Nov 30, 2013

I woke up early and worked on some photos for a while and then I headed to Parvin for a run. Ryan was on his way so I had to start right away and I put on All Time Low so I was running quickly with the beat. I ended up running the three miles at 8:05 per mile. I was pretty happy with that. Ryan got there pretty soon after I finished and we got right to walking around. It was a good time outside.

After showering and getting ready I headed over to Tracy and Mike's place for Friendsgiving. I spent a lot of time playing with Atreyu while Tracy and Mandie cooked. 

We all milled around and sat in different places to eat and just hung around until we decided to play The Real Game of Life, which Mandie and Andy came across while traveling. It was really an awesome game that took Life and made it more fun. You could do drugs, get hit by cars, get mugged, become disabled, have kids, abortions, and adoptions. It was really a lot of fun. We had about 9 people playing so that was cool too. 

We moved on to playing Cranium next, and we actually had the clay! It didn't really become that fun or useful unfortunately, but the game was still great. We had some fun memorable moments like Mandie and Tina singing "Ride of the Valkyries" and thinking they were singing the Star Wars theme. It was something amazing.

We hung out talking for a long time after games and made plans for skiing in January. I don't know when the next time I'll see some of these peoples, but I'm glad we had a great time tonight.

Nov 29, 2013

I met Mandie, Andy, and Atreyu at Wheaton Village for a family photo shoot in the morning. It was chilly, but not too cold. They kept saying how cold they were, and then I remembered they have lived in Hawaii for several years. It makes a difference. We got some good shots and had a good time walking around the shops.

I met them at Starbucks to get a pumpkin spice latte and then walked around the mall a bit. The Black Friday insanity had died down and it just seemed like a regular weekend at the mall. I had to partake in the half-off everything sale at Gap though. That's the only time I buy their jeans, but I do quite like them. I even got a sweater. And that latte was amazing.

I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill with a steep incline until Ryan got there. We did a bunch of circuits that were exhausting. We did push-ups, marine squats, and jumping jacks then a bunch of kettle bell exercises, and finally an ab circuit. We spent quite a while doing handstands in the Pit, where I definitely achieved my longest two handstands. I was quite happy with my progress.

After stopping at Target for some essentials and running into Casie and Nathan, who I was planning to see later anyway, I came home and had dinner and worked on some things until it was time to go out. I met them and their friend, Stephanie, at PB's. Our waited was new and not at all acquainted with waiting tables, let alone our craft beer selections. It ended up being pretty funny watching him guess which beers were which, but he kept trying. He was a really nice guy though so we didn't mind and he kept apologizing.

We had a great time talking and joking all night while we had some drinks. Stephanie was nice and she enjoyed the stupid humor about finishing a full movie theater soda just so you could pee into the cup and not miss any of your flick. She had to leave early, but our waitstaff was very entertaining and we had a few more memorable and funny moments with them before with left. Thanks for that last one, Nathan!

Nov 28, 2013

I didn't want to get out of bed in the morning, but of course once I did I felt fine. I drove to Delaware listening to Nick Offerman read his book to me. It really passes the time. I stopped at a McDonald's to film the shuttle bus pickup taking homeless people to the elementary school a few miles away where Alvin and the Faith Victory Church had the Thanksgiving dinner event getting started. I filmed the volunteers unloading the trucks and setting up the food. I went to the auditorium where they had everyone sitting to wait, and there was a strange puppet show going on about why we give thanks. 

Anyway... The people came in for dinner and got a plate and a drink. The event went much more smoothly than I thought it would. After dinner they had a clothing area where anyone could pick up a coat, hat, or gloves as well as any other clothes that were available. I did a group shot of the volunteers and then I was ready to go. I was so ready that I forgot to get my deposit. Oh well.

I went over to Brandywine for a round by myself. It was really windy and a bit cold, but I was already there so I wanted to just play. They definitely call if Brandywind for a reason. I did pretty well on most holes, but there were a few where it seemed like I hardly threw the disc because the wind blew it back at me. I almost lost one disc in the stream, but I have lost quite a few discs on that hole in the past. After the first 9 holes I decided I'd had enough and called it a game.

On my way home I stopped at my mom's for some food and to hang out and talk. She made these apples with oatmeal, almonds, and brown sugar that was fantastic. It tasted like warm apple sauce but sweeter. It was a nice time hanging out.

I came home for a while and then went to Ryan's to play some more of the New Super Mario Bros U. We took a break and had a walk around the neighborhood with Anya and played a little more when we got back before quitting. I came home and had some food, and now I'm really tired. Bed.

Nov 27, 2013

I woke up, hoping I'd see a job come up while cursing that I passed on the Vineland job I saw last night, and then when I'd almost given up hope, an elementary job popped up for Holly Heights. I grabbed it quickly and headed out the door. The term "half day" is a terrible misnomer, and the day seemed possibly longer than average. There weren't really plans left for the students since it was a last minute call-out, but we did what we could. Overall the day passed without incident, save for one kid who pestered me all day. I mean, it is first grade, but come on. Grow up.

I went home and changed then headed to the gym to meet Ryan. We did mostly arm and shoulder exercises and then took to the Pit for some more handstands. It really seems like we are getting better every time. We just have to keep at it this time and not let the good stuff fade before we are confident enough to do them any time.

Soon after getting home I picked up Chuck and we headed to the Abbaye for Bullfrog Brewing's U Buy the Glass night. They had quite a selection (and awesome glasses.) I started with the Aggro Wheat, which was light and really good once it warmed up a little. The Tafelbier was excellent as well. It was more malty, but still light and delicious. I tried some of Chuck's Saint Satan, which is a wonderful tripel. It's really sweet and does not taste like a high alcohol beer.

As we joked about when we ordered, they only had one meal left of what Chuck and I both got so we decided to split it. It happens so often. I'm glad we split it, because it was very filling and amazingly delicious. Then the beer sampling continued. The Bullfrog IPA was great. It was very earthy, as Chuck and I agreed, but it was hard to place the exact taste. The best beer of the night was definitely the Chubbel. A chocolate dubbel. Wonderful. It was nothing like what either of us expected, tasting more like a sour than anything. It finished with a light candy chocolate taste that lingered in a very pleasing way.

After we finished up and paid, we took a quick walk over to the Foodery. I had no intention of buying any beer as I have two six packs at my house and I've been trying to drink less. After we perused for a while, Chuck had a four-pack of beers I'd like to sip on, and I had two bottles of DuClaw's Sweet Baby Jesus in my hand. I need to make up for not having a pint last time I visited! Anyway, we took our purchases and headed back home. It was still early when I got back, but I was ready for bed and I knew I had to be up early for Thanksgiving work so I was right to the bed.

Nov 26, 2013

It was a long day of work today, but productive in the sense that I got a lot of posts written. I worked at Memorial during the day in an English class. I had to relearn some poetry rules. I don't remember ever learning about a cinquain. For the most part the classes did what they were supposed to, but there were a few students that I had to keep talking to. 

I took an Alternative school job also where I had 3 classes and 4 total students. So that's one class with 2 students and two with only 1. It was quite an easy night. I met Ryan at the gym after work for pull-ups and related workout and then we did handstands for a while with some good improvement from Ryan. Now it's time to hang out, watch New Girl, and go to sleep early.

Nov 25, 2013

I worked at Memorial for an English class during the day. The students were not great at following directions and staying quiet so I was annoyed and ready to go at the end of the day. I was surprised to receive a suggestion to play disc golf from Ryan after work, so I met him over at the park. We played the front nine, doing pretty well, and then I just started to do really poorly. This prompted us to abandon disc golf and just go for a walk around the park. That allowed us to keep our hands warmer anyway, as it had gotten chilly and windy.

On my way home I picked up food for myself and my grandmom and ate watching The Walking Dead. I hung out with Kate for a little while as she packed for Florida and watched Seinfeld. I wasn't there for long when Ryan told me he was done with his meeting at school so we met up for another walk around my neighborhood. I got a hot drink to keep me a little warmer. I think it worked for a while, but I also think there was too much sugar and caffeine in it for my body.

Nov 24, 2013

I got up and met Ryan at the gym in the morning for an "ab extravaganza," as we dubbed it. It wasn't really that at all. We actually did more hand stands than anything. We both improved quite a bit, but Ryan held one out for a good five seconds that crushed all the ones we've done before. After the gym I stopped by Shop Rite for some groceries and then came home and cooked up some lunch with my dad.

After a delicious lunch I went over to Ryan's and played some more Mario on Wii U. I have a hard time not having fun playing any Mario game. I went to Kate's after that to play more video games. We played Mario Kart for a couple of hours online with a bunch of people. For some reason it's just fun playing with other real people more than against the computer. We finally quite when this one guy kept choosing Rainbow Road because that course is terrible. We split the Elysian Valhalla Red IPA and watched an episode of Boundless before I came home to settle in for the night.

Nov 23, 2013

I had a meeting with potential clients for a wedding in the morning in Roebling, which is near Trenton. After rushing I got there just on time. The meeting went well and we talked about a bunch of things besides the wedding so I'm hopeful that they will hire me. I headed over to Wissahickon for a run to kill some time before meeting Jess later. It was quite chilly out, but once I started running the hills I warmed up really fast. I had a good run of about 3 miles, but I kind of turned my ankle twice on rocks. I'm surprised it wasn't worse considering how many rocks I have to sidestep on those trails. There were still enough leaves to make the trail really pretty.

I went over to Sedgley, where they were having their monthly tournament and found Philly's Mayor Nutter learning to putt at the practice basket. It was quite an unusual sight. He made one after a few attempts. The tournament was starting the second round and they weren't utilizing 10-18 so I played those first before getting back to 1. On hole 3 I caught up to two guys, Ben and John, who invited me to play with them. They were beginners and were quite amazed at my slight abilities. We had a good time playing, and somehow I was putting extremely well. I was hitting putts from twenty feet that I would normally miss for sure. 

I met Jess over at the Divine Lorraine and got a chai latte before trying to find our way in. This time we had to enter the adjacent building and go through the basement to get up into the hotel. After that it was familiar and easy. We checked out a few different floors as we climbed the stairs up. Jess was shooting more than I was because I wasn't interested in too much in the open, empty rooms. We got up to the top floor and then decided to take the fire escape access ladder up to the roof.

We had a beautiful view from the roof. The skyline was mostly unobstructed and when the sunset began it just kept getting better. The sky turned into burning magma cascading across the sky and it was just perfect. Right around sunset is when we suddenly looked up to see a guy standing there. It was very unexpected. He was followed by about 7 others. I thought we were going to be alone the whole time so that was a surprise. The people were from all over and met up on Instagram then decided to come here to meet in real life. Everyone was very nice.

After it started getting dark we turned on our flashlights and headed down the stairs, through the basement, up the ladder, and under the fence back to the street. It was quite a successful shoot. I headed home and met Ryan to play some of the Wii U Super Mario Bros. It's pretty great; just like the one for Wii. After some good playing we went out for a walk near the church. The wind was blowing like crazy and it got pretty chilly, but walking quickly helped warm me. The day tired me out so it's bedtime.

Nov 22, 2013

This is a day in photos. I didn't sleep great, which is actually pretty unusual in my car. My phone died, so we woke up later than planned to rain falling on the car and gray skies all around. It was slightly discouraging, not to mention it made it harder to want to get up. Once we got up, we packed things up, changed, and headed into Wal*Mart to get delicious apple sauce squeezy packet things, other snacks, and to use the bathrooms to get ready for the day. Then we headed off under the menacing sky, hoping for the best. We got to Kelly's Run/Conestoga Trail trailhead and began our long trek.

I have done this trail a couple times before in one way or another so I recognized a lot of the first part. I was glad I didn't bring my hoodie since I was warm after a mile or so. For the first part of the trail we barely felt any rain so that was nice. The slippery rocks under fallen, wet leaves was not a lot of fun.

We got to the Pinnacle overlook after a few steep climbs up treacherous rocks covered in dry leaves. They were actually worse than the wet ones and covered everything so you had to take a chance every time you stepped. The view was nice and we took a break to eat a Clif bar and rest. We also looked up directions and maps to no avail. There really is no good resource for trails and hiking. Many websites claim to be the source, but none of them are. Lies. The map on the bulletin board there was of no use either. So we decided to just go for it.

The next part of the trail was somewhat familiar to me. We traveled along the railroad tracks and then along another rushing glen. I recognized most of this area, but after a while we were in a place that looked completely unfamiliar to me. We came to a really pretty area with cascading water and still-yellow leaves on the trees. Despite the nice scenery we soon ended up walking in a circle because the blue blazes branched off in two separate paths that led back to where we started. This made no sense, but we soon found the path again.

We continued off along a trail I didn't know at all in the hopes that the blue blazes were the same ones that we started off on. We crossed a log bridge with ropes in one direction before getting to the end of the path that dropped us off on a road and leading nowhere so we turned around and crossed back over the same bridge, discouraged and heading back the way we came. We seemed to be heading away from where we needed to go so we decided to break off the trail and cut down a steep embankment to get to a nearby campground.

When we got there we wandered until we found a camp store with a couple of employees inside. We spoke to Renny, who advised us where we needed to go to get back to our car and, just as we were leaving, she offered us a ride back. We gladly accepted her generous offer. It was only a couple of miles, but the rain had picked up, and we both had wet shoes and no desire to walk three miles down a narrow road with no shoulder. She sympathized with our woes, as she knows all too well that the trails can be poorly marked and easy to get lost on. We thanked her profusely and happily changed into dry clothes.

On the way home we both wanted food badly. We found a Whole Food, but we had been snacking on Chex Mix on the way there so we couldn't finish our plates. The samosa was so good though. Spicy. Mmm.

I dropped Joanna at her car and then headed home myself. We hit a bunch of traffic before that Wawa, but after that it opened up pretty quickly for me to get home. I spent the night organizing some wedding photos for a meeting, and catching up on last night's shows.

Nov 21, 2013

I worked for the other music teacher at Lakeside today, which meant I had one class for forty minutes and free time for the rest of the day. Nothing like earning what they pay me. The day went by surprisingly fast for having so much down time. I updated a bunch and went through photos. I cleaned out my car a bit to get ready to sleep in later, and after work I packed all my stuff up and was ready to go. I met Ryan at the gym for a medley of exercises and an unusually funny and awkward visit. There were just strange things happening, we had to move around a lot, and there was a girl being totally oblivious to us and everything else around her.

I went up to Grindcore House and had a chai latte while I awaited Joanna's arrival. When she got there we exchanged our photos from the past six months and looked through some of them. We did a lot in the past few months. You don't really notice until you look back at all the photos. We then looked up directions and disc golf courses near where we plan to hike tomorrow before we got kicked out because the coffee shop was closing.

We went over to Union Transfer and had our tickets scanned to get in by none other than Joe from The Early November. I didn't say anything so as not to be weird, but I wanted to geek out a little. Shortly after that we saw Kenny from The Starting Line in the crowd jamming out to Now, Now, who were really good, airy, fun music. We ran into Kat from Rowan in the lobby and had a nice, if awkward, reunion conversation. It was nice to see her, I just found myself looking around the room in a cliche uncomfortable manner because I wasn't sure what to say.

The room was surprisingly empty before Kevin Devine came on, but there were enough people to scream along with "Cotton Crush." That would be the only original song he played that I knew very well. A few songs I know I had heard, but he played a lot of songs from the new album that I haven't listened to. The "encore" was a ten minute medley of random cover songs from "Sweet Child of Mine" to "El Scorcho," and "Stan" by Eminem. I was really impressed with his rapping that last one. It was hilarious and wonderful watching them have fun on stage. He finished the night with a few songs by himself. I have to say I much prefer him solo than with the band, but he is awesome any way you can get him, very funny, humble, and just a seemingly cool dude. It was a great show.

We hit the road after the show and left Joanna's car at a Wawa in Chester, PA before continuing west and finding our sleeping spot for the night: a Wal*Mart parking lot. And it was actually dark there. Score.

Nov 20, 2013

I worked at Lakeside today for a math class. My first couple of classes weren't bad and they actually went by quickly because I had to teach a lesson, check homework, and repeatedly go over the same problems with students. I actually enjoyed teaching them how to do the distribution problems because they went from seeming like they have no clue at all to doing it on their own with no problem once I showed them. It's amazing how much their disposition changed once it clicked for them. My last class was just terrible though. They would not shut the hell up. It took twice as long to do everything because I had to stop so often to tell them to be quiet. I was so stressed by the end of the day.

Partly due to the stress, but more because it was pretty nice out after work I headed over to the park with plans to run a lap or two. After I started running I wasn't sure if I would finish the first lap. It's always like that starting out cold. Halfway around I was feeling better so I extended the loop and then continued on to the second lap. I decided to do a third after that and then felt like I would challenge myself to do a fourth. After the fourth lap I had decided to stop, but for some reason I just kept running and then figured I should just go around one last time. All that to say I ended up running 6.5 miles in 60 minutes. I was pretty happy with that; it's the longest I've run in a long time at a pretty good pace. I need to keep it up.

I got some celebratory Moe's for dinner and came home to watch Boardwalk Empire while I ate. I got a shower and did some laundry before meeting Chuck, Matt, and Kate at Quizzo. It was a good game, and we thought we had a chance, but apparently we didn't even qualify for the three-way tie for second. I learned that humans can't sneeze while they sleep, and was slightly impressed in my etymological skills on one question. Once we lost we called it a night and headed out. Now I've put my clothes away and packed up for the next couple days so it's about bed time.

Nov 19, 2013

I worked at Lakeside for a Geography teacher today. She didn't leave enough plans and, curiously, the plans she did leave were to read a Lewis Carroll poem with the class and have them analyze it. I didn't put together that it had nothing to do with Geography until the second class. Regardless the students finished much too early so I put on Remember the Titans to occupy the rest of the period. Since the internet was down and I hadn't seen the whole movie in a long time I used my break periods to finish watching it. It's a really good flick.

I went home to change and then met Ryan at the gym. We did a bunch of back exercises and some handstands which seemed extremely awkward today for some reason. I used the showers at the gym for the first time today. Only slightly awkward because the locker room was really packed when I got out.

I met my grandmom at Saigon for dinner. I had been craving curry so I went for it. I asked for it extra spicy like always and it was actually spicy! It was the perfect mix of spicy so that I could taste it, but I didn't feel like I needed to drink a gallon of milk. They no longer have smoothies for some reason so I had to forego dessert. 

Kate and I headed to Delaware next to go to Total Wine so she could buy Christmas presents in the form of large bottles of beer. Jeff met us there and browsed with us. I ended up getting a mixed six pack and a six of Rogue Hazelnut Brown because it is the best thing ever. They have a growler station which I would like to take advantage of in the future.

We followed Jeff over to Applebee's in Wilmington for his Quizzo. We had some time before the show to hang at the bar and have a beer until he got started. He went through the rounds really quickly, but I kind of prefer that to all the waiting we usually do at the home game. Some of the questions were really hard, including the sports round, for which we got no questions correct. It was a fun game, especially the movie quote clip round. Surprisingly we were only 3 questions out of 2nd place and 5 out of 1st. Not too bad. Who really knows the smallest countries in the world by population?

Damn Vatican City... Anyway we made it home and I've stayed up too late waiting to get a job for tomorrow. Maybe in the morning time.

Nov 18, 2013

I worked at Lakeside for a science teacher today and this time we actually did get to watch Bill Nye. Those videos always help the day go by more quickly. I didn't have much trouble with the students except for keeping them quiet while the show was on. The second half of the classes I spent updating and reading while they worked on packets of work.

After work I met Kate for a round of disc golf. We started on the back of the course to avoid getting stuck behind the several groups on the front. I was playing very average, but I hit a few good shots. By the end of the game I was at +2 and not happy with my playing. It's also very unfortunate how little time we have after work to finish a game before the sun goes down. And soon enough it will be too cold for anyone to want to join me to play.

I'm not exactly sure how I killed the next 6 hours, but I know I spent almost all of it in front of the computer doing one thing or another. I did a lot of updating and going through photos, then I watched some Oz. Not a particularly interesting or exciting night.