It's Party Time!

So as I write this, I’ve only got four more days before I leave. Friday will be the big day, and really, I don’t have much more I have to do between now and then. So it should be a fun week of making my final rounds.

Saturday night I was able to get together with a number of my friends to hang out one last time before I leave. It was a lot of fun, even though several couldn’t make it. I’ll see all of you guys when I get back in January, and in the meantime, have fun.

More Rock Band

Marc and Rick, who looks like he's got a mullet.

We played some Kinect after the party started breaking up.

Marc is perhaps the only person in the world who can jump higher in real life than he can on a video game.

   Sunday I went up to my grandparents house for a bon voyage party with the family. I was surprised to see so many people there, I wasn’t expecting to see all of my aunts and uncles and cousins there. It was great to see all of them, especially since I’m going to miss this holiday season. I hope all of you guys read this and have a happy Thanksgiving and a merry Christmas while I’m gone. And thank you all for all of the gifts! I’m sure it will all come in handy while I’m abroad.

Zack, Tasha, and my Dad.

My Dad's dog, Scooter. Yes, he's missing part of his ear. Long story.

My grandparent's dog Gypsy.

My Grandpa Don and Grandma Vickie

 So now the rest of my preparation really just boils down to getting some shopping done before I leave. France, I’ll see you soon. Happy birthday Donna and Grandpa Allahverdi. And as for everyone else, I’ll post again soon!

P.S. My friend C.W. is studying abroad in Italy this semester as well. To follow his blog, visit it at http://wilkin383.wordpress.com/

Cleaning Sucks

So today I’m starting to work on cleaning my room. And posting some stuff on here. Mostly so that I can continue to work out the bugs. I think the comment thing is fixed once and for all, but I don’t know what else might pop up. So for the two or three people who might read this, let me know if you find any more problems, and bear with me.

The pig-sty in it's natural state. Makes a guy proud.

 My room’s a mess, which is normal for me. I think my mom thinks I should be embarrassed by it, but I’m not, which is why I’m posting a picture of it. Maybe after I’m done I’ll post a picture of my room nice and clean. At least she’ll be happy that I’ve gotten rid of the boxes that have been stacked up for the past three months.

My mom, who always seems to find new projects for me to hate (like re-modeling the kitchen).

 I leave in a week and a half, which means that I have to finally get down to getting work done. And no, Mom, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to tear out the kitchen floor for you. I should probably start taking some more walks as well, just to get myself in getting into better walking shape for Paris. But as we all probably know by now, I’m too lazy to do that. And I still have far too many videogames to play to spare time for that. Yes, I know, I’m really a nerd.

My sister, because I figure I may as well include the rest of the family.

I don't actually have a current picture of my dad, so the dogs should suffice. The fat one's Ody, the skinny one's Dezy.

 Anyway, it’s 6:00 in the morning, and I still haven’t slept yet. I should probably get around to it. I just wanted to post this, get some more pictures, and see if I can figure this out a little more. Keep reading, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say before I leave.

Summer Wrap-Up

So summer’s coming to an end, my friends are going back to school, and I’m still sitting at home. It’s been an interesting summer. I’ve been much busier than I really expected to be when I was finishing my thesis three months ago. I’ve been to a couple of concerts, went to San Diego, ran errands in San Francisco and Reno, had a few parties, and generally prepared for my upcoming trip to France.

  I started the summer by driving down to Tehachapi with many of my friends to work at a Renaissance Faire for my good friend Katherine. It was a great time, even though I nearly froze to death. The weather turned bad on us on day 2 of the faire, so I stood around a campfire with all my friends for 4 hours and just had a fun time chatting. It was great hanging out with Katherine and Tip, and meeting some of our newer guild members like Kim, Todd, Daniel, Alex, Nathan, and Danielle. I’ll miss the guild this fall, you guys just make sure you represent us all well when you go out to faires.

Me, Kim, and Rick at Vacaville

An eager fan at Vacaville

The Royal Court at Tehachapi

Nathan and Alex at Tehachapi

  We also drove some of the guild guys down to San Diego to represent Knights of Badassdom at Comic-Con. We were asked to come down by the producers, who got us in to the Con for free, and even got several of us on stage in front of about 7,000 people. It was pretty fantastic, better than I expected. We reunited with Rick McCoy, Mari, and Eric from the KoB set, met Joe Lynch, Matt Wall, and Kevin Dreyfuss again, and even ran into King Diamond (Michael Gladis) while we were there. They all seemed pretty excited to have us there. It was a great couple of days, even though Rick’s driving had me terrified the entire way down there.

Rick, Melody, Jeremy, Mari, and Me at Comic-Con

Frankie and Peyton at Comic-Con

  I had to go to San Francisco in order to apply for my student visa at the French embassy. We spent a day in the city and did some things that are fairly atypical for me in the city. We skipped the normal attractions of Pier 39, Lombard Street, and Golden Gate Park, and instead went to the beach and the Palace of Fine Arts. The French embassy was actually pretty easy, and it turned out that the visa application was the easiest step of the process of studying abroad.

Gita and Mom at The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco

Um... It's the Golden Gate Bridge

  I went to Mayhem Fest and Warped Tour with my sister and my friend Marc (our friend Andrew went to Mayhem, but was lame and skipped Warped). I finally got to see bands like Godsmack, Megadeth, A Day to Remember, Middle Class Rut, and Straight Line Stitch. We met and got autographs from Straight Line Stitch, Trivium, Enter Shikari, and Eyes Set to Kill. But there’s news of several concerts happening while I’m gone, the most exciting of which is Uproar. My family and friends are going, and I’m not. You guys suck and I hate you, but I’m going to be in France so have fun.

Andrew, Marc, and Tasha with Jason, Alexis, Seth and Kanky from Straight Line Stitch

Me, Tasha, and Marc with Rob, Chris, Rou, and Rory from Enter Shikari

Rory from Enter Shikari

Cisko from Eyes Set to Kill

Alexia from Eyes Set to Kill

Anissa from Eyes Set to Kill

   We had a couple of parties, if you want to call them that. All of our friends came over to mooch our food and play our videogames on our TV. Sometimes we went outside to fight. It was great. I hope you guys come over at least one more time before I leave. 

Me and Chris fighting

Frankie, Cullan, Peyton, Marc, Sean, Kristina, Tasha, Leeanne, and Sarah

 There’s the wrap-up of my summer before France. I might make a couple more posts before I leave, but the real interesting stuff will come starting on September 2^nd. I’ll do my best to make a post each day while I’m gone, but you all should know me well enough by now that it will quickly become more like once a week. But I’ll keep you informed and you can live vicariously, so keep on reading. See ya!