a book review: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Read this over break. It's an excellent and exciting story, and the movie adaptation is just as good; perhaps better. Velociraptors are to be feared as a pack of leopards who have been imbued with the agility of mongoose, the ferocity of a wolverine, and the diabolical intelligence of a chimp.

You lose details and some character development when you translate a book into a movie, just because everything has to be done with visuals and dialogue, but in some ways the movie version smooths out flaws in Crichton's story. Crichton builds things up tremendously well until the tipping point where the fat guy starts making trouble and the visitors break down right next to the T-rex enclosure, who can now get out because the electrical fences are out. But then his story starts breaking down.

He is able to keep you interested enough to keep reading, but it is like he tries too hard to do so. After the kids and Dr. Grant get stuck out in the woods with no choice but to walk back through dangerous dinosaur-island, and everything else starts going to crap, there begins weak danger-at-every-turn writing. They have so many near misses with the Tyrannosaur that it becomes cheesy.

In this way the film takes the upper hand. The movie is exciting and you feel the danger, but it doesn't break down into cheap action-film writing. (At least not as bad as the book does.) A small detail that I find irksome in the book is that it is specifically listed the 15 dinosaur species that the island's geneticists re-engineer, and then later a 16th species is running around. It is like the author just wanted filler, to take the place of squirrels as mild, chittering creatures, and forgot the rules of his own story.

All in all, my favorite character in the story is Ian Malcolm: the brilliant chaos theory mathematician who wears all black and has the cynical (and he turns out correct) view that the very concept of the park teeters on the brink of disaster. The story of a Dinosaur Park, and the way it falls apart because of the problem with attempting something within the scope of scientific possibility but beyond the scope of what humans can or should try to control, is an exciting and enjoyable one.

It should be noted that in the movie Mr. Hammond (the old rich guy who starts the park) is portrayed as a lively, happy old man. In the book where we get more insight into his character, it is seen that he is a foolish old man who tries to overstep what should be done just because it can be done so as to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. Then his idea is to keep them under control in his park so that he can make billions on the novelty. His pride and desire for riches get the better of him, and in the end his dinosaurs eat him.

Christmas Break Update

Ah, Christmas.

As the season winds down and we realize that in less than a week a new year will be upon us, I'm sure eager blog readers everywhere are asking themselves, what are those Willard boys up to?

Well my friends, let me provide some much needed info for your curious hearts.

John Carr received gifts from friends and family the other morning, then spent his afternoon in a local pawn shop selling all of them for what meager prices he could manage, in order to fight the felony case against him in the sorry state of North Carolina for driving too fast. John has a warrant out in North Cackalacky for going 80 in a 55. However, if any young bounty hunters are looking for a easy catch, be wary, John can be hardcore.

Sam is enjoying a quiet Christmas in the mountains of Fishersville, VA. Bruce and Nancy Bowman are pleased to have their only son home, and are sure to participate in many heartwarming family activities with Sam such as, but not limited to, hunting, cooking, cleaning, singing, dancing, hiking, coloring, talking, playing monopoly, healing sick animals, doing work for the city of Staunton, and taking family photos.

Jeremy doesn't celebrate Christmas, in the North, they have rallies where they burn Christmas trees, wrapping papers, and Santa Claus effigies. Yankees...

During the break, Doug will most likely spend the holidays preparing himself for the long trail ahead of him on the Appalachain trail. Additionally, Doug will be honing up on his math skills for his future profession as a high school math teacher. For Christmas, Doug asked for inspirational posters with cats and other animals on them for his classroom. These posters have phrases like "Hang in there!" with cats doing a pull up, or "come out of your shell!" with turtles rolling around on the ground. They're great.

Evan is out hunting a deer right now in order to feed the men of Willard on their trip to New York. He also may be dabbling in building green eco-friendly igloos in the snow.

Jackson is laying on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean right now probably, with his brother Tyler Strawn rubbing lotion on his back, reading a library book picked out by his mother, Susan Strawn. Jackson has been cruisin around on the ocean and stopping in tropical lands such as Jamaica, Barbados, and Florida.

Joe "DADDY" Danehower, is Broin it out in Chantilly, Virginia. kickin it old school with Josh and Jamie Danehower, the J-Danes (as they're affectionately called around the neighborhood.) are hanging out with their tiny Russian friend who visits them at Christmas. Her name is Elaina I believe, but no one has met her yet. I expect to be introduced when the Willard boys visit on December 30th, 2010.

Myself? I been chillin out ya dig? worked at the Y one day, took a trip from San Antonio to Chesapeake, spent a night at the Orphanage with JT, Ba, ScottyCam, and Josh last night. Now I'm plannin on chillin out till I leave for NY in two days.

well my friends, its been real and its been good, and its been real good.

<3's
James Crockett Harris III

white christmas anyone?

Merry CHRISTmas everone!

D. thinks:

about death a lot. Sure, life is good. But it isn't good enough to really satisfy. What I really want is beyond this. What I really want is Jesus.

I have dreams. I want to hike the Appalachian Trail, and be a high school math teacher one day. I want to live in Colorado. I want to marry a woman, and love her. I'd like to have children with her, and love them. But I'm not holding onto these dreams. When my God says to me "Come here, now", I won't look back. There won't be anything to look back to.

So please, my friends, don't live your life for this life. There is nothing here.

To hell with the American Dream. The only retirement I am saving for is the great Sabbath rest at the end of all things. And I am trying to get 6 solid days of work in 'till then.

Yes, I love life. But God is way better than life. I love him more.

Break.

family, friends, and foes,

on the behalf of the willard house we would like to wish you a happy holiday season. you are probably thinking, oh thats sweet jackson, we hope you have a happy holiday season as well, what all are you going to be doing over break? well since you asked, ill tell...



currently over break, to be honest, i have not done much. i had gotten a call from honey baked ham a week ago asking me to report for the holiday season, however, when they found out that their loyal employee would not be able to work on christmas eve they thought it was only fair not to give me any hours. yes i am bitter. with that being said, continue to buy there hams, they are delicious. after realizing that i would not be working i had to find something to do all day rather than just be a bum around the house. and i have struggled with that. my days have consisted of reading, watching tv, and yea thats it. not that im complaining, but i would like to find something to do. and no i promise i will not be doing this all break long. for years my mom has dreamed of spending christmas on a cruise ship somewhere in the middle of the ocean. after years of begging, we are finally doing just that. on wednesday morning at 5am my family and i will drive to richmond to board an airplane to fly to flo-rida where we will hop in the ship. ironically the movie titanic was on the other night and i caught myself watching it. it doesnt help that my name is jack as well. we will be cruising for 5 days in which one of those days we will be in the bahamas and another day in jamaica. i have never been on a cruise before so im pretty unsure on what people actually do. one would assume there is fun stuff to do on a cruise ship. i often view cruises for old people or small children. maybe i will have a taste of both of those lives this week. speaking of old people...



im not that big if fan of the show survivor but i often catch myself watching the 2 hour finale they have at the end of the season. the whole concept of the show is intriguing. however, im skeptical on how much they endure the harsh reality of living in the wild. someone once told me that wherever they stay there is always like a resort on the other side of the "uncharted island". with that being said, the theme of this season was old people vs young people. one of the old people on the show was jimmy johnson who is an ex nfl coach and player. he is 67 years old. now why would a 67 year old dude what to be on survivor? your guess is as good as mine. but i was reading this book the other day that said, "youth is not a period of time. it is a state of mind." with a majority of us being in college we face the reality of "growing up" everyday we wake up (ex. doug just graduated and john turned 20 today). and i would argue that like peter pan we dont have to grow older if we dont want to. just like jimmy j wanted to compete against people under half his age for a million bucks he didnt need. as most of us spend this holiday season at home, or on a cruise, and act as if christmas isnt cool anymore, lets allow ourselves to change and become like little children and have some fun. i love you all and will hopefully have pictures from the cruise to share.

final note:
"you will remain young as long as you are open to what is beautiful, good, and great; receptive to the messages of other men and women, of nature and God."

announcement:
the willard house will be going to new york city to ring in the new year. if you dont have any plans and would love to come hop on the bandwagon. dont ask questions, just come. and yes snooki will be there inside the ball and mike "the situation" and dj pauly d will be there leading us in setting the world record for most people fist pumping at once in one location.

love,
jackson

Winter Break

I apologize for the break between posts, four days, my goodness. That's unacceptable. In fact, it's so unacceptable that I highly recommend you send hate emails and facebook messages to my roommates. I understand the error of my ways, but they need reinforcement so a break like this never happens again.

Everybody finished up their first semester exams today, and are considering heading home for the holidays. The Lebaron doesn't like snow however, so tomorrow, John Carr, myself and my cousin Conner will hit the long road back to Chesapeake.

It's a quiet evening at the Willard house tonight, we're all feeling pretty exhausted after a hard week of studying, so we're kickin' back playing supersmash and having light hearted discussions over a cup of tea.

Or are we?

What was a quiet evening at home with a couple freshmen bros quickly turned into some wild and willard activity here at the house. Let's take a look at what all the individuals did tonight...

Before the evening started, all of the residents except for Evan, Sam and Joe went to PK's to attempt winning some free pizza. I (James) always call the shots (literally) during the Tijuana Toss. THis is a game where after you eat pizzas a quarter is tossed for each one individually, if you guess the correct side, you get the pizza FOR FREE. I went a dismal 1/3 tonight, but I blame it on the girl tossing, who after I won the first toss, dropped the quarter on the floor. This threw off my groove and is what I consider dirty playing on PKS.

John and Jeremy- After sitting watching some vids on youtube, these two hooligans were persuaded by Renee, Rachel, and ASF to go sled illegally on the golf course with Craig Sweeny "Todd". John did this because he indulges in "stickin it to the man" and Jeremy did it in hopes of seeing what fun was, something that does not exist in the blasphemous north.

Doug is off at the residence of Dehart, playing Settlers of Cataan, a board game I'm sure you are all familiar with. Probably winning by this time, Doug is known for his hardnosed playing style and slight of hand tricks that keep all other Canaan contestants on their toes.

Sam and Joe are spending time with their girlfriends, Eliza and Claire respectively, at their apartment in Pheasant Run, I believe the girls cooked them spaghetti for dinner. Though details remain unconfirmed.

Evan is meandering around the house, reading and enjoying his newfound freedom from the harsh demands of mother academia, who has kept her heel hard on his windpipe all semester.

Jackson and myself had adventures.


Well my friends, this concludes another blog of the Willard home, I wish you a Merry Christmas Season. Check back soon for Christmas break updates from each of the guys individually. And to all a goodnight.

<3's
James Crockett Harris III

Date Night.

here at the willard house 5 out of the 8 roommates currently have girlfriends. however, the other three, doug, jeremy, and myself are single. tonight, three of the willard men went on dates so i figured it was only appropriate to blog about this occurrence.

first on the ballot is single man himself jeremy aaron mateyk. this 19 year old sophomore was recently part of the "white elephant" game played at our final young life leadership of the semester. jeremy however was not a participant, but a gift. this gift included a night out on the town with this handsome stud. the winner of this gift happened to be 20 year old rachel allison myers who resides at the hassel house. jeremy picked rachel up at approximately 7:05 pm (fashionably late) in a white subaru which happens to be even underwood's. jeremy and rachel went to macados, a local restaurant that is known for its amazing cuisine. after a wonderful dinner, jeremy dropped rachel back off at hassel before returning to the willard complex. when questioned how the date went, jeremy simply replied, "it was fun, we got to know each other." successful date number one.

next up on the ballot is samuel jacob bowman. samuel has been dating eliza craymer who resides in pheasant run for almost a year now. sam often woos eliza with spectacular dates out on the town. sam is very creative. with that being said, sam decided to keep it simple tonight with a little trip to the christiansburg cold stone. they figured ice cream was a perfect choice on this nippy december evening. little did they know that jeremy and i had decided to spy on their date. jeremy and i followed sam to pheasant run where he picked up eliza and two mystery characters. while on the highway jeremy and i identified one of these mystery characters as claire pendelton waldrop. jeremy and i decided to wait outside cold stone in evans car while the four went into cold stone. soon enough the other mystery character was identified as kylie gaylen. they were actually going to visit katy campbell, who is a friend of all of ours. while in the car jeremy and i dodged alex caporale and sam ross, they almost noticed us. when finally exiting the creamery sam, eliza, kylie, and claire noticed us. a couple words were exchanged before jeremy and i made the haul back to blacksburg.

on the final ballot is james crockett harris the third. james and his new girlfriend allie golden who resides in "new res", an on campus establishment. they have been baking cookies in the kitchen while i sit in the lodge writing this blog. awkward? i think not. they are now exchanging gifts in the family room. james just admitted to finding one of the christmas gifts allie had gotten for him in her room weeks ago. what a heart throb. allie also just got james overalls. i approve. is it weird that im giving a minute by minute update on their christmas exchange? maybe. but im ok with it.

the end is near

My college experience is in her death throes. Two final gasps and she'll be dead.
I have loved parts, but I will not mourn her departure. It's about time.

Good luck on finals everyone.

Studying.

Yesterday was reading day. Unfortunately, I am still reading about European Civilization after 1500. If you have never had to study this abominable subject, heed this warning. Do not ever study this. It sucks. My apologies to any avid European history fans reading this current blog.

I am not studying in Willard tonight, but rather on the second floor of New Res. My friend Phillip Pollman is across from me eating rice(he's half asian)and Allie is next to me acting like she's studying.

In an effort to avoid studying, I have decided to take guesses on what the other members of the Willard household are doing at this moment at 2:03 a.m.

Doug- probable sleeper. Early to bed, early to rise, makes this man bearded, rested, and wise.

John Carr- Talking to Stef on the phone? Stef doesn't need to sleep at night, because she is a fan of taking spontaneous naps during the day. Plus, Kansas is a few hours behind the rest of the world, so it's only one oclock there. An hour ago they were a day behind. Think about it.

Samuel Bowman- Sitting on the front porch.

Evan- probable sleeper number 2. Evan got worn out today by dressing up in a full Santa outfit for high schoolers. Strange.

Jackson Strawn- Last known whereabouts were in our fashionable study (formerly my own room) watching videos of some dude in plaid dress up in different costumes and talk about world regions. Great use of study time.

Jeremy Mateyk- Sleep possible. Could be watching Top Gear, which I believe is a British Show like mythbusters with cars. Most probable however, is that Jeremy is in his room creating plans to plunge the South into an economic depression. Jeremy is from the North and has a hatred for the South that is hard for most to comprehend. The anger he has at them for being the kind, loving people they are is frightening at times. Therefore, he came to school in the south to spy on our superior culture in hopes of undermining it to raise the North to its inappropriate place of glory.

Joe Danehower- Yesterday, Joe set the current Willard record for going 36 hours without sleep, and then playing basketball in Christiansburg. We're still unsure why Joe achieved this goal, but we rooted him on anyway. Because of this lack of sleep, there is a slight chance, however unlikely, that he is currently asleep. More likely however is that he is 1. hanging out with Claire "Claudia" Waldrop or 2. Honing his skills in the N64 smash hit game "Super Smash Bros." in hopes that he will be able to defeat me one day.

I hope that this has sated your appetite for a Willard update, however I would not put too much reliance on my guesses. There is a good chance that they are all completely, totally, wrong.

Evan Thomas.

Well, the much anticipated post by Sam has come. It has taken me quite a while to find a topic worthy of my first post... and I am still not sure if this will entirely live up to the expectations I hope to attain. I want to talk about my first meetings with everyone in the house and my relationships with them now. I am going to do this in a series of 7 posts, and hope that you all await with abated breath for each subsequent one.
I will start from the first and journey to the last.

First and Foremost.

Evan Thomas Underwood. E-dawg (as i affectionately refer to him from time to time) and I met as young punks at Stuarts Draft Middle School... a glorious time in my life filled with cussing, inappropriate humor, and skateboarding.... kinda similar to me at this moment now that I think about it. For the reader's enjoyment I wanedt to show you a video of Evan and I from our freshman year of high school... there are like 15 but unfortunately they are mostly inappropriate. If you'd like to see them, just ask :)


Anyways, Evan and I have been through it all together. Laughter, from when I was caught mooning him in 7th grade Pre-algebra to late nights at She-sha. Pain, from the time his dad backed over my foot with his car to the time we went backpacking and Evan chipped his tooth... hilarious. (See Photo Below)
But Evan and I's relationship goes past those times of late-night laughs and hilarity. We were together when one of our best friends died in a car accident junior year. We have witnessed each others lives changed from freshman punks to men who love the Lord as sophomores in college.
Evan is a man I respect incredibly. He is one of my deepest, truest, and most valuable friends. He will always support me, will always push me, and always love me.
Many of you may not know Evan, so I will give you a little breakdown. Evan is a lover of the outdoors. He loves to hunt, fish, snowboard, and skateboard. He loves the solace of the wilderness. The solidarity of the woods. Evan is one who isn't afraid to walk his own path. He is fine with a weekend by himself, sometimes, he prefers it. He reads. He writes. When he thinks something is really funny he laughs, closes his eyes, and kicks his feet. When he sleeps he flicks his foot, and is VERY hard to wake up. He is deep. A well of wisdom and a yearning for learning more. He is a hard worker, someone who doesn't stop until he does the best that he can. He is a giver. The definition of it. He is a man I can walk to in any mood and know that I will be appreciated, loved, and delighted in. He is a man that, if I called his name for help, he would destroy any and all barriers in his way to come to my side. And he is man that I would die for.
There is something incredible about being so close to a friend that he is a brother. Not only is Evan my brother in Christ, but he is my brother in a different sense. He is not "one of my friends from high school" or "one of my college bros". Evan is the one, and only, man that will have been evident and present in both those stages of my life. We will share a bond that I cannot share with anyone else. Evan knows where I came from. He knows my roots. He has seen me at the height of my anger (one of the only people to see that) and he has seen me in the pits of grief when Evanne died. He has seen me dead, before I met Christ, and he has seen me alive, a follower of Christ. Many people define friends as "gold", or college friends, and "silver", high school friends. Evan surpasses that. Evan is a "diamond"; infinitely valuable. Evan will, and forever will be, my best friend.

Shenanigans

an update on the game shenanigans...

- evan underwood stated last night at approximately 9:30 pm that he was going to buy me 15 boxes of captain crunch berries (he had eaten my entire box while i was away for the weekend). with no choice, i shouted shenanigans at the top of my lungs. evan then took off for the nearest kroger where he was only able to buy 4 boxes because the employees of this certain food mart would only sell him that many. while bagging the cereal the casheer told him, "enjoy your lifetime supply of captain crunch berries." and indeed i will. love ya evan.

Weekend Update

It's a blistery, wintry day to not have heat.

Here in the Willard home, we are being consigned to wear hats and beanies inside. sweatshirts and jackets are becoming the norm. What am I wearing? Wool socks and long johns, also known as thermal underwear. Simply Toasty. well actually, my toes are a bit frosted, but that is besides the point. Anyway, we're struggling in the house to survive this bitter blizzard, and hope that help comes soon, in the form of the handy man our lovely landlord Mike Powell is sending to us. Come soon handy man. Come soon.

In other Willard news, Jackson has made it safely back from Rockbridge this weekend, after a snowy time at camp, he retired to the bosom of the house where he was feelin pretty schmungry. Then he had the nerve to come and ask to borrow my car. Some lame excuse about how his battery was dead and he was hungry. I say if you're that hungry you can walk yourself to owens and not complain. Being the giver I am though, after much griping I relented and handed him the keys to a practically brand new, 1992 Chrysler LeBaron.

Doug is currently making popcorn garlands for our two trees, while dancing in the kitchen. This takes massive amounts of skill, because he is working with a needle while doing the one, two step.

Joe is with his wonderful girlfriend Claire. I think...

Evan just finished writing his first blog after two hours of work. I'm sure it is hilarious.

Sam is trapped in the snow somewhere in Rockbridge, whereabouts unknown. We may send out a search party, but we trust Sam's hunting and tracking skills enough that he will be able to find his way back to Blacksburg, with highschoolers in tow.

John is wandering around the house grumbling about how cold it is and that fact that he is a wanted criminal in the not so speedy state of North Carolina.

Jeremy is enjoying the snow. NOT. He's studying parabolas and other mathematical nuisances.

Me? I am writing this blog and pissing KT Surratt off, because we are supposed to have started planning campaigners about twenty six minutes ago. So I must conclude
the writing now, in order to save myself physical pain.

<3's

James C. Harris III

A Couple Succesful Harvests...

Hello all,

Evan here to fill you in on some of the recent occurrences in the Willard community at large. The writer of this blog has long been a lover of the natural world and of the sports, and thus, engages in various outdoors activities including but not limited to hunting and fishing. Naturally, the writer wished for his college experience to include these said activities, and fortunately for the writer (and as the reader will soon learn, the Willard community as a whole), Mike Powell, Willard Landlord, has graciously welcomed us onto his land outside of Blacksburg to hunt and to fish.

Over the past couple of months, the writer, and various other members of the Willard community have been making trips out to Mike's property to, of course, engage in fishing, camping, and firing weaponry, but also with the hopes of seeing and perhaps harvesting game. Alex Norton and the writer have spent the last few months making two trips a week, usually early in the morning, with hopes of making deer and or turkey harvests. The season started off a bit slow for us, we were seeing mostly squirrels and happened to see a fox, but the deer and turkey of the land managed to allude our sights. It was not till the second Saturday of muzzle-loading season (the first two weeks before regular riffle season opens) that the we were able to claim our first deer. Alex Norton calls the writer at approximately 815 on that morning, after the reader heard Alex shoot 4 times, claiming that he thinks he hit a buck! After some stressful tracking, the group did indeed come to learn that Alex Norton had taken down a 7 point buck. The writer feels it necessary to mention that this was only Alex's 2nd time hunting in his life, and to harvest a nice buck this soon in ones hunting career is kind of a big deal. Congratulations Norton.

However, the season was, and still is, far from over. A few more hunting trips were made, all the while wildlife being seen, but no additional harvests were able to be made. Leland Pearson, John Leonard, and Josh Moehrle made it out to the property to enjoy the outdoors, fire weaponry and to catch trout. And eventually, we were able to claim victory once again. The final day of riffle season was upon us, and Adam Underwood and Kyle Lamers traveled out to the property with us. The morning was terribly windy and the wildlife did not seem to be moving, so Norton and the writer chose to try and move deer around by walking through the woods. It was decided that Norton would try and walk through an area know to be holding deer, in hopes of pushing the deer out for the writer to perhaps get a shot at. However, in the process of doing so, Norton, once again calling the writer on his radio soon after shots fired, claimed to have shot another deer. Alex Norton would now be the happy harvester of 2 deer in his premier season.

Unfortunately, and with regret, the reader has not yet been able to make a harvest on the season. However, the writer must say that he has been extremely thankful for the opportunity to be out in the woods with good friends sharing good times that are certainly irreplaceable. There is something to be said about being able to be out there where everything else seems to stop and nature takes over. There is something to be said about waking up with the animals and being out there, free and alive.

May we all come to see what is around us with new eyes and hear with new ears. May we enjoy the simplicity of watching and listening to all that is. May we appreciate life and the beauty of a cold Saturday morning in a tree-stand.

Peace,
Evan

These are pictures of Norton's harvests (perhaps he should be giving the writer lessons?)

Pictures from the season

Today, Joe "Daddy" Dane, Jeremy "North" Mateyk, and James "Good Lookin" Harris, and John "Angry Bird" Carr, woke up and had a lovely breakfast of pancakes cooked by Joe this morning (well afternoon, we all woke up post 12oclock) After this lovely breakfast, we decided to go Christmas Tree shopping in the local Blacksburg Community. After haggling fiercely for prices, we strapped our newly acquired seven foot tree on the roof of the Lebaron, and made our way to shop for decorations. Again haggling with the Walmart employees for prices, we were able to get some simply delightful decorations and take the fresh pine back home where we spent the afternoon decorating and playfully running throw the snow. Tis the season to decorate for Christmas. Currently, the Men are sitting around the fire, some reading, some on their laptops, others just enjoying the warmth of the season and the relaxation that comes with a long day of errands. Oh and Jeremy's asleep alone in his cold room. He hates warmth and Christmas decorations, because he's from the North.

<3
James Crockett Harris III

p.s. I know this blog sucked, it is mainly just for the use of presenting pictures of the season.

a criminal among us

The following is a public service announcement:

It has recently been brought to the attention of the community of the Willard House that member John Carr is facing criminal charges in the state of North Carolina, and has till present escaped condemnation by those living closest to him. This villainous villain can be identified by the beanies he often wears high on his head because the cold especially gets to him, and has recently been spotted most often working hard on the large amount of assignments currently hanging over his head or playing smash bros. to avoid said assignments. If you have any contributions to make to this case of justice, they would be wholeheartedly appreciated by all.

Thank you, and we will be returning at this time to our regularly scheduled program.

(John was driving significantly over the speed limit coming back from the Outer Banks over break and got caught doing it. This infraction in NC merits both a hefty fine and possibly a criminal charge of 'intent to endanger' which could have more serious implications than a fine. We are all hoping that the law system will be gracious to him.)

Free Throws

I missed the boat on writing a blog yesterday, but I take no blame myself. There are seven other members of this house equally able to write a blog, because they all have their own personal pcs. Except Doug. And he still managed to write one on Tuesday. There is no excuse for this madness. Oh well, life goes on.

Tonight, Jeremy Mateyk, resident of the last room on the left, the master with the personal bath, Had no work to do. He was blissfully free from college school work because he has taken three tests already this week. And he did good. Congratulations Jeremy, we are all very proud of you. At least I am, which is why I am writing this.

The other day, Sam logged into his Xenga account from 2005. I am not sure if you know what Xenga is, but here is a brief history. Xenga is the precursor to Myspace, which was the precursor to Facebook. Thankfully, Xenga is now blissfully defunct. However, Xenga is a bloggish myspace mixture, and therefore Sam would write about his thoughts on such world changing topics as mowing the grass, or school work. However, in one particular entry Sam wrote about the friend he had made at soccer camp, a boy named JACKSON STRAWN.

I know. Mind blowing. These two hooligans met so many years ago, and now live in the same house. weird. ironic. small world? yes. But I digress, this entry is not about the strange fact that they have known each other going on six years now. This entry is about what was in said Xenga entry. Sam apparently thought highly of Jackson because he said, and I quote, "lace up your kicks, ladies, we're going to ball." Classic. Hilarious? I don't think so. But prepubescent Sam thought so. I find that hilarious. Even more so, that Sam then started using that as his signature on Xenga.

In other Willard news, I attended the Purdue-Tech Basketball game tonight. For those of you lucky enough not to have viewed this idiocracy, we lost. We don't run plays on offense. I hate this. So that's my dig on Virginia Tech basketball for the day.

Oh, and Happy 20th Birthday Rebecca Fitzgerald.

<3's
James Crockett Harris III, esquire.