Fugakyu Japanese Cuisine

I love trying new food. Not just always having American hamburgers, smoothies, and we can never forget those Boston Kreme (That's how Dunkin' Donuts spells it, I believe.) donuts. I love tasting how different countries eat, what they're used to eating, and how they prepare their food. I love experiencing the different taste. It's such a nice change after a long time eating 'American' food. You know, brownies, cakes with extra extra frosting, and chocolate chip cookies. I know that other countries don't have those things, which is fine with me. I love tasting how they do things. Dipping in a special sauce, preparing the food on interesting plates, all about the difference in food. Several weeks ago, my family went to Fugakyu, a Japanese Cuisine. My parents often come here, but this was the first time for me and my 2 brothers. We also went just 2 days ago in celebration of my brothers birthday- not just any birthday, but his 13th. Let me tell you a little bit about this interesting restaurant.

It's very fascinating restaurant- you have chopsticks, a little thing to hold your chopsticks in, and even a little dish for this special sauce that you dip sushi in. It's all about the spice. If you don't like spicey food, I wouldn't recommend this restaurant. The sushi itself is spicy. Then you dip it into the spicy stuff, and you can even put this horse radish stuff in the sauce dish so it's even more spicy. It's spishy-licious!! Okay, me: I like spicy stuff, sure! But when it gets over loaded, like that extra hot 'n' spicy salsa that my brothers love, it's just too much for me. Surprisingly, with the horse radish in the sauce, it wasn't insanely spicy. Ok, maybe it was. But I felt like I could take it. It tasted very interesting, with the salmon, rice, avocado, and spiciness mixed in with that. Very different to American food, definitely.

The people there are very kind. Even the scenery in the restaurant is different, mostly. You have the poles with rope wrapped around them, the sliding wooden doors, and the green plants right over the windows, making a nice fresh earth look mixed in with the wooden furniture inside. Like I said earlier, I love tasting different foods and trying different things. My family has also had Indian food and Ethiopian food as well. There's a world of food out there. Try some.

My Second Red Sox Game

If you have read the post, 'My First Red Sox Game' then you are all set. If you haven't, you might want to, so you can just get a little caught up with my experiences at Fenway.

Guess what? On June 18th, I went to the Red Sox game! I am so happy it was on that day and not any other day that week, because this day was pretty much the only good weather day in the entire week.

The day of the game, I was so excited, I could barely make it through the school day. My dad picked me up from school, and we drove home. I got dressed in my favorite Boston Red Sox camouflage t-shirt, along with my Red Sox sweatshirt I had gotten from the previous game. I also grabbed my favorite lime green baseball cap with the white B on it. I grabbed the flag we wave in between innings, and raced back into the car. Fenway, here I come.

Red Sox VS Florida Marlins, June 17th

Our seats were right by third base. If you watched the video at the bottom of My First Red Sox Game, that's the same general area we were sitting in. (We as in me and my dad.) We left at exactly 4:01 PM, and the game started around 7:00 PM. I know, it doesn't take 3 hours to drive to Boston, but we wanted to be early and see batting practice!

Once we got there, a guy handed me this gorgeous picture of Fenway in a sunset. This game was a very important game. Why? Because it was the 500th sell out game in a row. All the seats in Fenway Park have been sold for 500 games in a row. That means that Fenway Park has sold ALL of the seats ever since 2003. Pretty impressive. So during the game, they were randomly giving away things that had to do with the number 500. For example: they gave away 500 tickets to seats 500 feet away from home plate. They also gave 500 people near the Dunkin' Donuts sign Dunkin' Donuts gift cards. I would have loved to be that person. But I was totally cool with it that I wasn't- it was so cool to watch the game and enjoy the 500th sell out game in a row.

Dad and I went down to get some dinner so we could eat while watching batting practice. I got some nachoes, and my dad got this sub thing. During batting practice, the balls kept hitting the score board. I felt kind of bad for the people way up in the Green Monster seats, because a lot of the balls were SO close to them. But then again, I don't feel that bad, because they'd just throw them back up to them.

The game got a good start by getting one score here and there in the innings. (I'm pretty sure the score was something like 4-1, Red Sox winning with 4.) About half way through the game, with no home runs, but Red Sox still in the lead, we had a nice, satifying home run. It was nice to finally hear Fenway, live in person, cheering with joy.

One thing that I found really funny about this game was that my dad noticed the pretzel guy and his container said, 'PRETZEL'. My dad said, 'Hey, Sonja! Do you wanna pretzel?' First I was confused. When I hear the word, 'pretzel' I think of the crunchy, salty, small kind you get at the grociery store. I noticed that he didn't say 'pretzels', so I'm all, 'Just one? Huh? They really sell them individually?' Then he told me about the large, doughy pretzels that weren't as crunchy as the mini ones. OOOooooh... I get it. Then we made a joke that the guy was selling one HUGE pretzel, for like $20. It wasn't A pretzel, it was THE pretzel. He would go around saying, 'Pretzel.. fresh hot pretzel.. only 20 bucks.. Pretzel..' and no one would buy it. (Keep in mind this is just a joke that me and my dad made up.) The guys would be all, 'did you sell it yet??' and the pretzel guy would say, '*sigh*, not yet.' Poor guy, holding this gigantic pretzel over his head.

The 9th inning was the best for one reason: PABLEBON. He didn't have that kind of crazy entrance in my first game, but he did in this one. They played the 'aaaah! I lost my leg! aaaah!!' song. (Ha. That's what I call it. The 'I lost my leg!!' song.) He comes charging out on the field, and once again, Fenway goes wild. He is my second favorite player. My very favorite? Kevin Yooooooooukalis. Another favorite part of the game: YOOOOOUKing for Kevin. Him whos beard is scary to little children.

Okay, so I've actually been to Fenway 3 times, because before my first game, my third grade class went to Fenway as a tour. (wouldn't that be awesome to have a Red Sox game as a field trip?!)
Dad, thanks for making this red sox game special. I'll never forget it.

Vacation At Virginia 2006

My website has only been around since December 21st 2007, and everyone who reads this blog should know that. Just because my website has only been around since then, that doesn't mean I haven't been blogging longer. Doesn't mean nothing interesting has ever happened to me earlier! So I'll write about it now. You're about to read a fascinating story about my summer vacation to Virginia beach.

Virginia I must say is gorgeous place. Especially right by the beach. Clearly, as you can see in the title, we went to Virginia Beach in 2006, the summer of the year I got my 5-year dance award. (That is another story waiting for 2011.) It was a bit strange, because there was a pool, like, 10 yards from the beach. This was the first time that we have all swam in an ocean together. There was a couple things about this trip that really made it unforgettable.

So me and my family were taking a dip in the ocean, cruising around, swimming in the waves, having a great time. I felt like the weakest thing when I was in the ocean, because when ever I tried to go against a wave (and get drenched while I'm at it), it always pushes me head to toe of the ground and back first into the rocky bottom. It's like we're wrestling, and I can never tackle it down. I feel like the shortest thing in the water, because even when I'm just standing there, not bothering to wrestle with water, the waves splash like two feet over my head. Note: Always keep your goggles on while you're in the ocean. Otherwise, you will get unexpected waves leaping at you and getting salt water in your eyes, which believe me, is NOT pleasant. So I decided to go with the waves, rather than against them, because I was tired of getting knocked down all the time like I was a helpless little shrimp.

Then I started to feel this weird stinging sensation around my left arm/shoulder/armpit. I ignored it. It was probably some sand or something. I kept on going with the waves, which was awesome. But whatever the stinging was, it didn't stop. It kept on going, all around my left arm, shoulder, and a bit of the armpit, which began to get very painful. It felt like those places where completely numb, only I could still feel the pain. I let out a small cry of pain, and raced for land. But that felt impossible. The waves were not helping at all, for I was stumbling all over them and tripping all over them as the pain increased. This was the part where I really felt helpless. Tripping over the waves and the rocks, I finally managed to drag myself to land. The pain didn't go away, but the constant increase of the stinging did. I just stood there, staring at my arm, not blinking at all. Large clumps of bright red sat all over my left arm, shoulder, and a little bit of the armpit, too. It looked like a volcano had erupted, and my left arm (and other friends) were the only part of my body that got to see it explode. It felt like a million needles were stabbed in my arm, and just left there. It felt like a wolf had just ripped open my left arm. Clearly, I was in serious pain, but I had to hold my tears until we got into the hotel room. Otherwise, that would have been just plain embarrassing. My parents came out from the ocean, and *gasp* there was no large, noticeable blotchy red spots sitting all over their left arm. We went up to a lifeguard, asking what might have caused it, but I thought I already new, and I was right. I had been stung by a jellyfish.

My left arm, shoulder, and a bit of my armpit KILLED. It was like jellyfish were still crawling all over me and stinging me. All of it was throbbing, and I thought I was going to cry forever. Turned out I only cried for about half a minute. It wasn't a very pretty sight, but it wasn't that ugly either. I tried to ignore the pain as much as possible, but that wasn't to easy. It felt like my whole left arm/armpit/shoulder had been electrocuted, and was still burning from the shock. Yeah, that's probably the best description of how it felt. I had to sit in my bed in the hotel for a couple of hours, letting my arm rest on a tower of pillows. The only kid thing on TV was Dora The Explorer. I guess it was better than watching some boring adult thing. Meanwhile, my mom called the main office and asked what to do. They said you had to put some strange sort of meat on the red parts. I overheard my mom on the phone saying, 'Meat?! Uh, are you sure?' and some more mumbling from the other end. 'Oh, you don't have it? Oh. Well thanks anyway..' I was SO relieved. I was NOT going to let someone put MEAT on my arm. I just wanted to have one of those sling things so no one would touch it and I wouldn't have to look at it or anything, even though a sling was not necessary.

The large blobs of red on my arm started to go away after several hours, but I didn't want to go back in the ocean again. A couple days after the jellyfish incident, my brothers, my dad and I went for a walk on the beach after dinner. There, on the shore, were tons and tons of jellyfish, sitting in the sand. My oldest brother took a stick and jabbed the little bubbly part on the top, and flipped it over as if it was hamburger meat. To me, that's just gross. We were all shocked to see that there were no tentacles attached to the top of the jellyfish. There was just the blob parts sitting there.. but what I don't understand is how the tentacles got removed. Farther down on the beach, we saw a crab, struggling in the sand. Poor guy. We all tried to get him back in the water, but he kept trying to scurry back into the sand, as if there was something scary about the ocean. We made a little sand castle for him, and plucked a couple of sticks in it in honer of the crab. Even though he didn't make it into the ocean. (The sand castle was hardly a castle at all- more like a large clump of sand on the beach with a couple of sticks jabbed into it.)

The last thing about this trip that made it unforgettable is parasailing over the ocean. Some people have no idea what parasailing is. Parasailing is similar to a hot air balloon, only with parasailing, you're strapped into these seats attached to a large parachute, and there is a cord that is attaching the whole parasail to the boat, so you don't float away to North Carolina or something.

Our parasail had three seats. We went out on a wicked cool boat with this guy who was helping us. The first three people who went up: My dad, my oldest brother, and starring ME! We went up 800 feet!! That was the LOWEST option. Good thing none of us are afraid of heights!!

Being up 800 feet, sailing over the ocean and getting a nice view of the beach and the city is most likely the closest thing I'll ever get to flying. Just flying. With wings. That's my dream that I KNOW will not come true. But I've had several dreams where I was flying. One was inside and I was strapped to all this stuff and there was squishy pillows on the floor in case I fell. That is NOT flying. That's called someone pulling you into the air because you're attached to a pulley. Another time was when I was running super fast, and my feet weren't even touching the ground. Okay, sure. That's flying. Like half an inch off the ground. Let me clarify: my dream is to be able to fly really high with wings. Not half an inch off the ground. Then I've actually had a dream were I DID have wings- and they were bright white!! I was flying through the night, feeling absolutely amazing. I flew all the way to Paris, and to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Now that's a good view of Paris. Until of course the French security people came.

We came back down from the 800 feet high flight, which was quite pleasant. The next group to go was My mom, my other brother, and starring ME! (again!!) There was two people left who hadn't gone, but someone had to go twice from the first group. So I just stayed strapped in while the others got in. Time to go flying! Again! This was amazing. One thing that I think was very interesting was that you had absolutely no way of contacting the dude on the boat. Unless of course you knew sign language, and the other guy did. But then again, the chances of that are very slim.

After a little while of being up 800 feet, for the second time in a row, you would probably guess that I wasn't feeling to good. Congratulations- you're correct. You win absolutely nothing. My stomach started to feel weird, and of course, that nice lump in my throught came back. Thanks for stopping by, lump! Listen, now isn't really the best time, because I'm kind of parasailing 800 feet in the air. Then I really didn't feel good. I figured this is what it was like to be sea sick. Finally, the dude started pulling us back to the boat, and I felt like I was going to throw up. Which I did. On the boat. I know, gross.. but I had to get it out. Okay, so I got to (sort of) live the dream of flying, but didn't feel too good afterwards.

Transitioning To Hard Bake

Everyone knows about that cute little oven with the fake clock that says 12:30 and never changes, and has Easy Bake in large, pink letters, and has the switches that you can twist and turn each way and nothing happens. About 3 years ago, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, my parents got me this Easy Bake oven. I had always loved making Finnish (from Finland, Europe) cinnamon rolls with my mom, called pulla. (Pronounced as if it was spelled boola) Now I had my very own 'oven' so I could make treats!

It turned out this thing was sitting in the storage closet until I finally noticed when I was scooping the cat litter. I asked my dad if we could take it out, since it's been sitting there for so long and we haven't used it yet. My mom is a great cook, and whenever she bakes, I call it 'hard bake'. So I decided Easy Bake was a father-daughter thing.

The first thing we made was some sort of devil cake brownie thing. I don't understand what the devil has to do with anything- was the cake made for a devil? (What the heck IS a devil?!) Would the devil make the cake or something? Oh well. I never understood the title. The things on the cover of the box that the Easy Bake comes in are larger than they actually are. At least it seems like it. The cake that we made ended up being the size of a cookie. That's okay, the devil brownie cake thingy tasted wonderful! We even made frosting.

Compared to the devil brownie cake thing, all the other easy bake things are pretty much the same. You get the batter, mix it with some water, poor it into the pan, and put it into the Easy Bake oven. Usually there's a little something more like frosting or additional sprinkles, or maybe you are making those heart cut-out cookies where you use the little cut out thing to cut the dough into a little heart, and then you put it on the cookie thing. My favorite Easy Bake recipe?
The s'mores.

 

Doesn't it look SO good? 

Even if it's for little kids, doesn't

mean it's not delicious. 

A couple weeks ago, I bought Martha Stewart's Cookies from the Children Book of the Month Club.

It's a cookbook. Right away I started marking all the cookies I wanted to make with tons of sticky notes coming out of the book. The first recipe we did was called Chocolate Malt Sandwiches. Imagine a whoopy pie. (You know, two little chocolate cakes with the squishy delightful white stuff in the middle?) It's like those, only the squishy delightful white stuff in the middle is chocolaty. 

We had to go shopping for the ingredients. It seemed so advanced to be doing all this mixing with an electric mixer (we never do that in Easy Bake), and constantly adding things and making the batter when in Easy Bake the batter is premade for you and put into little packets. With 'hard bake', you have to start from scratch, which is quite fun! When we were all done with one part of it, I thought that was all, because it took FOREVER to make, with the adding, mixing, adding some more, mixing until smooth, and then making them into little balls and putting them on the pan. Which was so sticky!! Handlying that chocolatey stuff, every now and then, I had to lick my hands. That tasted sweet alright. So I was going to sit down, exausted, when my dad's all, 'Come on, Sonja! We still need to make the frosting!' and I'm all, 'There's more?!' Not that that's a bad thing, I was just so tired. I knew it would be worth the delicious chocolatey treat. So, back to mixing, adding this and that, and of course, as all bakers should do, lick their fingers. Just to get a little sneak peek taste. After all, you are the baker. We stored the frosting in this large glass mixing bowl while the cookies were baking. We decided we would eat them for dessert after dinner that night. 

I was the first one up from the table later that day, because I was dying to get one of those cookies!! I ran, got two of the cookies, spread chocolatey frosting in between them, and squished them together into a chocolate malted sandwhich. Good news: Plenty of chocolate, very delicous and filling. Bad news: a little too much salt, and not enough egg. 

Let me tell you the short story of what happened with the egg. The instructions said to add one large egg, so I got the egg, and attepted to crack it over the bowl. I am horrible with eggs. That is why a little less than half of the egg splattered to the floor, dripping on the cabinets. We cleaned it up, and didn't think it was that big of a deal. Half an egg, a whole egg, it doesn't matter. But it did. The cookies ended up being a little too crumbly. Note for future reference: Be careful with eggs, and if you drip a little, crack another egg, because you don't want to have crumbly cookies, now, do you?

I am one of those people who loves everything about food. The making of it, the actual eating it, the smell of all of it, and packing it away. I love learning how to bake, because it's a great thing to know how to do, because before you know it, I'll be making pulla with my little daughter. 

My Poems

So, in school for the past few weeks we've been working a lot on poetry. Usually when I first hear 'poems' or 'poetry' or '_______, a famous poet...' I groan. Yeah, I know I LOVE writing and all, so you'd be surprised that I pretty much hate poetry. That doesn't really make much sense though, because if I adore writing so much that it really needs italics and boldness and capitalization, and when ever the word 'poems' or something like that comes up I do not look forward to it.

One assignment that we had to do in poetry this year was making this thing called a 'Chap Book'. When I first heard of this assignment, I though it was 'Chat Book'. So I'm all confused what IM (Instant messaging) chat has to do with poetry. Like, 2 weeks later, I still think I'm working on my 'Chat Book' when I see my teacher write 'Work on chap book' on the list of things to do during open work time. I was all, huh?? I thought it was chat book!!

Turns out I'm not that bad at poetry. We had to make at least 10 poems, make a book (or buy a scrap book and just use that), and have at least 1 of each poem in the book that I know realize is called a chap book. There's seven types of poems:

1. Concrete poems (Poems that are in the shape of what it is describing)
2. Poems that tell stories
3. Poems that express feelings
4. Poems that express ideas
5. Poems that describe
   
6. Poems that make fun
   
7. Poems that mean themselves and something more (These are like those poems where you really have to read in between the lines to really see what the author is trying to say.

This was a bit hard for me. But I managed after the first week to get about 5 done. I bought a scrap book, took a piece of card board the same size as the cover, and glued that on. When that dried, I decorated it with markers. The title was: Poems To Last A Lifetime. I made a table of contents, and a list of which poems were what type.

The main point of this post was for me to share some of my poetry with all of you. I thought it would be kind of cool. (Ok, seriously. I need to stop saying 'kind of' and 'cool' and 'good' and 'fun'. Those words are under a rest for being to boring and simple. I like spicy, fantastic, outstanding words! I better start using those more spicy words more often. Gee, I've never thought of that before.)

I'm going to share 3 poems with you. Maybe 4... be sure to leave your comments on the bottom of this post! Tell me what you think! Thanks!!



Things I Love

I love to swim
as the water rushes against my skin
the wet feeling is so soothing on a hot sunny day.

I adore knitting
making warm, fuzzy gifts for others
the soft cuddly warmth is like
floating in a cloud.

I love gingerbread
as a soft, warm cookie
and when it's gone
it's like a candle has been lit
in my heart.


No More Friendship

What if the world
had no friendship?
No one is kind,
everyone is mean.

Would the world
end in war?
If no one is friendly,
love wouldn't exist.

If there's no more love,
how will more people
come to earth?
Would the human race
become extinct?
Friendship is important.
It's the only way
we live today.


S'mores

S'mores.
Sticky, chewy, crunchy, gooey.
When you melt the chocolate
and take a bite
the crispy, squishy, roasted marshmallow
oozes into the chocolate
making the most delicious treat
ever.

Squished in between
two graham crackers
sits the marshmallow
and chocolate
just waiting for someone
to take a bite out of the
heavenly, mouthwatering sweet.



I Wish I Could Fly

I wish I could fly
away from the world.
To fly away from
the horrible things
I never want
to see again.

I wish I could fly
with the wind on my face
and the clouds at my side.
To burst out of the box
I've been captured in
all these years.

I wish I could fly
away and be free.
To fly to the
heavens up above
and come flying
back down
to look
at the wonderful things
on earth
rather than
the awful.


Swimming

I'm on the diving board
ready to jump
my friend looks up
she smiles with a wave.
I walk forward
the diving board wobbles
I leap off
into the water.

The cold water
hits my face
and my arms and legs swiftly
underwater.
Deeper and deeper I go
water streaming across my face
Faster and faster
I keep on going.

I go and go
I don't want to stop.
Sadly I slow down to take a breath.

I tell my friend,
Try it! It feels like a cloud
against your skin.

But she doesn't seem
to understand.
What do you mean, a cloud?
I've never felt one before.

So I explain to her the
feeling of a cloud, even though
I have never felt one either.
I think a cloud would feel
soft, and silky smooth. Now
imagine that streaming across
your face.

She says,
That must feel fabulous!

What To Do When You Have Writer's Block

The first thing you are probably wondering when you first read the title of this post is what the heck writer's block is. Well I will answer that question for you. Writer's Block is when a writer (like me) has no idea what to write about. It's the main problem that I've been having for the past 3 months now, because I know I have to keep my promise to all of you this year that I will at least do 6 posts a month. So say I'm going to write on my blog. I'm on the 'Create New Post' page, and I'm staring at that blank space in front of me for hours, wondering what would be an interesting thing to write about, other than the books that I've been reading. No offense or anything to my books, but they are not the most exciting thing to write about. Sure, I'll sprinkle some here or there in the Sonny's Area mix of writing, but I'm trying not to do so many book reviews because that is just boring. I think only a small fraction of all my writing should be book reviews. But I have been thinking about interviewing some of the authors of the books- now that's interesting. Since I've been blogging ever since I was 6, in 2004, (My own blog came way later in 2007.) I know what it's like to be really frustrated and have no clue what to write about. Here are several tips from me, Sonja W. Heels, what to do when you are staring at that blank page for what seems like forever.

First off, what are you interested in? Say you are interested in baseball. Write about baseball! Maybe you could latest Red Sox game. You can blog all about loving baseball, and if you are a coach in baseball, you could write about your latest game, how it went. Or if you have all these baseball related things, like a mug, a baseball bed spread, apparel, etc. Talk about why you got them, where you got them, the memories of baseball that you've had. So there's a little start for you- write about what you are interested in. Or if you want to start a blog, you could have the whole blog dedicated to this interest. It's all up to you. I know I am interested in swimming, so I write about swimming. (Town Swim Team Championships 2009, Sebago Lake, Maine) I'm also interested in knitting. (The Joy Of Needle Crafts, My Homemade Hat) So start off with what you are interested in. It shouldn't be that hard. What do you do in your spare time? Is it worth writing about?

Second suggestion to write about: websites that you like. I have a label that is titled 'Other Websites'. Several posts fall under that label. If you write about other websites, it's like reviewing a book only much better. I wrote about clubpenguin.com, miniclip.com, and many more. Think: what other websites do I frequently visit? Is it worth writing about?

Another suggestion would be to write about any trips that you have taken. Why not share with the world your latest summer trip, or maybe you want to share the time you climbed a mountain. Any adventurous time in your life that would make a good, interesting, attention grabbing post. Think: What have I done in the past month or so? Is it worth writing about?

Still stuck? Lastly, you might want to start writing about other stores and locations that you find interesting and want to write about. I went to FYE one time, and thought, this would make a good post. So you want to think of any store other than the grocery store or the pharmacy, (In other words, make sure it's something you'd want to read about.) and wonder: Is it worth writing about?

Surely by now you have noticed that for the past 4 paragraphs, I've been ending with the one sentence: Is it worth writing about? That is the one question a writer must keep in his/her head at all times. It's up to you whether you think it's worth writing about or not. Would you like to read about it? Do you think other people would? Then go for it.

My New And Improved Alarm Clock

If you are one of my long time followers, and has been looking at my website ever since April 2008, you have read my post called 'The Mystery Of The Timex Clock'. That was the story of my awkward alarm clock. Click here to read it. A couple of weeks ago, it was my birthday. Yaaay! A week later, my dad took me to Willow Books, my favorite book store. I was planning to buy the 5th book of the incredible series called Maximum Ride, by James Patterson. So I got it. $20.00... kind of a rip off for one book.. usually they are around 7 bucks. Yes, It was new, and sure you can raise the price a little for that reason, but not by $13. It was worth the book anyway. Read about the Maximum Ride books here.

We went to FYE later on after we had some lunch at Willow Books, and I started my brand-new, shiny book. You know that smell of a book that's brand new, and no one has even touched the pages? I love that smell. I call it the new-book smell. The name makes sense. Anyway, FYE was just down the road. How convenient. You could just drop by Willow Books, grab a book and a coffee, not to mention the cookie, and head out the door. You can just drive down to FYE and get yourself that CD you've always wanted. Two of my favorite stores on the same road. I love it!

So I had 3 gift cards to FYE. Wow. 2 of them I got this year, and the other one was left over from last year- it still had about $10 on it. So all together I had $50 to spend at FYE. :-) For a long time, I had NO clue what to buy. Normally, I'd flip through the posters and get one or two, but I don't really like posters anymore. I don't really use CD's, since I got my iPod, and there wasn't any Wii games that I was interested in. I was going to get Get Smart, but turned out that was like $30. Never mind then. I figured I wanted to get something for my brand new iPod. (It's the new nano- the nano-chromatic thingy. Green. 8 gigs. No, I do not need 16 gigs. I'm not that crazy for music.) I saw this cool pink thing- it was like a speaker cube. Sadly, they only had it in pink. Which, if you have read my Crocs post, you would know that I am through with pink, and practically hate it.

My dad saw this really cool clock radio thing and showed it to me. It was like an iHome only not! It charges your iPod, and it has 2 alarms, you can wake up to either the buzzer (which is NEVER going to happen- I hate waking up to the buzzer. It freaks me out. One time, I woke up to the buzzer, and I was so scared- I though it was the fire alarm. And another time, I had my first clock ever, I set it to the alarm. The only setting was buzzer. How brilliant. I woke up on early on purpose because I was scared to wake up to the buzzer. I realized that when it goes off, after a little while, it'll slowly get louder and louder until you can't really sleep through it. And it doesn't turn off unless you do it. Thankfully, I sold that clock at a yard sale for 75 cents.) So, you could wake up to either the buzzer, the radio, or your iPod. How cool is that? It works with pretty much every single ipod. Including the mini, the touch, and the iPhone. Don't worry, they didn't leave those iPods out.

Pretty sick piece of technology, huh? I was totally willing to buy it, because (1) I have had bad experienced with my previous alarm clock (2) I wanted to get rid of my old clock because the radio signal is really poor (3) This thing was so freaking cool!! Time for the moment of truth. Checking the price tag. It's....... it's...... $80!! Poor me, I only have 50. My sweet and loving dad chimed in and said he'd pay the part I couldn't afford. Aww... I love him. He does so many nice things for me. :-) He always trys to hold my hand in public, which to me is a bit embarassing, but not too much. So when we walked out, I held his hand. No wait- it was us putting our arms around each other. Yeah.. that was it. I love that guy. He said it was like a late additional birthday gift. :-)

So now you are probably wondering what the heck I'm going to do with my other alarm clock. I gave it to my mom, who's been really iritated with her alarm clock lately. About 5 days later, she tells me she doesn't like this one either- and says sorry. I don't blame her. I didn't like it either. I was a bit upset, but then again, I could always just sell it on eBay. Oh, eBay. What would we do without you?