So, Thanksgiving has come and gone once again. Now back to the old, depressing life I vacationed from. Thanksgiving is huge for my family, one might even say it is larger then our Christmas, which is debatably larger than most. On Thanksgiving, a huge chunk of our family come to visit, raiding the grandparents' house and home until the white flag is waved; indeed, it takes more patience than one can dream of to tolerate a house assaulted by only the closest of family. Thankfully, it's Grandma to the rescue. Months of preparation seems much too little when compared to the quantity of noisy kids, chatty women, and even more daunting, teenagers. Grandma is not intimidated, not even by Joey, the most mischievous of the bunch.
Day one appeared like any Sunday. We stubbornly woke up, and got ready for Church. This Sunday was only slightly different. Yes, it was merely the start of the Thanksgiving weekend. More importantly, the cousins were coming. The cousins whom we see the least often. Anyone could see the excitement among the children. It was the beginning of the most fun, most hectic week 2008 has yet to bring. Only Thanksgiving can bring fun and hectic together in a sentence.
Soon after church, the great bus (also known as our family van) pulled up into the congested driveway, swollen with cars. We gr eeted each other, and you'll never guess what the Texans' said. You guessed it, there was not a single family member from Texas that did not acknowledge my height. After all, I was a whole foot shorter last time I saw them. What we did afterwards was considerably straightforward. We did not do anything special - just hung out at Grandma's house. That night, I asked my uncle what we would do tomorrow. He informed me that we would go hiking. Okay, hiking's fun, I only do it a million times a year, but the location of the hike was far different from anything I've tackled. It was called Picacho Peak. A small, very skinny mountain located about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. I have heard about the adventures experienced there, but never had I had a fancy to climb it. The Texans did. I think they overlooked the energy it takes to climb it, for they seemed as if it would be fun, and easy from their expression. Perhaps they thought it was more of a 'hill', rather than 3000 foot tall mountain, right smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. I thought it would be fun. Hard, but fun, so I came along, curious to see the expressions on the girls' faces once it was clear how tall it was.
I woke up early the next day, getting psyched for the climb, something I do whenever I am faced with an enduring challenge. After some preparation for the hike, my mom takes me over to Grandma's house, the unofficial headquarters for family. After some more preparati on there, we soon head off. After a mere hour of driving, we arrive at Picacho Peak, which has resently been dubbed a national monument. Not to anyone's surprise, Corey says her stomach feels sick. I laugh, and take a very unenthusiastic picture of her as we arrive at a gas station for supplies. Because it would be dumb to climb a mountain without bringing food, we stock up on some snacks. Those silly girls got nothing but chips and other various outdoor snacks. I pity them, and pick out some Poptarts and a SlimJim from the aisle, a combination with the effects similar to steroids, and it doesn't taste much better either. I guess there's always a catch.
We were soon on our way to the top of the mountain, or hill as the Texans referred it as. After a few minutes of hiking, I unwisely start snacking on my SlimJim, which soon brought a nasty little surprise along with it. Not taking much interest in the flavor I bought, it seems almost a law that my luck would choose a spicy SlimJim for me, and it most certainly did.
Picacho Peak, according to the men of the family, is broken up into two parts: the hard part, and the fun part. The first half of the mountain is known as the 'hard part'. It is simply a trail, only at an angle, making it very tedious. The hard part almost emeadeadly took effect on some of the more unfit members of our group. Uncle Mark, I'm looking at you, for the quantity20of sweat on your body versus the amount of time we've hiked was truly disappointing. Grandpa, being some 70 years old, was taking the trail very slowly, so we often had to wait a few minutes so he could catch up, which turned into some good picture-opportunities. After around 45 minutes, we reach the halfway point. Just astern of the halfway point, there is one single bench, and a downhill descent that screams 'do I have to go down that?' to any challenger. We take some pictures. One particular picture was quite humorous; the girls wanted a picture of themselves on the bench, so they get Uncle Mark to take one for them. Apparently, they don't make phones like they used to, as Uncle Mark was taking a picture of himself, and lucky for me, I got a memorial picture of it. We started the 'fun part', which was surprisingly hard, especially since I began eating my Poptart. Eh, live and learn. Next time I hope my life won't be in danger when I'm learning a life lesson, but oh well.
After the descent, I felt as if all the work I put into the 'hard part' was seemingly wasted, seeing as we were right back to the elevation we began at. I soon had to resent that. It was clear that the fun would soon begin. (In case you were wondering, no, I did not think the descent was fun by any stretch of the imagination.) Everywhere you looked the re was a steep-ascent, one after another. Each one included a metal wire... somet hing to hold on to. Yes, the assents were that steep, and took a fair amount of energy to overcome. Note: if you are afraid of heights, to not attempt to climb Picacho Peak. One after another, we slowly tackle each abrupt assent. It was difficult, but the fun outweighed all of that. Soon, I found myself at the top of Picacho Peak. I notice that I was alone up there, so I take the moment to snap some shots from atop. It was short lived, as I soon saw the Texans inch there way to the top. The view was more magnificent than I expected, and can't be described by pictures. (Especially those from my camera...) We take a rest, snack for a while, and head back down. We quickly realize the so called 'fun part' wasn't so fun climbing down, but we make it down about as fast as we got up, regardless.
Thus ending another glorious adventure with the cousins. We drive back to Grandma's house exhausted as ever, but hey, at least we made it! The rest of the day was easily compared to the day before. Just hanging out. Playing War with the kids, along with some home-made guns Grandpa created. It was simple, yet fun. (The rest of the Thanksgiving jam will be posted on my next Blog... eventually.)

Now that I think about it, the holidays are coming soon, and just in time for a thriving economy! Anyway, number one comes Halloween. It may not be a holiday for grownups, but for kids? Heck yeah! I'm not going trick-or-treating this year. There's not much of a reason for me to knock on people's doors and demand candy. Well, per chance I will have reason to wear something come Halloween, I tempting myself to buy a Barrack Obama mask. Think about it; instead of shouting the usually "Trick or Treat!." I could just stutter a rejected acknowledgment for candy. Why, I'd be a scream, literally. Next comes Thanksgiving, which I am exited about, as family from Texas will be visiting. I'm look forward to giving myself a better impression than the last time they were here, haha. Then comes Christmas, the holiday where kids get to show their greed once again. I'll probably just get loads of money to waste on candy and bubble gum cards. Kidding.

Ow, my toes hurt. I don't know why, but my toes are always subject to pain for some reason. First, I stub it against the wall, (Brilliant, I know,) so I get a huge blood-blister on it, then, two days later, I slam my whole foot against the nice, soft, smooth, concrete. Yeah, right. It was actually two whole minutes before I realized what had happened. Yes, I look down at my toes, only to see a huge piece of skin hanging from my small toe - the same toe with the blister. And having this happen raises an interesting train-of-thought, (Which is apparently is still at the boarding station): The most inconvenient thing about the human body - for me, at least - would be the fact that most injuries, blood related, are in an area which is difficult for a Band-Aid to work their magic; joints, toes, fingers, I'm looking at you. Ah, fall is here again. That must be why I'm getting injured so much. But seriously, I love summer, but the heat just makes me feel sad. I'm happy that the cold weather (from a Tucsonan's perspective) is coming, and coming fast. And with it, the jolly holidays, but we'll save that for another inevitable discussion. For now, mother nature, give me your best shot! Fall was always a lost-cause where I live. When most think of Autumn, they think colored trees, with beutifull leaves stripped atop from god himself; however... Tucson, is, and always will be, a bone-dry desert, as along as you disregard the lakes, of course. We fall short of most holiday weather. The only trees you'll find here either have no leaves, or they don't fall off, nor change color. Basically, this city always looks the same. Sunny, dry, and to some extent, dead. Now that's the views of someone who has wanted to live in Chicago since he was ten, so this is biased - I'll admit it. What most people think is exactly the opposite of what I said, oddly. Some think this city - located right smack tab in the middle o' nowhere - is more alive and beutifull than any city in the whole United States. Ah, I love a good laugh.

Good lord, I'm... Blogging again? All I can say is that I'm quite happy my Spanish course I was taking over the past six weeks is over. Spanish took up most of my school, I s'pose. But anyway, I guess I'll be Blogging more now, although now that I think of it, isn't that what I said the last time?

Now I know you peeps like my Blog and all, but c'mon, I'm a teenager now, and thus I have absolutely nothing to write about. I remember my old Blog... I would write about every little meaningless thing that ever happened to me. As far as I'm concerned, people liked it better then, but I think I'm putting to much expectations on my Blog. Haha, imagen that: A teenage boy, with expectations. That makes me laugh. But seriously, prepare for some boring Blogs. I think I write a lot better when there's a discussion point, and I'm not too good at making my own. I mean, just look at my lower paragrahp. I'm writing about our pets... again? I've wrote about that how many times now? Lol?Wow, my house is a zoo right now. Not because of the quantity of animals we have; no, we only have seven, we live in a zoo because all of the animals we have are extremely out of the ordinary somehow. Disregarding the ferrets, of course. Ferrets have no real source of individuality. All ferrets just sleep for the same eighteen hours a day, and sniff whatever they can find for the rest of the four hours in a day. I think it is mainly fun to observe the cats. We have one outside cat, which all are jerks, as you probably well know, and two inside cats we inherited from out sister. The outside cat's name is Vaca, (wut?) and right now he's public enemy number one, and what's interesting to me is to see that other cats reaction to him. Vaca is rather large from eating all that meat, so I guess the other cats think he's a freak, or perhaps maybe it's just the fact that he's a boy that make the other cats hate him. I'd believe it, haha. I'm sure that the other cats hate him, but at the same time, I'd believe that they love him. I can't make up my mind: do they hate him, or love him? Both of the cats, in my mind, would like nothing more than to slash him right in the kisser, but I don't have much trouble thinking just the opposite. I know they probably dislike him, but for some reason, they're always following him around. I don't know about you, but if I dislike someone, I usually evoid them, to be honest. Cats are weird. The hiss at him, yet, the follow him. Poor Vaca gets no love. :(Next week's discussion: I don't know! You can comment in my Blog to suggest a discussion point. That would help make my Blog better, and I could get an idea how many random people around the world love it. Kidding, but who knows.

Apparently, I aint too good at computers. Remember a few blogs back, where I was trying to install something, and found out that I had downloaded the Japanese version? Well, I did something related to that again. I spent a good sum of yesterday trying to download new Aircrafts into my Flight Simulator 2002. Yeah, sure, it was complicated, but believe it or not, I was doing it right. So, I probably got it to work, right? Uh, no. Interesting how I got the hard part to work, but, the only thing I was doing wrong was… I’ll regret saying this, but… as it turns out, I’ve been trying to download planes from the 2004 version, rather then 2002 version needed. Again, I spent a good time of the day, accomplishing nothing, all because of some ridiculously obvious mistake. All’s well that ends well?

Anyway, I finally got it to work. I then downloaded a Concorde right there on the stop. That plane is fast. That Aircraft will get you to New York from San Francisco in an hour-and-a-half, a usual four hour flight.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Concorde. It’s a really cool Airplane. It makes me wonder, why was it discontinued? Most people will say it did not have the energy efficient characteristics that were called for, but I don’t get that. Apparently, the Concorde guzzled up that gas in such a way that makes the benefit out way the outcome. Okay, I’m going to think logically here. The Concorde takes about three times as much gas as your normal commercial airliner tops. So, in that case, it’s extremely environmentally unfriendly, correct? However, this here plane was about three times faster then your average commercial airliner, essentially canceling out its oil cost, making it cost about the same as an average commercial airliner, just a lot faster. So why was it discontinued then? I don’t know. Maybe it was so fast it increased those odds of a serious accident, though that’s a problem that can be changed, right? I just don’t get it.

I’m just plain sick of how stupid out generation is. I mean, just the way people are, the way people think, it’s just… psychotic. Gosh, just look at our democratic candidates. Barack Obama… Went to a anti-American church for twenty years, and doesn’t even qualify as an FBI agent, let along president of the United states! People are still supporting him like mad. Hilleary Clinton; her brilliant solution to lower gas prices is to… tax the oil companies? Lolwut. Basically stealing their money. Huh? I don’t get it. If anything, that’ll higher the price for gas prices. For goodness sake, use your common sense, people. It must not be so common, after all. Oh, and may I might add that… people still vote for her like mad. Good grief.

Ah, then there’s religion, the Economy, everything like that. I could rant about this all day if I wanted to. Thank god I don’t.
As a Christian, I believe this world was made by a god. A LOT of people I know believe the world just made itself. Huh? So, I guess I little speck of dust just made this whole universe, didn’t it? ‘Don’t think so. Where did that speck o’ just come from in the first place? How do you make something out of nothing, I ask? Think about it; Christianity is a win-win situation religion. So, lets say you’re an atheist, and you’re right about what you believe in. Well congratulations, once you die, nothing happens. BUT, let’s say you’re wrong, well, that can’t be good… So, let’s say a Christian is wrong about what he believes in. Yay! Nothing happens. However, if we’re right, then yay! We go to heaven. Sounds cool, right? Well why I’m I the only one who thinks like this? If there was two buckets, one with a million dollars in it, and one with… oh, something bad. Anything, I guess. So, essentially, there’s a 50-50% chance you’ll be getting the million. Sounds great, but you can do better. When you think about it, being a Christian is like playing that same game with a 100% chance at a million dollars! Wow! Start usin’ your brain, people. I can live a peaceful life without having to worry about anything.

What a truly interesting past three weeks it’s been. As you may know, I'm home schooled, so we work on out own schedule. So come Spring Break, I was rather annoyed when my mom said we weren't having Spring Break, instead we would spent the week doing half-days. hmm, something fishy was going on, I wasn't smart enough at the time to think that. I was just thinking we would have the next week as half-days too... Well, we didn't have the next week all half-days. That kind of got my goat. The Saturday after that, my mother said we were going to the Dog pound to look at the dogs. (I'm getting a dog due to our old one dying.) Meh, frankly, I was really excited at the time. I've always wanted a puppy. BUT, when I noticed my dad wasn't going with us, I was rather confused. My mom knows nothing about dogs, so why would she take us to get a dog? Wouldn't it make more sense if my dad were to come and give us advice on the breeds? Apparently not. My mother said we could just call dad if we found a dog we wanted. Hmm, something fishy is again going on. So, we drive to the dog pound when I noticed it seemed rather close to the Airport. I told my mom that we should go to the Airport to watch some planes land. Man, that was convenient. I WAS just kidding, but my mom didn’t listen, and turned right into the Airport. She demanded it, I guess. Well, you would think I’d be catching on by now. Believe it or not, I wasn’t. So, we finally found a parking spot (only fifteen minuets, ‘must be a record!), and we start to walk into the Airport. Hmm, you would think that plane watching wouldn't actually involve going into the Airport, but I was to excited to care. I honestly though we were going to watch planes at the time. So, after walking in the Airport for some time, I notice my mom really knew were she was going. You would think that since we've never done this before, we would get lost, or have to ask for directions. Just a few minuets after I was noticing that, I saw a kid, and thought, (Man, that kid looks like my cousin...) Yeah, it turns out it was him, along with his twin brother, his mom, and Grandmother were all there from Chicago. If I recall correctly, I almost fainted. We don't see them very much. I s’pose that explains why my sister was putting on make-up. Most people wouldn’t need make-up for a trip to the dog pound. ... Well, they haven't been to Tucson for six years. I realized I was just plain getting scammed left and right. It was a fun week, as I recall. The first activity was the mall. Dang, that wasn't any fun. We just had to bring my sixteen year-old sister along with us. That probably turned that trip about ten times longed then it would normally take. And all for a pare of sun-glasses, per se... Seeing as they sure as heck not staying at our house, they spent the nights in a fairly nice hotel. (With a pool!) Free Lemonade, a hot tub, and a bar are all the amenities I need to enjoy a stay at a hotel. Too bad I wasn’t literally staying overnight... Right then, before I continue any longer, I think I would only make sense if I put a slight biography, about the Illinois family, to make this blog make so much more sense.

Okay, so I don’t want to put information on every little thing we did. I’ll just put more of the more of the fun things we did, from here on out.