Video of Rick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The long awaited video of Rick has hit the theaters! Millions are expected to come and watch this 1 minute, 5 second movie, paying 8 dollars for each ticket! Watch it today!!!!!!!

Update on My Life

As of many times before, I do not have anything to write about. I want to write about something, but I can't figure out what. Sheesh.

Because of this, I will just give you an update on my extremely exciting, action packed, life.

Here it is-

I have decided that I don't like summer anymore. This is because all my friends are gone on vacation! What in the world am I to do?

I am once again addicted to the game Virtual Horse Ranch, or VHR for short. The web address is http://www.virtualhorseranch.com/. It is so much fun! If you get an account, which is most unlikely, my nickname on there is jose521. This is so you can look me up and message me.

I have finally bought a Nintendo DS! I have been wanting that for about a year and a half, as aforesaid in one of my other posts. I play it every night for an hour. Wahoo!

Rick the tortoise has moved away from his hole. I think it's because me and my friends came and bothered him so much. I am not exactly heartbroken, as there are four other tortoises that I can visit, although they are not partial to music and iPods. Whatever.

I have found out that I love to make, of all things, posters! I get a big sheet of newsprint paper, and place pictures on it. Then I write something that goes with the theme, and there you go! I made a poster today that had some really good pictures of horses on it, and it said, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." I get sayings like this from catalogs.

I have to go post a picture of Rick on this blog, and I can't think of anything else to write, so ye-ah (how does one say goodbye in a post?). Ummmmmmmmmmm...........

Goodbye!

Wall-e!!!!!!!!

I went to see the new movie out called Wall-e. It is about a small trash compactor in a world full of pollution. His job is to clean up the trash every day, and pile up the small squares of trash that he gathers.

One day a spaceship comes, and drops off a robot that is looking for life on the earth. Wall-e falls in love with her, and gives her his most treasured possession- his plant that he found, held by a dirty shoe.

Once he gives "Eve" the plant, she shuts it in her "stomach," and closes up. Wall-e ties a string of lights around her, and does his job while pulling her around with him. When a thunderstorm comes, he repeatedly gets struck by lightning as he holds an umbrella over Eve to protect her from the rain.

After a while, the spaceship comes back, to take Eve away. Wall-e follows this spaceship, and learns that the people on board the ship cannot come back to Earth, because the "Operation Recolonize" has failed, and the earth is too polluted. He tries to help Eve get the plant into a chamber that will then set the spaceship's course to Earth.

One might think that Wall-e is about pollution, and how we need to stop ruining the Earth. At the beginning of the movie, it really seems like the whole film was going to be centered on that.

But it isn't.

The day after I saw the movie, my dad came up to me and said that Wall-e is really about man and wife, and how God wants men to treat women. He told me this,

"Wall-e is the the Adam figure in this story. He has a job that he does faithfully, but he gets lonely. So a female robot comes down from the sky. Her name in the movie is actually Eve, so there is no doubting that the writer of this film means for this to be the point. Well, Wall-e gives her the plant, and she puts it in her 'stomach' and closes up, while saying, 'Directive.' In reality, making, and taking care of life, is the woman's directive.

"When they get on the spaceship, everyone wants to destroy the plant, the life. Wall-e is ready to kill himself to protect it, and Eve. He valiantly gets himself struck by lightning and smashed repeatedly, as long as the plant and Eve stay safe. This is how a man should act for a woman and her child. Everyone wants to destroy the life, and he protects it with all he has."

In the movie, there is a Satan figure, too. It is a robotic wheel, named Otto, who wants everyone on board this "cruise spaceship" to please himself, no one else. He tries to get rid of the plant, and keep the cruiser in space.

This movie is very complex, although it looks like a movie for little kids. I reccomend it for everybody.

Rick

Ok, this post, believe it or not, is about a tortoise. His name is Rick. You might ask, "Why is his name Rick?" And I would say,

"Because he is Rick."

Then you would ask, "Why in the world do you have a picture of an iPod on this post?" And I would say,


"Because it has a connection with it!"

You'll find out that connection once you know a little bit about Rick.

I found his burrow maybe a couple weeks ago. I am not sure if he was in it then, but I walk past his house almost every day, so I saw him once or twice before I started visiting.

The first time I came, I brought my camera. I had seen him a couple minutes before, so I knew he was there. When I got to his burrow, he was deep inside of it. I started singing "Feelin' So Fly" by tobyMac to him softly. Then, when he looked around to see who was bothering him with hip hop, I snapped a couple pictures. He saw the shiny-ness of the camera, then climbed out of his hole towards it.

He came so close that I shot pictures zoomed all the way out! He crawled up to the fence to try to eat the camera, and I touched his scaly feet.

I visit him a lot, so I take my iPod with me. For some reason, he likes my music. I turn it on full blast so he can hear it even through the headphones. When he is in his burrow, I just crank up the music, and he'll turn around and look at me. Look is in italics because he just looks around as if saying, "So! What do you want?"

I Was Not the One Who Traveled...

But my brother and dad were. They just got back from a trip to Thailand, quite an adventure if you ask me. I wish I could have gone, but I don't think I could have stood the 37 hour plane trip.

While they were there, my dad called in to the radio station that he works at, to try to get sponsors for these poverty- stricken kids at Compassion International's projects. All of the 300 kids got sponsors in one week! That means, now they can go to school, learn about Jesus, teach their families about Jesus, and have enough food to eat every day! All of this for the kids who had been raised to worship and pray to, their dead ancestors.

While they were there, Justice and Dad went to this elephant camp thing. All of the elephants there were specially trained to do something weird. Some even painted better than I can! To see a video of this, go to my dad's blog at http://www.branthansen.typepad.com/. It's crazy! At the elephant camp, my dad says the employees were geniuses for making money.

Along the trail for the elephants and their riders, were little food stands to buy treats for the elephants. If you didn't want to buy the food along the trail, the elephant was trained to reach up, over his head with his trunk looking for food, to make you feel bad and buy food at the next stand.

The pictures the elephants painted were money makers too. So was the elephants' poo even! They use it to make picture frames for the picture of you on your elephant. Those people are geniuses, I tell ya, geniuses.

Dune Dog, the Best Restaurant Ever!!!!

On Monday, Memorial Day, I went snorkeling with friends again. The water was really murky and we couldn't see more than two feet in front of us, but I had a great time anyway. Since we were all hungry after swimming, we went to an outdoor, casual, swimwear on, shoes off restaurant called Dune Dog. It is right by the beach and perfect after a day of crashing and splashing around.

I bet everyone who reads this blog can tell where I am in the picture, but I will tell who is who.

On the far left corner, almost out of the picture, is my brother, Justice. Next to him, quite distracted at the time this picture was taken, is Joel. In front of him, grinning broadly, is Alecea Poole. In the back right almost completely overlapped by Joel's brother, the black haired Matthew, is Kyle Poole, whose sister is Alecea. Next to him is Tiffany Laster, my partner in crime. I am sitting right next to her in my blue swimsuit, unknowingly doing the exact same thing she is. Then, last but not least, is Brittany Adams. She was rather rudely cut out of the picture somehow, but at least we know that the right side of her face is smiling happily.

Yeehaw!!!

Me, my dogs, and my new house

Switchfoot Concert!!!!!!! Eeeeee!!!!!!!!

This picture doesn't make much sense, but it is cool anyway.

So, I went to a concert on Saturday night. A band called Switchfoot was the main event. Switchfoot is a christian band, but they try to get on "non-christian" radio stations.

Their concert was a smash hit. I invited my friend, (whose nickname is Padfoot) and we totally rocked out, if you would call jumping up and down and screaming at random intervals "rocking out." We had fun.

At the concert, Switchfoot had some really cool lighting going on. When the strobe lights were especially crazy, I looked up at the ceiling of the amphitheatre, and saw really cool shadows and things.

The keyboard person for Switchfoot, Gerome, actually smiled and waved at me! I know it was at me, because I was the only person in my section with a glow-stick, and I was screaming and jumping like crazy. I was thrilled, and still am.

I went to the "meet and greet" thing, too! I got every one's autographs on a cool poster. I gave it away to a friend, Kyle. When I gave it to him, he was so happy though, that I didn't really care that I had given my signed Switchfoot poster away.

When I was at the "meet and greet," there was a small pile of Switchfoot posters on a table out in the middle of the tent. I was the first person to get one, then my brother, Justice, went and got one. Padfoot, a.k.a. Tiffany managed to grab one before Justice's friend, Peter, tried to get one. But just then, since this all happened pretty quickly, a mob of people just swarmed in on the table, and engulfed it. Peter later told me that he got a poster, but somebody jerked it out of his hands, so he lost it. Sheesh!

Although I gave away my Switchfoot poster, and Peter didn't even get one, the concert was a huge success that I will remember for a long, long time.

Moving 2

This is another post about moving.

I have just found out that my family is DEFINITELY moving!!!!!! Eeeeeee!!!!! The moving date is sometime around April 27, I think. I can't wait!!!!!

As I said before, I can't stand the packing part of moving. That is really awful.

My family is going to have a before-moving garage sale! I think it might be my second one. Not sure. I have to clean my room to find out what the heck I want to sell. At least I will have a little motivation! That is something!

Whenever I think about the house, I just get happier. Maybe that is because I have lived in this old house for about 4 years now. Maybe it is also because, with the layout of this house, not many people can come over at the same time, but that is going to change!!!!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Moving

I know that this picture doesn't have anything to do with the post, but whatever, it's pretty.

My family is pretty sure that we are moving. There is a house that we really like, and have signed an application for a lease on it. We will sign the real lease in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!

I wish that once we sign the lease, BOOM! Everything would be packed, in the moving truck, and unloaded. Just like that. And while we are in fantasy land, I would like my tiny future room to grow very large all of a sudden, so I can dance in it. And, maybe, keep my dresser.

The house that we want to move in is very bright and sunny. It has a balcony, porch, patio, big driveway, and grass in the back!!!!! I am really excited about grass because, where I live now doesn't have much at all. Darn. I can't say where it is, because, (obviously), this is on the Internet.

I really hope I can move there, but it is not definent yet. Aaaaugh! I wish it was!

My Most Recent Vacation

I am on vacation right now in Tennesse. It is really cool. I am on my dad's laptop in our hotel. Our hotel is really nice with a exersize room, free ice, and things like that. Oh! And they serve breakfast here! Hey hey hey!

My family has a really nice suite paid for by my dad's company. I have my own little bedroom-thingy! I sleep on a couch, though. Whatever.

The reason why we are on vacation, is that Dad's company wants us to check out Tennesee. So we came, and are having a good time.

My cousins are coming down to meet us here, at our hotel. I am a-thinkin' that they should be here by now. They live in Illinois so my dad decided to invite them to come and check into this hotel. I think they are going to have a room accross from ours which should be really fun.

I have started practicing my rubber-band-shooting. The hallway is a really nice place to do this in. I've never really tried to focus on shooting a rubber band. It is pretty fun, believe it or not!

We are going to stay in Tennesee until sometime Wednesday. Boo. I wish we could stay longer, but our days aren't very full already. Also, my family has two dogs who are back at home. They get lonely easily.

I hope I can post updates on my vacation by posting on this blog. C U L8R! Heeheeheeheehee! :)

My Vacation

I had an awesome vacation in Illinois where most of my family lives. We spent one week there. It was totally not enough time to spend with all my friends and family.

When I was at one set of Grandparents' house, my cousins, and my brother played about four games of croquet per day. I think I only played one game. Maybe two.

My cousin (pictured) makes many versions of popular games. He renames them Extreme____. He made some version of Croquet called- you guessed it- Extreme Croquet. It involved hitting the ball across a small road. Wow.

I Know It's Super Late, But I Am Still Celebrating In My Mind About This!

So I watched the Super Bowl this year (early this year, I know, I know) and I was just randomly rooting for the colts because I like the name and uniforms better than the Bears' uniforms.

I was at a Super Bowl party with some friends and we were bored so we decided to make cheers for the teams that we were rooting for. Luckily, we were split up evenly. It was really fun to practice and show each other what we came up with.

Whenever the Colts scored a touchdown, me and my friend neighed like horses as loud as we could! The girls rooting for the Bears roared when their team scored.

I had a blast. I am so glad that the Colts won! It is the first time that I have ever rooted for a team in a major competition that won.

The preceding year, I had been rooting for the Seahawks over the Steelers and they didn't win. I had some neighbors that put up a big banner on their balcony that said, "STEELERS!!!" That made me feel good. :) Tryin' to rub it in. Well, at least this year the Colts won!!!

Summer!!!!!!!

Love summer! It's just the fact that it's hot outside that makes me wish that it was spring or winter. But more awesome fun happens in summer so that makes it perfectly OK with me.

I'm doing some traveling and going to a fun camp as said earlier in another post called HORSE CAMP!!!!!! I bet anyone could tell what I'm doing this summer with that title. :)

I go to some free summer movies for kids too! Most are relatively old movies like Dreamer, Jimmy Neutron, Madagascar, Happy Feet, etc, etc, etc.

Of course I swim also.Summer is nothing if you don't swim at least 10 times. I love swimming games like Jail Break and Marco Polo.

I also play a game called "The Ticket Game" with my dad and brother. It is so fun! The ticket person, who is mostly my dad because I can't throw anybody (you might be thinking, "Throwing is involved? Oh my! But it is the most important part of the Ticket Game.) chooses secretly a day for the movie,( Sunday Sturday, etc. etc.etc.) time of day for the movie, (not like 6:01 or anything- just like 6:00) a theatre number (numbers up to ten) a row number(up to ten again) and a seat number(up to ten!).

The people who are not the ticket people try to get in to the movie by guessing the numbers. If they are not right on even the first one they get thrown into the deep end of the pool. Then they get to try again.

When a person gets the numbers all right, and doesn't get thrown, then they get to see the Secret Bunny Show! My dad does that with me, you don't have to do that movie if you play! It's just a really funny game. :) Love summer!!!!!!!

Space Shuttle Atlantis

I went to see the space shuttle Atlantis lift off on Friday, June 8th. Man, was it amazing. It was an evening lift-off at 7:38 pm, so it was kind of dusky.

In the picture, we didn't get this close but it IS a picture of Atlantis.

The awesome place that we went to see the shuttle was in Titusville. We were just across the about-two-miles-wide-intracostal from the N.A.S.A. thingymajigy. There were designated parking lots on grass that cost twenty dollars to park there! We parked in one of those. :)

Once we got to a parking place in Titusville, we waited about two or three hours. But boy, was it worth the wait! At about two minutes from liftoff time, everyone was sitting on the tops of their cars.

You could hear multiple radios on about the shuttle and counting down, "10.....9....8....7....6....5....4....3....2....1.... LIFTOFF!!!!!!!!!"

At first, I couldn't see the shuttle. Then, I noticed a glowing thing with smoke all around it rising into the sky. It was like a little arrow of light. Smoke came out from all sides!

Soon in just seconds, it was high in the sky. Then about half a minute later, I was staring, openmouthed at the shuttle that was starting to look like a star in the sky. Then it disapeared, leaving a trail of smoke behind that kind of looked like a tornado. It had all kinds of different colors in it.

After that, I got in a friend's car and tried to get to a Sonny's grill. But the traffic was so heavy it took just about an hour to get there! Finally, I got my meal of Chicken Tenders!!!!! :) I will never, ever forget the launch of the space shuttle, Atlantis.

A Daddy-Daughter Dance

I went to a Father-Daughter Dance with my dad before, but it was never as fun as the most recent one I went to. My dad took me to a Fifties dance at my Ballet school.

We both had white T-Shirts with "cigarette boxes" (Actually fake tiny cereal boxes-you could see "understanding cholesterol" on my shirtsleeve. Dumb Cheerio box.) rolled up in our sleeves. We also wore jeans. I had recently cut my hair for Locks of Love, so I slicked it back like my dad's.

I went with my friend and her dad also. She made it even more fun.

We kept asking the DJ to play more songs. He might have gotten tired of us asking him, "Can you please play 'Unchained Melody'?" Or any other songs that our dad's wanted to hear. Soon the DJ played the song though. Good for him.

After we finished our milkshakes, me and my dad started dancing for a while. It was a blast!

At the dance, there was a hula-hooping contest. I decided to try out my skills with my friend. When the judge/DJ said, "GO!" we started trying our best to hula-hoop. In vain. Our hoops instantly went down with the gravity. We both sat down at the same time. Now, we can both hula very well, thanks to the fact that my friend bought some hula-hoops shortly after the event.

I can't wait to dance with my Dad again, next year!

My Little Club Involving Free Hotdogs and Cokes

I am signed up for a club called the Knothole Gang. I go every Tuesday evening. It is a bunch of tickets to minor league baseball games with free T-shirts, Cokes, and hot dogs.

There are some small events in between innings, too. One of the popular things that they do is the mascot race where the mascot of the home team races some kid from the audience. It is fun to watch.

Once, I was chosen with my sibling, to go down on the field and race RC Hummers. Mine was programed to go screwy, I think, because it started spinning around the millisecond I started it. It was fun anyway.

Then there is the Infamous Peanut Toss that they do at the stadium. All the kids know when it happens and so they all start swarming around by the Press Box (the place where the announcer sits) at about the 3rd or 4th inning. People throw peanut bags from the windows of the Press Box. Most of the time the peanuts are bad, but I still like to try to catch one.

Once, the mascot of the home team came up to me along with an employee of the stadium. They wanted to give a Coke to somebody and so they signed me up to get it. When the announcer told the crowd that I was getting the free Coke, the mascot danced with me. I did the Disco. It was fun.