a late shopper. Can't wait till Christmas, but the year has gone by so fast! I am so happy! Well, i suppose until after Christmas, there isn't much to say...Oh wait. I forgot, we had a field trip on Tuesday to the Natural History Museum, it was really fun! I liked the fact we had to do a scavenger hunt, only because that allowed us to see the entire museum. They had foxes there!!! YAY! It was an awesome trip. So anyways, Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Merii Kurisumasu! Sayonara ~AnimeTink-chan

Hello People! AnimeTink-chan here! ^^

Konnichiwa! Hm...let us see...It has been seven days or so since my last post (i don't know, i didn't check!) Anyways, we saw Mannheim Steamroller couple days ago! It was really cool, i liked the drummer, Tom Sharpe, and the solo violinist, Jeff Yang. They were awesome. Not that everybody else wasn't of course. I just thought that it was so neat that we could see what instruments produced what sounds in their songs! Continuing, yawn, Oops. i really need to get some sleep. i have gone to sleep at midnight for the past three nights. -.- <- that is me. Next, well...not much has happened, some people have presented their spanish, some were really cool, others...not so much. To be honest, of course. Um...have a field trip on Tuesday, to the national history museum. I can't really think of anything else..got quite a bit of math, but most of it isn't due until Jan. Christmas is coming! Yay. I have um...(starts counting) 2 of the 5 presents i need! Yay again. Well...i really don't know what else to type, so... OH! Wait, don't go! (waits as people slowly walk back to computer) Finally..Anyways, i gave a talk in church today, it was on knowledge ^^ I didn't want to do it, at ALL. but somehow my dad pursuade me to... how in the world did he do that?!? Continuing, apparently it wasn't bad to everybody so.. The only problem about sitting up there was A) i was falling asleep and doing that in front of everybody wouldn't be good. And B) i had to sit next to the other youth speaker, Daniel, and well, that was the closest i have ever sat with him. And, i couldn't even look at his face! And my mom kept going on about how we looked cute sharing a hymn book.... -_-' sighs Well... Sayonara ~AnimeTink-chan

It is Me......

Well the kids have blogged this week, so I guess I should too. It was a quiet day today. We decorated the tree after church today. The house is actually decorated inside and out. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Scott put Christmas lights on the outside, not to many, but it looks nice. We have 4 trees up. We have our Disney tree, our traveling tree, B's Tinkerbell tree, and then our big tree that we decorated today. Very colorful in the house. As you know, we went and saw Kooza on Thanksgiving. It was a really good show. I felt bad that the kids really didn't have a Thanksgiving dinner. Actually the had popcorn, a pretzel, and a soda. I'll make it up to them for Christmas. But they did have a blast. We are going to see Mannheim Steamroller soon. We have been wanting to take the kids for a while, but we have never lived close to where they were performing, until now. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Scott and I saw them a long time ago. We have a ward Christmas party this Friday. I'll be cooking a turkey. I'll let you know how it comes out. I don't have to many cooked turkeys under my belt, so I hope I don't make to many people sick. Brenna will be caroling with the young women. She's also playing on the church girls basketball team. She's having fun. Tchai and Orion are doing okay. Tchai has been sleeping with Scott and I. It's funny, because he doesn't sleep with us in the summer and fall. But the minute it starts getting cold he's right there with us. He's a nice little heater on the feet though. I like him there. Six is just enjoying life I guess. He climbs his stick and taps the top of his cage. Eats his crickets and rests. Life is like that when you are a snake. Kids have two more weeks of school before Winter break. Then they have two weeks off. Brenna will have to think about her science fair project and Kieran will have midterms when he goes back. I'm hoping everyone stays well, especially me. Scott is healing slowly from his laser surgery on his eyes. He'll be off for a couple of more days, considering he really can't focus right now, it's a good thing. Everything is still blurry for him right now. Healing time is going to take longer for him as well. So I guess until the next time, hugs to everyone, take care and we miss everyone. Love you all......Me

Hi?

Hmm... i don't know if this will be posted before or after Niisan (brother, i usually use Ani, but since i use otousan and okaasan, i figured i might as well. it is supposed to be Oniisan, but i will just use niisan. ^^) If i post before niisan then it will make sense by me saying that K hasn't talked bout Kooza yet. if i post after, then saying that is useless. Reason i don't know which one it will be is because Niisan is typing right now as well on a different computer. Just finished decorating the tree, hard to believe it is December! And actually, since i am chatting with my friend, she just reminded me, it snowed yesterday! and stuck! But it is all melted now :( Dang it! I was hoping i could have the day off tomorrow. Phoo. Anyways, not much is happening, off the top of my head at least. I have a 96 in science. a 98 in spanish and a 9 something in history. NO idea what i have in English and Math. I should really ask... continuing, hmm... my Spanish presentation date is on January 7... yay. *cough*not*cough* Now... i really don't know what else! I mean, it has been pretty quiet in my eyes. Don't know what the rest of my family is thinking but...hey, if i could read minds i would not be sitting here wondering whether i have an A in english or math would i? Well...i can't really think of anything else.. Dad got surgery on his eyes, he is recovering. But that is it... Sayonara! AnimeTink-chan

Kieran thinks before dinner

I am the first person to blog in December!!!! Yesterday there was this weird white stuff on the ground. It was really cold and wet, and it made my car not turn over right away. While I may be the first one to post this week, I also haven't posted in a while. Life has been plodding along at the speed of life. And just as the speed of light depends on the medium through which it travels, the speed of life is similarly inconsistent. Big news from the last few weeks. My Academic team is number one in the district, now on to regionals. We may actually get somewhere this year. Who knows. Whatever the case is, this is a big deal. See this school, Hylton, always wins. In fact, until this year, Forest Park had only beaten Hylton in a match once. This year, not only did we beat them in a match, but we beat them for the whole kit and caboodle, (spelt right?). Whatever the case is, WE RULE!!! Also, we went to see a Cirque Du Soleil show, Kooza. Brenna has informed you, I'm sure. My favorite act was the Wheel of Death. We learned about torque in Physics, and this was nothing but physics, this act. They stopped the wheel by balancing their weight, they newton law'd their way through leaps of incredible proportions landing on the wheel as it came back around. I'm telling you, if I was a cirque performer, that would be the act I'd do! Other important events have included the election of a black man to the presidency...and to commemorate this event Prince William County Schools have given the county inauguration day off, and then reorganized exam schedules, robbed of us of a three day weekend, and ticked off a couple dozen teachers. Exams will now be split by a weekend, effectively killing it. President's day will no longer be a day off, much to widespread dismay. subject change I worked on Black Friday. After an eight-hour shift like that, It took all I had not to fall asleep standing up. I might actually have been asleep, I don't really remember. It was quite the experience though. subject change again (You can probably recognize without me telling you, but ah well) For my gifted education class we have to study and dress up as a philosopher. My philosopher is Rene Descartes, father of Incomprehensible Geometry. He is the guy that says "I think therefore I am." The context of that quote though is really weird. He basically says that anything he can't prove, he will consider nonexistent. He disproves everything except himself, and then he basically says that since he doubts, he isn't perfect, and since he isn't perfect, there must be something perfect, and hence God exists. Something kinda like that. Really confusing. I'm fairly confident that if people can understand you, then you haven't arrived at your philosophical potential. That is basically what is going on. I may add more as I think about it. All the Best, Kieran

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

The Old Man Speaks...an invitation and an observation

Gentle Readers, - First, comments to our various post are not only welcome, but encouraged. - Second, I noticed that my somewhat out of order late posting has caused some of the posts to be, well, out of order. If you want to ensure that you have "seen it all" you may want to do a quick scroll down (not that any post you might have missed could possibly be earth-shattering, since there has yet to be any earth-shattering posts). Thats all...more later...

K's Stream of Conciousness

So my government class, my teacher remains impartial as always, but my class of 30 has pretty much decided that we are going to have a black president, and a commuter vice-president. We keeping crunching the numbers and as long as voters continue to be invigorated like they are now, then this race is pretty much done. We realize of course that this election, complete with a high amount of registration, relies heavily on people actually voting. So basically what I'm saying is that this election is over in like 156ish hours, and things are going to be weird all they way through. That consumed a lot space didn't it? What else is going on. I got the Questbridge scholarship, provided that I get accepted at Stanford. Cross your fingers please. I got a 750 on my Math II SAT, and a 750 on my Literature SAT. I have a shirt that has a cartoon ghost and the phrase "be afraid, be very afraid" on it, and that is my costume. Well that and my mom is spraying my hair black with sparkles. Sparkles, despite misconceptions can be very frightening and very masculine. Don't anybody think otherwise. Work is going good; tis the season for crazy people, and I've had my fair share, and I only work 5 or 6 hours a week. Can't imagine the kind of asylum escapees that the rest of the store deals with. We are starting Cantebury tales in English...and this reminds me of something I have yet to vent:

There is a girl named Nicole in my English class. She thinks that she knows everything. She does know a lot of various things, and isn't afraid to flaunt it. She however is not the one that the majority of the english class looks to for answers. That honor is reseved for me, as egomanically egotistical as that sounds. She claims to have autographs from a variety of famous people, and I, making a joke, say that I have Mickey Mouse's autograph. Upon conclusion of this statment she launched into a long list of different kinds of Mickey autogrpahs she has. One of which is Mickey's autograph upside down. Now forgive me if I'm wrong, but if you hand someone your autograph book upside down, when they sign it and you turn it right side up, isn't the signature upside down?

Now that I got that out of my system, (and experimented with the funny blockquote button) I was talking about Cantebury Tales. I am acutally enjoying english again. Chaucer has quite the satirical mind, and I absolutely love satire. My first Academic Team meet was cancelled, so we'll try again this thursday, and I'm going to ask one of my teammates (a teammate of the fairer persuasion, in the words of my father) to get some sort of "victory dance"/"defeat consolation" desert afterwards. But that's what is new and interesting. Please email me if you my fans absolutely need to know what's happening in my life. I always have time for the little people. (I can say that now that I'm 6'1") Love, K P.S. I MISS DISNEYWORLD/DISNEYLAND...definitely going through withdrawls...

The Old Man Speaks...

Let's see, for this entry perhaps just a list of what is on my mind would be good. It might increase the chance of at least SOMEthing getting posted by me.

• I've been given a firm date for my eye surgery: 04 Dec 2008 @ 0730. SCARY!!!
• I am now less than 12 months from the end of my DTRA tour (if I don't, or can't, extend). SCARY!!!
• My son drives...everywhere...all the time...and he likes it. SCARY!!!
• My daughter is going to be an actual teenager in only a few days over three months. SCARY!!!
• Kieran has (We have) been filling out reams and reams of college application and financial assistance paperwork. SCARY!!!
• My Thrift Savings Plan has lost a nearly 37% of its value since 31 Dec 2007. SCARY!!!
• The weather is getting cold, fast...they say this is going to be an especially harsh winter. SCARY!!!
• I have my annual Russian language tests coming up in a few weeks. SCARY!!!
• People at Church keep assuming I know what I am doing, just because I am in the Bishopric. SCARY!!!
• The Church trusts me to handle and account for the Lord's funds. SCARY!!!
• Angelina is going to kill me if I don't publish something to our blog this week. SCARY!!!
• I am preparing for my next trip...going to Romania, going to visit Dracula's castle. SCARY!!!

There are at least another seven things that are really scary to me right now, but I think I will perhaps keep them to myself for the time being. There IS something known as TMI, particularly in such a public forum. That will have to be all for now... More later...

Okay....so it's Monday......

Sunday was a busy day at our house. Scott got home from church around 2, which is kinda early really. We had lunch, then we watched a little of our recorded television while we ate. The kids then had to get working on their homework. Saturday was a wash for them doing it, because Kieran had to work and Brenna was with her friend Molly all day. Brenna ran a mile run on Saturday. She did it in 9 m 30 s. Which is not bad for her. She was happy with it. The corn maze youth event that they were going to do for church was canceled because it was raining. So they played glow in the dark volleyball at the chapel. Any who, both kids had to finish their homework on Sunday. Brenna had a political poster to do and Kieran had to finish his essays for his college applications. By the way, Kieran is a Questbridge finalist. This means he is in the running for a full ride scholarship to his Questbridge college selection, which is Stanford. He'll know in about 6 weeks if he is selected. Kieran's academic meet was canceled last week, rescheduled for this Thursday at a different high school. He's ready to get started. Brenna had a good week at school. She had a field trip to the Air and Space museum on Thursday. She liked the trip. Scott conducted at church for the first time yesterday. He was a little nervous. He says he wasn't, but he was. He really didn't do to bad. He'll get better the more he does it, though. Our family history teacher was not at church yesterday, so we just visited. I was working on the new program that Scott got me. It's called Legacy. It's really cool, but I really could use a manuel. They are mailing it to me, so I have to wait. In the meantime I did something stupid. I deleted me. Yes there is no Angelina Rebecca Castillo in my family line. I'll just have to add me I think. I'll figure it out. The rest of the family is fine. Orion is enjoying the fall leaves blowing around. He loves chasing them in the back yard. Tchai is totally enjoying watching Six. He is fascinating to watch. A snake really wouldn't be the number one pet on my list, but he is interesting. As long as he remains in the terrarium. Well I guess I'll sign off for now. Happy Halloween Everyone. We'll be at the church for Halloween, you know Trunk or Treat. And I'm determined to win the best decorated car for a second year. Again we miss all of you. Hugs to everyone..........

Well... Hello.

Hey world, another week by, another week i post. This past week, i will admit, was pretty cool. My english teacher called home (no i wasn't in trouble no matter how bad you want me to be!) it was a good thing. yes, a good thing. she was calling about good things i have done in the past week, like actually taking time to memorize one of the poems she posted online, and things like that. and i am getting good grades in math.. and i just realized i left my math folder at graham park... i need it at potomac... crap. Anyways! Now it is Monday... yeah, it took me an entire day to write a sentence -_-' . Well, thank goodness I didn't need that folder. I had a busy day on Saturday. In the morning I ran a mile with my friend Molly and her little brothers Hank and Ernie (well... Henry and Ernest... but hey.) In the rain! It was fun! and oh my gosh, the last person to finish the mile, was this little boy, he was around 5 maybe 6 years old, and he was using a walker! He was surrounded with like 20 marines that were running with him... it was such a touching moment! Then, that evening we went and played games at the church instead of doing the corn maze because of the rain. It was SO MUCH FUN, we played volleyball and two different types of tag in the Dark, the only way you could see other people is because we all had a glow stick on our wrist! and then me, Deena, Molly and Jared got REALLY REALLY HYPER!!!!!!!! It was awesome! And Jared climbed out a window, it was a small one too... Anyways, On Thursday we went to the Air and Space Museum for a field trip, that was fun ^.^ I better go and do my hw... Okaasan will get mad if i don't.... She is picking up Otousan right now. Ani is on his way home... and the Inu (dog) just threw up... >_< give me one second... alright. I just had to pick that mess up... So yes. I got to go. Until Next week! ~AnimeTink-chan

The Old Man Speaks...

Another seven days, and what do I get, Another week older and deeper in debt, St Peter don't call, 'cause I can't go... I owe Peter, who I borrowed from to pay Paul, And I owe Paul for the money he lent me to pay Mary... (I am talking sleep debt…I am going to go narcoleptic soon!!) I have yet to feel like I am even starting to get ready to begin to maybe think about possibly returning to this time zone, even though I have now been back as long as I was gone. I go to bed at a decent time each night, and though I occasionally take a few minutes to turn off my brain, in general I am in bed/asleep the proper amount of time. But I have not woken up feeling refreshed, or that I got enough sleep for…well…forever. I usually don’t have a lot of trouble (if any) getting up to go to work, I just do so in somewhat of a fog.. I admit that Sunday are going to be a bit hard. I don't begrudge the Lord, or his Church, my time, talent and efforts, I just am going to miss the family time that really only happens on Sunday. Every other day is filled with school, and homework, and chores, and this, and that, and the other thing. Sunday mornings are going to be fun...I had to be a Church before 6:00am this morning...and I found out that I will have to be at Church before 6:00am every Sunday...and it was WAY hard to get out of bed when my body knew, somehow just KNEW that is was Sunday, and not a weekday, and to make matters worse... - First, it was COLD this morning...I haven't switched on the central heat yet. - Second, I just could NOT fall asleep last night. - Third, I woke up more than once during the less than five hours I was actually “asleep”. I know, “Waaaaah!” - I woke up SO tired! Unfortunately this is becoming my theme song as of late. Okay, so that is all for this post... Sorry it is so short. More later...