I'm still alive and kicking, even though it's freaking freezing outside. I don't know why I still continue to pay for this silly site, but I do. The domain expires in April, but I'm sure that my inability to let things go will force me to renew it. It'll be four years old... yikes. Anyway, I still live with my dad and still I can't drive, meaning I'm only taking online college courses, which makes me quite pathetic. I've also gotten myself obsessed with American dialect and accents. Call me crazy, but I think it's fascinating that people call pop, "soda" (these people are also called "lame" ;)) or that somehow, people can actually pronounce mary, marry, and merry differently, all because of where they were born. I also got into World of Warcraft, and I mainly played an undead mage on Aerie Peak. It was fun but I got burnt pretty fast. Oh, and my older brother did finally join the Army and I'm pretty sure he's done with basic either this week or next. Speaking of brothers, I somehow managed to get my younger one into Smallville too. The jury is in and my family agrees: Lana Lang needs to kick the bucket, buy the farm, bite the big one, roll over and die, whatever. I have really loved the last four episodes though, despite Lana, the Justice League being a terrorist group, and Superman turning into a homewrecker.

So, the Super Bowl. It's Bears vs Colts... and I'm still completely straddling the fence. You see, with everything else, I have a definite favorite. With tennis, I want Roddick to win no matter what. I love Fish and Safin, but I wanted Andy to steam roll them at the Aussie open. I was almost secretly happy to see Blake go down early knowing Andy would pass him in the rankings. That may be sadistic and cruel, sure, but I'm loyal. Same goes for Notre Dame football. I'll root for Michigan State if it means Notre Dame will look better. And to a lesser extent, I'm for the White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks, etc. But with NFL I have two teams, Chicago and Indy, and I cannot, for the life of me, decide which team I want to see win. I was born a Bears fan, I still sleep in Bears shirts, my mom is from Chicago, and my county was even put in the same time zone as the city despite being part of "Michiana," not "Chicagoland," simply because Indiana is absolutely moronic and likes people to suffer in this horrible central time zone while the rest of the state in eastern time laughs at us suckers. My point is that I live really close to Chicago. And for as long as I can remember, the Bears have pretty much sucked. So it's not my fault I jumped on the Colts bandwagon several years ago. And that's the team I've been following a little bit more than Bears lately, so I'm torn. Regardless, this probably won't happen again, and no matter what, I'll get to say MY team won the Super Bowl tonight. I suppose my team will also lose tonight, but I'm going to being optimistic with this one :)

Over the weekend my dad decided to take down (not up) our pool, and my brother and I had to help a little bit. Let's just say i haven't done that much physical activity since I was 12. I was so sore saturday night it hurt to walk, but I'm pretty good now. My arm and wrist still hurt though because my brother and i thought it would be fun to see how hard and far we could hit tennis balls, which always kills me. I also fell/rolled right out of my neighbors hammock, which is a lot more painful than it sounds, especially when the thing is like 50 feet off the ground.

I also saw X-men on sunday, which was really good. I thought it was the best of the three, but it I thought it was pretty short. The previews at the beginning seemed longer than the movie. Although they did show the new Superman trailer, so I guess it was worth it. Man, just when I thought i couldn't possibly be any geekier i go and say something like that.

I guess that's about it... last week I did manage to download almost 50gb worth of crap off usenet though. Quite a feat considering I only have 15gig of space combined from two hard drives. I did forget to delete something before downloading once and I kinda ran out of room in the middle of a download... I don't think computer has ever barked that much at me before. it definitely wasn't pretty. My dvd burner certainly hasn't felt that alive since the week I bought it though! I've also been working on a website for this guy at the local computer store, but it's not going the greatest. Oh, and of course the french open has started! Andy plays tomorrow... on a bum ankle. That kid sure does have the worse luck sometimes. Let's hope I don't have a stroke watching him tomorrow for the first time since march ;)

It's been so long since I've posted anything, but honestly, nothing has been going on around here that's noteworthy. I finally drove yesterday, and since I'm the only teenager in the country who has the unexplainable phobia of driving, I'm quite proud of myself. I also turned 18 on April 13th, so I can now legally date 45 year old married men... woot! ;) I also added like 4 new skins over the past months. Three of them are, you guessed it, Andy Roddick, and one is Tom Welling. Pathetic, i know. But I do plan on making the first Andy layout the default for one the site, even though he's wearing the awful orange visor. orange. a male tennis player wearing an orange visor... But I like the pictures and colors, so go check it out.

I've also been going through some serious tennis withdrawals lately. I think i've read Tursunov's blog 20 times now. and the other day I was listening to my yahoo radio station when it played a song that reminded me of tennis so much I felt giddy... giddy! So naturally I had to download it and listen to it a million times wondering how this song could remind me of tennis, when it hit me. It was the same annoying song used in the lacoste summer 04 commercials. it's from Natasha thomas and called "It's over now". I hated the song so much that summer that I would actually mute the tv when it came on. My little brother still remembers me doing it (and the "string on my finger" car song, oh gosh was that the worst). So how can I suddenly love a song that I despised so much just 2 years ago? Tennis deprivation. that's how. I'm not sure if that's even a word, but it's the only explanation. It's so sad. I'm convinced that music is the best memory trigger, not smell like those lame deodorant commercials claim. But the french open is almost here... a great tournament where I get to see all my favorites lose the 1st round! It's still tennis though, so I'll take it.

Of course I've been watching Smallville fanatically. I've also managed to sucker my dad into watching the show too, so it's nice to share theories with him. I think the season final would have been better if Lex/Zod tossed Lana into the phantom zone too. although all she would have done in there is complain and somehow blame Clark, so maybe he could have just thrown her off the top of the LuthorCorp building instead. haha, I crack myself up. Anyway, my dad thinks it's Jor-El in Lex, not Zod, which makes sense when considering Jor-El's past history on the show. I personally believe Jor-El has been Zod all along, which I think can make sense too, because let's face it, Jor-el has been pretty darn evil. All we're both certain about though, is that poor ole superman is just a pawn in this game and in a whole world of trouble now. If the CW doesn't pick up this silly little show i'm going to be ticked.

Well, that's about it. At least I have something else to talk about now other than just tennis and football. It's equally as boring, but it's my blog so what can I do? I'm sure I'll be back to rant and rave about the french open, so see you then.

I finally got my braces off two weeks ago on the 13th. 28 months I had those torture devices on. I was kinda worried it would hurt when they took them off, but luckily only a few sensitive teeth hurt a little. I had a week of freedom before I had to go back in to get a retainer. it's a lot better then the bite plate I had to wear, but it still sucks. Other then that, not too much as happened to me. The other day i felt pretty sick for a while, stomach ache and all that, so I was chugging the pepto bismol to keep everything down but the crap tastes so bad i nearly gaged it out every time I took a spoon. I just love the lingering effect it has too... you know, where the chalky, pick, residue clings to every taste bud until the bad taste eventually scorches your tongue to the point where you can't even taste anything anymore. I don't know what's worse, pepto, or my dad's extra sharp cheese he loves so much that smells (and tastes) like rotten feet. My stomach is still a little bubbly, but at least I don't have to drink the poison anymore.

I really need some motivation to update this darn thing. In the past year i think i've only blogged about 6 times. I just don't have much to say, especially since I'm out of school now. Lets see though, since I last posted about the great luck all my sports teams and players were doing, Notre Dame got hammered in their bowl game, the colts lost in the playoffs, and the only thing Andy Roddick has been consistent at this year is losing to guys outside the top 50. Now, I don't intend to bail on Andy anytime soon. I've invested way too much into this brat to just jump ship when things start to get bumpy, but my gosh is it frustrating watching this kid anymore. One day he plays great and the next he's just totally out of it. I think i'm just as baffled by all of it as he is. I'm thrilled about Blake though, making the top ten. Three Americans up there now, that's pretty neat.

All right, I guess that's about all i have to say about the several months since I've last posted. I guess I have been able to see my mom more though now, which is a good thing since we used to see so little of each other over the past year or two. i'm not totally thrilled with the guy she married, so it's hard to go over to her house sometimes, but we have managed to see each other almost every week or two now and we get along really well. Oh, and I did buy a DVD burner last weekend, and I've started to burn dvds now. I guess now is as good as ever to admit that finally, after two years of Friends being over, I finally have a new tv show to obsess about. I've been watching Smallville... yeah, Smallville, for a month or two and I can't stop. I've managed to see them ALL now. and by all i mean over 100 episodes. Boy do i need a life.

December 21st was my last day of high school, woohoo. I decided to graduate midterm last year with all the intentions of going straight to a community college, but i have a teeny, tiny, barely even noticeable, life halting problem of not being able to drive still. I probably would have just went the full year of school knowing that I wouldn't be able to get over my crazy phobia in 9 freaking months. Oh well, at least I don't have to go back to that craphole for a long time. Maybe I'll never have to go back since I'm not going to walk down the aisle or whatever for the graduation ceremony. How anti-social am I?

Anyway, I apologize for never updating. The only things I ever really want to write about is weird things i've done with my site or what a great time it is to be a northern indiana sports fan (Sox, Notre Dame, Colts, Bears... can life get any better?!) or a crazy tennis match i saw (speaking of which, I bought a couple older Roddick matches, which you can go ahead and call me crazy since my family already has, and it totally pumped for the Australian open). And I know it's my blog and i should post what i want, but i'm also very lazy and good at making excuses, so I'll just stick with the usual "i didn't update because I have nothing to talk about" excuse.

Okay, well I hope everyone had a great Christmas and happy holidays. And even though my new years resolution isn't to blog more, i do hope to do so more often. Maybe I'll post some boring crap about the Aussie Open that starts in only 15/14 days. I really hope my boys have fun and do well over there

Shorter entry to just say because of Indiana testing for 10th graders I'll have 3 half days starting tomorrow :), I'll get to leave at 10:50! Anyway, school is still the same (boring). Programming is great though. I thought playing with html and dreamweaver was fun last year in advanced computers...pfft. Oh, i forgot to mention that i'm officaly signed up for the dreaded SATs. ick. I know seniors are supposed to have already taken it, but hey, at least i'm doing it! that's about all that's happened since the last time I used my poor little site. Besides have a pretty nasty cold that's finally going away. Oh, and of course Notre Dame just HAD to lose saturday :cry:. Nice job guys, after beating the number 3 ranked team, and coming back from 3 tds down you lose it by 3 in overtime. then Manning couldn't throw a ball to save his life yesterday (though they did win), so yeah, football sucks. if the Colts lose to the patriots again in the playoffs i'm never watching it again. ever. I'll watch baseball or something. White Sox are having a good year anyway. oh, and go USA in Davis cup! our boys can win this, even though its on clay, (they probably dread the clay more then i dread the SATs for you nontennis peeps), I know they can... maybe ;)

School started August 17th and the only class I enjoy is programming. The rest pretty much stink. I'm glad I only have a semester, that's for sure. Oh, I also had to get a shot for school, because they said they'd suspend anyone who doesn't take it. What kind of crap is that? kick out a kid for NOT taking a drug. sheesh. Even though they can't by law, I got it anyway. they're just lucky i don't have a needle phobia! Let's see what else is new... oh, in my last entry I talked about how I've started to drive and that i'm just best driver to sit behind the wheel (nascar, here I come!;)), like hitting gas pumps and running off the road, well when I was driving to my aunts, a dog ran out in front of me and there wasn't much i could do. Needless to say, I didn't handle that very good. I've never been in a vehicle that's hit anything, let alone someone's cute, fluffy pet. Now, i'm not much of a crying person. I usually don't cry when I watch movies, cry when my players or teams win or lose, and I didn't cry when the exit polling results were coming out at last years elections like my conservative teacher (who claimed his knees turned weak), but I totally lost it when I "murdered" that poor dog... in front of my dad and brother who probably hadn't seen me cry since i was 15. Gosh was that bad.

Anyway, I have to talk about my sport because, hey, it's my blog and I've probably watched 30 hours of it the past two weeks. Now, a month ago I said sarcastically that it would be nice for Andy to win a match at the open. he didn't.:-/ So that sucked, to say the least. But he didn't "give up" during the match, so I don't plan on giving up on him anytime soon. plus he beat hewitt. you can't not like a guy who beat hewitt at Cincy. i mean COME ON. let's just hope he and the Davis Cup team can get a good win on clay next week. Other then that, this open has been great. I'm so happy for the rest of the American men. Kinda bummed about Agassi though. The last set was hard to watch. but he did manage to take a set off federer in a slam final, something only Roddick, up to this point, has been able to do. So at least it wasn't a blow out like last years final.

Oh, and before I go, I have to give out a big WOOT (inside family joke :-P) to Notre Dame for beating Michigan yesterday! I'm ashamed to admit that I probably watched more of that game then the Robby/Andre match, but hey, this is my team who has totally sucked for the past several years that's finally playing good. :)

All right... so it's been quite a while since I've updated. I can't use my usual lame excuse of "nothing has been going on", because a lot has happen in the 4 months (to the day!) I haven't posted. Such as, I stayed at a college campus with my cousin and was almost dragged to a drag show (and no, not a drag race, like I assumed it was going to be), I'm 17 now, I've started to drive (watch out and hide your children! i cannot turn to save my life, or yours. I almost hit a pump a couple weeks ago. I "curbed" it... no real damage haha. oh, and I almost ran off the road about 3 times already), and... well a lot more has happened, I just can't remember anymore. I start school next Wednesday, ick. One more semester and I'm out of there. I'm graduating mid-term and going to college in the spring. Oh, and before I talk about my tennis experience, I put up some new skins, as you may have noticed. Nothing special though. I've also installed the MTMarco plugin, meaning I get to add smiles with ease :). Now I can deck out the rest of my post with smilies :-D

Okay, so on july 20th my dad and I went to Indy to watch the night session match between Dent and Gambill. I preorder the tickets a month eariler, so we had FRONT row seats. It was a crap load of money for two tickets, but I was right on the baseline! We got there about an hour or two early, so we got to see several matches already in progress. It was incredible to see pro players playing tennis all over. I can't describe it. I was just surrounded not only my thousands of people who finally likeed the same sport as me, but people who make a living playing it. One thing though, I was like the only kid on the outer courts. I wasn't under the impression that this is an old man's sport or hobby... i mean, I'm not collecting stamps over here. How was I the only kid wanting to watching Baghdatis save break points and then scream and jump for joy and all that when he won the second? Maybe because a certain someone wasn't there. I mean I was pretty bummed out I didn't get to see Roddick either, but Taylor was my "second choice" anyhow, and I've always liked Jan-Mike too. I was just relieved I didn't have to watch Kiefer's annoying stare downs :rolleyes:. I did get a glimpse of him though, so all together I saw about 10 or 11 players I knew, a couple guys practicing who I couldn't figure out who they were (edit: found out that it was Robby Ginepri and his coach!), and couple doubles players i've never heard of. Okay, so with maybe the exception of Dent and Kiefer, not exactly the most well known players were there, but it was still worth the crazy amount of money i spent on those darn tickets. I wish I would have taken a camera though, I have no pictures to remember it now.

So, I guess that's about it. Here's to another 4 months before I touch my site. and to Andy Roddick, who maybe, just maybe, will actually win a match in a masters event. oh wait, his projected draw is Melzer, Ferrero, Henman, Nadal, hewitt (no capital letter in your name mister), and Fed. ha, okay well a match win at the Open would be nice ;)