:: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 ::

Well Megan said she would Blog If I did, so here I am. I could split this update into two parts, my online life and my "real" life, how does that sound? Unfortunately they don't seem to intertwine enough to balance everything out. Oh wells.

So work continues at the greatest Nintendo website ever, lots of big changes on the way that I'm not at liberty to talk about, yet nevertheless remain very exciting and I can't wait. Sadly, I have lost interest and most respect for gaming sites on the internet now. Actually, some of them still have my respect; it takes a helluva lot of work to maintain something so passionatly geared towards Nintendo, and I applaud them for that. It just seems like most of them have lost their personal touch, and aren't interesting anymore. The only other two Nintendo sites I still actively visit are Nintendorks and N-Sider. Speaking of N-Sider, they posted a new editorial on their site today, I highly suggest reading it. It's a good analysis editorial to use alongside of our very own Ethan's Nintendo fans who don't care editorial. Maybe this weekend before I leave for summer camp I'll post my own little opinions on this site, since they aren't original and profound enough to render any sort of editorial. I think I don't exercise interest in these things as much as others because I have no offline counterpart to discuss these things with. No offense to all my friends, but they know jack shit about what's going on in the industry right now and I have to seek refuge online for anybody at all to understand my opinions and what I'm talking about. But I digress, enough about the internet...

I spent last night at Ryan H's house, lots of fun. I bought and drank 2 liters of mountain dew from the gas station, and we played ikaruga, zelda, burnout 2, and dance dance revolution all night long. Lots and lots and lots of fun, God I love summer. It turns out Megan leaves for her grandparent's house thursday instead of saturday or sunday, which sucks hard but If I keep my mind vivid and alive I might survive. We watched this crazy anime movie tonight called Ghost in the Shell. Apparently it won all kinds of international awards in 1997; I was too busy watching the robo-boobies and gun fights to really care. It was okay, I guess, but a little bit of a fucking plot would have been nice. But anyways, tomorrow I think Megan, Matt, Jen, and I are going to the pool and playing DDR at Megan's (well at least her and I are). It's late and I'm bored and want to spend some time on IRC, so good night!

PS Christina I don't know if you read this but by the time you get home to talk to me I'll already be off to summer camp... I don't understand why you are running from me but I don't want to leave these thoughts of our friendship just drifting around in the back of my head, I'd rather grab ahold of them and place them back where they belong. I don't really want to say much more to everybody on the face of the planet about this, but I still do love you, and hope
to talk with you soon.

:: Floydthebarber 6/25/2003 12:29:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
...

I feel lots better now, misunderstandings to some extent are the best thing that can happen. Disregard most of the previous post. Everything is always okay after talking with Megan... Okay well G'Night.

:: Floydthebarber 6/15/2003 02:00:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
...

Well, my mom was nice enough to have alex shipped off to grandma's tonight, so I could go over to Jen's to spend time with Megan and everybody else. You know your girlfriend is cool when she's excited you burned her some videogame soundtracks. We watched part of Princess Mononoke, and all of UHF. Played some pool, talked, etc... a fun time for the most part. Megan seemed to notice something was bothering me, and she was right. Her shyness isn't just hard on her, it's hard on me too. It's funny how simple things like kissing, which was simple and beautiful 24 hours before becomes really hard for her when we're around friends, I don't really get it. I know she doesn't do it on purpose, but it still sort of makes me shake my head and think to myself, "hey, she's still really shy about this stuff for some reason, you just gotta live with it". There doesn't seem to be a lot I can do to help it either, she has to want that kind of stuff I'm completely open that's the most i'll ever do since I'll never try to force anything on her, like the kisses she didn't want tonight. Understanding feelings I've never had is very difficult for me. I'm not angry at her, I've never been angry at her really. More of a kick back to two months ago when I felt the same way. She's come a helluva long way from that time though at least I can tell myself that. I need to listen to some uplifting music, my mood is a bit shaky right now let's try to swing it one way.

:: Floydthebarber 6/14/2003 11:42:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
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I haven't done this test in about a year, it looks like a lot has changed:

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Moderate
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Low
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! --

:: Floydthebarber 6/14/2003 12:55:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
...

I actually changed the quote and song, because I only notice those things about once every month. You all should theck them out though, I never post things unless I want you to read it, so read it! This week I finished up the 30 hours of classtime for Driver's Ed, and I'm lucky enough to be on the list for doing the driving part monday, tuesday, and wednesday. You know what that means? I'll be street legal by thursday next week, ph33r. In late june 2004, i'll be able to drive by myself from 5-9, or later if it's to and from work. I'm pretty sure that 6 months after that (a bit after I turn 17) I can drive by myself anytime. Until you're 18 you can only carry one passenger under 18 with you, or is it just one passenger period? I don't know it's very confusing. All I know is that my senior year i'll be 18 and there will be no driving limitations and it'll rock. I'll probably even have the awesome 1968 LeMans Pontiac convertible fixed up by then (probably 1200 bucks in work).

I spent tonight with Megan, I think the simple plan of being with her almost every night over summer sounds perfect to me. You all know what I think of such a beautiful girl. We start talking, and the more we converse the more in awe I am at her for how she really is inside... if that sounds crazy or stupid I don't care because it's true. Princess Mononoke is a pretty awesome movie, Miyazaki is a genius. Cake doesn't make me sick, I guess I'm just very very weird sometimes. I swear someday somebody will inadvertently punch me hard in the stomach and I'll literally die or something. yikes.

Okay well I'm done with random babbling for tonight, I leave you with a link to THE SINGLE GREATEST MOVIE EVER TO GRACE THE ENTIRE PLANET EARTH THAT I HAVE NOT SEEN YET BUT WILL BEFORE NEXT WEEKEND OR I SHALL GO INSANE FROM A LACK OF ITS AWESOMENESS. Ahem. That should get the point across. In case you couldn't tell, several of my friends and I have an infatuation with the hilarious side of pimpage. I know, all you old folks only think of the wrong side. But whatever. Blame it all upon a rush of blood to the head..

:: Floydthebarber 6/14/2003 12:36:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
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1. Are you a Virgin? Yes
2. Are you a right or a lefty or an ambidextrous?: right
3. What are your personality traits? uh intelligent, clear, compassionate, passionate, prcrastinating, studious, FRAGGLE ROCK
4. What do you like most about yourself?: The fact that it always seems to work out in the end for me.
5. Pick a song that describes yourself: Jesus Christ, uh Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig In The Sky"
6. What's your name backwards: nameerf ttenneb semaj
7. What does your name mean?: Bible-Something Random-Dad-Thing What-the-hell-made-up-something
8. Do you believe in yourself?: sure
9. Do you have an accent? slightly southern depending on surrounding people. I like doing impressions to myself only.
10. Do you believe in God?: yes
11. Do you go to church?: nope
12. Can you swim?: yep
13. Do you drink?: not right now
14. Do you do drugs?: don't get me started, a huge no. never ever.
15. Do you smoke?: God no. I'm incredibly opposed to such filth.
16. Do you bite your nails? naw, i rip them off or forget to clip them for about a month
17. Are you addicted to the Internet?: yesyesyesyesyeseyyesyesyesyesy
18. How many times do you check your e-mail per day?: about 3
19. Do you have ICQ?: no, IRC ROCK ON
20. How long can you hold your breath?: well over a minute and a half without talking i'm pretty sure. about a minute talking.
21. Do you like peaches?: millions of peaches, peaches for me!
22. What is your favorite lunch meat?: smoked ham, water added stuff is disgusting
23. What do you do for fun?: surf the internet, video games, girlfriend
24. What kind of Deodorant do you use?: gillette speed stick gel stuff
25. Do you think you're attractive?: If i say yes, i'm conceited. If I say no I inadvertantly raise my self-esteem by having friends reassure me otherwise. so what was the question?
26. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?: not anymore
27. What do you wear to bed?: boxors or nothing. no really, nothing especially in summer don't wake me up if the door's unlocked or something.
28. One pillow or two?: as many as possible
29. What's your bedtime?: about 11
30. What do you think about before you go to sleep?: Megan and school things due the next day
31. First thought in the morning: "God dammit I hate Bob and Madison but I haven't changed the radio station since 1998 oh well time to get up..."
32. What's under your bed?: books of old schoolwork, hot wheels track, parent's books, CDs fallen from the ceiling
33. Are you an optimist or pessimist?: I try to be optimistic, but unfortunately i have mostly pessimistic tendencies about some things.
34. Better to cry or laugh?: laugh
35. Ever been in love?: I have now
36. Right now, who do you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with?: Megan Hahn Fre....erm Megan :)
37. Where do you want to go on your honeymoon? well whatever I say is wrong so, Australia, e3, Paris, england, japan, and the top of mount everest. It's hard for me to say i never go anywhere poor sheltered me.
38. When you notice somebody of the opposite sex what do you notice first?: Their eyes
39. Guys-If a girl ever asked you for the shirt on your back, would you give it to her?: Hell no, I love all my shirts? what would she do with it?
40. There really wasn't one here to begin with
41. Guys, would you ever ask a random girl for her shirt?: no i'm sure they like their shirts as much as I like mine
42. Do you think men and women can ever just be friends without wanting each other?: 100% absolutely
43. Who's better, Boys or Girls?: better for what? sometimes boys sometimes girls i'm not answering this
44. What's your "type"?: quiet, sharp intellect, beautiful, assertive, passionate, artistic, clean, christian.
45. What's your favorite juice?: YUOR MOM LOLOLOLOL
46. Are you a player?: hahahaha yeah, sure. Never.
47. Did you ever cry over someone of the opposite sex?: It's the only time I ever cry, I'm such a pussy.
48. Did you ever have a crush on a cartoon character?: popeye
49. Are you a good friend?: the others seem to think so
50. What's your biggest fear?: losing my friends
51. Do you type with your fingers on the right keys?: of course, how else would I be an 1337 H4x0r?
52. Do you make fun of peoples?: All the time, it's too easy.
53. What is the stupidest thing you have ever done?: Probably anything with Ryan Tedrick. HELLO GOV'NER!
54. What is the smartest thing you have ever done?: played the cards right with love
55. Do you eat chicken fingers with a fork?: haha, no way you pussy.
56. How do you eat an Oreo?: I dunk it until it reaches critical mass then try to gently lift it into my mouth. consume leftover lost pieces by drinking down the milk and scooping out with my fingers. yeah i'm gross and have no manners or something.
57. Do you eat the stems of broccoli?: If it's steamed and tasty
58. Is the glass half empty of half full?: half full
59. Which came first-The chicken or the egg?: the egg obviously. Don't get me started.
60. What color is your toothbrush?: white and carolina blue
61. What color is your toothpaste?: white, like semen. but it's not semen i promise!
62. What's on your walls in your room? dozens of video game posters, a hat rack, a few plaques
63. What is on your ceiling?: about 2200 CDs each held up with a thumbtack. It's really sweet.
64. Have you ever been attacked by a big dog?: the dog down the street keaneu or whatever slobbered on me when i was 7
65. Words/Phrases you overuse: LOLOMGWTFBBQASLOPSPLSSIRKTHXBYE
66. Do you get along with your parents?: yes
67. Craziest/Silliest person you know: well Ryan T here but probably sharp i've never met him
68. What sucks about school?: the lack of friends and almost complete isolation I feel.
69. There wasn't a 69 either
70. Do you like to swim?: not really
71. Do you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer?: nope, but the bunnies song is funny
72. Do you sing in the shower?: all the damn time!
73. How do you want to die?: in quiet isolation yet with a sense of accomplishment and dignity
74. Would you ever go bungy-jumping?: sure
75. Do you like dressing up?: no, style comes natural
76. Do you enjoy reading?: yes, if you can get me started it's hard for me to stop
77. Do you watch TGIF?: isn't that a pretty cool restaurant?
78. What movie(s) do you really want to see?: Terminator 3, Shaft's Big Score, Return of the King, and a million others.
79. What is your biggest wish?: For humans to change their ways and all the warring to stop. hey, ANY wish...
80. Would you ever have cosmetic surgery?: never never never.
81. Do you like to dance?: no, i'm horrible and it's one of the few facets of my life i really hate about myself. that and my lack of artistic drawing skills
82. What do you think of people who drink?: if it's in moderation i'm fine with it, but drinking that causes any impairement is vile and filthy and people should be shot for doing it. not killed, just shot.
83. What do you think about people who do drugs? Horribly weak minded people. It's very hard for me to have compassion for these people
84. What do you think of people who smoke?: weak minded as well.
85. Do you blush during naughty scenes?: no
87. Do you watch Happy Days?: sunday monday what a shitty show
88. Do you organize your CD's?: well, they have sat organized on my shelf for 2 years now, It's all about mp3s baby. I organize those.
89. Do you read the newspaper?: I read the connect section every wednesday at school
90. Who is the loudest person you know? ROBIN LEECH. oh wait uh, my brother Tommy probably when he acts normal.
91. Who is the weirdest person you know?: ryan T, it's awesome
92. Do you sneeze a lot?: yes
93. Are you a vegetarian?: no way. this is such a stupid thing don't get me started...
94. Best net friends?: TheHumanCow, Sharparoni, Kentop, Jerado, SS4Gogita, Newlib, and a few others...
95. What was the last CD you got?: uhhhhh, I GOT Led Zeppelin - How the West was Won, but I bought Pink Floyd: Echoes 2 years ago?
96. Who do you trust the most?: hmmmm, it used to be april, probably now Megan or myself. mostly just myself unfortunately that's just how I am.
97. What color is your computer desk?: beige like every fucking house in cary
98. Do you have a cell phone?: no they're so damn annoying
99. Do you have a lava lamp?: my brother does, I should steal it :D
100. What's on your mouse pad?: some UNC stuff
101. Worst feeling in the World?: betrayal by friends
102. Best feeling in the World?: my first kiss
103. Favorite thing to do on a weekend?: spend it with megan then go home and surf the internet during trivia with my awesome mp3s playing and such
104. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?: graduating from college and hopefully travelling the world. all my my friends don't know how lucky they are to get to do that stuff.
105. Do you get motion sickness?: nope
106. What do you drive?: I will be driving a 1992 Chrysler minivan
107. Who are your best buds?: nathan, nate, phil, ryan t, ryan h, april, wow..... damn that's a short list :(
108. What's the name of the person you talk to most online?: Michael Sharp
110. Have you ever been convicted of a crime?: no
111. Most humiliating moment: I am too lighthearted in these situations to be humiliated. I just feel bad inside.
112. Have you ever called a 900 number?: 1-900-867-5309
113. Which movies have you cried at?: A Walk to Remember almost almost ALMOST made me cry, really. teary eyed I don't remember why but it just did. I didn't cry though. so I win! my penis length remains intact and rigid!
114. Summer memory: video games and losing at countless trivias
115. Idea for a perfect date?: it doesn't matter what the guy wants unfortunately, EVER. EVER EVER. If I could then some amusement park or an awesome concert.
116. Future son names: Anything I say will be stupid and rejected :(
117. Future daughter names: Anything I say will be stupid and rejected :(
118. What is your favorite brand of gum?: Juicy fruit
120. What's your favorite color to paint your toenails?: hot pink? *rolls eyes*
121. Which do you prefer cool ranch or nacho cheese Doritos?: cool ranch is a recent taste aquisition of mine
122. What's your favorite flavor of Snapple?: pink lemonade
123. Who is your favorite character on Seinfeld?: Kramer
124. Which one, Coke or Pepsi?: Pepsi, unless the Coke is vanillaized
125. Which pez is your favorite?: that Link pez I've always wanted. Just like a Link hat... *sniff*
126. What's your favorite room in the house?: the bathroom, more specifically the shower.
127. Which is your favorite Arnold movie?: Terminator 2: Judgement Day
128. What is your favorite store?: REI or EB Games
129. What is your favorite Jell-O flavor?: Cherry, or my sekrat mix-every-jello-together project shhh...
130. Which do you prefer mud wrestling or Jell-O wrestling?: jell-o wrestling would be bouncy! like the breasts contained therein!
131. What's the best number in the world?: 1337
132. No, really. Someone needs to learn to count
133. Favorite color Bra?: black satin
134. Favorite Salad Dressing: Ranch
135. Favorite Shampoo: suave
136. Favorite movies: comedy
137. Favorite kind of music: classic rock, classical, ska, orchestral, hard rock, don't get me started on music...
139. Favorite Food: macaroni and cheese and pocky
140. Favorite town to be in?: Cary, however lame and depressing that is...
141. Favorite ice cream?: french vanilla or mint chocolate chip
142. Favorite Soda: mountain dew or bawls, depending on the richness of my blood...
143. ADIDAS, NIKE, or REEBOK: I am not black
144. Favorite cologne or perfume?: I don't wear either, I don't like the idea of it...
145. Favorite song? I can't answer this it changes all the time
146. Favorite school subject?: math or science. hooray for being a nerd! English can be awesome at times....
147. Least favorite school subject: health such a ghetto class
148. Favorite sport to watch: rugby HELL YES. or basketball.
149. Favorite holiday: christmas and all the lights!
150. What do you look for in the opposite sex?: to quote ben folds, "She's everything I want, she's everything I'm not..."
151. Would you rather go to Disneyworld or Disneyland?: Disneyland my late grandfather worked on, so there.
152. What is your favorite color?: green
153. Favorite cartoon hero?: spiderman
154. Favorite Actor?: dunno, jim carrey, robin williams, mel brooks?
155. Favorite Actress?: natalie portman is hawt
156. Pro-life or Pro-choice?: don't get me started!
157. Do you prefer pools or ocean?: well for being in I prefer the pool but for recreation and such the ocean. "you're an ocean..." it's all a song babe
158. Pencil or pen?: pen
159. Who's the best looking person you know of the same sex?: achton kuchter or whatever. god he's hawt lollers
160. Who's the prettiest Disney movie gal?: whoever would date the "leaning tower of cheezah" guy is the dream disney gal
161. Gold or silver?: silver
162. Would you rather be short or tall?: tall
163. Which Winnie the Pooh character is your fav.?: tigger the ni..as;dflkjas;ldf
164. What's your favorite Nintendo game?: my god. SUNSET RIDERS OR AXELAY! Arms installation is completed, good luck. aces.
165. Who is the least attractive person you know?: julie brozovichchchchc
167. Do you like Marilyn Manson?: not particularly
168. Favorite station?: music? the classic rock station
169. MTV or VH1?: VH-1 they love weird al more than MTV and are a lot less f4g0tty
170. What are your favorite musician, bands or band?: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, beatles, beastie boys, beach boys, coldplay, ben folds five, coldplay, blue oyster cult, cake, CCR, def lepard, the doors, everclear, guns n' roses, herb alpert, jamiroquai, jimi hendrix, jimmy buffet, jimmie's chicken shack, jump little children, metallica, mighty mighty bosstones, moody blues, nirvana, pearl jam, peter frampton, squirrel nut zippers, STYX, they might be giants, weird al, video game music.....
171. Best place to hang out?: around a DDR machine or on megan's bed
172. Do you prefer to date people old or younger then you?: well I don't have a lot of experience, but younger is working out perfectly...
173. Favourite TV show?: uh i'll say something like the Daily Show then think of 90148204 other shows i like...
174. Blondes, Brunettes, or Redheads?: blonds but there's something about really long red hair....
175. Glasses or Contacts?: for me? neither. depends on person some people the glasses sort of frame the face and look great. some not.
176. What's the weirdest first name you've ever heard of?: bonqueefa, i'm sure i heard it somewhere
177. Brandy or Monica?: who?
178. Favorite game?: non-video game would be pool or monopoly or couronne
179. Favorite drink?: mountain dew
180. Favorite sound?: megan's voice
181. Favorite smell?: is it weird to say megan? oh well honesty
182. Rollercoasters- deadly or exciting: exciting to the extreeeeeeeeeeme
183. Chocolate or Vanilla cake: vanilla
184. Thunderstorms, cool or scary: cool
185. What is your favorite quote? : Anything by Einstein, he was such a great visionary and brilliant mind
186. If I could shave one thing into your hair what would it be?: "Goatse.cx"
187. If you could dye your hair one color, what would it be?: red or BRIGHT BLUE. ya gotta have blue hair
188. If you could have a tattoo what would you get and where would you get it?: something small and random on my arm or chest
189. If you could turn into an animal real or imaginary, what would you be?: kitten, because kittens rock
190. If you could meet one person in the world who would it be, Living and nonliving?: albert einstein or jesus. actually i'd be afraid of jesus initially honestly
191. If you were a dog what would your name be?: you kicked my dogma
192. If you could be anything in a kitchen what would you be?: a spork
193. If you could be one gardening tool what would you be?: a spork
194. If you could be a shoe, what kind of shoe would you be?: a red chuck taylor all-star high top
195. If you could be Corn, what corn would you be?: corn on the penis. haha god that sounds gross. and it shoots creamed cor...haha there i go again sorry.
197. If you had a genie, what 3 wishes would you make?: love, happiness, peace
198. Purple. ..what do you think about it?: roalty and warm
199. If you could meet a Net Person who would it be?: TheHumanCow or Sharparoni
200. If you could have any occupation when you get older, what would it be?: videogame journalist
201. If you were to kill someone, which method would you choose?: i'd probably slice their ligaments behind both knees so they tried to walk but ended up painfully bleeding to death. at least I have horrible thoughts of this happening to me...
202. If you could do anything to the person you hate the most, what would you do?: slap them with a lunchbox FREE REIGN
204. If you could streak in front of one person's house who's would it be?: yours
205. Better pre-sex foods: just bawls
206. You are a virgin. You're going to die in one hour. That's right! You have ONE HOUR TO LIVE!!! So...you lose your virginity as fast as you can? or you call all your close friends and relatives to say goodbye?: call all my close friends and relatives to come over and say goodbye while i'm loosing my virginity. WIN!
207. Worst way to die: slow dismemberment
208. Your favorite STD and why?: gonnorhea because you can get it in your ear. nice explanation i know.
209. Does gay/lesbian sex turn you on?: yes and yes
210. What would your porn name be? alfonzo and his friend SUPER TACO
211. Do bananas turn you on?: not in the le.....well maybe if you freezed it.
212. Condoms: glow-in-the-dark, flavored, or ribbed?: glow in the dark sounds fun!
213. Full body massage or dry sex?: dry what? is that like desert? whatever.
215. My most graphic sexual fantasy was when...: bend over and i'll show you.
216. Would you have sex on your kitchen counter?: my kitched counter is disgusting. i'd have to be on bottom.
217. Place I'd get it on if I could: anywhere and i'm the luckiest guy ever and i'll never ever complain. beggars can't be choosers.
218. The person I'd like to have sex with the most is: megan *awaits to be punched/glared at/whatever* well if I said something different first it'd be lying, then second it'd start a whole "what do I have that she doesn't" she would think i'm disgusting to think one way and mean to think another. god dammit girls are confusing what was the question?
219. If you were gay/lesbian, then would you have straight sex if someone paid you $1,000?: yes
220. Premarital sex?: no

:: Floydthebarber 6/12/2003 09:40:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
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Saturday, may 31 2003
It’s the sort of calm before the storm , which is ironic considering how windy and churning the weather has been here today at the KOA campgrounds. Everbody is here tonight: Mr. Burnette, Mr. Tingle, Ben and AJ, Mr. Forshee and Walker, Mr. Page and Robert, Nathan, and myself. There is 56 miles ahead of us, 7 of them being tommorow. All of my gear is holding up well, I feel that I’ll be utilizing my rain gear much more than I did at Philmont. I sort of wish I had some working conversion pants, but my rain pants will do fine. My tent is the absolute best, I’m a Mountain Hardware convert. I look forward to awesome views, rolling hills and fields, wildlife, and whatever else might come my way on the trail this week. The more I hike, the more relaxed and careless I am; at what point that starts to hinder my experience I don’t know. Jeez it’s windy out right now. I should be going to sleep but I have so much banked up from this past week I can’t. I do miss Megan a lot already, she’s such an intricate part of my life right now so it wouldn’t make sense to leave her out of this journal, especially since this whole hike when I’m daydreaming to pass distance it’ll be of her. I love that carefree, blissful zombie feeling from hiking, its what its all about; That, and a big sort of humbling, peaceful, self-rewarding journey. I think I’ve done enough rambling for tonight, I’ll stare at my PCT dreaming of hiking now…

Sunday June 1, 2003
Made it to our first stop, about 7 miles in from Highway 62. The miles have flown by a lot faster than expected, I could go a lot further. Brian vents his “Virginia sucks” midset on all of us, but I think its just something to pass the time. I have my tent set up near Little Wolf Creek, the water gurgling in the background is very relaxing and entrancing. Lots of reminiscing has happened, but not anything really worthy to be reminisced about later. Hikes always start of slow like this.

Monday June 2, 2003
Well, I made it through the second day… quite a wake up call from our little hike yesterday in. It started off steep then leveled off about 4 miles in, then we stopped after 5 miles for lunch at Jenkins shelter. There was an interesting Scottish guy there who had bought $200 boots then cut the backs off of them “because my Achilles was killin’ meh mate” Interesting folks on the trail here. Oh yes, we took the high water trail because of flooding on the normal AT. After lunch was an insane climb, one of those that completely exhausts you mentally as much as physically. I was beginning to have strikingly severe flashbacks of Mt. Phillips for perhaps ¼ of a mile before I met Mr. Page at the top. From there it was easy gradual downhill for about a mile until we reached the turnoff for the Davidson campsite and water. We went down for the spectacular view of the garden (a giant fiew of acres of fields and a dairy farm) but ended up spending the night at the top near the trail due to lack of tent space. This brings us to now, where I’m just starting to get sweaty, gritty, greasy, and snot-encrusted like every good hiker- and I love it. Tomorrow is an easy 9 miles along a ridge, hoorah!

Tuesday June 3, 2003
We made it from Davidson campsite to the Chestnut Knob shelter; a good long 9 miles to really break us in. It started off innocent enough, with a 6 mile gradual downhill hike towards walker gap. We sang several dozen songs along the way (including Weird Al and Journey) and it actually went by a lot faster than planned (or assumed) and thus we arrived at walker’s gap 7 miles in at 1 pm. I felt pretty good, except for a throbbing sensation in both feet. We pumped some water (my MSR pump needs cleaning) then began our ascent at about 2. God, I knew it was going to be a tough 2 miles uphill, but not THAT insane. The fog had cleared on the ridge from earlier this morning, but the ascent was so tough and steep I zombied out and plowed through. There were some realy cool trees that ran along a barbed-wire fence on the ridge, some of them were oaks that had to be at least 125 years old. Many of them had grown around and consumed parts of the barbed wire into themselves, very cool. After about an hour and a half of hiking, I reached this shelter, finding the opposite-bound AT crew waiting for us there. Everybody is in good spirits, we’ve exchanged info on where we’ve been and what each of us can look forward to. This shelter is mega-nice, atop of a beautiful field I wish I could see more than 100 feet distance of. At least its stopped raining. I can’t wait for a good night’s sleep and a hot meal! Worst service ever!!! Ever!!!! EVER!!!!!!

Wednesday June 4, 2003
Today was our longest day yet, 9 miles from Chestnut Knob shelter to wherever we are now, Knot Maul Knob or something like that. Right now I’m listening to the three through-hikers talk in the shelter, its great to hear them talk about random stuff. The girl is jewish and the two guys are Christian, the jokes exchanged are great. We began with a 4.5 mile descent through fields and mud, then another mile until lunch at Lick Creek. After that was a pretty hefty 5 mile climb to where we are now. What the… this through-hiker is joining the peace corps and has been to places like Hungary! But anyways, tonight was Mexican dinner night, then we all came up with trail names. I’ll keep trail names on the inside unless there are requests. Oh yes, we finally found out what is inside of an easy cheese can behind the illustrious black stopper in the bottom. It’s either air, or a very small breed of asian known as Aerosol who raise the roof to apply pressure to the cheese by listening to 50 cent, or do an irish jig depending on the tilt of the can. Wow are we messed up.

Thursday June 5, 2003
I am completely exhausted screw writing.

Friday June 6, 2003
I didn’t write yesterday because I got caught up chatting with Brian and Nathan in our tents. Nathan the burrito bandito! Today was our last real day, the longest, and most fittingly, the best. We woke up at 6 and got out by 8 to give us an hours jumpstart into Atkins. It seemed like forever but after 5 miles of downhill and fields we reached Dairy Queen. Good God, a gigantic cheeseburger, fries, xxxxxtra Mr. Pibb, and a giant oreo blizzard. So we stuffed ourselves there, then hiked about 2.5 miles to a pretty cool old museum and schoolhouse place, circa 1900. There was a really cool old geography book in the schoolhouse copywright 1901… a very interesting read. After that it was another 2 mile saunter up to here at Chatfield Memorial shelter, 7 miles from the Mt. Rogers partnership shelter where we’re ending our trek tomorrow. The 11 miles today actually wasn’t that bad; my pack is light with no food (save for a cheeseburger hiked 6 miles up here from Dairy Queen). I have taken some pretty awesome pictures (we tipped our tree!) and have a lot of good memories to take home from this trek. I’ll acclimate fairly well to the internet, TV, hot pockets, soda, and laziness apparent in my life at home. More people need to experience the AT, that’s all I can say. Shoot, this guy passed by an hour ago with his 12 year old son, they’re both through-hiking the whole thing! The mountain laurel we saw this year was awesome. Okay, I need some sleep to get ready for tomorrow. Bye. I always start hiking on the 56 of the hour, 56 miles total, 56 dollars in change after Dairy Queen, how freakish.

And that brings us to now. I’m done and a bit tired, it’s actually about 2 am right now and I feel a little sleepy. I don’t want to be completely worthless when seeing Megan tomorrow. I’ll talk more about the trek later if any of you care, which most of you quite unfortunately don’t care and understand. At any rate, good night!

:: Floydthebarber 6/08/2003 02:07:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
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Wellity, I'm back from the Appalachian Trail, and it's about 12:30 am. I think I want to transcript my journal I kept while hiking into here, adding in here and there. Sure it'll be incredibly boring to most of you, but it's better than individually explaining my experience to about 50 people. So here it comes watch out!

:: Floydthebarber 6/08/2003 12:28:00 AM (0) comments [+] ::
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