Christmas Gifts

Here's what I got for Christmas, and who I got it from:
Stuffed guiar, Hannah
20 Q, Super Suave
Bears Blanket, Adam
2 Liter Dr. Pepper and gift card for tinsel town, Mr. and Mrs. Gerlach
Nothing, Jeremy
target gift card, Matt
check, Aunt June
Bond, Grandma
Hatchet and gift card and twizlers, Parents
Pencil and eraser, Faith
I think that's it, so far. I'm still getting a gift from my parents on thursday and i still haven't had christmas with my mom's side of the family. I didn't really get anything I asked for, but i'm totally satisfied with what i got. christmas has come and gone again.

you suck

jon, you suck! I just read your blog, which you then made me read that other guy's blog about christmas. my family's in iowa celebrating and i'm stuck here alone without any family. way to wreck my weekend!

Home Alone

So today my family left for Iowa. I couldn't get off of work, so I am staying home by myself until Monday night. Today I waved good-bye to them as they drove off. That was one of the weirdest feelings. Yeah, I've been away from my family for more than three days. It's just the fact that they're leaving and I'm the one staying. It's just...unusual. It's not like I'll be home much this weekend except to sleep. Today I gotta go do some Christmas shopping, then I work till 9, then hanging with Adam. Sunday I got church and work from 8-8. Not sure what I'll do Sunday night. Monday I work from 11-5. So I wont really be home alone much. It still is strange being here and knowing that my family is in another state. I wanted to have a party, but I'm above parties...I'm just to cool for them.

blika dee blink

Sigh. This time it's a sigh of relief. Today I finally got it sent in. After I finished emailing that final, I logged off the computer at Gateway and left. When I got out of that building it hit me... school is finally done. I've got everything turned in and it's all finished. Man, that felt great. So I've been in a good mood because of that.
Now that I'm in a good mood, I found something to depress me. On facebook I see pictures of all my friends having parties. I feel like I'm missing out big time. It's really kinda depressing. I know I dont need to party, and I probably wont, but there's still that desire nipping away at me.
Also, there's no way I'm finishing the Bible by Christmas. No way I'm finishing it by New Years either. Just no way.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Sigh. Not a sigh of relief. A sigh of frustration. I got all of my tests and finals and quizzes and everything done. Man, was today a long day. Doing school work from 830-800. Mostly testing too. Sounds good that I'm done, but I've got one more piece of crap lingering in my school-life. Tomorrow by 6pm I need to have my math final emailed to my teacher. It's 25 pages long and I need to scan it into my computer. I scanned it in page by page into one document. I send it, but my email says the attachment is to large to send. I just spent a half hour scanning this and now it says i cant send it. I tried compressing it, converting it, saving it differently. Nothing worked. How can I email 25 pages worth of a document? its like 2500KB. I'm just pissed that I'm not done after this 12 hour day.

Bible by Christmas

I found out that I need to read about 130 pages a day to make it by Christmas. Right now I don't see that happening. My goal is still Christmas, but I might have to change it to New Years. Also, my family is going to Iowa Dec. 22-24. I am not going b/c my freaking idiot of a manager is a retarded moron. At least I wont be home alone for Christmas Day. I'm trying to make today my last day of school and it's so hard. I have 3 tests for my online class. And I have a final for DC/AC that I haven't started yet. I just want to be done with this garbage!

Bible by Christmas

Not sure why, but I've decided to try my hardest to read the bible by Christmas Day. I decided this last night and right now I'm on Genesis 26. Not a clue if it's possible, but I'd like to hope so. It's been absolutely amazing so far... even though I'm 26 chapters in. I have no clue why, but reading the bible now seems so different than ever before. In the past it's always been a drag to sit down and read the bible, but it's so different now. I will read this book any chance I get... I don't want to put it down. I know most of the stories I've read so far, but its incredibly thrilling to me how God works and how he never fails those who trust him. They say the best way to know God is to know His Word. I barely know his word, but I'm hoping to change that.
-Tone E.

Faith

I recently listened to a recorded message from a guy at SBR. It's about three years old. This guy was talking about his faith. He began by talking about his faith as a child and teenager. I swear my life is just like his. He said he grew up in a Christian home, being quite involved in church activities, obeying his parents, mainly being a good guy. To others, he seemed like a great Chirstian guy, but to him things just weren't right. For years he struggled with his relationship with God, and he couldn't figure out why. He eventually realized he had his faith in the wrong place. He had faith not in God, but in everything else. One thing he said that kinda hit me was he had faith in other people for having faith.
I think that I am the new millennium version of this guy. Ever since I was a young boy in Middle School till now I've struggled with having faith. I don't know what it is, but I'm just tired of living the way I am. I totally need to overhaul my heart. It's just not in the right place and it's about time I get it where it needs to be.

Youth Group

So you know I've been a leader in The Rock for awhile now. I told the kids that they would get a frosty once a month from me. I regret saying that because that's like 90% of the conversations I have with them. I don't regret it because frosties make them happy and I like making them happy. It's not necessary, probably a little unnecessary to buy frosties. I love hanging out with those kids and playing games and talking with them. I definitely couldn't think of a better way to spend my Sunday night.

Drummin ina BAND

Just this past Monday I started taking drum lessons with Brian Ford. The lesson was a lot different than I thought it would be, but I like it. I don't know how much drumming I'm going to be doing though. I don't know how much longer I can take practicing with these guys. I miss being in Barefeet. It was nice having Jon pick out the songs and telling us how we're doing them. He gave us the option to pick other songs, he was always open to alternatives, but that wasn't necessary. In this band, everybody has a different idea of what they want to play and how they want to play. I don't think it matters that much. Just pick how the songs going and make it work. Its frustrating to go through 7 songs that we already know but still take 2.5 hours to get through them.

Books?

For every good ex-book-a-holic, a new one emerges. For some odd reason I've recently started to read. Yeah. Weird. Anyways, I just finished reading my "9 Things.." book, just started reading "Sex God," and I'm starting to get into 2 devotionals, and I'm getting in a habit of reading me biblio. Theres one more book i started reading that i cant remember the name. We'll see how long this reading mumbo jumbo goes on for. Also, I'm trying to figure out if i can make a trip to Iowa Dec 5-8 or 12-15. which sounds more delicious?
_ TONY NELSON _

The sweet life of Tony

1. So we've got our college group starting up next week. We meet every other Friday night from 730 to 9 at Common Ground, unless I find another place to chill. To me it seemed like we just weren't meant to run this program, but Pastor Leigh says that our successful meeting on Saturday is a huge sign that this is meant to be. I guess we'll see soon enough.
   
   
2. There's no way I can fix the truck. I know, I know... You're completely disappointed in me. I'm disappointed in myself, also. I'm taking it in this week, that is if my dad can get an appointment set up.
   
   
3. I've got a new crush! Make a guess... I'll let you know if your right.



4. I had almost a pound of salad for my break at work yesterday, and I think it's destroying my insides. These bowels are used to twislers and coca-cola. It's not smelling to good.



5. I discovered about a week ago that Sara will be moving back home in a few months. She'll be staying in the basement. It's one of those things that are good and bad. I don't need to get into details.



6. I've got a few "hanging-out"/fellowship times. Earlier in the week, like Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, we (anyone who is available) meet at a fast-food joint for lunch. Thursday and Friday nights I'm hosting bon fires at my house, or whoever has a fire pit that wants to host. These are just a few times for me and my main peeps to get together and hang out, relax, and maybe build up our relationships.



7. I'm trying to stop biting my nails. In the past week or two I've reduced my nail consumption by nearly 95%. I still gnaw on my nails though. One step at a time.



8. I miss my old youth pastor. He was a great guy and I haven't seen him for like ever! oh my gosh! January won't come soon enough.



9. My credit card, which I've had for about two months now has a 600 dollar limit opposed to the old, worthless 300 dollar limit. Now I can really start racking up some debt.



10. I'm reading a book. I know. Those words don't come from me very often. Ok, so they never come from me. But I am reading a book called something like... 9 things every graduate must do to be successful. I like it. It's actually helping me think about things a little more clearly and purposefully.

I think 10 new things is enough for today. Time for me to go pretend I'm actually doing some class-work.

-Henry

Bust

The meeting didn't happen. Pastor Leigh says he never got a confirmation email saying that saturday was gonna happen. so adam, tiffany and i showed up at 9, but no pastor leigh, so we left meetingless. We're goin to try again this saturday.

Also, I talked to matt about being a leader for yg, and he wants me to be in charge of games. sounds good to me. btw jon, got any games you'd like to share with me?

I'm fixing the truck tomorrow. i dont think anyone's gonna help. i dont care. i've waited long enough. i have to do it. i dont have anything going on until 6 so i've got roughly 10 hours to fix a few brake lines. i hope i can do it. i mean i can do it. i think i can i think i can. nay! I KNOW I CAN! i will.

im very angry b/c i bought like 25 bucks of candy for myself and my bum family gave it all out to the stupid trick-or-treaters. 25 bucks of candy gone. ARGH!!!!!!

dat all!

College Ministry

At church I'm working with Pastor Leigh to get what they call a "20-somethings" small group/ youth group. This saturday the two of us along with several others are meeting at Common Ground Coffee shop. I think coffee sucks, but whatever. We're meeting there to discuss what we want the group to be like: how often we meet, what the layout of the meetings are like, our purposes and goals, yadda yadda ya. Earlier this year we tried to get something going, but it bombed, so we're trying again. Maybe this time God will bless our efforts and help us get this thang started!

-my classes at gateway are lame
-i still havent fixed the truck
-i'm not a leader for my church's middle school yg (there's like 10 students and 11 leaders)
-i'm trying to get a job at menard's but they're not hiring me cuz i'm too good for them
-my grandma and aunt june are visiting till like thursday
-my birfday is in like 23 days(you can ask me what i want later)
-we had a jr bacon cheeseburger eating contest today after church (thats a good story)
-i got a new devotional
-as of right now i'm planning on going to nicolet next year
-my whole body is sore from a block party on saturday and playing with kids at yg tonite
-i think i'm addicted to coke (like you dont know which coke i mean)
-its time for me to get a haircut cuz i look like a shmuck
-i'm really struggling with letting go of Rachel
-i got a credit card, i'm having fun with it. its only got a 300 dolla limit
-i'm feelin kinda lonely
-yeah him too (ask for more details on "him")
-i tried q doba and its delicioso!
-i'm goin to bed!

EL SOTANO!

for all you non-espanol speaking gnats out there, sotano means basement. I have gone through the basement at my house, the filthy thing. it is now clean as a...clean basement! we got a pool table, air hockey, darts, and anything else you want. party at my house.

Good Ol' Chevy S-10

YES! It's finally that time. My truck has been sitting in my driveway for like over two years. I'm finally getting it back up and running. Originally, it picked it's spot there because it needed new brake lines, we were too cool to pay to fix them, and we didn't know how to, so it just sat. Now Jeremy got his license and we need another car. I'm taking the initiative to fix the truck so Jeremy can have the Bean to drive. Here's where I need your help. I need a name for it. Any suggestions would be great. So far I've got "Shagin wagon" but it's not a wagon, so i dont wanna use that name. Help me out dudes!
-Antonio Caliente

College

OYE! So I've been attending my classes at Gateway for what seems like forever. It's only been two weeks. I'm taking College Math 1A and 1B, AC/DC, Sociology, Intro to Macrocomputers. They all suck, except for Sociology--that one might be cool. I've spent a crap-load of money on classes and books, and I still need to buy two more books. All my classes are on Tuesday and Thursday, with breaks from 10-11 and 1-230 and I'm done at 4. I also have a stupid class that I need to go to at noon on Wednesday (AC/DC).
Besides that, I work and lay around. I did recently start playing tennis. I've been playing with Adam, we usually play for like an hour up at Tremper's courts. We suck pretty badly, but we're getting better...slowly.
Also! I get to go visit Jon from the 19th-23rd of this month. I'm just a little excited. I haven't decided what vehicle we're going to take there. I want to take the truck, but I need to fix it or get it fixed first. If that doesn't work, it's going to be the saturn or van. yep, thats all folks

maybe a mistake?

So I've started my Gateway classes. This is going to be a long and boring semester. I got some serious bird course... you know, the ones you fly through. I've been thinking that maybe Gateway was a mistake. I really don't think Parkside would have worked either. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how things unfold.

School starts tomorrow. Those words give me nightmares. They even make me sick. Okay, they don't give me nightmares, but they do make me sick. STORYTIME! After hanging out with Adam for a couple hours, I decide it's time to end the party. It's about 12:30 at night. I take him home, and return back to my house, and finally lay down at about 1:00, maybe 1:15. The first thing that comes to mind is... I start school on Tuesday. Immediately my stomach feels uneasy. As I think about Gateway more, my stomach ache escalates higher and higher, getting worse and worse. At about 2:15 it's bad enough to make me go sit by the toilet, because I knew it was inevitable: I was going to throw up my pizza, popcorn, pop, banana, bread, and whatever else I'd eaten. As I sit by the toilet, awaiting my glorious display of puke, I start falling asleep, right next to the toilet. Almost took a nap on my toilet. After a few agonizing minutes of trying to keep my puke it, my stomach calms down enough for me to return to my bed. Just about as soon as my head hit my pillow, I think I fell asleep. This morning, I still don't feel that great, as I prepare to begin my classes tomorrow.
What's the moral of this story? School sucks and will make you throw up if you think about it.

College

EH! I'm not ready for college. I want to stay a kid FOREVER. Well, here comes college whether I'm ready or not. Gateway is the college that I've ended up at. As of now I'm going for a degree in "Air conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration." If that doesn't work out, I'm going to change to Electronic Engineering Technician. For that I'd have to go to the Racine campus for a year and a half, and then MSOE for two more. There's always the option, next year, for me to go to Nicolet to pursue a career in ministry. We'll see where I'm taken to.

Two left...

This is my "part 2" to my blog I posted long ago about having too much to worry about, and not enough time to slow down. If you don't remember what I said, the blog was called "Two gone by...". Well, now I have 2 weeks left. And I've failed at slowing things down. Even though my list of time-eaters has been narrowed, I still feel like I'm busy as a bee, flying around doing as much as possible. I let myself down this summer. I did not put enough effort into slowing my life down. Now I'm starting Gateway in two weeks and that will take up a nice chunk of time for me. I'm just frustrated and disappointed that I could not slow down and enjoy my summer. Got any advice?

Christmas Music

Yeah that's right. Christmas music. I used to think Jon was crazy when he busted open his Christmas music in September, but today I just had a craving for some Trans Siberian Orchestra music. That's definitely a record for me. Christmas music on July 29. I guess that saying "Christmas in July" actually has some truth to it!

Just Bad

Things are just not going well. I could sit on here and type for hours complaining about all the bad things going on right now. I feel myself becoming bitter and I'm just not happy with much thats going on in my life. This isn't a good point in my life. Things just aren't going the right way. So to spare you several hours, I'll stop here. If you really want to know more, email, call, text, IM, comment, or whatever me and I'll expatiate for you.
-The Bum

Sunburn-o-licious

So obviously (or maybe not so obviously) this isn't my back. BUT I did get burned about that bad, or worse on my entire back. On Friday I was weeding in my backyard (topless!) for less than an hour, but I still got burned horribly. Saturday my back started to itch. I don't mean like -oh scratch my back for a second-. I mean like SCRATCH MY BACK DOWN TO THE BONE NOW WITH A WIRE BRUSH OR I WILL GO FREAKIN INSANE!!!!!! No joke. I'm telling you, I've never had anything itch so horribly in my life. Plus, when I did scratch it, it burned horribly because of my sunburn.
So now that you've heard me complain about it, you can hear the plus side. I might be completely insane from thinking this, and if I am, it's still okay. I think God is trying to get my attention. I've ignored him for so long and he's such a small part of my life that there's no other way for him to get me. You see, I've had a serious string of injuries for the past month. I'm not the kind of person that gets hurt a lot, so I'm trying to find a purpose in all my pain. I mean... why else would I be getting myself injured and burned and whatever else? Yeah, it could just be a run of my carelessness showing, but I'd rather find a good purpose in it all. What do you think?
-Burn Boy

I'm a cutter

Yep, you heard me right. I'm a cutter. Okay fine, so the cuts I have are accidents. At work I jabbed my finger open with a knife, probably should have got stitches, but I'm too cool for stitches. Then yesterday I cut myself on a crate of corn. Yeah, so my hand is jabbed up pretty good. My parents told me I need to wear leather gloves to work to protect my hands. The first cut (the really bad one) happened on last tuesday or wednesday. I dont want to get soap or water on the wound, so i havent washed that one finger. It smells NASTY. That's about all thats happenin lately

Two gone by...

Ever have an old person tell you that life goes by too fast, so enjoy it while you can? I've been told that many a time. They think I don't understand what they're talking about, but I do. Ever since like middle school, every year has gone by faster than the last.
This year/this summer I told myself that I would slow things down and enjoy this summer. I tell you what, that is going to be tough. I don't mean a little difficult. I mean inexplicably hard.
-My manager at work told me that I'd be working close to 40 hours a week.
-Plus, I'm going to need to watch my younger sister a lot (both my parents work and my other siblings aren't here).
-Also, my family wants to get season passes to Six Flags.
-And I have a girlfriend (we all know they are time suckers).
-I'm going to TRY to work on my relationship with God, too.
Yeah, I need like 20 extra hours in each day for all that stuff. It may not seem like much, but it is a crap-load for me. Hopefully, by some miracle, I will be able to fit it all in, and slow things down. I'll have to move some priorities around and shave some things away. Two weeks have already gone by, I better get crackin. We'll see if I can figure this stuff out.
-EL ANTONIO (the anthony)

A trip to the ER

Today was an exciting day! It started out with nothing special... woke up around 10, watched a movie, and Rachel came over for lunch. After lunch she headed back to work, but called me about 20 minutes later saying I need to take her to the hostible (hospital). She couldn't see out of her right and and said her head was going to explode, or so it felt. I took her there, then about 4 hours later, after all that hospital mumbo jumbo and a CAT scan, they said it was probably just a new kind of migraine for her. it must have been a nasty one, it was easy to tell she was in a LOT of pain. that's definitely the short version of the story, but thats about it. if anybody actually reads this (i know my jonny bear does) then a prayer for rachel would be nice. i'm sure she'd appreciate it! UNTIL NEXT TIME...

Cell Phones

Today, I was trying to get a hold of somebody on their cell phone. So I text them, they dont reply. I text them again, they dont reply again. I call them, and they dont answer. Why would you have a cell phone if you're not going to answer it? Not much makes me madder than when people dont answer their cell phones. I think we should start a rule that says if you dont answer your cell phone 3 times, you lose your phone privileges for LIFE! Okay, that's all i have to complain about today!

Graduation Party

So today I had my graduation party. Nothing too special, just some food and hanging out. About 40 maybe 50 people showed up. Not a bad turn out, but there could have been more (I slacked on the invitations, which I now regret). I got a butt-load of money and some cool gifts. It was nice being able to visit with some family that I haven't seen in awhile. Of course, the big question at the party was "What are you going to do from here?" and, of course I didn't know the answer. I'm still not sure whether I should be a Youth Pastor or an Engineer. Yeah, two totally different paths. Hopefully God will show me the right way soon. Lately, I think He's been telling me to go the Youth Pastor route, but I still don't feel to comfortable with that. We'll see what happens... It's late, I've had a long day, I'm going to get some sleep.
-The 15-hour-away-from-graduating almost-graduate.

No stress for you..*pluah*

Today I realized something. I may be crazy in thinking this, but I think there's some truth to it. Today during work I dropped like a thousand things, and I didn't get frustrated or embarrassed or stressed out by it. I also heard people at work today complaining about how today was the stressful day. I thought to myself... what the heck is stressful about today. Then I realized that I do not get stressed by things other people do. Like dropping crap, having crabby customers, deciding what college to attend, what I'm going to do in life. It takes a lot for me to get stressed out, and I just thought that was something that I might share with you. Well, that's about all my brain can handle at this late hour, so ADIOS AMIGOS!
-Papaya shurmama

Guitars, guitars, guitars...

So I have a 12-string guitar that I play for church. About 4 months ago, I broke a sting on it, didn't bother to replace it, and kept playing anyways. Then about two months ago I broke another string. I stopped playing it. I planned on getting a new set of strings that week, but you know how things work with me. I didn't get new strings until 2 weeks ago, and didn't put them on until this morning. OYE! On Thursday night band practice, Super Suave broke a bass string, and of course I didn't have a replacement one. I'm gonna have to buy a new set of bass strings this week... we'll see if that happens.
Other than that, "Barefeet" is playing 5 songs for the upcoming Gathering (Monday, May 28th @ 7:00PM). YOU SHOULD GO! If you don't, I'll rip your throat out.
ES TODO PARA AHORA! ADIOS

oye

So I work at Supervalu. I started as a bagger, but moved to the grocery(stocking) department. When I moved to my new department, I was supposed to get a raise to 7 bucks. So about a month ago, for some odd reason, I looked at the details on my check. It said I was getting paid $6.75. Yeah, a quarter may not seem like a big deal, but it was to me. So i looked at all of my old pay-check stubs, and none of them said I was getting paid 7 bucks. So that's been for like the past 4 months at least that I've been getting under-paid. So that one quarter an hour adds up. So I tell the store manager and he says he'll take care of it. It's been a month and my checks still aren't right! UH! Its started to get really frustrating.
My next story about work is that I signed up for direct deposit for my check like a month ago and it's still not working. It should only take two weeks, so that's frustrating me even more.
My third story about work (and my last) is about picking up my last paycheck. Here it is: I go into work and pick up my check, open it up, and see it's for 129.65. Not bad. I look at my wage and it says 775. Too far, it's only supposed to be 7. so i go look for the store manager, he's not there. whatever, i'll talk with him later. so i go to the bank and as i grab the door to walk in, i look at the name on the check and it says "ANTHONY AIELLO." Yeah, that's not my name. So i go back and pick up the right check and guess what... it's the exact same amount. My paycheck is 129.65 so i could have cashed his check and it wouldnt have mattered.
HOLY COW! How much more crap can happen at my work? I guess I'll keep you posted on what crazy crap happens next.
-OH ONE MORE THING! the guys i work with want to have a "Supervalu Dodgeball Tournement" at my church sometime soon. we'll see how that works out.
That's all folks!

my bad...

So I've been pretty mean lately. I've been dealing with some stressful things, and I havent been dealing with it too well. So I wanted to say I'm sorry if I've been rude or mean to you in the past few weeks. I dont want to get into the details of what's been bothering me, but I've been stressed out. So I'm sorry if I've done anything offensive to you. Usually when i deal with stressful situations, I either let go of the stress right away or I hold it inside and let it out somewhere else later. I've been slacking on that last part of letting it out somewhere else. I'm gonna try workin on that a little bit. SOOOO hopefully I'll be a little nicer and in a better mood (if your lucky)

Also, I'm going to start one of those read-the-bible-in-a-year things. I've kind of attempted this before (kind of, sort of). This time around I'M GOIN ALL THE WAY. I'll let you guys know how I'm doin on this in a couple days/weeks.

YOUR MOTHER!

ahh... It's ten o clock on a wondrous Monday night. Tis beautiful outside, but I get to stay inside to work on gay hw. That's right! I'm actually doing hw. We should have a celebration. I'm getting like not A's in school, so I actually gotta do some work. I've got one serious case of senior-itus. Yeah, i used to think people were so lame when they claimed to have this condition--i thought it was a lame excuse. Maybe it is, but either way I've got it. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it though. OH! I got my hair-cut... check out myspace to see the pics... even though you cant really tell, BUT GO LOOK ANYWAY! Alright, back to my hw.
peace-

Graduation

Well, I just got my graduation crap. I'm throwing it all together and trying to come up with a list of people to send them to. At first I wasn't too thrilled about this whole "graduation" junk, but now I'm kind of getting into it. Now that I think about it, I'm looking forward to getting hundreds of thousands of presents from my family and friends (especially my friends).
In case you don't know, which I know you don't know, my graduation party will be June 2 from 2-6ish in the gym at Baptist Tabernacle. We're going to hire decorators, caterers, dancers, strippers, singers, stunt entertainers, celebrities, and... okay, we're not hiring any of those. We're just going to have some food and maybe some games or things to entertain.
That's all for now... until next time...