Just Not a Dog Lover

Over the past 18 years of my life I have had plenty of pets only one of which I have had a good relationship and experience with. The dog I grew up with Roxanne, was an awesome dog...she did nothing she would just mop around and sleep. She kept to herself and I loved it, she also made for a nice pillow if you wanted to watch TV laying down on the ground which was a nice perk. After Roxanne I went through a series of childhood pets, I had 2 goldfish, 1 gerbil, 1 hamster, and 1 frog (I may have had more but these are the ones I remember).
The first of these pets were the goldfish. I got them from getting the winning gumball at a pet store and so because I won my parents had no choice but to let me get them. I was in the 1st grade at this time but I took care of those fish like they were my own flesh and blood. I would clean the tank all the time, make sure I fed them at the same time everyday. Because I grew so attached to them, I wanted to have a play-date with them just like I would have with friends, but I even in 1st grade knew fish couldn't breathe out of water. So, I got the idea to fill the bath tube and swim with them in there, I grabbed a snorkel and goggles and I was ready to go. As I was playing with my fish, I thought that since I'm in the bathtub might as well kill to birds with one stone and washed up so I wouldn't have to take a bath later on. That was the mistake...I guess after going through the motions of using soap and shampoo, the water got cloudy and I forgot that i brought my friends in the tub, so not thinking about them I got out opened the drain and went to dry off. They didn't survive.
My gerbil Vedder, who I named after Eddie Vedder the lead singer of Pearl Jam, again I took very good care of was probably my favorite pet after Roxanne. We would play together and he would run around in his little clear ball, we were peas and carrots. One night however, I had to go out with my parents and had to leave Vedder home, I wasn't worried though because my little brother would be home and my aunt was babysitting him. When I returned I went to go look for Vedder, only to find that his ball was at the bottom of the basement stairs in half. Vedder had got out of his ball...never to be found again.
My hamster's, I will admit, death was completely my fault. After all these tragedies, I got careless with my pets and began to view them more like toys. My hamster's name was Whiskers, and I loved to play hide and seek so when my brother didn't want to play, sometimes I would play with Whiskers. So what I would do is I would hide him at night and by the time I came home from school usually I would remember where I put him but I would just pretend I didn't. One day however, I guess I was a tough day in 2nd grade and when I came home I completely forgot where Whiskers was. I eventually remembered about 3 weeks later...it was too late.
My frog was similar but not my fault. One day in 3rd grade I came home and my mom asked me if it was time to get more crickets for my frog. I had no idea what she was talking about. She continued to press me about feeding my frog and taking care of it, so when I told her I didn't have a frog. She walked me upstairs where we were greeted by a frog starved to literally skin and bones. To this day I never remember getting that frog.

Serving on Mission Trips

People always spread this light on mission trips as a time when people need to be serious and cant joke around...I just never understood that. I love mission trips and really put my heart and soul into them, in fact that's what I plan on making my career. In the same breathe, I love having fun and sharing a good laugh. On my second mission trip, the summer going into my freshman year of high school I went to Mississippi. The trip was great we got a lot done, made some really great friendships and I believe truly had a lasting impact on the community. After we spent our time in the mission field we came back to New Jersey and had a two day debriefing period.
One thing that we learned about cultural differences between Mississippi and New Jersey is that fireworks are legal in Mississippi, so of course there was a need to bring back some of the culture we had been in contact with over the past month back home. In our two day debriefing period, days were much more bland then the past month we had experienced and with our prizes we had brought back from Mississippi, a couple of the guys from the team and I decided to add some flavor to the last night.
We waited til around 1 a.m. and snuck out of the room with our hands full of gun-powder filled goodies. We came up with a plan to surround the girls tents with the fireworks and an escape route into the woods so we wouldn't get caught. We after we carefully placed them around the tent site, we got into place and waited for the specific time we were going to set them off. The time came and in order to signal everyone to light the fuses I screamed, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" With that the night sky illuminated with red, green, and blue only to quickly be interrupted by the "pop, bang" of the explosions. Screams followed the explosions but we wasted no time and quickly ran into the woods. The team leaders could be heard running out of their tents and gathering to discuss what happened. We had to wait hours before they went back to their tents but were never discovered!

WWF Takes the Streets of Wyckoff

My best friend Tyler and I hang out a lot. I can't even consider it "hanging out" any more because I feel like my house is just as much his as it is mine, kind of like having a brother. For example there have been multiple times I have come home to find Tyler watching TV...in fact, he has been at my house (when I'm not there) and invited people over because he was bored. So like brothers do when someone the family has guests (friends) so do we and usually we take it way over the top.
T.J. is a kid we've known for a long time, I've know T.J. since 2nd grade, Tyler met him some where around 7th grade but was and is very close with him nevertheless. T.J.'s parents went out of town for the weekend and he was staying at my house, Tyler and I saw this as getting a new toy on Christmas morning, you're just so excited you almost forget to play with it. I can't remember Friday too much, I think it was pretty uneventful. But on Saturday we headed over to the lacrosse fields to throw around. Of course dares made there way into our day of fun. First T.J. dared Tyler to hit a goose with a lacrosse ball, which he did...the goose died I think. T.J. later missed a ball that ended up bouncing to the parking lot where it left a nice dent in the side of a red sports car...we decided to leave after that. The day got crazier and crazier, setting off M-80s (little fireworks) and then not knowingly setting off real fireworks and a bunch of other little things here and there.
Night came and the day was winding down but we still had so much energy so Tyler and I came up with the idea to stage a fight on the busiest road in town. T.J. agreed. We headed down to the main road Tyler and I threw on all black clothes because we were going to be the muggers. We all talked the plan over one last time and the stage was set. So T.J. ran out towards the street and we ran after him and caught him and gave him the worst fake beating he had ever received. A car passing by however did not think this was funny and ripped his car on to the side street we were on. He got out of the car and started screaming at Tyler and I so we took off...we probably won't be staging too many fights after that.

Not Once but Twice

In my sophomore year of high school my best friend and I decided to start a Bible study run out of his house on Sunday nights for our friends. The Bible study was great, everyone was getting really into it and the guys really seemed to enjoy coming out and discusing religion and spirituality Rarely did we ever Tyler and I get to share what we had prepared for the week but we were perfectly content with the passion filled discussions that took the floor over our Scripture reading. We would usually meet for a total of 3 and a half hours, an hour of which was reserved for dinner which we got a restaurant owner who attended the church we went to provided for us week in and week out (probably the real reason the guys would come out), an hour and a half of "Bible study" or religious discussion, and the last hour to just hang out and play video game or whatever was desired.
Of course me being me, as you have read throughout past weeks never steps down from a bet. So when one night, when I was dared to jump on the treadmill at full speed at agreed. The guys and I walked downstairs where the treadmill was and turned it on. I watched the miles per hour increase as Kevin was hysterically laughing in anticipation for the stunt about to be performed. Finally at 15 MPH the treadmill reached its top speed and I mounted the sides and readied myself. A bunch of the guys gathered around and Kevin got the camera on his phone ready. I braced my self hopped off the sides and planted my feet on the tread. My body shot off. I remember thinking, "wow that hurt a lot more than I thought it would" which was drowned out in the laughter of my friends. After everyone got settled back down I asked to see the video that Kevin took...he didn't save it. To this day I don't know why I did, but I did it one more time, this was the product.