I left the next day and I’ve already talked about that, but working Zero Week has been fun. One of the other cadets has a blog too but I recommend that any Army cadet not have a blog because guaranteed, people will find out about it. Wench. My roommate Joshua Ann (that’s not his real middle name but we’ve given it to him) has installed a rather magnificent fish tank in our room. The glofish he bought look really cool under a blacklight so it is another cool addition to our suite. We enjoyed just hanging out before school and now we have to go to classes and such but I’ll save such negative information for a later post. I went to church with an Army friend, Jake, and saw two of our older friends there so it was a nice start to the first week of school by going to church and repenting to save our souls. Since then I have been working out and trying to stay healthy for the PT test on Friday. Josh said that the easiest way to prepare for it and to not get nervous is if you just treat that day like it is a normal day.

Today my Grandpa surprised me at school and I had no idea he was in the area! He’s been driving for two weeks or so from Georgia to Tucson and was driving by Prescott so he came and visited me! We went to lunch at Red Robin again and it was just really awesome to get to hang out with my Grandpa for a bit before he had to leave. Now he is back with my family in Tucson and staying in my room, which is still a complete wreck, so I told him I was sorry for that. Well, so far school has been good, I’ll put up another post, guaranteed then I will say that it is not going so great.

Dad and his Smiling Sun Cake

Sarah, Michael, James and me!

All the Leon Cousins

Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Me and my Grandpa!

On last Thursday, my friends Bri and Natalia ‘planned’ a last minute swim party at my house and a bunch of my friends showed up to hang out for a last time before we all left. Many of them are going to NAU and some are going to the U of A so it was good to see them all again before I left. We swam in my pool, which my Dad said was lacking pH and alkalinity but it seemed alright to us. The rest of the week was devoted to planning my Dad’s 50th Birthday Party which was on Saturday, my last day in Tucson. My mom has been planning this for a while and we were all excited to celebrate his 50th. We had our cousins and relatives come over and my brothers and I picked up the mouth watering pizzas from Costco and brought them home to find the house swarming with out family. My best friend Bobby was also there and it was really glad to see him one last time before I went back. He only stayed for a bit and then left as James’ friend Raisin came over too.

Adam, Cynthia, Nati, Elisa, brandon, Christian, Calob, me and Bri !

The next day we went to the beach again and I was really excited to surf for the first time because Allison and Brian rented a surfboard. We swam out pretty far and just as I had stood up on the board and rode a wave, I got off the board and jumped in the water. My left foot landed on something slick and living and it darted out from under me and I felt something bite down on my foot. Scared if it was a small shark or something, I got back on the board and swam back to the shore as fast as I could and when I got on the beach, I saw that my foot had been covered in blood and I had been bitten or stung by something on my foot. Filled with adrenaline, I sprinted back to our little encampment on the beach and showed the girls that my foot was covered with blood. Lots of other people started looking at me as I showed the girls and hopped over to the lifeguard station. He told me to put my bloody foot in the hot sand and I was confused but did it anyway. A minute later the lifeguards came over and took me to the main lifeguard tower. I was forced to leave my sandals behind and in the station the lifeguard gave me a bucket of scalding hot water. Apparently it is supposed to help or something, I wasn’t paying attention to them because I have reason to believe that it actually doesn’t do anything. I sat there for 45 minutes or so and kept having to refill my bucket while I watched other stingray victims come into the station. The first was a young boy who was somehow stung on his arm and he was crying because of the pain. He sat across from my and had to put his whole arm in the bucket. Right after him came a young woman who was stung in the middle of her stomach. She was joking around trying to remain positive but we could all tell that she was in a lot of pain. She was holding her flat stomach but the sting had swollen her flesh and she joked that she looked pregnant. Not really, but I was lucky not to have it as bad as she did. Two others came in, both with stings on their legs but I feel lucky that my sting wasn’t nearly as bad as the others. After the lifeguards released me I had to walk all the way back to the Catamaran and got to relax in the hot tub at the resort to heal my foot, or whatever that lifeguard said it would do. We walked along the beach later and I saw an enormous jellyfish washed up on the beach. It was gross and we poked at it with a large stick.

Later we walked all the way to Belmont Amusement Park and because I have already been there, I knew what was the good things to see there and what was a waste of time. The others bought an all day pass and I only rode the Roller Coaster once and that was it for me. The others got dizzy from all the rides and we walked back after I was sorely tempted to buy a Funnel Cake. Instead we went to this really good Pizza Place that I have been to before and the slices were big and delicious. We went back to the Hotel and just relaxed for the rest of the night.

The next day, we rented a sailboat and took it out in the bay behind the hotel. None of us knew how to sail but Allison somehow was an expert and took the rein of the boat and was a professional sailor. It was really cool and we sailed around the whole bay for an hour or so we went back and went back to the beach but this time I didnt get in the water. Later that night we were all exhausted and Allison surprised us with another skill of hers, hypnosis. She hypnotized Brian and me and I wont reveal much but it was utterly hilarious and now I know how to hypnotize! Overall, the California trip was one of the best parts of the summer and I cant wait to see my friends again! I hope to go back and get a get rate on the hotel like we got last time and I will always remember that during my first attempt at swimming, I was stung by a stingray. I was hypnotized and almost froze in the Pacific and got to get an even tan line while waiting on the beach for the others. Oh I forgot, one of the best parts was eating guacamole on the beach with Alycia while watching Brian and Allison surf. I love California!

Right after I was stung

Alycia and me on the beach with guacamole!

The Fire dancers, hard to see sorry!

Also, Four Years ago today I left the States to live in Germany for my Rotary Youth Exchange!  Still Fluent!

My Sting

It took awhile to get there and we almost got stopped at the border patrol checkpoint by the guards but passed on and continued driving by the Sand Dunes that George Lucas filmed Star Wars at and we saw the border fence. Ah the fence, how it serves its purpose. We got to California and I could already feel the difference of the temperature. 110 degrees in Tucson and it turned to like 80 while driving. When we pulled into California it wasn’t overcast and beautifully dark but was actually really nice and although the wretched sun out, it was the perfect weather for California and as Alycia played “California Gurls” by Katy Perry as we passed Seaworld, I was extremely happy that I came on the trip. I am a miser and the stingiest person ever so I was planning on keeping my money and not going but that was stupid and I am so glad I went. We drove on to our hotel and checked out our room. It seemed like a really good room for the time being but we had some problems that I’ll mention later. We immediately changed and went to the beach which was a five minute walk down the street. Immediately,  my eyes and Brian’s eyes lit up because there were gorgeous women everywhere. We aren’t chauvinists, but after watching the California Gurls music video by Katy Perry (my second mention of this results in my losing a mancard or two but it’s worth it) we wanted to see and meet some California girls while we were there. This was the whole reason I had gotten the LA Fitness membership for the summer, not to stay in shape for the Army. Really, which is more important, getting girls on the beach or not being run over in PT when I return to ERAU? Ok the Army but I took advantage of this opportunity to hit up the beach with Brian, my lifting buddy, and it was a joyous adventure. Anyway, we walked the beach and went really far out into the water. It was really cold for California but the water seemed alright, at first. I’ll get to that in a minute too. After an hour or so of that, I took a break and just relaxed at the beach. This was the most relaxing thing ever and it was great just to lie next to Alycia and take in the sun while a girl several feet away kept glancing at me. I hope she was, but I cant really tell because she was wearing those ridiculous sunglasses that hide your whole face. Whatever, I’ll assume she was looking at me.

That night we went to Ralph’s and got a score of junkfood which would serve as our breakfasts and source of snacks for the next few days. Oreos, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fudge Sticks and Capt’n Crunch cereal was the best meal I could wake up to and it made the trip even better. We returned to the beach again and just laid on the sand as we watched Brian skimboard and saw people catching some big waves. We decided that our next location would be to head to Coronado Island to see the Hotel Del Coronado there which is famous and haunted. We drove to Coronado Island and after getting separated from the girls, Brian and I explored the hotel and first went through all the shops underground. We couldn’t buy anything because it is so expensive there so we instead started to wander around the halls of the hotel. Because I have heard stories that it is haunted it made the adventure even more exhilarating. We found the room where someone was killed and eventually found the girls but not after I had taken some cool shots of the haunting hallways.

Fish and Chips!

Ok, now that the disclaimer is over with, I can first say that although my family has been there the entire summer, entertaining, working and loving me the entire time, I have a lot of fun with my friends who still remain in Tucson. There are a lot so I wont get to all of them, but it really makes me feel good when I can call up someone and just lull about town, whether it is working out, getting Eegee’s on a random date, sneak into resorts and walk around their ‘romantic trails’ (One thing to know about me, I am no romantic and will never be one, I dont find any logic in the topic of ‘romance’) or get pelted with paintballs and leave a facility in the middle of nowhere covered in a combination of sweat, artificially manufactured paint and Hawaiian Punch. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that a lot can be learned from friends in the short amount of time I have with them. Several of my friends are one year younger than me and are starting college next year. Some are going to NAU, Norte Dame, the University of Arizona Honors Program or to several other schools. I know that I dont have a lot of time with them so this summer I decided to spend as much time with them and my other friends as I could because I know that they will change during college, maybe for the best, maybe for the worst, (forshadowing to a future blog of mine) but I want to have fun with them now while I can. Most of my friends know that I appreciate and love them so it makes it all the more easier when there is an absence of petty ‘romances’, flings or disagreements between them. There arent that many friends that I can call up to go work out on a whim with, Brian, or start a radio show to just record our unbelievably hilarious converstations (Brandon and Mike). On that note, visit www.thebadradio.com. Our 7th episode is up and a brief synopsis is this: Creepy things, sweaty money and more public womanly misconduct. Back to my point, I can go on and on about how these different types of friends have affected my summer, but you, the reader, couldn’t care less so I wont press the point. My point is just that it is wise to appreciate the friends now while you can because they change and you change and college seperates people, which can be a good or bad thing. Last summer, it was a very good thing for me to be seperated from some people while meeting others. The way I see it is that if I had or have a great friend that I will probably lose contact with by whatever means, if that friendship meant that much to us, we will stay in touch and if not, I will see them in heaven anyways. Morbid? No. Just the way I see it.

Now that I have the wordy stuff out of the way, I am going to describe the pain and enjoyment that getting hit multiple times by small paint filled plastic balls has caused me for today. So yesterday, after recording our 7th episode: www.thebadradio.com, LISTEN TO IT, I went over to my friend Bobby’s house to prepare for paintballing the next morning. I had gone once before with my high school’s Outdoor Adventure Club, and I was dreadful. Also, I have been shot in the neck by a female player just feet from me, inhibiting my speech capabilities for some time after. Nonetheless, I am no fan of the sport, but when he asked me to go, I figured why not, I can give it another go. So we did, we woke up early, drove all the way over there before it got too hot and when we got there I saw tons of players there all decked out and looking like pro’s and of course I was nevous. I used to play childish airsoft with some fools a few years ago, but I hated playing that, even though they didnt realize it at the time because I just went to be with them. Kind of the same here but in this case, I had a blast. Unexpectedly, I made a few kills and although I got a bit trigger happy when shooting someone 10 years older than me, I felt awesome! It was a ton of fun going with Bobby and his cousin Aaron, and it was a pretty good workout, squatting and running and crouching. I got a Charlie Horse while trying to seek and destroy an enemy female hostile, so that hurt like heck for a while. I also got two enormous welts, one on my left wrist and another on my theigh. The bruise is pretty big, but I take pride in my wound. I wasnt hit as bad as some other people, and a lot of people had the hardcore gear on while I had the same flimsy blue t-shirt that I wore to the cave. By the end of the four hours or so of running around ruined helicopter crashes and spools, we left the field covered in paint and sweat because, God Bless Arizona, the 110 degree sun came up at aroung eleven. Expensive as it was, it was *definitely worth it.

*Quick side-track here, I used to be a Spelling Bee Champ and a whiz at spelling, which I still am, but some words confuse me. I was so used to spelling “definitely” the wrong way like definately, and I have no idea why. It goes the same for words like receive and weird, I just get confused with the cursed “i’s”. Anyway . . .

Back on track now, I relish in the fact that I have some amazing friends at home here and I wish them the best of luck. I look forward to seeing them again and I hope they all know how much I appreciate them even if I dont say it as often as I should. Fake friends arent worth keeping and by now I know who is real and who isn’t. “Don’t worry about people in your past, there’s a reason they aren’t in your future”

A Very Berry Smoothie with a Churro

I took my siblings to Sabino Canyon a few days ago because a brief monsoon rained down on the area so we hoped that the Canyon and the dams there would be filled with water. Our hopes were realized when we travelled a mile or so and saw the Dam was filled with water. It looked like tea and according to my sister when she slipped down the dam and fell into the lagoon, it tasted like tea too. We saw a lot of people at the dam who were swimming in the river and sliding down the dam. We all were swimming in the river and I was sucked down a rapid that went from the dam to the rest of the river and the side of my waist was hit by a jagged rock protruding from underneath the water. It was a blast and the best part was when we were walking back and I found a $5 on the floor. I love going to Sabino Canyon and going with my siblings was an awesome experience that I will remember as one of the best parts of the summer.

The Sabino Dam and the Killer Rapid

James, Michael and Sarah in front of the rapid that almost killed me

Anyways, we went up to the mountain and we all felt as it progressivly got cooler the further we went up. We packed some food up with us and stopped at a recreation point where we had our lunch and just enjoyed the cool air. My siblings and I explored the rocks around us and at one point I almost slipped because the rock was so slippery because of the rain. The rain also caused lots of small streams and brooks to run down the mountain and we even saw a few waterfalls. I took the kids hiking and we explored the large rock formations around the campsite but we couldnt go too far away from the area because we didnt want to get lost. Sarah found some sort of cool rock and Michael scaled the highest rock he could find.  I took a few pictures of the kids while my parents waited at the campsite and drank the rest of the soda.  It was a lot of fun and I cant wait to go back up there again because it was so nice and cold! Hopefully some friends and I will go camping soon like we did last summer.

Sarah!

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Michael and James

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Originally uploaded by erauprescott

Being in the military gives some great side benefits. The major one that I am able to use is the ability to go on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in town, where I can visit the BX (Base Exchange), Commissary and other buildings there. At the Commissary the prices for food are cheaper than the regular chains and there are no taxes, so it is ideal for me to take my Mom and friends there and to the BX for some quick and fun shopping. My Mom always takes forever when we go to the Commissary but it is ok because she is just checking out the food and I like to wait at the BX for her with my brother and we usually just lounge on the many sets of luxurious furniture there. So, because I have access to the base, I often take some of my friends. I took my friend Brandon and Katie there, and this time I took my friend Bobby and his cool cousin Aaron who is from Virginia. This time it was easier because I was used to going to much so we got on the Base with our access pass and visited the BX first. It is always cool going there, but it is even better when I go with friends. We checked out the whole store and lounged again on the couches before going to the Commissary and getting great deals on numerous amounts of junk food. I always get the most unhealthy stuff there because I cant get it anywhere else for that price. For instance, Oreos, my signiature treat, cost only $2.50 there for Double-stuffed or regular while at the regular store they cose $3.00 or higher. So I got a bunch of unhealthy food and we went home with the intention of playing Monopoly and beating each other. I have known Bobby for a while now, and I know that he is really competitive when it comes to basically anything. I am sort of that way because I do not like to lose, and his cousin Aaron seems to be the same way, which is fine because it just ups the ante for any activity that we do because we know that whenever that activity is over, we will still all be friends and nothing is taken personally, even though Bobby is suspiciously good at everything he does. Anyway, we have played water basketball at my house before and it usually gets intense because although I am lousy on a regular court, I am great in the water (or so I’d like to believe). We recuited my brother James to join us and it was him and Bobby vs. me and Aaron, and we of course won. Actually it is ambiguous as to who actually won because of some rule-changing, but the game was vicious and to our neighbor who was listening to game from her backyard, it sounded like we were trying to kill each other for the sake of an orange leather ball. Those games with friends are always fun because there are some players like Bobby who are actually good competition, but we all ended up with some scratches and a black eye in this case. Soon after we continued to hang out at my house awaiting the arrival of James’ party guests and resorted to play electronic Monopoly in my room with my sister Sarah. Despite what Bobby, Aaron or Sarah might say, I WON THAT GAME because after hours of playing and everything had been bought, I still had $11 million of my original #15 million and owned most of the property while the others were struggling to survive. I selfishly declared myself the winner even though the game was interrupted.

Despite my personal victory, I was crushed by the Bobby, Aaron and his sister Therese when we went back to their house and played numerous card games that I had never heard of. Ok, I am really really bad when it comes to card games, specifically Hearts. I dont usually play them but I will gladly do it if fun people also are playing so it worked perfectly. While performing a perfect bluff in poker, I managed to win the pot but we switched to other games and I was the biggest loser at each of them! Seriously every game I was massacred by the other three but it was fun anyways so I didn’t care. I’m one of those people who realizes that a game is a game although while playing that game I will do anything to win. It works better at strategy games when I am usually a cutthroat but when it comes to card-games I am more mellow. Is Monopoly a card game? It has cards, but I dont think that counts. Anyways, it is always a big blast when Bobby comes over and I am so glad I got to mee Aaron because he is just as cool as the rest of the Ways are.

The Vid description:

At my house before the ridiculous Basketball game, Bobby punctured his toe and I am filming for the sake of adding a video to the blog.

1. Complete the Summer school courses so I dont have to do them next year:   CHECK! 

2. Go to Peppersauce Cave because it is an exciting adventure: CHECK!

3. Gorge on Watermelon Eegee’s all July because it only lasts for a month: CHECK!

4. Go visit my future roommate Josh in San Diego for kicks: CHECK!

5. Fry an egg in the 110 degree heat because it is ridiculous and fun to do: CHECK!

6. Get a membership to LA Fitness and get bigger for next year: CHECK! (for the most part)

7. Find something for all to enjoy, www.thebadradio.com : CHECK!

8. Either skydive, camping or roadtrip: UPCOMING…

9. Get selected for an internship: CHECK!

10. Summer Romance:  WORKING PROGRESS

SO, for the most part, I have completed my summer list and have had enough time to hang out with all of my friends and have had a great time already. I got a new phone too, and compiled a bunch of interesting ringtones to accessorize it because I never had any before hand. My favorite one is the Indiana Jones ringtone which has so far annoyed some of my friends but I love it. I also got to watch most of The Office and even got to catch up on The Middle, which I had never heard about before but have realized that it is hilarious. I have not gotten to go anywhere extravagant or outrageous but I am having the time of my life right here in Tucson with my friends. We had a hilarious BBQ and with Bad Radio we have been able to provide a voice of hilarity for friends and family all over the place. Waking up at 11:00am is the best way to spend the summer even though I feel that sometimes that I am being unproductive. Whatever, it is summer, and during the year I will have to get up at 5 am everyday for PT anyway, so why not live it up. I am excited to go back and see my friends because I miss them and even though it will be school, it will be nice to be in college again. Ah I just realized that it wont be as awesome to go swimming because it will be so darn cold! Ah also there wont be watermelon Eegee’s! I better save some in my freezer so I can have some in college and share some with Liesl because she likes Eegee’s too!

Our Bad Radio show has come out with its 6th episode so anyone reading this should listen to it at the link above. We had another guest, Alex, who helped our show and made it even more hilarious than it usually is. Hopefully we can finish our first season before I go back to college. So far, SUMMER = SUCCESS  

Schedule for next year!

Ok, so the prices to renew and apply for passports went up a whopping $35 a few weeks ago. To beat the rush of the crowd and the ungodly raise in price, I went to the post office early to get it out of the way. Backstory: I got my passport when I was 15 to go to Europe, so I was under 16 then. Therefore, my passport only lasted for 5 years before I had to get a new one. So I went down to get a new one to find the lines crowded with people trying to do the same as me. It is my own fault because my mom has been telling me for months to renew it, I was just lazy. So I went and got it done after waiting in line for 2 hours with an interesting Taiwanese woman and a couple from Massachusets. There, it had been settled and I thought it was over. Just my luck, two weeks later I got my passport back with a letter saying I filled out the wrong form that their own postal employee told me to fill out. So now I had to go all the way back and do it all over again, this time with the additional price to the State Department, who decided to raise them for no particular reason or statement. Great, but at least now I have a passport and the money went to something constructive rather than something stupid like a ticket from an irate cop for going 45 in a 40 zone.

Anyways, I was pretty worked up about the ridiculousness of that situation so I put it into our radio show: www.thebadradio.com . You should all listen to it if you want to, because so far it has been a hit back home and even for some people who dont know us. Yesterday, I was hanging out with my friends Colin, Adam, Bri, Cynthia, Casey and Michael and they were excited about it, saying that the Fired Up topic part of the show was their favorite. I dont want to use this blog just to promote our show but it is really exciting for the three of us. After I hung out with them yesterday watching Kung-Fu Panda, something I had never seen before, I went to a BBQ for many past alumni of my graduating class. We are all friends so it was a lot of fun to see everyone again and to talk to them. It was particularly fun to talk with some of them, Julia, Alex, another Alex and Luke and discuss how backwards things had become to our old middle school, where legends of the irate tiny teachers and super strict history buffs have been floating around the city for decades. It was fun to laugh at the old times and reminisce on our old classmates and teachers.

(L-R), Bryce, Alex, Brian, Me, Chine, Alex and Brandon

After the barbeque, I went home to meet up with my friend Bobby and his cousin from Virginia, Aaron. Our plan was to spend the night at my house and go hiking at Sabino Canyon early the next day, although our plans were mixed up a bit. It is always a riot when Bobby comes over, so it was a lot of fun to see him again and to get to know his cousin who is really cool and going to the University of Virginia next year. It always is interesting to meet people who go to different schools because I think it gives you a different perspective of how people think and about how they are learning their different majors. Anyways, it was fun to hang with them and while Bobby slept through the night, I got to play Monopoly with Aaron and lost, and then because Bobby was so content sleeping, we went on the hike and left him in the room, although he doesnt believe that we actually did it. I feel kind of bad, but I didnt want to wake him up so rudely. We got back before he woke up and so I guesss there was no harm done, we forgot about it over some fantastic blueberry pancakes that my Mom made and then it was time to get all my work and errands done for the day. So yea, thats what I’ve been up to lately, I cant wait to start recording our 6th Bad Radio episode tonight with our very special guest, Alex Rowe, and musical guest, Luke Cuffe, both of whom I have known since kindergarten. Also, I cant wait to get back to ERAU and hang with my friends there because I really miss most of them! Most.