As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain

Walk-a-thon was today! It was pretty good. It was also pretty cold. And pretty leaves and their pretty colors. Also, pretty fun. I walked at the front the whole time. Except for when Mr. Wright decided he'd jog for like 15 minutes from where we turned around all the way back to the place we ate lunch. He's crazy. Not really. He's super cool. When we first started walking, TJ and Josh and I discussed last night's episode of The Office. Michael and Dwight sitting out in a restauraunt parking lot on Dwight's car imitating and making fun of Ryan was great. And Michael calling Angela "booster seat". I love that so much. "Phyllis. This is a spoon. It has a round top and is used for scooping." And then we talked about our favorite episodes and deleted scenes and stuff. And TJ said that asking what your favorite episode of The Office is like asking what the favorite part of your life was. Hah. It's great having people in real life who are as excited about things as you are. And TJ really likes The Colbert Report. I've told him about and am going to make him a dvd of all the Even Stephvens. Because those things are so dang awesome. And then we walked more. I'm going to start each new paragraph-like section with "and". It's fun. I talked to Mr. Wright and Mandy and Kristen V a bunch. And at our second break, we got M&Ms. And we kept throwing them in the air and catching them in our mouths. And then we threw them to TJ to catch. Some were at him instead. I felt like I was feeding a dog. It was fun. And this year, the walking seemed super short. Which is ok, I guess. I didn't feel sore at all, not even after sitting on the bus for a half hour and getting up again. But now my legs feel stiff and sore-ish. But it's fine. This was our class's last Walk-a-thon ever. How sad. I think I've been on fifteen of them. Fifteen or sixteen. I think fifteen. The junior high girls have a volleyball tournament tomorrow. I wonder how they'll feel then. Sore.

Michael? This is stupid.

TMBG are gonna be on Ferguson?? I didn't know! And two songs? Sooo awesome. Sweet. The Office! Holy gosh! So, so so great. Amazing. Spoiler. I feel so bad for Dwight. Way worse than I ever had for Jim or Pam. This was much much better than the premiere. I can't wait to discuss it tomorrow in Bible with Josh and TJ and people. 1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? A friend of my parents. 2 . WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? During highschool retreat. 3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I love my writing in all caps. Usually. People say I write messily though. 4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I never get to eat salami, but it is my favorite. That and pepperoni. 5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Seven of them. 6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so, because we would like the same things. We would have a ton to talk about. It'd be great to have me as a friend. I would get annoyed by my correctiveness sometimes maybe though. 7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I never, ever do. Not once in my life. 8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes. I got strep throat all the time when I was younger though. 9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? If other people/my friends were doing it then too, probably. But it's not something I'd go off and do on a whim. 11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Never. I only untie them to adjust their tightness/looseness, if it gets screwed up, which is normally after someone else wears them. 12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes. In an all around way. Arm strength as in push ups or pull ups, no. 13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP! No. Not really. I like plain vanilla. With peanut butter. 14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? I gauge how much of a jerk they are/aren't. Their hands. And eyes. 15. RED OR PINK? I don't really like either color. But red. 16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? How I can't look at people when I talk to them. 17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? The seniors!! 18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I'm only sending it to Abby, and she has already filled it out. (Ignore these type questions. I don't want to go back and take them out and have to renumber the whole thing.) 19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I have on jeans. No shoes. Just socks. 20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Taco Bell. Specifically, their cinnamon twists. 21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My fingers typing this sentence. In like 30 seconds, the wonderful sounds of The Office. 22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Dark blue. I don't know why. It's a good color; solid. Not stupid. 24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? I wish cellphones would die. Hate them. People use them way too much. Um. A college caller person trying to get me to go there. 25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Eh. She's ok. 26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Basketball. Not girls' so much though. And volleyball. 27. HAIR COLOR? I don't know what it is. Used to be strawberry blonde, or something. Ask people, and they'd tell you red. 28. EYE COLOR? Blue. 29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. The thought of putting things in your eye that could possibly get stuck in there does not sit well with me. 30. FAVORITE FOOD? I like the majority of it. Probably Mexican. Not Chinese. 31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I don't care much if an ending is happy or not, so long as goes along with whatever it should be. Scary movies are fine. Haven't seen that many. 32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Oh, I don't know. This is actually a hard question. I can't remember. 33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING ? Blue. 3 on 3 Tourney and Final Four Bash one from 2006. 34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter. Heat is evil. 35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs. 36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Ice cream cake is awesome. Most deserts are. 37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? No one. 38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone. 39. WHAT BOOK(S) ARE YOU READING NOW? I just finished reading The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture and Anti-Gravity. And Yukon Ho!. Am reading the 10th anniversary Calvin and Hobbes collection. And very soon, a book report book, hopefully about Hugh Laurie. 40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Thomas Kincaid painting. 41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Just part of Kid Nation. I can't believe they let that kid walk up to that bull cow thing like that. 42. FAVORITE SOUND? Clicking retractible pens. 43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles. 44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Kansas. There's no place like it. 45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Drawing mazes. I am good at most everything. Not driving or knowing how to get from one place to another or mowing though. 46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Elyria.

I have a tiny bit of sunburn.

Kara and Abby and my mom and dad and Uncle Scott went to Apple Hill, which is an orchard and a bunch of other stuff like hay mazes and animals and pumpkins and a store and booths and food. We picked a bunch of apples. And I took pictures. And got visciously scratched by an apple tree. It was fun. Not the scratch. Then we went back to their house. And I made Jess a facebook account. My sister and I play the New Super Mario Bros Mario vs Luigi game all the time. Very fun. I beat her 95% of the time. The Office premiere was ok. Not, like, one of the best episodes ever. But ok. I am so totally getting a Support the Rabid rubber bracelet. And a WristStrong. I will be the most awesomest geeky person ever. Am gonna buy I Am America (And So Can You!) too. I got a Calvin and Hobbes book, Yukon Ho! at the book fair thing at school. And the fourth Artemis Fowl book.

HOUSE/GUITAR FTW!

That is all.

And.

The Emmys are tomorrow. TDS, TCR, The Office, House, Barry Manilow. Yay. HUGH LAURIE IS ON LENO THE 21ST! ED HELMS IS ON CONAN THE 27TH! And The Office hour-long premiere!

I got them at a fancier place. Target.

Tons of stuff. From Target. The Office stuff. Dwight head stress ball. Coffee mugs. Lots of paper products. And magnets. Also pens and pencils. Mechanical ones. Sam just randomly appeared in the gym during junior high volleyball practice yesterday. Very awesome. Good to see him. He's working at Camp Patmos for a week. Neato. The junior high team was in this "Friendship Tournament" today. With two other teams. Only we split up into two different teams as did Lake Ridge. Open Door did not. Many games. We had to be at LR at 8:00 in the morning. Not very fun. Even though I accidentally fell asleep at 10 PM on Friday. I think each team played five games. Something like that. They had two courts at the same time; the gym wasn't wide enough for the girls to serve from the actual serving line, which was about two feet from the wall on one side. I mostly watched. Was slightly perturbed at having gotten up so early for mostly nothing. But for two of the last games, I did the scorebook for the people. And Eveline flipped the little score-keeper-flap things. Eveline is cool and also a foreign exchange student from Brazil that is in my class and lives with the Warkentiens and is staying for six months. I'm waiting for The House That Hugh Laurie Built and I Am America (And So Can You). And, apparently, The Paper Soldier. At least I hope so. I'm reading the book of Andrew Keen, who was on The Colbert Report a monthish ago. The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture. He is very annoying and mostly wrong and extremely arrogant/retarded. And he keeps calling internet people "monkeys" and "noble amateurs". Only in a sarcastic tone. Stupid man. I want to punch him. In the eye/tooth. I have been watching too much of The Office.

Jon Stewart <3

" Good evening and welcome to "The Daily Show." We are back. This is our first show since the tragedy in New York City. There is no other way really to start this show than to ask you at home the question that we've asked the audience here tonight and that we’ve asked everybody that we know here in New York since September 11th, and that is, "Are you okay?" We pray that you are and that your family is. I’m sorry to do this to you. It’s another entertainment show beginning with an overwrought speech of a shaken host. TV is nothing, if not redundant. So, I apologize for that. It’s something that unfortunately, we do for ourselves so that we can drain whatever abscess is in our hearts and move onto the business of making you laugh, which we really haven’t been able to do very effectively lately. Everyone’s checked in already, I know we’re late. I’m sure we’re getting in right under the wire before the cast of "Survivor" offers their insight into what to do in these situations. They said to get back to work. There were no jobs available for a man in the fetal position under his desk crying, which I would have gladly taken. So I came back here. Tonight’s show is obviously not a regular show. We looked through the vaults, we found some clips that we thought might make you smile, which is really what’s necessary, I think, right about now. A lot of folks have asked me, "What are you going to do when you get back? What are you going to say?" I mean, what a terrible thing to have to do. I don’t see it as a burden at all. I see it as a privilege. I see it as a privilege and everyone here does see it that way. The show in general, we feel like is a privilege. Just even the idea that we can sit in the back of the country and make wise cracks, which is really what we do. We sit in the back and we throw spitballs, but never forgetting the fact that is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that. This is a country that allows for open satire, and I know that sounds basic and it sounds as though it goes without saying - but that’s really what this whole situation is about. It’s the difference between closed and open. It’s the difference between free and burdened, and we don’t take that for granted here by any stretch of the imagination, and our show has changed. I don’t doubt that. What it’s become, I don’t know. "Subliminable" is not a punch line anymore. One day it will become that again, and Lord willing, it will become that again because that means we have ridden out the storm. But the main reason that I wanted to speak tonight is not to tell you what the show is going to be. Not to tell you about all the incredibly brave people that are here in New York and in Washington and around the country. But we’ve had an unenduring pain here - an unendurable pain. I wanted to tell you why I grieve, but why I don’t despair…I’m sorry. Luckily we can edit this. One of my first memories is of Martin Luther King being shot. I was five and if you wonder if this feeling will pass…When I was five, he was shot. Here’s what I remember about it. I was in a school in Trenton. They shut the lights off and we got to sit under our desks and we thought that was really cool and they gave us cottage cheese, which was a cold lunch because there was rioting, but we didn’t know that. We just thought that “My God. We get to sit under our desks and eat cottage cheese.” That’s what I remember about it. That was a tremendous test of this country’s fabric and this country’s had many tests before that and after that. The reason I don’t despair is because this attack happened. It’s not a dream. But the aftermath of it, the recovery is a dream realized. And that is Martin Luther King's dream. Whatever barriers we've put up are gone even if it's momentary. We're judging people by not the color of their skin but the content of their character. You know, all this talk about "These guys are criminal masterminds. They’ve gotten together and their extraordinary guile…and their wit and their skill." It's a lie. Any fool can blow something up. Any fool can destroy. But to see these guys, these firefighters, these policemen and people from all over the country, literally, with buckets rebuilding. That's extraordinary. That's why we've already won. It's light. It's democracy. We've already won. They can't shut that down. They live in chaos and chaos…it can't sustain itself. It never could. It's too easy and it's too unsatisfying. The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center and now it's gone. They attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can't beat that. So we're going to take a break and I'm going to stop slobbering on myself and on the desk. We’re going to get back to this. It's gonna be fun and funny and it's going to be the same as it was and I thank you. We'll be right back. " - Jon Stewart, The Daily Show - September 20, 2001