When I first saw you I knew nothing's like it used to be

• Got talked up by talent scouts at the Homecoming Game and got voted one half of the royal Homecoming couple with Helena - thanks guys!
• My crackin birthday celebration - also thanks to the genius of my girlfriend.  Thanks for all the presents, guys. Seriously? One of the best birthdays ever. Can't thank you all - and you, Helena - enough.
• Boring academic news that you'd probably want to skip but - no longer failing Chem, thanks to a certain Miss Sam Patel.  You're incredible. Same time tomorrow for tutoring?

Other than that... I have come to the conclusion that school is entirely overrated, but that notion is sometimes challenged by Paradigm; case in point, Wednesday's sound effects.  Let's see... I got a lot of applause and cheer.   But still.  Very overrated.

That is all.

I just want to say that it is thanks to the hard work and generosity of Sam Patel that I managed to somewhat follow what was going on in Chem today.

That is all.

Song: Dead and Gone - T.I. (Feat. Justin Timberlake)

First heard it: I first it heard September 2008. I got T.I.'s Paper Trail as an early birthday gift.

What it means and why I like it: A bit of background information - T.I. was convicted of possession charges and was sentenced to a year of house arrest. This song isn't a typical club jam that people get down and shake their ass to; this song has a deeper meaning. T.I. directly addresses the mistakes he made, and with each mistake, he drifts and spirals deeper into a blacker, darker existence until he can't take it anymore. The consequences are getting dire. Although the "old [him] is dead and gone," he realizes that the mistakes he made were extremely serious and that he has to make an attempt to clean up his life. Not to say that he's trying to go back to the past, he's saying goodbye to his old self and with these new realizations, he'll be able to mature, grow, and evolve.

As a suburban white kid, I know that I'm the complete opposite of T.I., whose mistakes he's referring to in the song are his gun charges, death of his friends through shootings, and his gangster life, but... I'm almost positive that we can all relate. We all make mistakes, then we realize, we learn from it, and we grow up. Not only T.I.'s rapping is great as usual, JT's guest singing was really good too. Just a good song all around that really stuck in my head after the first few times I heard it.

Hmmm kind of long and serious, I knew I should have chosen Flo Rida!

( Lyrics )

So I had chicken pox as a baby and I although I know that you can definitely catch it a second time... Dude, who would have thought it would be ME that would catch it a second time?

So yeah, I've just been stuck here, quarantined for what seems like forever, and being itchy and dying. I mean, it does have its perks, I have caught up with nearly the entire series of The Golden Girls, and Lyssa brought me soup (thanks!). Though I'll miss tomorrow's GGs, I'm better enough to go to school... but I'm really freaking behind.

Not gonna lie, I'm down cuz I missed out on what sounded like HELLA fun events, but Homecoming this weekend! #37 is coming back!

( OOC )

Yesterday was our twenty fifth month anniversary. I still can't believe Helena and I have been together for over two years, talk about time flying, huh? I still remember freshman year how nervous I was to ask her out, I thought I was going to choke on my own tongue, hahaha. I took her out to a nice restaurant in Ocean City, and I gave her a necklace from Tiffany's the one she's been asking for forever and I kept telling her that I couldn't afford it without Took me about a million years and nearly all my work money from the summer, haha. But she liked it a lot after saying "Joey, this isn't the one I asked for," and I stared at her in shock, telling her that I would of course remember something so INSANELY expensive

I woke up early this morning in an attempt to study limits for tomorrow's test. I promised myself I wouldn't check ESPN until after a decent two hours of study, but no such luck. But yeah right! As usual, I had to check Paraspace, go for a run, shower, and now it's nearly 2 and I'm still stuck on how to figure out this stuff.

Happier news - who's coming this Friday for the game, and watching #37 score??

I've never really gotten into these journals, but I think I like them. Kind of like other social networking sites, right? Only when I first signed up on Paraspace, I was on it waaaaay too often.

Nothing much going on, I don't think, other than football practice and this weekend's kegger bonfire. DO NOT want school to start. I can't believe I actually signed up for AP Calc with Angie, I'm going to feel way too dumb, but it's the only AP this year, so why not? At least there's some people I know. Kitty Kat, like I told you in class, I won't forget to text you our homework problems!

So I've been looking through some colleges. I'm hoping a football scholarship would do it, but my grades are definitely going to tank this year, I think. Haha. My SATs weren't that hot either, but then again, I really didn't take time to take classes or prep for them.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good about this year! Junior year, and dude. Soon it's going to be OUR year! Hell yeah!