extra-ordinary

kie: 1 knotts road, aka across the street from the barn
kiel: frustrated by hyperactivity
kio: the loud hum of the state-of-the-art
PACKARD-BELL PLATINUM SUPREME 1850 with such standard features as:

• 233 MHz Intel Pentium® processor with MMX™ technology
• 6.4 GB Hard Disk Drive
• 40 MB EDO RAM
• 56 Kbps Capable Modem with X2™ technology
• 24X Max Variable Speed CD-ROM drive
• and other measurements as well!

WARNING: CONTENT AHEAD! READ WITH CAUTION AND REMAIN IN THE WEBLOG UNTIL IT COMES TO A COMPLETE STOP!

luckily the sticker on the front has never been removed. otherwise you mightmiss all this important information.
oh and there's classical music from WITF 89.5 playing in the background as well. yay for my old room.

a little while ago i got back from lurking at dunkin donuts with brian talking about everything from tricked-out BMWs to Hispanic college presidents to the real world that awaits us after um... something. dunkin donuts with brian is always entertaining. it's always good to go in there and think you're better than everyone else who comes in despite having ordered the same thing and lurking at the same dunkin donuts at the same time. when we go there, we mainly attempt to philosophize about life in general but the common denominator in most conversations is schuylkill county itself.

i must admit, schuylkill county really doesn't have much going for it. if you want to get around, you need a car. we are an area full of just ordinary stuff, except with more alcoholics. it seems that if you want to live an ordinary life, (and there's nothing wrong with that!), in a nice place to raise kids and have a family, then schuylkill county is the place to be. it is very nice. and quiet.

but maybe too quiet. if you want to do something extraordinary, like cancer research or novel writing or space exploration, then little old schuylkill county might not be the place for you.

notice how i don't refer to an individual _town_ in reference to the region because it really is more than towns. and anyway, the towns are so pathetically small they're hardly worth mentioning in most instances. if i were to mention "middleport" (which is just north of new philadelphia off of route 209), i'd really only be talking about a handul of families and residents of such. the region is more a community of small towns rather than one small town. not everybody knows everyone (although i'm convinced that my dad either 1) went to school with, 2) grew up with, or 3) has had at least 3 beers with everyone in this whole county. but that's neither here nore there, my dad is just an extraordinary guy.), and getting your picture in the paper is a big deal, even if it is *looks at refrigerator downstairs* for getting elected to student council as my cousin alison was a few months ago. yes the picture is still on the fridge. and yes the principal is in the picture. and yes the principal is a priest.

anyway, as for news about people from this little burgh, let's see...

• neal lutz is a successful grown-up: high school band director, homeowner, boyfriend, all-around upstanding citizen. and this guy is two years older than i am. yipes. he's really got his shit together. although i must admit he has been in the grown-up mentality since about 9th grade.
• my ex-girlfriend, shannon, with whom i spent most of high school, is getting married in april. of course she hasn't told me yet. if or when she does, should i act surprised? the jury is still out on this one. all the best to her though, as she seems to also be becoming a *shudder* grown-up.

that news i think is actually big enough, ain't? that's one thing. when i'm here in SC i pick up my dad's thick (supposedly) coal-cracker accent. see my dad is from saint clair (north of the mountain, coal country, swimming in the stripping hole, etc.) and pete and raj both agree that he has an accent. now after spending an hour with him i find myself spouting such gems as "we're goin' up da farmer's market, ain't?" and "whatreyas gonna do, go out drivin' around?" remember, kids, a declarative sentence follwed by the word "ain't" and a slight rise in vocal intonation is a question and should be treated as such.

in other news, i am taking a private tour of the yuengling brewery sponsored by the nativity bvm high school class of 1973. hooray for parents' class reunions.

boy are my circadian rhythms messed up. last night i slept from 10-9. ELEVEN HOURS! and at hopkins that is just gluttonously oversleeping. today, i'm up til *inspects current time* 4:25. oy. my parents just do not understand a college sleep schuedule (or lack thereof). i'm reminded of a quote from the wise and knowledgeable pete goldwine, who said "i wonder when in our lives 1 am will be considered late again?"

frankly, i hope it's not for a long time. until then i will continue my midnight trips to dunkin donuts, 2 medium coffees, watching hbo til 3 am, and then writing a blog entry cycle.

when i got back from dunkin donuts i turned on hbo, and there was this documentary on called "naked world" about this photographer who wanted to take artistic nude photos of people on all 7 continents (yes, including antarctica). i watched a good bit of it, namely, europe, south america, and antarctica and it really made me want to travel. how freaking cool would it be to say "i was in antarctica last month..." and conclude the tale with "then i found 20 dollars!" well anyway i thought it was cool and made it a personal semi-goal to visit all 7 continents before i die. then i walked outside to take out my contacts (the case was in the car) and looked up at the blue-black night sky and the millions of stars visible with minimal light pollution on top of a mountain. really mind-blowing. you know that insignificant feeling you get when you look up at the stars and think, "you know, one, just one, of the 20 quintillion visible stars is one trillion times as big as me. that's a million million. that's a thousand thousand thousand thousand. i am so very small..." then i thought about the extraordinary things one can do in this world, and how they are really small, then the ordinary things: the ordinary people, the ordinary faces, the ordinary jobs. how everything is relative. and i got to wondering if my existence cuold change the world. or the universe. or just one person. and i smiled and hoped.

here's wishing you and yours a happy thanksgiving. i know i have a lot to be thankful for.

ed: most of these home-bound posts were written heavily influenced by caffeine. so, i mean, don't take them too seriously. -9/5/06