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theunladenswallow
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Name: Dhan'l
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Birthday: 3/2/1989
Gender: Male
Interests: Meteorology, Wizardry, probably guns, and anarchy.
Expertise: Fish gutting, playing the euphonium, making trouble in Rabbit's garden with Christopher Robin and Eeyore. Jedi and Samurai fighting capabilities.
Occupation: Consulting
Industry: Construction
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  dannyboyahoy30
Member Since:
1/29/2005
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| This entry is only about three days, of which I feel like I didn't do anything, yet I still wrote a whole book. Therefore you should read the part about the seder, I think thats the best. The first and second parts are skipable, but still alright. Then I talk about risk which migh be interesting to some risk enthusiasts. I indicated that. Then I talk about easter, then the seder. Tahts the goods I think, so go there, or don't and read teh whole thing. Good procrastinating tool, if you need that.
On Friday I went shoppin w/ my meem (as philly boy martin would say (now for an old style xanga tangent. A word on "meem". There was a period in me and my friends' history that I like to call "the great temporary vowel shift". It occurred about 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th grade (I have no idea). Basically the vowels we used shifted for a period of about a year, and we are still feeling the effects. Some of the words shifted were "mom" to "meem", "dog" to "dig" and eventually to "diglet", my name Dan to "Dune", Jeff to "jufe" and thats all I can remember. There was no rhyme or roosen to the vowel shoft but it some, like diglet and meem remain today in our current vernaculum. So that is where its from. Yet I digress...) We went to Old Navy and I bought summer clothes that it seems I won't be able to wear because of the crappy weather.
That night I went to a Good Friday service at my church. It was pretty somber and depressing, but not as much as other years.
Then I went to Phil's hoose and Hannah, Sam, Rachel and Hannah's friend Natalie came over and we played Dutch again and then shared matzah and cream cheese. It was a cultural experience, as the girls told us the story of the exodus and passover, me and Phil pulled out the guitar and sunday school hits, playing "pharoah, pharoah" (a song telling the story of the exodus put to the tune of Louie, Louie, with rediculous hand motions to go along. A favorite of my childhood). It was a big hit. Almost disgustingly cute. Then Man vs. Wild came on and we watched in awe of our idol Bear Grylls.
Saturn Day I cleaned the house most of the day and went to quizno's with my peep (great vowel shift for pop, but it works less well). That night I was trying to get a group together to go to Chuck E. Cheese's and it seemed like it was going to work but, alas, my plan was foiled. I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you MEDDLING KIDS!
RISK TALK SKIP AHEAD IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THE BEST GAME EVER
I ended up playing Risk with Greg, The Tummy (i.e. Tommy), Phil and his friend from church Keith. He plays footy with Kevin and we are also aquaintances and he and greg probably are too. He fit right in. Kevin came over after a while. I completely dominated everyone in the game. It was pretty embarressing. We were playing that you claim territory as opposed to getting dealt territories by the cards. Therefore I claimed all of the Australian continent and as a result got two extra troops at the beginning of every turn, until someone came in and broke me up. No one did, and I had an advantage. Phil pointed out arrogantly that "A wise Risk player [I think Hinkler or Affleck] once said 'Taking Australian will always get you second but never get win you first,'" (Martin 72). I of course refuted this at the time but generally agreed with it. Its an elementary strategy and shouldn't be successful. Then I got a good foothold in Africa and got that; still no one attacked me in North Africa to break up that continent, with which I gained 3 extra troops (plus my 2 australian troops gave me a 5 troop per turn advantage). Keith had about 7 or 8 troops in Brazil to my 10 and in the beginning of a turn he could have attacked north africa. Nope. Tum Tum had about 10 troops in Northern and Southern Europe but pussyfooted around attacking me. Then you get some risk sets, you eat a person, get another risk set, wait, let other people weaken but not eat each other, eat the newly weakened people, get their risk sets and win. Its pretty sad actually. Not much of challenge to me.
RISK TALK DONE
Sunday was Easter so we all got decked out in our khakis and pastels and ventured out into the cold bosom of April. It was a good easter service. Small brass band, as usual. Wasn't invited to participate like I was last year, which hurt a little bit. I don't know whats so much better about this other Euphonium player than me. Yeah so he may have a 4th valve to my 3 valves. Big stinkin deal. The clarinet has like 60 buttons and it sounds like a duck. So its not the number of the valves, its motion of the ocean.....or something like that. But seriously, wtf abington? I thought I was good at Euphonium and then I find out that I'm missing a valve on my instrument. Cheep skates.
Easter dinner was nice. My sisters didn't come home this year which was unusual and weird but it didn't really phase me. Since we don't have any family in the area we usually have friends from our church over that are in the same situation. Also my dad's work has a lot of international people so he usual invites coworkers over. This goes for christmas, thanksgiving, and other various feasts/barbeques/holidays as well. This year we had over the Inmans (friends from church) and their daughter Sara and her son, Mr. Inman's friend Luma from Penn (where he's a PhD. student in Arabic and shes his tutor and a grad student. She's from Iraq. Mr. Inman's not college age either, just for clarity, he's retired and back in school. Got that learning itch I guess), my dad's coworker Ravi and his wife, and our neighbor Bob. He's 92 years old and lives by himself and his family celebrated on saturday in Lancaster so his sunday was free. My family's kind of adopted him in the last year because his wife and son died in close proximity a year and a half ago. He's amazing though. He's lived in that house since it was built in 1948 and he grew up two blocks from my elementary school, Overlook, where he could hear John Phillips Sousa playing at Willow Grove Park. He's sharp as a talk and tells fantastic stories. I wrote a college essay about him. He rocks. Yet I digress.
Those gatherings can tend to be awkward but this one was surprisingly not. Ravi is from India as is Sara's husband (who wasn't there) so they had something in common. My parents, Mr. Inman, and Luma speak Arabic. And everyone was polite and interesting and good conversationalists. It went swimmingly with limited cultural awkwardness.
GOOD STUFF
That night I was invited to Hannah's for a Passover Seder. I've never been to one and I was really excited to go to one when she invited me. She was excited too, and I think her mom was the most excited. It was a really great experience. I manned up and tried everything, even the gafilka fish. It resembled tofu and, smothered with horseraddish, tasted like horseraddish. The key is to put the horseraddish on your tongue before the fish and then you become completely numb to everything else in your mouth. The service was very nice and the food was delicious, much to my releif. I didn't really have to practice any self-discipline in trying weird food because most all of it was palatable and not that unusual. Hannah's little cousin Eli was a kick. He kept going on and on about how his parents wouldn't pay him his allowance (hes 8). And I accidentally laughed at him when he messed up a word once but mostly me and hannah were just giggley. We also thought about how weird it is to not be able to read. The funniest part of the night to me though, was when Hannah's dad came in. .....Preface: Hannah's dad is the most awkward dad their is. Not embarressing, not intimadating; just awkward-visably, audibly, to both him and you. Its mostly with boys hannah's age I think. He just is. He's not trying to be mean or scare you away, he just doesn't seem to know how to act. Its really funny to watch actually. Now to the good..... Hannah's dad came home late and the rest of the family - grandparents, aunts uncles, Eli - were already settled and just about to stard the service. He comes in and I'm awkwardly (also purposefully and awesomely) in the seat next to the empty seat, about to be his. Because hes up already, he does the ceremonial hand washing, then comes in to sit down. He says hello to everybody, kisses Hannah's mom, and maybe hannah too and I'm next hannah so he has to walk past me to his seat. I think to myself, is he expecting a hand shake? I'm not sure because I am here as a guest, hes just arriving. On the other hand (no pun intended) I'm seated and hes not and it would be awkward for me to turn and shake his hand as hes standing. Well I assume that the handshake is then not going to be tendered. I am of course and as Mr. Marks walks up he offers a hand to which I, turning away incidentally, to not reciprocate. Thats all I can say about that, just picture that formal "left-hanging" situation. SOOO AWKWARD. The weird thing is, I was almost looking for that to happen and really happy when it did. Now I feel almost guilty, like I should have reciprocated but I know, that its not my fault. Hes truely an awkward guy. It never gets old. Awkwardness always reinvents itself and presents itself at the most awesome times. I guess if awkwardness presented itself at a not awesome time it would merely be convention wouldn't it. Its the timing that makes it awkward. If the timing on social interactions is correct, there is no awkwardness. So there you have it. Also he leaned on my chair a lot, and I was to the right of him so he had so excuse to (because when in the service it says to "recline" your supposed to do it to the left). I had to lean forward most of the meal, which was awkward. Payback I guess for handshaking him.
Then I stayed after and talked politics with Hannah's family, whiler her dad snored next to me on the couch. Also awkward. Then the parents watched Sopranos while we (futily) tried to find video games to play. Then Hannah's girls came over and we watched Entourage...with her parents. Surprisingly not that awkward though. All in all a very enjoyable, inciteful, delectible, and cultural day.
Today I did homework and watched TV all day. I love "I love New York." What a show. Then I watched the Phillies ruin my day. Geoff Geary can Go Get Gayed in the (G)Butt. For Serious. like For real for real. Thats it. I was supposed to be done this a while back. I can't be short winded....I don't even think that makes sense.
Go girls lacrosse team, beat Upper Moreland and Neshaminy this week
To see the girls record/rank go here. http://www.laxpower.com/update07/bingrl/ratingpa.php
To see rediculous cat that made me pee my pants go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV6DQuEh4UQ
That is all.
P.S. Last entry, 2671 words, 5 pages single spaced. talks about period of 2 months almost
Todays entry 2049 words (approx. not counting this stuff), 4.5 pages single spaced on period of 4 days
P.P.S. This is my 800 day on xanga according to the thing that has been trying for 800 days to get me to buy premium xanga. At any rate, thats a really long time, dontcha think? 10th grade we hardly knew ye, and now ye are 800 days in the past.
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| Well I've been meaning to update for about 3 weeks now. Not for any reader persay, but more just to journal whats been goin on in my life, so that I have something to look back on. So this one might be really long, vague, or uninteresting to everyone else, but feel free to read it. I encourage it.
How far back shall we go? One week? two? three? well at least to pssa break. I guess we should go back further than that even, seeing as I haven't had an entry since Feb 19th. So I actually need to go to my datebook to see what I need to write about. Lets start with with February 20th.
February 20th was Dodgeball 2k7. I was on Aquatic Track^3. We rocked, I guess you could say, except the part where we were embarrassed by the "dutch masters". We dressed down I guess you could say, in speedos and warm ups and shorts, taking off the shorts and warm ups in dramatic fashion when we were up to play. We wrote numbers on each others backs with marker but they were less numbers than equations like the integral from 0 to pi of lnx/e^x dx. Except the sophomore on our team, Ben Daniels, who was like "give me a diesel equation, give me a diesel equation" so we gave him 2+2=4. He couldn't see it and we told him that it was really "diesel."
That weekend I went to Penn State for a visit. I applied to the school of Earth and Mineral Science and they had an open house that weekend. I stayed with this guy I didn't know. He was into hiking and the civil war, I think thats it. He was nice enough and that friday night I got to go out with Zar and hang out with him for a bit. Overall I liked it, although I'm still gonna have my reservations about every school. Theres a lot more to that visit but it was a long time ago and I don't feel like writing it all out.
We had a two hour delay on the 26th. Nothing remarkable about that one I guess, just what I wrote in my date book.
March 2nd was my birthday and the first day of districts. I didn't swim that day though, but we had a husky 200 free relay that day, or maybe the next day. That night I went to see a bunch of friends that were home from college after I got back from the meet. It was Lizyzewicz's birthday too so she was home avec her friend. I played the wii for the first time and I suppose I was impressed. Jason, Hassan, Jacob, Liz, Michelle, and probably other people were there. I probably stayed out too late because the next day I had to swim.
The next day at districts was pretty sweet. First of all I reshaved everything that morning which was fun...I guess. Then we got there and it was diesel. Greg and sean steark swam well in the 50 free, greg swimming a 22.68 and dropping a second. I could be wrong though, that could have been friday. At any rate, later in the evening, Phil martin swam a ridiculous time in the 100 backstroke and broke the school record, set 4 years ago by Mike Nicholaides. He dropped four seconds. I was ridiculous. Then I swam a couple heats later in the 100 Breaststroke. I did okay, not great. I didn't make district time, which is somewhat ironic, but its hard to retaper. I wasn't expecting anything great. I wasn't even expecting to make it to districts in the first place so I'm completely 100% satisfied with my season and I don't know if many people can say that about a season of theirs.
Next day was prom fashion show, that was aight but there were like no people from our school watching. Just parents really.
That friday, March 9th, I played racquetball with the cul-de-sac (franc luu, scott mermelstein, travis pollen) and aaron knock. It rocked. I never thought I'd have fun doing that, at least not the first time I played. I figured that I'd be really bad at it and it would just be humbling but it was actually a really good time. The next day I went out and threw my brand new boomerang with ben, phil and craig who was home on break. It was pretty sweet. The boomerang goes where it wants to go though.
It became nice from march 10th-15th. A lot of people were home on break, so that was tight. Plus pssa break started on the 15th and went through the 20th and that was awesome. On that wednesday I wanted to do something awesome so I went out and played with Zar and Shane Eyler who were both home on break. We walked from shanes to pennbryn and threw the boomerang and the frisbee.....or should I say fizzing wizzbee? (harry potter anyone?) That was decent. His cat had jumped into my car by the time I got back. That night I went to craig hinkle's and phil, ben and andy jaye, dan deck and his female friends, otis, and josh brahan came too. We went to highland and played 4 square and played on the jungle gym. Then we played apples to apples. That was pretty fun. The next day I played with Kevin, march madness started and I went to see Mr. Lennon get his hair cut by phil the thrill martin (a reward for phil breaking the record). That was sweeet. Then I played tennis with franc at dan choroser's house. That night it began to rain and I saw 300 with a bunch of cool cats and kittens. It was pretty sicknasty. I mean that in a pretty much good way although there was a troubling sex scene where they had like slomo butt sex. Not that cool really. The rest rocked.
On that Friday it began to get extra nasty outside. Ice storm of the century! I pretty much stayed in except when I went to phil's and we watched Man of the Year, with Robin Williams. Spare yourself, never watch it. Its like 2 hours long and has a completely ridiculous plot and not in a good way either. Stayed in with the fam that night, my sisters were home on break too. On that saturday, St. Patricks day, me phil and dicker hiked out to longwood (what a sick name) gardens to see our favorite celtic band Teada. For serious, these guys are amazing. It was a good ol time. Phil wanted to dance but I was too cowardly. A bunch of little girls were dancing in the front and would just go back and forth, back and forth basically skipping. It was cute at first but got reeaaallllyyy annoying. Then phil exchanged his email address with a sexual predator guy so that he could get the guys pictures of the band. Then we went to craigs and watched Bear Grylls in Man vs. Wild, pretty much the best show ever.
That night me kevin, phil and hinklehead went sledding at huntington field and played american gladiator games and so forth. It was really exhausting because it wasn't really snow, it was ice about 5 inches deep which made it impossible to walk up the hills in my hand-me-down boots with no tread on the bottom. Lots of fun though.
The next day was sunday. I didn't do a whole lot except hang out with my family and then at night I went to play hockey at phils house. It was really sweet. It was me, phil, dicker, craig hollish, dave sawyerboy, kurt pleier, and andy jung....who showed up in flip-flops. We set up two lacrosse nets in phil's backyard and some sweet lights too and just slid back and forth on the ice. It was sooooo much fun but I was already mega tired from shoveling/breaking ice all day. Because of the fatigue from that and sledding the night before, and because I just have no talent in hockey in general I played like crap. I fell over a lot, which was probably the most entertaining part of the night for everyone. Thoroughly enjoyable for all.
The next day I think I went to tortillas with gabe and then to the record store in hatboro to get the older spoon album, but they didn't have it, so I bought the Roots newer album, Game theory. Its pretty sweet i guess. that night I went to bens and we watched "critters" an excellent b-movie from the 80's starring nobodies except for Billy Zane who plays the hotrod driving boyfriend of the main character/farmgirl. Ultimately the earth is invaded, or rather this family's farm is invaded by these furby like critters that look cute but are really out for blood. It was worth watching definitely. Critters 3 stars Leo DiCaprio before the fame and fortune so you should check that out.
Thursday was Battle of the bands and The Low Keys were victories. Notable performances by the Jupiter Effect (whom I thought would be terrible because me and Mike Liberatore have conflicting music tastes. But the drummer did have his shirt unbuttoned for no apparent reason) and Sunshine and Happiness (who probably didn't deserve to get to the final, but they were the most entertaining so you win some you lose some).
That friday the feel good movie about black swimmers, Pride, opened and we all went as a swim team. WE were going to wear our speedos (at least that was our initial "plan") but we decided against it and decided to wear board shorts and hawaiian shirts and towels and goggles. Except I misread a text from scott and thought it said to not wear them so everyone else was looking extra ridiculous and I was dressed normally. Although somehow, in looking normal amongst a bunch of idiots, I ended up looking foolish. You know, odd man out sort of thing. Funny how that works. Afterwards we went to franc luus house and played ping pong and I learned how to play Maj Jong. Its basically Chinese Rummy+Dominoes. Very fun though. Greg came down with a grippe (pneumonia) and he wasn't able to come.
On Sunday was the Swim Banquet. That was fun/corny as usual. Mr. Lennon always makes a slideshow and adds the stupidest captions on every picture. He goes on to kill ever caption even more by explaining in great detail the rationale behind the caption and the telling the real story behind the picture. Hes a gem, truly.
The 26th was the home opener of the girls lacrosse season. They beasted as usual, 17-2. I'm so stoked for this season, you have no idea.
Wednesday the 28th the music dept. from school got to go see Spamalot at the academy of music. It was awesome. I got to sit with some good friends, which was a relief because all my friends are in orchestra, while I'm in band, so I thought that maybe I'd be stuck with all the people from band that I usually can't stand. I got lucky I guess.
That Friday I went to the Y with the cul-de-sac and Aaron Knock-baby except this time we played squash instead of racquetball. It was diesel as EVERRRRRRRR. We had been playing racquetball completely wrong, basically playing with squash rules, so we didn't have to change that much when we played squash. The ball is smaller, lighter and much less bouncy. It makes it very interesting as every time your ball hits a wall or the ground, it dies you have to rush to where it is to hit it. Its played much more to the ground than compared with tennis or racquetball where your at your waist when you hit it. I like it a lot, I hope to play a lot in college.
That Friday we had a surprise birthday party for Ben. It was awesome. We got yoyo party favors. I made him an awesome card. Yoni, Jake and Rajib got him an awesome gift. Its his 18th birthday so they have this big box and start to hint what it is. They say that Ben might not want to open it or use it in front of adults. They hint that its a blow up thing and that you have to get wet to use it. We were all terrified, especially Ben's girlfriend laura. We thought it was going to be like a blow up girl. Sure enough it was a blow up slip and slide. Best surprise of the night. After dinner we went back to bens and played some saranac. Its pretty much the best game ever. Its a game from the Saranac region of New York, where you run around a pool table trying to throw balls in the pockets. Except thats not it at all. Its like a group game, like chink or something. You go one at a time, having to throw the cue ball and hit the 8 ball before it stops moving or before the 8 ball goes into a pocket. If the 8 ball does go into a pocket or stops moving YOU ARE OUT. Also you have to throw the cue ball from the side of the table opposite the 8 ball and if you don't YOU ARE OUT. Its kind of hard to conceptualize so you just have to come to Ben's house and play it. Me, zach leon, Tom McDonough and Yoni were in the tournament of champions, and I won so kudos me.
Saturday I helped out in Special Olympics swimming. It was a nice event. Very long though and I had to basically stay on my feet for the duration of the meet, as I was a timer. It was great to see them really enjoy themselves and take pride in something (because everyone got a medal). Unfortunately, because I was doing that, I couldn't go to the girls lacrosse teams HUGE victory over Ridley. They beat us last year in the playoffs by a large margin, so this win was sweet vindication. I confess that I doubted the girls and I promise to make a mends. I wish I would have gone and not doubted but what can I say, I consistently have low expectations. I wouldn't call it pessimism, I don't want them to lose, its just that I try to be realistic and not take certain things for granted. That way when you are surprised (as I was saturday) you get such extreme joy, but when you are correct, you are sad but in a way you were prepared for. Thats just my M.O. I enjoy being surprised.
That night dicker and Jacob Buddemeier came over and we didn't really do anything.
This past shortened week was relatively uneventful until the break. Wednesday night I went to Hannah Marks house with phil and rachel, sam, emma, amy and ryan. We watched music videos for a while, then played dutch blitz and pictionary down the lane. It was pretty fun.
Then last night I went to a Maundy Thursday service at my church and then to Ben's house for another night of sweet sweet saranac. We gave nicknames this time. It was Zach "Dick" Leon, Adam "Weasel" Jack, Pat "Black Hole" Hanifin, Tommy "Dublin" McDonough, Jake "Sci-Fi" Guendelsberger, Yoni "Discovery" Hirt, Ben "Baby Face" Jaye and I was Dan "Doc Dangle" Wood. It was intense. The newbies, Pat and Adam, did remarkably well as the seasoned vets floundered. I did mediocre. Won once. It was a shell of a good time. I don't know how long ben's table's gonna last though. It gets a severe pounding.
So this entry was largely uninteresting and uncreative. It didn't really spice it up at all or make it readable. No pictures or any sweet like that.
Coming up:
Easter, this sunday
Month of girls lacrosse action
really hard decisions about college
5 full weeks of school and then
Spoon Concert
the musical,
24 hour relay
prom, post prom, prom weekend
Mad grad parties
Graduation
summa time
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| And I'm BACK IN THE GAME!
Anyone reading this, although it would probably only be zach and maybe, outside shot, allison, if you can name where that quote is from I will totally give you nothing. But go for it anyway.
So wow, a great weekend calls for a post. No scratch that, jump back a few. Shall I start on thursday morning...nah, wednesday...nah, tuesday...nah, jump back, turn your clocks back to February 1st. That weekend I swam a sick time and then left from that meet, thursday night, to go up to Boston to visit Tufts and Boston University. Loved them both, which was a total relief because I haven't really liked any of the schools I've visted thus far. Stayed over night with Craig Hinkle-head and we had a smashing good time. Played this sweet game, settlers of Cataan. I highly recommend it. Its like Risk + Pit + Monopoly, but nothing at all like that. Can't describe it, just check it out for yourself. Then I did some sight seeing and came home for the superbowl. The superbowl, mind you, marks the second anniversary of theunladenswallows inception. Hoorraahh. Boring superbowl, truely. I talked about swimming with me armano Ben McGrann and totally ignored the game.
Next week was uneventful. We might of had a two hour delay on the 7th or something, but it was just a tease. That friday me and me hombres, Greg, Phil, Tummy and Dan Cohen went to get some steaks at D'Alassandros in Roxborough. WOW WOWOWOWEEZOWEE. Perhaps I'm over stating it, but they were good. And not just the steaks were good, the place was good, the service was good, the people were good. Allow me to digress. You go to this place and your expexting the in and out, stand-esque steak shop a la Pat's or Tony Lukes or Geno's. You know, basically outside, but with like glass encasing it so its moderately warmer than the outside. Also generally they have signed pictures of B through D list celebrities, local boxers, famous strippers, wrestlers, news personalities, and mostly people you've never heard of. You know, real classy stuff. The service is typically fast and sloppy, often with a side of anger and a large amount of impatience. At times these places will outright abuse their customers, mainly becasue these customers are basically out of towners looking for that "authentic philly cheesesteak experience" and look at the abuse as a must have.
I on the other hand don't look for these things. My beef (ha get it) with pats is that they are quick and dont melt the cheese. Genos is rude and similar to pats. They are tourist traps, and no self respecting philadelphian would claim their cheesesteaking supremacy. So they why was D'Als so good? First of all it wasn't all the way in south philly, a perk, just like going to Steve's. Its all the way down Washington Lane and then across the creek into Roxborough. Est. Driving time, 20 minutes, not bad. Its very small and cramped, which is a minus but it is all bona fide in doors, a plus. It has a diner-ish feel to it, which is attractive to me and people there were actually nice. The counter there only had ten seats and thats basically all the seats they have during the busy hours, which means that you will likely have to take out, a minus. But we got lucky and got spots at the counter, a plus. The wait, I admit, was longer than most but that is not an out and out minus. On the contrary, that tells me that they are actually going to cook my steak, with the cheese and the onions and put them altogether in my lightly toasted Amoroso Roll. And they did. And it was delicious. Count that as 5 pluses. On top of all that, the steak was huge, packed with meat and perfectly metled cheese. They give you a spoon to eat the meat that will invariably fall out of your cornicopious (made that word up) sandwich. The icing: Inexpensive, free peppers any kind you want, and they sell milk and chocolate milk. There is also a feel of community there, with the regulars coming in and ordering "the usual" sort of thing. You can call me a softy but I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. On the whole, sandwich and service and ambiance taken together, I would give it a 9.3 out of 9.6.
Added perk, if Dals is too crowded you can head across the street to Chubby's, which I've been told is nearly as good as Dals. Thats competition for you, it spurs improvement. Oh God I'm a capitalist for saying that.
My top 3 list of places to get steaks.
1) D'Allassandro's (notice I haven't spelled it the same way once yet)
2) Tony Lukes (way down there but very conveient before a phillies game or something)
3) Jim's (on south street, not because of its steaks persay, but because its location allows for fun times going to and from. You can easily make a night out of going to Jim's and thats nice)
Wild cards and dark horses
Steve's Prince of Steaks - I haven't been there in about 2 years. I don't remember being blown away by it but Pat, Tim and Adam swear by it.
Chubby's - Haven't been but I have been told by a reputible source that its better than Dals. We'll have to investigate
Rick's - In Reading Terminal Market. Owned by Rick Olivieri, grandson of Pat Olivieri, founder of the cheesesteak and the famous Pat's King of Steaks. Oddly enough Pat's is owned by Pat Olivieri's brother grandson, and therefore isn't a direct line to Pat's. Check recent news publications for their ongoing authenticity debate. At any rate, its good when your in center city and you need a good steak. And who doesn't love the atmosphere of Reading Terminal?
Cho's - On Easton road, next to Rita's wooterice. Its my local favorite. Owned by Koreans but me, nor my taste buds are holding it against them.
Avoid - Pats and Genos. Its not worth it. Theyre rude, expensive, and not that good. Arrogance infects their food.
Wow okay, didn't expect to write a disortation on cheesesteaks. Anyway, the next saturday I hung around because I started to feel ill. Same thing with Sunday. The news was starting to warn of a possible snowstorm then, and everyone was getting excited.
We started tapering for swimming on monday and that is when you swim less and less yards before an important race where you want to swim extra fast. For us it was tapering for Surbans, or champs, or sectionals or whatever you want to call them. On tuesday the storm came and made it so afterschool activities were cancelled, but at the time it looked like the storm was yet another wash and that school was impending on wednesday. WRONG. Wednesday wake up, NO SCHOOL. Pretty sweet. I did some homework and then went and made a sweet igloo with Craig and Phil. Not as sweet as last years but still pretty cool. Then I came home and finished working on a paper and watched lost. The next day we struck gold with a 2 hour delay. BONUS. Slept in and worked on something that wasn't due because of the delay. Ironic. Then I spent my lunch period putting together a shoddy, yet awesome health poster on the topic of friendship. It was basically a bunch of quotes like:
Friends have each others backs when gangs come to get them. - Unknown
A true friend stabs you in the front - Oscar Wilde
Friends are like smakerals of fun, you can never have to many - Pooh
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from a friends forehead - Chinese Proverb
Friendship lasts forever - Spice Girls
Etc.
Then I had practice and we shaved cut our hair rediculously because on friday we were all shaving our heads completely for suburbans. We all cut stupid things into our heads and I tried to get a face put into my head and it only sort of worked.
 
In the front I had them do what I call the "james lancaster" becuase in like 4th grade James had a haircut that was just his bangs and nothing else. Pretty sweet.
 
Then the next day we completely shaved our heads. That night I shaved my legs. Don't ever do it if you don't have to. Its the worst. I didn't even finish. I had to do the rest the next day. And my stomach, chest, arms and alas, moustache. Its supposed to make you swim extra fast as you loose drag and also get this really weird sensation when you dive in the water with no leg hair. The girls actually grow out their leg hair all season to shave it for suburbans or districts. Also, when youre warming up for the meet, you wear stockings to keep that feeling of drag on your legs. Its like swinging a bat with a donut on it, or putting weights on your ankles to condition for jumping. But it was all worth it I suppose. I really have a lot more sympathy for you girls now.
So suburbans started at like 1 or something like that and I had to get to school at 11 30 to get the bus. Suburbans is when you go for individual glory against people in your league. If you do well enough, you can make it to the next level, districts. After districts is states and after that I think you get elected president or something...not so sure. At any rate. I didn't get to swim in suburbans last year because I tore up my meniscus doing absolutely nothing. Being that I'm a senior, this is probably my last meet as I'm not really good enough to go to districts. Well, at least thats what I thought. To make districts you have to go a certain time that is set at the beginning of the season by the PIAA governing board of retired people or something like that. This year the 100 Breast time was lowered from 1:08.50 to 1:07.70 as the rules allowed a new kick in your streamline that makes it faster. Last year my times were in the 1:15 range and they never got much better that year. This year I started off at 1:14 and stayed around there all december except one fluke 1:13. Then I started oddly getting better towards the end of january. Somehow I got down to a 1:12, then, in the second to last meet, a 1:10.61. So that crazy part is next. I was the fourth breaststroker on our team, after Alex Cohen, Tim Hindin and Franc Luu. They were all seeded better than me at suburbans because they had all broken 1:10 and I hadn't WEll long story short I somehow managed to get a 3 second drop in time and I made the district cut by the skin of my teeth, with a 1:07.67, 3/100s of a second better than the cut, 1:07.70. THAT IS CRAZY! Its very unusual. Sometimes people drop three seconds when theyre shaved and tapered but I never thought that I would. Here is a graph of my times over the year, and this sweet equation that excel told me fits the trend:
The equation if you can't see it is y = 3E-11x^4 - 4E-06x^3 + 0.2338x^2 - 6093.9x + 6E+07
I think the E is not like e but like exponent. Rather, the first is something like 3 raised to the -11th power. Pretty sweet I guess.
Unfortunately Tim and Franc didn't make the cut, which is very dissapointing for them.
That night I had some cats and kittens over for some pictionary down the lane. It was Phil, Greg, Tummy, Dicker, Zach, Fiona and Emma. It was good to see the girls, I hadn't seen them in a while. It was fun, my sister made angel food cake, and then we watched the dunk competition.
Sunday, church and then after church I went out to lunch at West Ave. with Ben, Zach, Adam and Pat. Pretty gay place for all guys to eat but Ben had a sweet $25 gift certificate that was good if we spent over 50 bucks. Good deal. Then Ben came over and we started to write a girls lacrosse article for the paper but didn't finish, and I totally promised to finish it, but I didn't. Hopefully it will get done/published.
That night was a swim team spaghetti dinner at Lomady's house. Not as many people were there as usual, probably due to the fact that it was the end of the season. We still had a blast. As usual, the Lomadys hospitality was outstanding. I love that family, and that house. Mr. Lomady can make a mean spaghetti and meatballs. One of the best yet. Then we played like 16 person pictionary down the lane, which took forever, but was rediculous. As usual, the Jewish man/rabbi appeared in one of the drawings. It never fails. Good clean fun though, except the one about the wrestlers having gay sex.
Today I had practice in the morning, and it was pretty hard for me. Then I spent like three hours writing this xanga update and not doing my homework or eating lunch or going to dickers or finishing the girls lax article or anything else that im suppose to do. Oh well.
Impending events...
Dodgeball tomorrow
PSU visit this weekend
Birthday march 2nd, and districts march 2nd and 3rd, although, I'm only swimming the 3rd.
Friends coming home from colleges
Prom fashion show March 4th, buy a ticket from me
Day off march 5th
SPRING!!!!!!
My god that was a post of Will Bruce-ish proportions. Except a lot less eloquent and poinant.
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| So Agassi lost today, and he started to cry and dambed if I didn't start tearing right up with him. It was kind of embarressing.
In other sporting news, Phillies played 4 games in two days for the first time since Connie Mack probably, and they went .500 for those games. I went to 1 and a quarter games today, of the Phillies doubleheader, and in the game that I missed, Ryan Howard hit three home runs. We came in the 8th and he hit a single, tried for two and got thrown out. The Phillies pulled that one out and my guy, Geary got a Win. Then in the second game the bullpen blew it and Geary got a loss. I wonder how often a pitcher gets two decisions in a day. Well done Geary your first loss of the season.
We were planning on going to the game Friday night but Tropical Storm Ernesto had other plans. I was also supposed to go Whitewater rafting saturday and Ernesto postponed that too. Bummer
Tomorrow, or rather technically today is the last day of the season for the pool. That means no more cash flow, and no more work. A good and a bad. Oh well. Happy Labor Dabor
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| So far it hasn't worked, I have not been able to search and find the Rhode Island lyrics. If I search "theunladenswallow" on google, my site comes up. Weird. I don't know how google works but I sort of want to find out. I've heard people hypothesize that google personalizes your results based on some sort of algorithm of past searches. Like I've heard of two computers searching the same thing and getting completely different results. I don't know, I think thats a little farfetched (which incidentally is the name of a pokemon) but an interesting study no doubt. More realistically, google is updating so quickly that from one search to the next more results for the same category are available, if that makes any sense.
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