BPRD

Today is International Blog Post Remembrance Day (BPRD), as declared by a 16 May proclamation (made by yours truly). As part of the "appropriate observances and activities" I have planned for myself today, I have decided to blog. How appropriate.

Let me start by saying that I originally planned to revive the lost post today. But, I am presenting my graduation project tomorrow, and that has to take priority over writing thousands of words of nonsense. So what am I doing right now? Good question. Anyways, if I finish early, I might make an attempt, but really it just went through what the first ten days of May were like for me. And by now, all of that is sooo two weeks ago.

So I'm probably going to summarize the entire month of May in one of my next few posts. But I've got to finish the senior project first. That's issue number 1. After 10:05 tomorrow morning, I'm free...from the senior project. Then I've got four AP Government projects and a graduation speech to round out the year. When will it ever end? Answer: in about 16 days.

While trying to come up with a topic for this post, I had an interesting little chat with my cousin. An excerpt follows:

TJ: btw, i've noticed your blog has slowed a bit...any reason, or just nothing to write about?
Laurel: not much to write about, and studying for finals and stuff like that,
TJ: yeah
Laurel: i think i'll have something big to write about soon though,
TJ: good - but remember, blog post remembrance day is today! seize the opportunity!
Laurel: omg
Laurel: how are blogs lost
TJ: it's complicated...
TJ: but it does happen

And just before I reminded Andrea, she was bragging about how she had updated all seven of her blogs and blog-like sites in the last 96 hours. So I suggested she update them all again today in honor of BPRD:

TJ: that's amazing
Andrea: what is?
TJ: ur updating - u should update them all again today in honor of blog post remembrance day
Andrea: ooo i should
Andrea: haha
Andrea: i don't know if i'll be able to...

And now she's frantically working to accomplish that goal before she leaves for her concert tonight. Gee, I'm evil, aren't I?

She ran the post for her main blog by me, looking for inspiration:

Andrea: so today is blog post remembrance day, and so i guess i have to post, or today would be pointless. that's all i have so far
TJ: lol
TJ: add, "so here you go, tj, are you happy?" and ur good...
TJ: anything else is gravy

And that's exactly what she did. And the answer is...yes, I'm very happy. BPRD is actually somewhat of a success this year, even though it got deleted from Wikipedia yesterday at 16:53 ET, after being up for six days. Oh, well, the world may not be ready to recognize this day, but we sure are.

And midnight is over seven hours away, so keep up with the festivities! Who knows, you might get a second post out of me today...

Proclamation

A Proclamation by the Author of Randomness

Wise people once wrote that "a blog gives you your own voice on the web." I could not agree more. However, there are some unfortunate times when those voices are stifled, namely when blog posts are lost in the depths of cyberspace. The particular post which brought this issue to my attention was entitled, "A Taste of May." It is truly sad that it had to meet such an untimely fate.

Posts such as this will not soon be forgotten. Rather, new ones will continue on in the never-ending fight for self-expression. But it is necessary to reflect upon those posts which never received the chance to fight the battle, and perhaps even to attempt to give them new life. We pray that a time may come when blog posts will no longer be lost, but alas, such a time may never come. In the meantime, we must take every opportunity to show the world that some of the worst setbacks bring out the best in our spirits.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, "TJ," author of Randomness, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the fact that I write this blog, do hereby proclaim the twenty-third day of May 2006 and all years thereafter as International Blog Post Remembrance Day. I ask that bloggers around the world mark this unofficial holiday with solemnity, as well as with appropriate observances and activities, should they choose to do so.

IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of this blog the second.

"TJ"

Yeah, I felt like being patriotic, because I vote for the first time today. Extra special thanks go out to the model for this post. And, oh yeah, I'm totally serious about this one.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, Randomness!

That's right! The blog you all know and love is turning 1 today!

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since my first post, when I said that my posts would "[have] nothing to do with anything." Well, that might have been a lie. But back then, I really didn't know what I was getting into.

So, why do I continue blogging, even though none of my local friends read it anywhere near regularly?

Maybe it's because I know that no matter what I write, someone somewhere will read it. And if I don't write, those same people will care enough to continue checking up on me, even admonishing me if nothing's getting posted. So a huge thank you goes out to the 1981 visitors that came here over the last year. Without you, I'd have no reason to continue this. Even my grandfather visited while vacationing in Ecuador!

or maybe i keep blogging b/c when im online i can ignore all standard rules of grammer and speling. But I doubt it, because I choose not to ignore them—except for the little things, of course, like starting this sentence with "but." Honestly, it doesn't seem right to write like that intentionally. I like my online presence to be as sophisticated as I like my physical presence to be, though some would argue that neither are that refined.

To tell the truth, I was slightly disappointed when I read Laurel's tiny little post regarding her blog's birthday. Now, I know she probably doesn't really care about her blog's birthday, and just found it "impressive," but I believe that this is something that should be celebrated more fully. After all, it only happens once a year. But then again, so does just about everything else.

Which brings me to the age-old question: why "Randomness"? Truly, out of all the blogs I frequent, this one seems to have the most calculated, planned, and thought out posts. So why is such a blog entitled "Randomness"? It surely wouldn't seem very random to the average reader.

Because life is random. Sometimes the weirdest little thing strikes your fancy and it ends up shaping the whole next phase of your life story. No matter how infinitesimally insignificant something may seem, it could change your life forever.

That's why I do this. To capture snapshots of life. It's just that simple.

So on this wonderful day when everyone is honoring their mothers, let us take a moment or two to honor Randomness as well. Happy birthday!

By the way, the post I lost a few days ago will be posted eventually. Please be patient; it took me forever to write it the first time around.

Arrrgh!

I had a post ready to go, so long it took me two hour-long writing sessions to write it. It was glorious. Like at least three thousand words, maybe four.

And when I went to save a draft to make sure I wouldn't lose it, the library computer (named Grumpy) decided to reset its connection and time out. Long story short, when I clicked the back button, everything I worked on today was gone.

So, you'll just have to wait a little longer! Sorry.

May Madness 2006

May is finally here, which, among other things, means that I need to start relying on caffeine to get up in the mornings...at least through the end of the school year. Seriously, though. Over the last four weeks, I have not adjusted well to Daylight Saving Time. This might be partly because of my schedule; dinner isn't usually until 19:30 or 20:00, and the sun doesn't set until later. I go through the entire day thinking it's earlier than it actually is...including thinking that waking up at 06:30 is earlier than it actually is.

On top of that, my neck has really been giving me problems lately, and I was prescribed some medicine to help with it in the short-term. The bad news is it can make people drowsy. That definitely includes me. I took it Sunday morning right before church. By the time the sermon rolled around, I noticed I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So I closed them. I really don't think I missed much of it, but I know I zoned out for about 30 seconds at a time. Oh, well. God will forgive me.

I ended up sleeping most of Sunday afternoon, as a combined result of the medicine and me just being tired. I took it again today, and actually got through a day of school. However, my neck felt the same. It's funny how the medicine worked really well yesterday, but hardly at all today. Maybe it's because I took it with Pepsi this morning. The stimulant in the caffeine might have countered the effects of the depressant in the medicine.

In that case, what will I do? I can't spend the next few weeks of school practically zonked out, especially with the mayhem that the Advanced Placement (AP) tests will bring. As if taking three AP tests in the next two weeks isn't going to be stressful enough, now I have to worry about staying awake for their entire duration. Yay...

Speaking of staying awake, the induction ceremony for the National Honor Society (NHS) was this afternoon. Although, when you're on the stage it's not so boring. But I bet there were a few closed eyes in the auditorium. Needless to say, I managed to stay awake, regardless of any drug-induced tiredness I was experiencing. And I didn't embarrass myself in front of the whole school this year. Nope; I made sure someone else got that responsibility this time around...

Now despite the fact that we need a school-wide assembly for a "ceremony" with candles and everything, NHS is not a cult, no matter what you think! Even some of our members were thinking the ceremony was a bit cultish, and, well, maybe it is. Anyways, we got to welcome all ten of the new inductees (not quite 100 like Bethel Park), and after the general student population was dismissed we went right into our regular meeting, getting the inductees in the swing of community service.

The major charity fundraising campaign for NHS this year is "May Madness 2006," which benefits the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania. It will follow the same format as last year's very successful campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We raised $1347.87 for them in three weeks' time. We're doing an entire month for the food bank.

Interestingly enough, our speaker for the NHS induction was the executive director of the Second Harvest Food Bank. Hmm...I'm starting to notice a pattern...

Anyways, on top of that, on 13 May I'll be participating with the 14th Annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, which is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Anything collected in our ZIP code is given directly to my church's food pantry, which ordinarily gets most of its food from (you guessed it) the Second Harvest Food Bank. Last year, we collected over 3300 pounds of food.

As an aside, I hope Jay and Craig start blogging again. They missed the entire month of April. Boo.

And no, I don't know if I'm going to prom or not this year. My entire family has been bugging me non-stop, especially this weekend, which really irked me because I couldn't see the person I asked until today, so what could I have done about it then? And then she was absent today, so now I've got to deal with another day of my mother literally panicking about the uncertainty of my plans for 19 May. I guess my grandparents are coming up that evening; they want to know if I'll be joining them for dinner. And I had to tell them I don't know. So, yeah, I've got to find out soon; the clock is ticking...

Speaking of clocks ticking, I've only got 38 days left as a high school student. But I've really got to finish that whole senior project thing. Actually, that's my major project for tonight. I'll blog again later; in the meantime, don't worry about me.