THE GORGE!!! FINALLY!!!

After a long few weeks of waiting, it happens. THE FIRST FIELD TRIP!!!
I was sure to be ready in the morning, so I woke up early, perhaps a little too early, at 5, and was so tired that I plopped back down to sleep.
Two and a half hours later, at 7:30 I was awoken by a call from mom, get ready, the bus comes in a half hour. Uh oh.
So I hurried to take a shower, eat my malt-o-meal (the most nutritional breakfast cereal around), pull my stuff together, (which wasn't much, just a clipboard and pencils, with some lunch) and rush out the door.
Great way to start the day.
The bus ride was uneventful, as only 1/3 of the people I talk/listen to were there (listening to them fight was more fun then talking), as one was sick and the other went to the orthodontist. But there was something to talk about, as yesterday at the end of the trip to school, I dared Will and Manuel (two of the three people, the other was named Drew) to refer and talk to each other by each other's names. If they could pull that off for 24 hours, I would give them each five bucks.
Manuel forgot about 24 hours, he just thought it was until the end of the day. So, when I got on the bus, I asked him where Will was, and his exact words were "Will? I dunno, he went to the orthodontist or something...
And that was when he pretty much remembered the '24 hours' and the bet ended. Yay for me!
Upon arriving at school, I grabbed my stuff and headed to first period, science. Apparently there were three classes, and ours was the one that had to be split in half. Crud.
After twenty minutes of confusion and mayhem, we were on the bus, and I was with my group, just 3 girls and one other guy. He was cool though, and the bus ride was fine, especially with one of my friends in the seat behind me :), we talked and played some games. The 45-minute bus ride flew by quite fast.
When we got to the first stop, a walk past the gorge itself, with signs in places to show information, it was also a great view.
On that 40 minute hike, not much was learned, it was just a great experience to get the best view of the wide and quite impressive gorge in the earth. It was calming, actually, even with all the talking. Unfortunately, I was unable to take my camera on this part of the field trip, so I couldn't get any pictures :( Oh well...
We then took another drive on the bus to Yahkeena falls, also the lunch area, which meant that the field trip was around a third over... oh maaan...
Then we walked up the side of the hill, about .3 miles, and we got to the bridge at the top of Yahkeena falls, and the view was enchanting.
A great wall of water was rushing down, splitting up on the rocks below into many tendrils, which weaved and meshed all the way down the hill. There was a cave near the falls, which was dry and quite cozy, if not a little musty.
And the best part was, you walk up that relatively small distance, and as soon as you get on the bridge, you are blasted with a refreshing mist of cool water! It was awesome.

After we got back on the bus, we went to another falls, this time Horsetail, which was, in my opinion, not as great as Yahkeena, but nearly as good in a different way.
Trekking up on the long half mile climb was hard, but rewarding, as halfway up there was an amazing view of the surrounding forest, with a great river barge crossing the gorge. I took a picture, but it came out all fuzzy, the camera didn't zoom very well :/
When we got to the top, I was quite breathless, both because the climb was hurried, so I was quite tired, but also because of the path.
It curved behind the waterfall into a cave, with the waterfall shooting off of it like water from a garden hose. The inside of the cave was dry, and there were green tinted rocks in there!!! Cool!!
I took a picture of it, but again, the zoom kinda made it look less impressive.. Oh well. It was awesome as it was anyway.

Then we got on the bus, we realized we were headed back to school!! We had yet to see Multnomah falls!
This was a dissapointment to everybody on the bus, ending our field trip in a semi-dark cloud, but thinking upon what we saw, (the teachers made this more of a fun field trip then an educational one,) we realized that the first field trip of 7th grade was one to be remembered!

The gorge field trip

Yay!
We are finally getting the first field of the school year, to the gorge!
We will be learning about mudslides, rockslides and water formations there, and it seems fun.
One half of the team (around 100 kids and 15 adults) will start at the front of the gorge, and the other at the back. After about three hours, we will meet in the middle, then gradually switch places, around a 6 hour hike looking at some of the greatest waterfalls in the United States.
I can't wait.

In the meantime, we have to cancel our wi-fi service, so that pretty much stops me from using the internet for games and reading my stories :(

And so, until next post, probably tomorrow, bye readers!

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 9

Rebbo shivered with anticipation.
He and the captain stepped onto the shore, which felt somehow finer, more natural, even through their boots.
Rebbo gazed around, remembering his camera. He snapped off a photo for whatever he might need it for. He wouldn't need it, the orange shrubbery and the strange, yet natural looking, trees would stay in his mind forever.
The beach was normal looking, and wound it's way around the island. The caps of the mountains were pure white, the bottoms a nice, organic brown.
Looking carefully, he could see a lagoon in the distance. This would be a great adventure to explore.

at the edge of the forest, the captain asked if he could go back to the ship to get the crew and some supplies, and Rebbo agreed. The captain walked back across the beach, and Rebbo towards the forest, which, if he looked closely, was also a jungle.
Strange and exotic noises rumbled from within, and Rebbo again shivered with anticipation.
So, unknowing that he was the first human to do so for many, many years, Rebbo passed into the jungle.

>.<

Hello readers! (Jorge)
Sorry about the delay in writing, the next post should hopefully be what becomes of our heroes on the mysterious island.
I again apologize for not posting yesterday, as the moment I got home from school, everybody immediately went over to my parent's friends house to stay for the weekend, and I had to come.
The reason I couldn't post yesterday was because of the wierd settings on my computer. If I try to use their wi-fi, the screen turns blue and the computer crashes (presario X1000 unmodified, if anyone wants to help), so that ruled my computer out of the question.
Just now, pops found that, although his was also unable to connect to his friends, he could connect to the wi-fi across the street, so here I am, writing.
Our stay here has been cozy, Thomas finally being able to watch the animal channel as much as he wants, and I get to sleep uninterrupted. Yay!
So, until next post (probably when I wake up at noon)
-Xaviertrix

A little down for the weather

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I will post the next part of the story later today.
Yesterday I was feeling like I had swallowed a pineapple, my throat felt so bad. But I wanted to go, and went to school anyway.
The day was uneventful, starting really late at 7:45, just giving me enough time to eat and change clothes, them im off to the bus.
Im glad I went, for on that day we actually did something interesting in science, we went outside to go and create simulations of mudslides. We were given fifteen minutes and a watering can to do this, but, unfortunately, since there were pine needles everywhere, they stopped the mud from going two inches. Dang.
Then the day went normally, learning about Mesopotamia in Humanities, and I was REALLY lucky that I came that day, because the Teen Living teacher gave out scones!!! They were awesome!
Then came lunch, which was normal up until we got the break period, and I saw an old friend, or you might put it as rival on the air hockey table.
We dished out all our best moves on one single, epic, fifteen minute game that probably ten people were watching. Last year, I could only score two points on him before he beat me, and this time, I won by one point!!!! I hope we play again tommorow.
In Gym, we played flash football again, and it isn't so bad, actually. It's just that the best player on my team has to learn to throw a maybe two feet less far... If not for that, we would have won, but the other team won 1-0, a close game...
Then came another uneventful math class, and then I went home, then took a nap, ate a bit, and went to bed.

Glaciers!

Breaking from the story to make it seem a little more dramatic, i have decided to write about my day! (Well my day yesterday, as it is much easier to write in the morning, away from the yelling and screaming.)
It started out like any other:
I wake up and sit around being groggly for a half hour. (lol)
Eat
Shower
Then I went up to the bus, and had another fifteen minute wait until the bus came, as with the route he is running, you could be missing the bus at 8:30, or waiting for it at 8:40. But once you get on, you get to talk to friends and do unschool related stuff with them. I like the morning bus ride (afternoon everyone is just tired).
Immediately when going to school, I went to science, and learned the best lesson so far.
Glaciers.
They are big chunks of ice and snow that move slowly over the land, scraping up dirt and rock, eroding it away.
The Grand Canyon and Loch Ness were formed in this manner. Some glaciers are thousands of miles thick!!! (Such as the one covering Antartica)
We learned, and went to the next period.
Humanities and Language A (man i dont like saying that... dunno why..) was pretty dull, we just read out of the textbook and did a worksheet.
Then was teen living, which I would say is my favorite period, where we just wrote down facts and information for kitchen safety in our notebooks (slow day...)
Lunch was good, but, as I personally found out first, the new pucks that the school cafeteria got for the air hockey table dont fit through the goal posty thing. They won't pop out the other end of it, they just stay in there and jam it. So that was a bummer.
Gym we started playing flash football, and i found out i don't like football.
Then, in Math, we learned negative numbers a little bit more (piece of cake, i learned negatives when I was 8 from pbs kids), then went back home.
When home, I watched TV with Tommy and Kawena for a while, then went to bed.

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 8

The captain himself had gladly taken Rebbo over to the mysterious island in the little rowboat attached to the side of the large boat named "The New Discovery" and rapidly rowed it towards shore.

All of a sudden, even though the captain was still rowing, the boat suddenly stopped.
The crew was getting some nap time, so nobody could see the outline in the water, but the two people on the boat just assumed it was some reefs or stuff.
They pulled back, and tried going another way, but to no avail. It seemed as though they would have to move again.
They tried moving back, but that didn't work either!!
They were beginning to get frustrated. Rowing a dinghy is hard work, you know, especially when you are trying to go over something with it.
They rowed as hard as they could, but could not free the dinghy. Great.

Rebbo looked around and considered shouting to the boat for help, when he saw a little white blob on the side of the boat. He looked some more.
There were a few white blobs peeking out of the water surrounding the boat.
Rebbo let curiosity take the better of him, and he poked one. squishy... he couldn't describe it though.
Suddenly, they sank away smoothly, and the captain shouted "OY ded it! E'ts go ter shore neow ye slewpoke!!
Rebbo suggested that they should go to shore now.
The captain and Rebbo got along so well...

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 7

Rebbo awoke to the captain pouring a bucket of water over his face.
“Oy leddie, ye ave en eout for eh good seex ours!”
As usual, Rebbo had no idea what he was saying.
This was a great way to start off after that last batch of weirdness happened.

After freshening up, Rebbo walked up onto the deck, and immediately had to sit down from the sight he saw.

It was an island, a circular island about thirty miles wide. The boat was docked a couple feet from the shore, and the view was spectacular.
On the island, there was a dense forest with sounds of all sorts of creatures emitting from it, with the small bay that he had not noticed they were docked in, a mountainous peak that faded off into the distance, with a waterfall running off of it into a clear lagoon.
The air was fresh and smelled free of pollution, and breathing was easier.
Looking out to sea, Rebbo saw that it went on and on, the only thing messing up that picture was the big whirlpool blotting out the normality, with a blue light shining within.
That must have been the cause of the weirdness.
But still, now that things kind of made sense, Rebbo called to the captain to take a boat down.
“Ye be asplorin already laddie? Ye got a breaver hart then oy imagined! Im with ye!”
For once, rebbo understood what he said. And he agreed

Hmm...

Hi readers!
I am going to take a small break in the elephant story for a post or two for some other stuff.
Since last night I was sleeping over at a friend's house, and found a really funny website, icanhasmotivation.com, full of funny posters and stuff.
I am really tired right now, so i will leave you with that site to mess around with and have a hearty laugh at...
Xaviertrix

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 6

Their destination was directly in front of them, or at least in front of where the map said the island should be.
During the time that Rebbo had sailed from the side of the bermuda triangle, he had turned quite green and upchucked repeatidly over the side of the ship in in the rain. He was grumpy, to say the least.
Now he was at where his island should be, and there was nothing there!!!
He was beginning to think he should have gone to Africa instead.

All of a sudden, the captain yells out "Oye! Dehr be eh greyt weend eh blewin meester Rehboh! Ye best be gehtin insoyd!"
Rebbo had no idea what he said.
That was when the strangest thing happened, and it burned itself into everybody's brains for all eternity.

In the place where the island would be, a big glowing blue HOLE in the water appeared, like a vortex, and the ship was sucked down, Rebbo holding onto the prow for dear life.
As they went down, they managed to scramble into the captain's quarters, and were stuck on the roof for a while as they plummeted downward.

Suddenly, they started floating, as though there was no gravity, and they were smacked against the floor as the boat rose up, up up...

Suddenly, all was still, and four unconcious men were lying in the cabin.
Dang.

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 5

The high seas.
Sailing from Florida to the middle of the Bermuda triangle was going to be nerve wracking, especially since all of the crew were getting rather edgy, seeing as their destination was in a place where ships were not destined to go.
This is where Rebbo also realized he got seasick easily.
So, for the three days for the fast boat to get to it's destination, the sun was out and shining, and Rebbo just spent his time on deck. He also got the side of the ship a nice green color. He had to pay extra for that.
So, three days later, when the side of the triangle came into view, Rebbo finally stopped loosing his food and stared at it.
There should have been an island, and he knew how to explain it.
It was possible that the tides covered it up, and it only came up every couple years.
Of course, he knew that if that was the case, the animals and elephants would have to live in caves, and that would make everything look funny, but it was ok.. seeing them would be good enough.

"Aye! The Tre'eangle be in sight!" Yelled the Irish captain. He spoke in thick irish, and it was sometimes hard to understand.
So Rebbo walked over to the front of the boat, and just as he passed over where the edge of the triangle was, a shiver went through his body. Probably just anticipation, he thought.
That was when the storm rolled in, and everything started to get freaky.

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 4

It seemed like only yesterday that Rebbo had thought up the crazy idea of going to a mythical island that nobody said exists to find an animal of the same nature.
He was going anyway.
If he was correct, the island would "appear" in between the time he was leaving and a day later. He had his course, his crew, his supplies, and he was ready.
Ready to live that life of adventure he half-wanted for awhile.
Before he knew it, it was time to depart, and he was being rushed onto his boat, a fast yet durable one that an expert helped him choose.
Time was wasting, his captain said, and he got onboard.
Rebbo brought very little luggage, just his toothbrush and toothpaste, a couple mechanical pencils, notebook, some canned goods and a bit of clothes. Nothing like what the internet said he should bring, but he felt that there was some cosmic alignment to be followed.
So, just upon leaving, he said goodbye to everyone again, and set off in a way-too-dramatic show. He would probably be back in a few days.

Problems started arise then, like how, when he told the captain the location, he yelled something like "blasphemic barnicles!" and shouted that it was smack dab in the middle of the bermuda triangle. Oh Boy.

The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 3

Rebbo was going to explore. This opportunity was nearly impossible to pass up for one as interested in elephants as he was, especially legendary ones.
So, in three weeks Rebbo was set to leave, yet still had a few loose ends to tie up until then.
He went to the milk guys to tell them to pause his orders until he came back, the mailmen to hold his letters, and all his friends that he was going away for awhile.
He finished tying up his loose ends, and then began packing and doing all the financial stuff.
He sold off some of the stuff he had never gotten around to, like that old cabinet that had been sitting in his closet for a couple years and the couple thousand marbles he had invested into.
During this time, he had gotten more things done then he had in the last 3 years. He also found that the marbles that he had gotten for $23 altogether were worth over $2,400!!! (And nobody would buy the cabinet).
So, three weeks later, he pulled some strings and managed to keep his apartment room, but let some other people rent it while he was away.
And finally, he went online and searched for a boat for lease.
He found one, and it was quite costly, but it would be a fun trip if it was really possible.
He got himself a crew, and a good week before it was time to go, he was ready.
The time was nearly there, and Rebbo was ready.

The rare purple elephant pt. 2

Before I continue, I ask of you to think of what YOU would do in this situation.
for all of his life, Rebbo had always wanted to see the rare purple elephants, but he had been saving up money for ten years to visit his family in Africa again.
It was a frustrating choice for him. His insides raged inside him.
Rebbo looked up some information online, and he found, that approximetly the island would SUPPOSEDLY appear in twenty two days, yet he knew that Africa would be there for a couple million years.
Either way, he decided that he had to act now.
He had enough money to either explore the island or go to Africa for ten years.
So, he went to his boss, a man named Fred, and kindly asked for a while off.
Fred said a month, as long as he confirmed if he needed more time.
Rebbo had made his decision


**Sorry for the short part, I was in a rush for the finale of Americas Got Talent!!!**

Xaviertrix

Story!

Today I decided to not just write another account on what I did, but instead I will just write you a story, and this is how it goes.

The Rare Purple Elephant By Francis Kohler

There was once a lawyer called Rebbo by his associates, and if you think it was a strange nickname, you should rethink that. Rebbo said that you only live once, and so you should live it as interesting as you can. Strange nicknames add to that.
Rebbo was a lawyer, but he was only truly interested in one thing: Elephants.
Ever since he was a young lad adopted from England into africa, he had always awed the great elephants that would walk around his adopted father's great stretch of land.
He would spend hours gazing at the only signs of life, and grew a fascination of them.
When he was old enough, he was accepted into Harvard Law School, from all of his homeschooling.
One day he would go back to the little terrain where he grew up, and spend a few years living there.
But up until then, he was going to continue being an unsuccesful lawyer, and he still didn't know why. It was quite obvious, the reason being he was always too distracted to do his job correctly.
Everybody liked him, so no one was rude in telling him this. He always seemed to take strangely somehow, such as once when someone told him to get his head in the game, and he did for the next fifteen minutes, but then fell back into looking at whatever was in his head.
Whenever he got lucky, he saved the money for what he called the elephant fund, which was supposed to mean that one day he would use that money to return to Africa.

One day, he was reading the newspaper in his office, unlike everybody else, who just went online and read it. Rebbo preferred the newspaper, as he didn't like going too modern.
That was when he saw a date and line of text in a small box.
"August 23rd, 2010. Reporter claims to have seen purple elephant in his dreams. Writer who wrote this fired."
The newspapers were coming on hard times, but that wasn't what was interesting him.
His adoptive father had told him the story of the Rare Purple Elephant, which was on an island that was open to the world but one month every sixty nine years, three months and two and a half days.
This was his chance! He had always wanted to see if the elephants were true, but he also wanted to go to Africa.
He had to decide.


To be continued...

-Xaviertrix

The first day of school

Hooray! The first day of school has finally arrived!
I woke up extra early, and quickly took a shower and got ready, spending maybe a half hour tops.
So, I just ran around trying to bottle my energy until it was time to go to the bus.
As I was waiting, a friend got down from his house, and we began to discuss what happened during summer break.
He went on several trips, went camping, and spent some quality time with my family, I told him how I performed the woodcraft and stuff.
Before we knew it, the bus had arrived, and we got on and I found my BEST friend sitting there. Lucky me!
For the rest of the bus drive (30 minutes, seeing as it was a little late) we talked about what we did, laughing at the funny parts. School came into view, and everybody ran in, eager to start school.
I went to Mrs. vandenHooff, and as I got in, I knew I was going to have to start from scratch.
There was one person from my class the previous year, and absolutely everybody else was new. Dang.

So, school certainly started interesting, as I got there 20 minutes late thanks to the bus, so everybody else already knew what to do. The teacher told us again though, thankfully. It was time to walk through the school learning the rules and stuff we need to know.
It was pretty uneventful, just going to various places learning the same things:
No running, food, drinks, screaming, or being mean.
We wrote them down, and upon getting back to the core classes, we kept on hearing the rules: No being late, interrupting or bringing chips.
Finally upon arriving to Gym class did we start realizing the harshness of the price cuts affecting our nations. We had to chunk Gym and Health together, meaning that we had to WRITE in gym class, the one period where nobody is expected to use their brains too much. That REALLY bugs me.
I guess it would be OK, next year things will be back to normal.
I then got shipped off to Teen Living, which was pretty fun for a cooking class. We just told funny stories and played games, but next week that is to change >.< dang.

Soon, We went to lunch, where I ate quickly and went over to the field, where I met up with some of my old buds, where I found that only one thing had really changed:
someone who used to look like me kinda, sorta cut his hair short, and his head looks really long now...

Next, I just went over to science, where we learned of some more games, then we got assigned lockers, I got a decent partner, and everybody quickly departed from the day that seemed very short.

On the way back, everybody just talked, myself included.
Upon arrival home, I took a nap, and I just recently woke up.

So, until next post,

-Xaviertrix

the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

Yesterday was an exciting day!

Waking up early in the morning around six, I began to enjoy what I thought was a normal Saturday morning.
The cartoons were all reruns, but they were pretty good. As soon as they were over,I went to get my computer, but found that mom was looking up OMSI on it!
I remembered that she had a membership, so that we could go there at a great discount a few times a year.
I was truly surprised when she stated that we were going at four to watch a movie in the omnimax (or whatever it's called).
So, we piled up into the car and took the somewhat long drive to OMSI. We weren't allowed to park near it (thanks to a stubborn person in control of the parking lot right next to it) and had to walk for fifteen minutes to get there.
As we were passing the huge four letters, I asked Thomas "what is OMSI backwards?" And he said that he didn't know. I pointed when we passed the letters, and we all laughed when I said "ISMO".
As soon as we turned a bend, we saw something quite frightening. A line that stretched half a block to the ticket booth. Luckily, we got to cut because of Mom's membership card (yay mom!).
We had a half hour before the movie we wanted to start started, so we all went to the reptile exhibit. Thomas was delighted looking at the snakes and lizards, up until he had to go wait in line for fifteen minutes for the petting zoo. He stopped waiting halfway through, it was moving so slow. He prefered looking at the exhibits.

Finally, the movie started, and It was about a mantis and a caterpillar. The story went like this: Bugs eat, bugs grow, bugs make more bugs, bugs die. Not too much of a plot, and we spent an entire hour on it.
After that, we just kinda wandered around OMSI for a half hour before leaving an hour and a half before we were supposed to. I was annoyed at this, but we made up for it with a surprise visit to the movies!!!

Pops took us to a theater planning to watch Transformers, but it turned out that it was on the small screen! Not worth it at all. So, as we were on the verge of leaving, I saw that the movie Up was also on, so I suggested it. We went into our chairs, and soon after, it started.

It was a good movie, got a few laughs out of us, and we drove home happy, but after a tiring day, fell asleep immediately, which is why this post is today =(
And until next post,
Xaviertrix

A strangely funny twist

Today as I was checking my E-mail, I found that one of my friends from school last year had sent me a link to a funny video on a strange animal: Girrafes.
If you are interested, here is the site:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/42614/saturday-night-live-giraffes
I thought it was pretty funny at the end, at least.
I will post again soon!
-Xaviertrix