Backpacking

No, school has not started. The backpacking I mean is of a much more physically gruelling sort. Apparently Dad had been planning to do a family backpacking trip with us at this age for years now, but I wasn't informed until 3 days before it happened. It was quite a shock. We went on the Mother Mountain Loop, inside the Mount Ranier National Park, which has a total distance of 17. something miles. After checking in with the Park Rangers, we began our journey at 10 in the morning on August 25. Dad, being the enthusiastically crazy guy he is, planned it out so that we had to go 10 miles the first day, then 5, then 2, as it was meant to be a 3 day 2 night trip. The first 10 miles wouldn't have been bad at all, if it weren't for the fact that they sucked. We had a bit of flat ground at the beginning, and then things got bad. Steep downhill rocky switchbacks ensued for a much longer distance than there was flat, taking us a total of at least 3 hours to get down them. Ups and downs for a long while, and then the miles ended with the last 2 being incredibly difficult for all, as they were like the uphill version of the switchbacks mentioned before. Mom, Luke, and Emma were reduced to tears. Mom mentioned earlier that she was kept from saying some naughty things and verbally expressing her hatred of the hike and of Dad (At the moment) only by the presence of her children. The whole day was 9+ hours of hiking alone. Keep in mind that this whole thing was made many times more difficult by the carrying of heavy packs and that we couldn't enjoy the views because the fog. The next day it was much the same (Minus the fog), except we decided to go the extra mile (or two) than planned, and do it in 2 days, as Mom got no sleep in the tent and she wanted Dunn and I to be able to go to our open houses, which were today. Keep in mind that Luke did this too, but I carried his pack for him. Let me tell you, that loop was meant for 3 days. Every group we passed by (None with kids, I might add) was doing it in 3. The coolest thing for day 1 was this awesome suspension bridge we got to cross, and for day 2 it was walking across the snow fields. I never would have guessed I would be walking across snow in the summer, but I was, and I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and I was hot. It was beautiful, though. Very beautiful. Dunn posted some pics on Facebook, I believe. When we were driving home afterwards Mom puked multiple times because of the exertion and lack of hydration (There was water, she just didn't drink).

Urban Adventure

I beleive Chase posted on this on his blog, so I won't steal his thunder. It kinda deserves to be stolen though, as of now it has no punctuation, terrible spelling (There IS a spell check, you know), and left out some very important parts, like the Seattle Art Museum and crazy people who did crazy things to random people. I would also like to mention that I was the one who said the peach was the best peach they'd ever had. At REI I bought a boomerang. I used it this morning, and though I didn't expect it to work, I actually caught one of my throws, which I thought I could never do. It was awesome. So the trip to Seattle went awesomely, and now that Chase, Dunn, and I have ORCA cards, we can do that whenever. The waiter at the Cheesecake Factory was hilarious, and that makes up for the fact that we were tricked into eating there.

If you need explanation on something, you're not going to get it unless you comment.

For Joryn- We were getting hungry and were looking for a place to get a snack so we could eat later. Miles had been obsessing about the Cheesecake Factory all day, and so we decided to try and get a slice of cheesecake. We walked into the restaurant expecting to order a slice of cheesecake from their counter, rather than sitting down and eating lunch there. When we got in through the revolving door we were looking around in awe at the decor and listening to the music when, within 2 second of being in, the lady asked us 'Table for four?'. Dunn didn't know what to say but 'Uh, yes?'.

Chase's Blog

Chase has fulfilled his lifelong dream of getting a blog, and with some help from me, named it. I told him the only reason I get comments is because mom told people on her blog I have one, and so I told him I would do the same for him, so his fan base may also consist of Mom's friends. Chase's blog is chasewesthoff.blogspot.com. See you there.

Couldn't Think Up A Name- For Post or Blog

As you can see I have changed my picture to a much more recent *cough*NOT*cough* photo and changed my template. You could say it signifies my start of a new life here in Washington. You could say that, but you'd be wrong. I just got tired of the black. I wanted to change the name too, but I couldn't think of anything clever enough. You might see a change soon anyway. Since the 2 comments I got (1 via email) didn't have any instruction or suggestion about what to put in my post, I'm lost as for what to say. Miles has become my best friend, and Chase's and Dunn's as well, which is sad. Last time in Washington I tried to be friends with Dunn's friends, but apparently now its the other way 'round. I've spent my free time either hanging out with Miles & Chase & Dunn out of the house (very often), biking, rotting my brain one way or another, reading (I'm proud to say I've read more books than all of my siblings combined this Summer), or some combination of them. That's about all I'm gonna say right now, so goodbye.

Seriously, I suck at this blogging thing.

OMGosh I suck at this. It's difficult to over everything in one post, so I guess I just haven't been posting at all. Sorry people. As I said, it would be next to impossible to cover everything in one go. So I won't. When/if you comment on this (I wouldn't blame you for not, I don't deserve them after that 1 month pause.) say what aspect of my life here you will like to know about, and I will do my best to get them on here SOON (2 days-1wk), as opposed to LATER (2wks-never).

P.S. Possible Topic- Scout Camp

P.P.S. I do not have access to Dad's laptop for pics of my trip, so if you really want to know, I believe the Facebookers of my family have posted pictures and stories and stuff about it.

Scout Stuff

As I mentioned earlier, but now proves incorrect, there are 2 other deacons. It is now incorrect because Miles is a deacon now. The othere two's names are Tyler and Jordan. Jordan is the Deacon's quorom president. Anyway, yesterday at our scout meeting, the 3 (Miles is in Utah) of us planned out 4 months of our activities our by our lonesome (with the scout leader, of course). Lots of service, about 1 service project and campout a month (not at the same time, for the most part). Within these 4 months fall The Washington Jamboree (Wash Jam), which I don't quite know what it is, and Scout camp, which I do. Both of these I am signed up for. My scout leader does not yet have my scout info, but I plan on getting it from Brother Schuck soon (If a Mormon Missourian in Rolla is reading this, please have Brother Schuck email my dad about it. Thanks.). That's about all I have Scout-wise, so I make an end to this post (Which happens to have the most parenthesis in it than any other post of mine. It's ridiculous, actually, like half the text.)

Stuff

So we're pretty much all moved in. Except Dunn. He's not. The Westhoffs have been using his room for their clothes, so his stuff is still in boxes. We've done much of what there was to do, and not much remains except for plugging in the kid's computers ('Can you do it now, Dad? Can you? please?') and hanging up posters and pictures. DuPont's nice. The center of the shops and stuff is 2 miles from the house, so being kicked out for the day is an option. The trail system is nice as well. When Dad checks the bikes, I think that it might be a family home evening activity. I don't know what the school looks like on the inside, but last year was it's first year, so I'm guessing pretty nice. It's got a nice field. My reed for the saxophone chipped in the move, so I'm either going to have to use a higher level one or wait till I get a new one from a music store or something. My quest for new shoes has been partially completed, as I have new church shoes (high quality, like 70% percent off) and have permission to wear a pair of Dad's shoes. I don't have normal shoes of my own, nor do I have running shoes yet. Miles is on vacation in Utah, and I am keeping his yard up for until his dad gets home for saltwater taffy. No cash payment, please, just saltwater taffy. Its a good deal for all, I needed something to do anyway.

Lateness

I realize this post is late, and I am sorry for that. We got to DuPont on Friday night, and it's pretty nice. Smaller than Rolla, I'm afraid, though. More details later. I'm going to catch you guys up on my trip with pictures later, but I can't now, as I'm posting from Miles' house. He is now officially not just a cyberfriend. We went to church on Sunday, and the ward was nice. The only bad things was that there were only 2 other deacons, and though there were 5 girls in my Sunday school class, NONE of them were pretty! It was a disaster.

Schlitterbahn Pics

I am on my dad's laptop, where all the pictures are stored, so I may show you some Schlitterbahn pictures. Feast your eyes on the equivalent of thousands of words. I apologize for the type on the bottom on the post, as opposed to the top, but I am a picture uploading rookie.

The GSWWFV Stops 1 and 2

Stops 3 and 4 have happened, but people are waiting for the computer and i'm tired, so I'm going to post those at a later date.

We drove down to Texas from Missouri (such a long drive...*shiver*), and arrived at stop number one. The Parker's house. The Parkers are the children of my Aunt Becca, who is my mom's sister, and Uncle Dane, who is not. There is Alexis (Lexie), 16, Ryan and Brittany (twins), 14, Kylin, 12, Julia, 10, and Cameron, 7. We got there Thursday night, swam in their pool, and then slept. Ryan was on a scout High Adventure until Saturday Afternoon, so we didn't see him till then. On Friday we swam alot, and watched at least 2 movies. On Saturday it was much the same, except for I made a GIANT batch of cookies (like 160, not an overexaggeration at all) with twice the amount of vanilla needed. Needless to say it was great fun. I think I set a PR for rapid movie watching, having watched Mummy, Mummy 2, Taken, parts of The Game Plan, and X-Men 1, in 2 days.

On Monday we said our goodbyes (NNNNOOOOO! Why couldn't they come to Schlitterbahn with us?!?!?) and went to Schlitterbahn, a waterpark that has been voted best waterpark in the world 10 years in a row. On the drive there we bought wannabe rashgaurds for the boys, thus succesfully saving 4 torsos worth of sunblock. We got there and, after getting tickets and applying sunblock, split into our groups and left. The groups were- Mom and Luke, and then everyone else stayed mainly together. We couoldn't do the whole park in one day, but we tried. My favorite ride was the Master Blaster, but I only went on it once, as there was like an hour and a half wait in line. My overall favorite type of ride were the tube chutes. You'd get a tube, and ride down a relatively narrow path that would twist and turn and have waterfalls and rapids and overall awesomeness. Mom didn't really get to experience like any of the rides, because Luke has issues with tubes (a traumatic experience with the Parkers). All in all, Schlitterbahn didn't live up to my expectations, but that's because its impossible to meet expectations that have been building up for 5 years. It was a very fun experience though, and one I was glad to have had.

The GSWWFV

The Great South-Western Westhoff Family Vacation (GSWWFV for short) begins! Tommorrow! Today was my last full day in Missouri... likely, EVER *sheds tear*. We begin driving for Texas tommorrow. Some stops on the GSWWFV are Karlsbad Caverns, Schlitterbahn, the very well known Parkers' house, the equally well known Mangums' house, Las Vegas, Disneyland, Seaworld, the Judd and Debbie Rackham's house, the Grand Canyon, and the Great Sequoia Redwoods. Sounds fun, huh? Seems rather roundabout for a drive to Washington, but time flies when you're having fun. Unfortunately driving isn't fun. Everything I mentioned should be though.

The GSWWFV-
We're not driving to Washington.
We're vacationing there!

Humor

I have had a request from a friend for a post that is funny. Apparently he's 'dying' for it. Sadly, planning out something funny and then posting about it is just not my style. Said friend lives in Washington and has yet to experience what IS my style of humor, which is undescribable. I think he may need some confirmation that I am, indeed, funny (at least sometimes). So if you live in Rolla or Whitefish Bay and think of me as someone who is a funny person, please comment and say so. Feel free to also include your description of my style of humor, if there is one. My standing with my Washingtonian friend depends on it! If none of you do, I might just get depressed. And who does depression hurt? Everyone. My TV said so.

Babysitting

Today Mom and Aunt Laura decided they wanted to go shopping. So they dumped all the Westhoff kids and the only Rackham not at school over here at Grandpa and Grandma's, and left me in charge. Things have been going fine. So far I think the only quarrel they could have with me is that no one has eaten anything healthier than a potato chip. Ah well, you win some you lose some. No ones dead or crying, so that sounds like a win to me. I have to go play Hide-and-Seek with Christian (Youngest Rackham, very soon to be 3), Luke, and Chase now. Duty calls.

*Sigh*

I get it, I get it, you're all mad. I know I said I would post but when I got around to it they packed my computers, then I came to Wisconsin where I've been doing fun things with cousins and never got around to posting. I haven't responded to any emails either, so you individuals who email me can sleep soundly tonight knowing that I didn't just randomly decide to start hating you. I'll try to respond to emails from now on, but if you've sent one and it hasn't been responded to for a long time, sorry. I did read it though, just not respond. Sorry folks of Rolla (and 1 of Washington). I know you're life must have been horrible (jk) without knowings the current going-ons, but I've been distracted. We got up here the Saturday after school ended in Rolla (May 19), hund out with our cousins until the next Friday, where Dad left to do 'outproccessing' and took Dunn with him because he had a High Adventure campout. The rest of us will be heading back this Saturday morning. For all you Rolla folks, we will be back at Church on June 7. I'm posting this from my Grandparent's, who moved up to Wisconsin from Utah recently, computer. It's a big screen Mac. Pretty sweet. But so anyway, the Big South-Western Westhoff Adventure to Washington doesn't start until we leave Rolla for Texas, when that will be I don't know. I'm not going to post the specifics of what fun I've been having with my cousins. If you really want to know and you live in Rolla, ask on June 7th. If you want to know and you don't live in Rolla, you're probably gonna have to live with it.

Guilty

Yeah' I'm guilty of ignoring my blog for a while, but hey, we all are sometimes, right? It's not that I haven't had anything to post about, it's just that I'm not posting. For this reason I'm going to let you guys vote on what I should post on next. You should see the poll to your right, unless you're reading this late.

Triumph

I recently had the oppurtunity to play Miles in chess thrice. Did I say play? I meant pwn. He came into the battle with his head held high, and left with the heads of all his pitiful peices in a cart. He came in three times, and died three times. Apparently our standards for greatness are not the same. Dad was right. Beating Miles was very fun.

The Meaning of Stretches

I now understand the meaning of stretches. As we were doing our pre-warmup warmup at swim practice (not 'practice' as in I cant swim but as in I'm on the team), my coach decided to skip stretches. Later on, a rock formed in my calf. A painful one. I could feel a rock hard lump in my calf. It still hurts. Later on, as we were playing water polo (not Marco Polo) and I was dueling with another swimmer for possession of the ball, my leg cramped up in the exact same fashion in the exact same spot, but on the left side. So then as I was leaving the pool I had to hobble. It hurt to even do that. So, now I know why we stretch. I am sorry if this post is not up to the standards of my writing, but I'm tired and in slight pain, and multitasking. If you want to, you can rant about the unfairness of it all the comments. Knock yourself out.

Miles:

I see this whole chess thing a win-win situation for me. If you are as good as you think you are, then I will have a new worthy opponent I can learn from. If you're not, it will still be fun kicking your trash all over the chessboard.

To Miles, Regarding Chess

I read your comment on "Chess" and must warn you, your plan will fail. If we ever happen to be able to play each other online, I will show you, but if not, I will spare you your pride until I move there, where the casualties of our battles shall be great. Prepare your mind for a stinging defeat, Miles. Strategy is one of my specialities. If you are a good as you think you are (I think I'm good too, however, we may just both, or one of us, be bluffing) then you will be a worthy opponent. But hopefully a vanquished one as well.

If your name is not Miles Robertson, you are not expected to comment on this post, but you may if you wish. You, Miles, are expected to, if not I will consider it as a surrender.

Spring Camparee

Yesterday and today (and tommorrow, but we left to day because we're not heathens who camp on Sunday) was the Spring Boy Scout Camparee. It was also my first camping trip with no blood relative. It was also the funnest Scout campout I've ever had. These things were not related. Neither was it fun because of the activities planned. But rather, it was fun because -you guessed it- a couple of Supernerds! I was wandering around the camping grounds last night looking for a friend of mine, when I saw people sword-fighting. As it turns out, their scoutmaster is a big nerd and had foam-padded swords of different kinds and they had brought them to fit in with the medieval theme.I wanted in, so I used my extremely aggresive way of getting in on things by standing around looking pitiful until they invited me in. Big mistake. Since I felt welcome, I came back today after realizing most of the planned activities were lame, and commenced sword-fighting. A crowd gathered. Eventually the sword-fighting grew more popular than everything planned. Some people thought it was planned. I heard a group of kids walk over, see the line, made a remark and then leave, thinking it was something that they could come back to. Eventually the crowd grew so large that we started cycling in people in pairs whenever somebody died. Everybody had 3 lives, but once you died once you had to wait in line again. On my first go through of the line I received a long-sword as my weapon and commenced ownage with my right hand. Then some idiot cut my arm off. Me still being alive, I switched arms and killed him. I then re-emerged into the fray fighting with my much less dominant left hand. My main strategy was to lure somebody in, then cut off their legs with my superior reach, then come in for the kill (or just walk away and let somebody else kill em). I would either do that or slash somebody across the back when they had their back to me (like when they were fighting someone else). My favorite kill was around when people started throwing themselves at me a second time, after standing in line again (I hadn't died all this time). A 14 year old was rushing at me, all like " I'm gonna kill you" and all. Me, not losing my cool, held my sword at arm's length and said "Come to me and die!" He did. He charged in, I chopped his legs off and followed up with a quick blow to the upper shoulder as soon as he hit the ground. With my left hand. I ended up coming in second, losing only to the 16 year old chief nerd (son of their scoutmaster), but it's okay that he's a nerd, as long as he's a butt-kicking medieval knight kind of nerd. I would like to add that I never died, even with my left hand, until it was one on one.  This was due to the fact that we made an agreement to kill everyone else so we could fight one-on-one. And we did kill everyone else. Three times.

A Story

Recently I began a story. Here it is.

I opened my eyes and looked across the road to my younger brother James, who was attempting to light a fire to cook our breakfast. James and I had been fascinated by the songs of the bards that spoke of great heroes performing noble deeds that we decided to leave home in search of adventure of our own. That was 2 months ago. Since then, many times have I wondered if it was a wise decision to have a couple 19 and 17 year-olds wandering around the dangerous country of Aladaria on their own with nothing but the clothes on their backs, their amateur fighting skills, and the slightly rusted weapons that they called their own. James specialized in the uses of dual daggers and throwing knives, while my weapon of choice is the sword, but I can handle myself with a bow as well. I had thought about the choice we had made to leave home, and decided it was best that we return and accept that nothing was in store for us except the boring life of a couple of farmer’s sons.

I stood up and wandered over to the new fire that was beginning to rise from the ashes of last night’s. It’s time to tell him my intentions, but I don’t think he’ll handle them well, I thought. James was an ambitious fellow that never bored of our endless wandering, even if they never resulted in anything happening. He could be annoying at times with his optimism, but he has good intent. James had noticed my gloomy look. “What’s up, Jack? It looks like something’s bothering you, and don’t tell me it’s just lack of sleep, because I heard you snore all night.”
Oh drat, now I’ve got to tell him. I thought. I decided to break it to him as bluntly as possible. “Well Jack, I’ve done some thinking, and I think it’s time we return home.”
“Wh-wha-what? We can’t go back now! The adventure is just about to begin.” James recoiled in horror at my remark.
“Yes, we can, and apparently no adventure is fated to come our way.” I said, a bit taken aback by James’ sudden decision to rebel against one of my decisions. James may be an ambitious, spirited fellow, but he certainly knows better than to go against me, and he had demonstrated it on multiple occasions.
“Yes, it is.” James insisted, pointing up the road. I looked, and saw an orc party that was making a quick march toward us. I would have been worried, but luckily, orcs have inferior eyesight in the sunlight, so I knew they couldn’t have seen us.
“Quick, get behind a tree and we’ll jump these disgusting greenskins,” I instructed.
“Now you’re talking,” James said in satisfaction as he obeyed my command.

Should I continue with it?

What I Think People Think of Me

I was doing some pondering in school today, and while listening to the conversations of my classmates (about me, in part) I stumbled upon a nugget of knowledge I was unaware of before. I have realized that people in one area of my life think much differently than people in another do. I wondered why this would be and came up with answers that I will now share with you.

In my school class: The majority of the people in my class think of me as a serious-all-the-time, knows-everything-and-rubs-it-in-your-face kinda guy (keariifykg), no matter how untrue and unfair that might be. I think that they came to this conclusion based on the fact that whenever I am in the 'cool' crowd (by their choice, not mine) in my class whatever they are saying is either perverted or swear-word ridden, or both. Because of this I try to distance my self and end up being grave faced. To explain the keariiyfkg-ness, its just that I am smart, and when people are discussing their grade on a certain test or assignment you are expected to say your own, and saying 100% constantly makes people think that. Also, I read a lot.

In QUEST: In QUEST, I am funny, so people generally think of me as the wierd and funny, smart guy that I am. I think this is because in QUEST you have the smartest kids in the school, and they generally don't swear or be perverted. And so, with the trying-to-distance-myself stripped away, my true self emerges.

At Church: I'm not sure, probably the same thing as above for the most part, minus the 'smartest kids in school' and replace it with 'kids with the highest moral standards'. Oh, and replace 'QUEST' with Church.

At the Rolla Fins (my swim team): I have no idea what the ones that have no other involvement with me think of me.

On my blog: Once again, no idea. But YOU have and idea of what you think of me, don't you? If you don't mind, let me know with a comment.

My teachers: I believe the majority of my teachers just think of me as the mild-mannered, polite kid that turns in his work on time, all the time and gets good grades. Is that right, Mr. Wright?

There it is. What I think people think of me. The end.

The Latest Campout

So our latest Scout camping trip was from Thursday night to Friday evening, and I think it is safe to say everyone involved had a good time. On Friday we had the most perfect weather ever for our long hike, but it literally rained on our parade on Saturday when nature upheld its reputation of raining whenever the Scouts go camping by raining during our Orienteering event (which was the last thing I needed, besides Board of Review, to get my First Class!). I expected the Orienteering event to be a lame, boring, stand-in-a-field-all-day-with-a-group-of-nerds kind of thing, but it was actually quite fun in its own hike-on-hills-through-forests-in-your-own-little-group-while-its-raining-and-your-shoes-and-socks-are-soaked kind of way.

Chess

Chess is a game with a rich history, originating in India in the 6th century and later going to East Europe where it evolved into the modern game in the 15th century. Now it used by dads so they will have some game that you only use your fingers for that they can still beat their kids at. Not for long. Dad made the fatal mistake of teaching all of the Westhoff children how to play chess, and now it is coming back to bite him in the form of me. Now that Dad is back, we usually fit in about 2 games a day, and I am proud to announce that I beat him in 2 out of 3 of our games today. That's really great considering Dad is/was one of the nerdy type people (according to him).

Falling Down Stairs/Comment If You Care

Falling Down Stairs

Yesterday I did what I can't remember doing in its entirety and not on purpose in all of my memory. I fell down the stairs all they way. I was going down the stairs to the basement to watch The Biggest Loser whilst carrying popcorn, in the dark, navigating a vacuum cord. Not a good idea. Of all things to trip on to send me sprawling, the gremlins in my house decided to trip me on, you guessed it, the darkness. So I was falling face first but then I managed to flip onto my back, saving me from much damage. This incident caused me to accidentally break my promise to mom that I would not make a mess with the popcorn that night. Figures.

Comment If You Care

Seriously folks, do you care, or should I just put up my metaphorical pen? If you have a blog of your own, you know that you get a warm fuzzy feeling1 inside when people comment on your posts, so why not share that feeling with others? With this post I am calling you to do two things: 1. Comment more often. 2. If you read this post, comment on it. Announce your presence! I don't care if I know you or not, just do it.

1Following my blog gives the same fuzzy feeling, but better!

Zach Westhoff, the Forward Hater

I don't know if you knew this, but I HATE getting dumb forwards. Having received 100+ of these throughout my emailing life, I finally just typed out  against them and sent out the following message to the kids in my contacts. It may not seem very evil, but I hope it works. And for those of you who believe in those crap forwards, I would be dead and crumpled into a little loveless ball many times over if they were. Here you go.

Okay, I know I'm not the only one out there who HATES getting RETARDED crap forwards about my love life being ruined if I don't pass along a limerick, or crap that says I will die in 2 days if I don't send it. 

For this reason I write this. I know that we will not be able to stop the source, but we can break the chain. By writing your name in one of the numbers, you are pledging to never again pass along any RETARDED forwards. 

I know it may seem ironic, but after having signed your name in, forward it to all the people in your life that send you pointless crap forwards. Don't forget to send it back to the sender so they know what you have done and may hold you accountable for any and all slip-uppances.

Add more numbers if necessary.

Zachary R. Westhoff

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Me

It has come to my knowledge that I have assumed that all of you know everything about me. This is false. I have yet to post on what I do in my normal everyday life. Forgive me for this. This is a problem that I aim to fix in this post.

I am a 12 year old boy in Rolla, Missouri. That place will change this summer because my family is moving to Washington. Again. Not that I have anything against Washington, it's just that there's these two things that are kind of bothering me about it. 1) Now that I'm moving, all these cool things are happening over here, like band (which I will be 2 years behind in in Washington). 2) Now that I'm moving to Washington, every relative I have over there is moving away. And when I get some good news that the Neilsons, friends from Washington the 2nd time we lived there, will be moving to the Fort Louis area as well, I discover that, while they could choose to live next to us, they want to live somewhere where they will have more land. Bummer, huh? I have been socially inactive for the majority of my time in Missouri, but that doesn't mean I won't be sad to leave the friends I have here.

Some time ago my mom, having been overwhelmed by 6 games a Saturday 4 practices a week made Chase, Emma, and I quit soccer. Basketball too, for that matter. The day after that, mom had the nerve to come home and announce to the said three of us that she had signed us all up for swim team. I may have been fuming mad at the time, but now I love it. We practice every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and I can feel myself getting better as the time goes by.

I am in Mrs. Spooner's 6th grade class and she, too, is outstanded with my writing ability. That's right, you are not alone. My class is terrible and Mrs. Spooner has done nothing to deserve it. As part of the school curriculum, the counselors need to come to every class to have a talk about bullying, in which you are handed a survey to fill out. My class had the majority of the class agree (in the survey) that we have a bullying problem among other shocking details. This provoked the counselor's coming back and reading some of the most moving ones aloud to the class. Mine was, apparantly, the most moving. So anyway, back to academics. I have all A's, am in the gifted and talented program we call QUEST, and have no 'favorite subject'.

On Fridays and Saturdays, I break out the PS3, it having replaced the Wii for the time being. Whether you think it be some gift from my father, the LoTR fanatic, or not, I happen to be extraordinarily good at the game we have known as Lord of the Rings: Conquest. So good in fact, that when I use online play to try to hold my own against the 40-year-old-that-lives-in-his-mom's-basement monsters, I hold my own. And most of their's as well. You don't understand how awesome that is, do you?

I now make an end of what is to be my longest post ever, and I marvel at your perseverence in having read it all. If you have, that is. Now, at long last, I make an end.

Rock and Roll!!

So last night, in the town of Rolla, Missouri, something wonderful happened. I went to band tryouts. Amazing, right? Just because I'm moving doesn't mean I can't join the band in Dupont, even though they started 2 years earlier, right? With that frame of mind, I was dropped off at the Middle school with Dunn where they were being held and entered the band room. According to the ladies at the able, I was supposed to go see Mr. Slowensky first. So I got in line. When I got there, I got, on a scale of Poor, Fair, Good, and Very Good, a Very Good for trombone and baritone and a Good on a trumpet. After that, Mr. Slo sent me over to Mister Zwinklemyer. After I had endured the line and Mr. Z's annoyance that I was moving, I finally got to try my mouth at a saxophone. After I blew on it, Mr. Z didn't even bother on rating me. He just went over to the comments section and wrote Rock and Roll!!. So apparently I'm good at the saxophone. That is good for me because in order to fit in with the people who have been playing since fifth grade, I'll need to practice a lot, and that I can do with Dunn's.

Poll Problems

There is a serious problem with democracy, folks! Let me tell you what I mean. I hope you have noticed my poll app, as it has caused me a lot of trouble. The expiration date of voting is here, and so no one else can vote, and  conclusion has been reached by me. Unfortunately, whenever I go to remove it from the layout and replace with new question it says something along the lines of 'You can't edit this poll because someone has already voted.' If you have any idea how to fix this please let me know by commenting.

THe Letter H

THe letter H has been the bane of my name tHrougHout my life. People forget the H in every one of my tHree names, wHich managed to eacH contain H's in strategic positions tHat no Human could ever figure out unassisted. THis Has Happened to tHe point wHere I Have taken to spelling out my name wHenever asked. Not only tHat, I spell it out like tHis: Z-A-C-H  W-E-S-T-H-O-F-F. So I ask you, dear reader, do not neglect the letter H in my name or in any otHer word or pHrase, lest the H decides to remove itself altogetHer from tHe alpHabet, and, as I Hope you can tell from tHis paragrapH, tHat would be a tragedy.

Snow

It's a post-Christmas miracle, Charlie Brown! It's snowing in Rolla! We've already got a good quantity of snow on the ground and it's still coming down! First snowfall (that sticks) of the season, and man is it fun... In addition, we had a snow day today and yesterday. All fingers crossed for tomorrow, as well!

Vote, People, Vote!

In a blog that is mainly a dictatorship, ruled by the all powerful creator, Zach, I offer you a small sanctuary of Democracy. In case you hadn't noticed, I have added a poll app to my blog, and I encourage to you to vote. I shall be changing the question weekly, for those of you who do not check blogs daily.

This Last Weekend

As I'm sure you all know, my dad had to go to Texas for 2 months for some reason still unclear to me. This last weekend he came home for the long weekend. On Friday and Saturday, we just hung out with Dad, playing Rock Band. On Sunday we went to Church, and then on Monday we went to the Saint Louis Science Center. I had only been to the Science Center once before, because in my fifth grade year we take a field trip there. It was no less awesome. The only problem was that we didn't have enough time to watch an amazing Omni-max movie, but we still had fun.

Camping

I like to camp. I like Scouts. When we go camping with the scouts, double the fun. On this last Friday, we did just that. My mom drove Dunn and I to the church at 5:00 p.m. with our pre-prepared monkey bread ( I love you mom) and then we drove up with the scouts to Meramac park. That night we cooked up our tinfoil dinners, and for dessert monkey-bread was the star of the show. On friday we had unusually warm winter weather, but on Saturday it got real cold. After our hike and lunch, something new happened. As brother Schuck puts it, 'It was unanimous. I said, "We're all packed up, we could either goof around or go home," and they all said go home. It was too cold.'