June 23 - June 24-July 2 - July 3 - July 4 - July 5

Well, it seems I either forgot to write holiday journal entry last year, or chose not to. I don't recall. In any event, last June my sister and I moved from Ohio to Bangor, Maine. I don't recall if she was here on the 4th of July or not. Maybe she was at work most of the day... or maybe she went to New Sweden for the holiday. All I know is I was here, and was alone at least most of the day. Which is nice. Can't say I recall doing much of anything. Except walking to Save a Lot in Brewer, though I didn't have much money. I'm sure I bought something, though. Just can't think what. I'm sure it was all dreadfully boring, but whatever.

This year, however, we're both planning on going to New Sweden for the holiday. Today I bought a couple packs of morning glory sparklers. And I did some tinkering with an Avatar: The Last Airbender AMV I had basically made the other day, set to the 1812 Overture. After I finished making some minor yet time-consuming alterations, and added end credits, I posted it on YouTube. It's a short version of the overture, a little over 4 minutes instead of 17 minutes, which would've been too long for an AMV, and certainly too long to post on YouTube. Anyway, the music I downloaded to make it is apparently by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, though I tend to expect their work to be more sort of new-agey techno, or whatever. But this seemed like a pretty straight interpretation of the piece, so it makes me wonder if it's really them. You never can tell with stuff you get off P2P programs, but whatever. Well, I guess that's all to say for now. I'll try to remember to post more updates in the next couple weeks.

June 24-July 2

Actually, I'm writing this, as well as the entries for the 3rd and 4th, on July 5. This particular range of dates (the 24th to the 2nd) has nothing specifically to do with the holiday, but I wanted to say some things, anyway. First of all, I should say that Beth was here last 4th of July, just working most of the day. Anyway, on Saturday, June 24, this year she and I drove up to New Sweden for Midsommar (that's Midsummer, for those of you who don't speak Swedish... not that I speak Swedish, or anything). Well, there was some stuff to do that weekend, like a Smorgasboard on Saturday, and stuff at Thomas Park on Sunday. And Sunday afternoon, Beth drove back to Bangor, while I stayed in town for the week. And she came up again the next Saturday, and we both came back to Bangor on the 5th. But that's getting ahead of myself.

What to say? It was nice to see some family. There's my cousins Luke, Karsten, Torry and Matty Treu, their little sister Britta, and their parents, Nancy and Kris. They're visiting for the summer from Ohio. Also our cousins Josh, Matt, and Jessica Burden. And of course our own parents, and grandparents, and for a little while around Midsommar Uncle Wayne and Aunt Kathleen, and um, Uncle Alan and Aunt Brenda, and you know, just scads of others. Plus people I don't even know. Okay, we're getting beyond the nice part, what with my hating large groups of people, social anxiety and depression and all that. But it was nice to see the Treu boys and the Burdens, certainly. And Kathleen, who I barely know, seems pretty cool. I also wanted to say that Britta's never really felt like speaking to me or anything before, but she's like 5 now I guess, and actually spoke to me a bit this summer, which was nice. But she also liked my tiger, Gnarls... then again, everyone likes Gnarls. You can see him on my plush page. Meanwhile, I read some magazines and finished up "On a Pale Horse," so I should soon start reading "Bad Twin." What else to say? There were some campfires at the lake, a few nights, that was nice I guess. Except for my social anxiety and depression. But whatever. We also played some board games and stuff, like Settlers of Catan and Apples to Apples. I should also say that for a few nights, I stayed at my grandparents' camp at the lake, along with my sister and mother. And of course, the Treus have the camp next door. It was pretty cold the first night I stayed, but it was better after that. Still not warm, though.

July 3

At some point on this day, my sister forced me to go kayaking, which I'd never done. I must say, I prefer canoeing. And I don't really like canoeing. Nope, I definitely ain't a member of the Water Tribe. Later, there was a campfire at the neighboring camp, the Conroys. Mr. Conroy, me, Beth, the Treu boys (and Britta for awhile) and a couple of girls, Hannah and Amber, who I don't really know. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. We all watched fireworks which another camp was setting off, since I guess they thought it would rain on the 4th. It was supposed to rain all week, and had been raining quite a bit for a few days. Rained some on the third, too, but then it got nicer. Looked like they spent thousands of dollars on those fireworks. Very nice, but eventually I got tired of them. They depressed me and even started to annoy me. Not that that's saying much. That's just how I am. It's not the fireworks' fault. Oh, and I had a couple bottles of Summer Ale from Casco Bay. Well, not sure if I can think of anything else to say.

July 4

It rained in the morning, but later the day got nicer. In the afternoon, there was a large gathering of relatives and friends at the Treus' camp, with tons of food. Including some chili made from fixins I'd received for Christmas last year. Nice to finally get to use that. Also I had some Volcanic Party Mix from Orchard Valley Harvest. I've had some other of their snack mixes before, and I like them. I'd been wanting to hold off on trying the Volcanic mix till the 4th of July. It was good, but not popular with anyone else because it was too hot. And, I spent some time playing StarCraft on the computer. Not a bad game, I guess. Later a bunch of the kids went swimming. I never went this year, partly because it wasn't really warm enough, but also... You know, when you're pretty much always uncomfortable around people, it doesn't really help matters if they're wet and wearing swimsuits. Not to mention if you're wet and wearing a swimsuit. So whatev.

That night we had a campfire at the Treus' camp. The usual suspects were there, except Mr. Conroy. Also a couple other girls I don't really know, Rachel and Kristen, I think. I had a few more bottles of summer ale, but ended up leaving one in the Treus' fridge. I hope somebody enjoys it. Anyway, it didn't rain, so... we had a few sparklers, and a few other camps set off fireworks. It was nice, though not nearly as spectacular as the previous night's show. I was a bit upset that... actually, this was probably on the 3rd... I realized the issue of Anime Insider that talked about fireworks was back in Bangor. In the list of words in the "Learn Japanese" sidebar they do each month... one word was hanabi, which means fireworks, which I've known for years. But that entry mentioned what Japanese people say when they see fireworks, which I didn't know before I read it last month, and I couldn't remember that night. So I was upset that I didn't have the right issue with me. For the record, now that I'm home, and I quote: It's traditional to shout "Tamaya!" when they go off. Tamaya was a pyrotechnician who helped popularize fireworks in the early 1800s (and later accidentally burned down a good part of Tokyo).

Welp, the last thing I did on the 4th was to show the Treu boys my 1812 Avatar AMV. That was nice. Then I went back to my grandparents' camp next door to sleep. I hope I'm not forgetting to say anything.

July 5

Beth and I drove home. It's like a 4 hour drive. She went out to lunch with a friend. I unpacked my stuff, did some laundry, took a shower... Oh, it is nice to have a shower with actual water pressure. There's no pressure worth speaking of in the shower in my parents' house or my grandparents' camp. And in case you felt this holiday journal didn't have enough irony, it's of course warmer in Bangor than in New Sweden, but there's no lake for us to go to. Anyway, it's also nice to have cable internet again instead of dial-up, though so far all I've done with it is write these last few entries. I look forward to doing lots more stuff online. I also look forward to having cable TV. I've missed some stuff over the past week and a half, and I intend to see if I can download some of it or watch it online, for to have to just accept missing one or two episodes of things... would suck mightily. Anyway, I finished up my Volcanic mix while writing this. And once again, I hope I'm not forgetting to say anything....