Apologize - OneRepublic (One word people!)

Bryan, the only thing that came to mind when I was reading your story other than, “Dishwasher?  Really Bryan?” was, “Why have you not told them about this blog!”  Anyways, I found this story to be quite captivating, if you will.

To everyone, I am deeply apologetic that you did not like my blog post yesterday.  Honestly, I was just not in the mood to blog yesterday and I really dropped the ball on you guys.  You guys come to read our blog every day and all you got was “oh em gee, colors are pretty!”

Anyways, since I have 23-ish more of those (math check: (52/2)-3); alright we are good), I feel like everyone should give me some ideas.  For my next one, I am thinking one of three things:  Top Ten… random facts (such as Washington not being the first president), strange laws (such as “No whale hunting in Oklahoma.  I suggest our geography challenged readers to see a map for the humor in that.), or things I do not want to make a list for (such as Harry Potter or dog breeds).  Since it will be my poll next and we have two weeks to think of something, I will make that the poll, along with any other suggestions I receive.  Remember, we cannot get rid of all the good topics this early guys!  It is only almost July.

Also, I appreciate the shout out to Sam Tsui, but I think the next time you give him a shout out, we should give some other great cover artists one too.  I will add that to my repertoire (spell check for the win?) of possible ideas for Top Ten Tuesdays.

Bryan, not to go off of my sappy apology letter, but I must ask that you further fact check your… well, facts.  Calling “live long, and prosper” Vulcan words of encouragement is like calling a panda a bear.  Pandas are not bears, they are unclassified specimens who have six fingers per paw and do not hibernate more closely related to raccoons (or if Sofia reads this, Jeffreys).  “Live long, and prosper” was the common greeting of Spock, who was merely half-Vulcan.  Note:  I still do not know what a Vulcan is.  Never saw the movie.

Anyone who has been reading my latest Facebook status updates would note satirical nature of them.  I have been quoting one of my new favorite songs.  Bryan, we must make a song similar to it “auf Deutsche” (in German) for our first quarter project.  I feel like it would be fun to film and think of ideas for!  I ended that with a preposition, sorry!

Quick pencil math is showing me to have the words left to show the video, but I do not know if my closing would still fit… drats!  For the first time thus far, I may actually have to cut part of my post, but it is so good!

Oh yeah, sorry!  Just got really distracted watching Youtube clips of One Direction off of The X-Factor.  I really do not know why.  I have never actually seen that show, good talent though.

Anyways, the song I have been quoting is Underpants goes inside the Pants by Lazy Boy.  Also, I would recommend their song Facts of Life.  Great song.  Strange facts chosen though.

Well, I suppose that this post has rambled on long enough.

Checks word count – got another fifty words to play with.  I did it again.

I suppose that this is the end of my post.

Until tomorrow Bryan, I hope you practice your Jazz hands.

P.S.  That’s what she said.

Strange Encounters with Jazz Peers

Max, thank you for your Vulcan words of encouragement.

Multiple people have approached me with confusion about your choice of topic yesterday. Personally, I don't think it was boring -- it was pretty colorful, in fact.

Gah. The things stuck in my head recently have not been great. Usually, it's been jazzy patterns over chord changes, but occasionally, it's also been "Argon the Noble Gas" or Britney Spears.

As you know, I'm spending the week at U of I for jazz combo camp. Consequently, I've had quite a few interesting conversations with people around my age who also like jazz. Many of these conversations occur at lunch or dinner. Today, I'd like to share an example with you.

While in the lunch line, I stood behind two younger boys -- maybe freshmen? -- and I assume that they're never going to find this blog. I don't know what their names were, so let's call them Dishwasher and Patrick.

Dishwasher kept making a lot of vocal observations -- things that I usually process quietly inside my head. And whenever Dishwasher would say something like, "I hope there are napkins at the end of the table," Patrick would say, "That's what she said!"

I wasn't really sure what was going on, but it happened at least three times, and Patrick never said "that's what she said" in a way that made sense. I thought maybe that he had just learned the phrase and was repeating it constantly like a toddler learning a new word. Then, something interesting happened.

Dishwasher said, "It doesn't ever make sense when you say that." Silently, I agreed, and then Patrick said, "I know. I don't really wait for the appropriate time -- I just like to do it as much as I can."

So in my head, I was like, "DISHWASHER! That's totally your cue!"

But Dishwasher was silent.

That's the end of my story, Max. I'll see your post tomorrow!

P.S. We should start planning Bananagrams soon.

True Colors - Phil Collins (?)

First off, congratulations to Bryan and Abby.  Live long and prosper.

There were like eighty thousand versions of this song...

Let’s kick off Top Ten Tuesday with my favorite colors!  (from worst to best)

Purple/Pink – Too mushy gushy!

Brown – It is in my last name, but I still do not like the color.  Dirt is brown.

Yellow – It is just too bright and cheery.

Green – Needs some blue.

Blue – Needs some green.

Red – It is actually the color of my room!

White – The absence of color.

Black – Only if it is combined with good colors such as white and red.

Teal – It is not green, but not blue.  It is a nice mixture, though more on the green side, which makes teal so great.

Orange – A perfect blend of red and yellow makes for a wonderful color.

Music Bryan Likes

It's really early, Max. I feel like I'm staring into the sun as I'm looking at the computer screen. For the next few posts, I'm going to try really hard not to talk about (deep breath) the H word. Since my list last week was a generic "five things I like" list, whereas your list was a "top five," I want to add something that probably would have been on my top five list (and was on yours, too). Music!

Most people probably know that my tastes in music are not conventional. There's a word for that. Unconventional. So here are just a few genres I enjoy.

Since I'm between jazz camps right now, I'll start with jazz! I'm actually being serious when I say that I like jazz because of the humanity in it. Max, here's a song that I think you'll enjoy -- Dave Brubeck's version of "Hi Ho" from Snow White. It's not exactly a jazz classic, but . . . here!

I also like really, really old music. Especially from the classical and romantic eras. For an entirely random example, I love Brahms. Max, I think you'll recognize this song!

I do like some songs that are popular on the radio. However, I always feel like it's easier to make fun of songs by Katy Perry and Ke$ha than it is to enjoy them legitimately. All in all, I'm sometimes open to listening to new music. My sister would probably disagree. Just remember that what I listen to now includes people like Tom Lehrer, Hank Green, and the Mountain Goats.

Until tomorrow, Max!

Ticks - Brad Paisley

Update:

Bryan, welcome back home.  I hope you enjoy your stay and find it suiting to your needs.  This blog is becoming more of a chore than something of fun, but that is okay.  By the way, I was getting excited last night when I saw you still had not posted yet.

This week, I sold sno cones (that was how they spelled “sno cones” on the syrup bottles) at the parish festival!  In addition, I rode the tornado.  Yay!  There is my update of my life.

Summer Field Studies:

I would like to welcome home to Indiana all of our Summer Field Studies participants.  I recommend all of them go back through and read the posts they missed.  Frank Joseph Karl Gabriel Micucci IV and Erin Rainey, your reign as substitute punishment people ends at midnight tonight.  You have done well.  Yes, Ben and Jacob, you did, in fact, miss a punishment.  You can now figure out what your job was.

P.S.  Take a shower.  Oh, and make sure you did not bring any foreign bugs (or ticks) along with you.

Poll:

Bryan, I appreciate having my own option, but do you think we can try to stay away from having all of your polls be related to Harry Potter?  Not to be rude, but they are kind of, sort of, a little annoying for those of us who do not worship made up wizards. /rant off.

In case you were wondering, I voted for Mexico, twice.  I am hoping that a certain foreign exchange student would view our blog from Mexico, but she has not yet.  I am also slightly shocked that I was alone in my thoughts on Mexico.

Top Ten Tuesday:

Everybody, my next blog post is on Tuesday.  This will of course mean I will be having my second installment of Top Ten Tuesday.  I want to know of what you guys want me to make a list.  I have a few ideas, but if you just want to comment below, then that would give me a good idea of what to do.

The Conclusion

In conclusion, please continue to give Bryan and I feedback by the “reactions” buttons and in the comments below to tell us what we are doing right, and what you would like to see more of in the upcoming eleven months.  It may seem hard to believe, but my Tuesday post will mark the one month anniversary of our blog.

Back Home Agaaaiiin!

Good evening, Max. I have a computer on my lap, an orange wristband on my left arm . . . wait. There is not an orange wristband on my left arm. That must mean . . . yes! I'm back in Indianapolis!

Um, the title . . . I never really left Indiana.

Bryan's guide to important acronyms:

MFA: Music for All, the huge music camp I went to last week (and also last year)

DMA: Drum Major Academy, the track of MFA I did last year (I did jazz band this year)

GNP: George N. Parks, the illustrious founder of DMA who passed away a few months after camp last year

DCI: Drum Corps International, who I saw perform both this year and last year

I'm not sure why I made that list, but I hope it gives you a general idea of some of the things I did this past week. Um, I'm just going to ramble a little bit.

There's a bird in Abby's basement.

Both times I saw DCI, the Madison Scouts was my favorite corps. I would reword that sentence to help with subject/verb agreement, but I don't have very much time! Just so you know.

The reason that I liked them last year was because of their hats.

They grew on me even more this year because their show was "New York Morning," and their color guard wore grey business suits and carried the New York Times. I mean, how could it be better than that? They got third, so I guess technically it could have been better.

This will be the second Saturday of TPA in which the poster actually remembers to start a new poll without editing his post!

I notice that one other person will be joining me in Kyrgyzstan when I visit, so that's nice! Canada and Australia tied for the top countries from which people will view our blog. There were Australians at MFA; they tried to make people eat Vegemite. Spain was close behind those two countries.

To kick off the next poll, I present you with a picture of Richard Harris's shining moment:

"Alas, earwax!"

All right, I'm interested to know who everyone's favorite Dumbledore is. Well, originally, it was Abby who wanted to know, but I do, too. Max, since you haven't seen the movies, I have a separate option specifically for you.

Aaand by the time of my next post, I will be starting the jazz camp at U of I. Jazz!

Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down

Oh Bryan, you get more words to work with if you use pictures!

Number Three:

Facebook: And here is why... (concealed identities!)

Number Two:

Music: When I stop being lazy, I am going to create a list of my top 100 artists.  Here is my favorite song, but probably not my favorite artist.

Numero Uno:

Peanut Butter: Call me crazy, but I love peanut butter more than anything in the world.



I, in no way, support nor disclose the topics discussed in this video, but it is hard to find an actual Youtube video for the topic of... peanut butter.

Bryan, I look forward to having you read these posts.

Also, I hope every utilizes the reactions below so we know what you like, and what we need to improve!

Things Bryan Likes: Part Two

I don't have very many words to work with, so let's get to it!

Number three! I like Tom Lehrer. I probably idolize him too much.

Number two! I like Nerdfighting. DFTBA!

Number one! I like Harry Potter. I would post a preview of the upcoming movie, buuut . . . I refuse to watch that. So here's one from the second movie. Hah, I got chills watching this trailer for a movie that came out almost a decade ago.

Max, I'll be back on Saturday.

My Favorite Things - Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music

Well, peer pressure is making me think that maybe I should make a list of my top five favorite things as well.  I feel like people need to learn more about us anyways, so here goes nothing!

Number Five:

Tennis:  I do not play for any teams for the sole purpose that I do not want it to feel like a competition, but I still hate losing!  I started playing the summer going into seventh grade, I think, through the Roncalli Summer Sports Camp.  My best memory of tennis is Mr. Kratoska actually giving me a compliment in P.E. when he asked me if I played varsity.

Number Four:

Game Shows:  Do you people realize how beastly I am at almost every game show known to man?  I play along with hit shows Jeopardy, Lingo and Wheel of Fortune and let me be the first to point out how stupid 98 percent of the contestants are; it is repulsing!

Like Bryan, I too will post my final three on the second day!

Till then, good bye my minions!

Things Bryan Likes: Part One

Good morning! I'm in a different city right now, but you can't tell because you're on the Internet. I hope everyone enjoyed my punishment video. And I hope you don't have Christmas songs stuck in your head for too long.

While I'm gone, I will be posting videos of five things that I like because it's easy. I like a lot of things, but these things are at the top of the list. Thiiiings. Hopefully, you can get a better idea of where a handful of my references come from. <--

Number five! I like math. This is a song about pi, which is a pretty cool number. I don't really remember, but there might be a tiny questionable lyric, so you have been warned.

Number four! I like A Very Potter Musical. I would post the entire thing, but I would probably go over the word limit. Well, I would definitely go over the word limit.

There will be more on Thursday! I used lots of exclamation points in this post.

Piano Man - Billy Joel

Punishment

Oh Bryan, that did not seem fully difficult enough for you, but I hope you return the favor of an easy first punishment for me when I inevitably comment on your Facebook status.  I feel as though using Christian was a bit cheap, but I suppose it was necessary for those parts; I mean, at least he was not playing the piano.

Just want to point out that Mr. North appreciated the lyrics, not the performance.  Sorry, Bryan and Christian, but do not be jealous.

To go along with this punishment, I hope that you will at some point also film yourself playing some of the Tom Lehrer songs we all know that you can play.

Ball State Camp

It appears that I was so wrapped up with myself (e.g. my birthday) that I forgot to write you a goodbye note, as accustomed.  Therefore, here goes nothing.

Bryan, you are taking a trek far into the unknown of Muncie, Indiana.  I wish you luck as you venture into the wonders that the great city possesses.  May you truly feel what it is like to live in a small town.

I hope that the Ball State computer system does not once again classify “Bryan” as a woman’s name forcing you and all the other Bryans to room closely.  In addition, I hope that nobody mistakes you as a girl, because that would be awkward!

I wish that Microsoft would stop telling me that I use passive voice or that my word choice is poor.  I wish that my new Mozilla Firefox did not have a spell check.  I wish that my laptop’s scroll bar would start working so that I would not have to use an external mouse.

I hope that you learn all the bandy things that the fine Ball State establishments have to offer to you.

I hope that while you are in Muncie, you will explore your surroundings, find Scotty’s Brewhouse, and eat there, because it is really, really, really, really, really good.

I hope that when you return from Ball State, you are a new, better person who is now wiser in the Jeopardy category “Drum majoring.”

Blog News

I would like to point out that during the time I was posting this; we have reached 2,500 page views.

To all of our readers:  Let us hit 3,000 views and 50 followers for when Bryan returns.

Until Wednesday,

Goodbye followers!

Bonus post!

My punishment:


Max Browning gave me permission to do this:

Me: "If I were finished with my punishment now, would you authorize a bonus post?"
Max: "Yes."

Kyrgyzstan, Punishments, and Babies!

My mind is jumping very quickly between lots of different things right now, so it must be a good time for parts!

Part One: Closing the Poll Properly

The most popular house among our readers is Ravenclaw, which I think is a common house with which people associate. "I'm a muggle" only ended up with one vote, so that's good! I'm a Slytherin, Max -- what are you?

I voted for Kyrgyzstan in your new poll. I just love the (frantic Google search) mountains there.

Part Two: Happy Birthday!

Max, I hope you had an awesome birthday. I can't imagine it could have gone horribly since early on in the day you told me my punishment, and then you posted it later in the night. More on that later.

Part Three: Happy Father's Day!

To any fathers who are reading this, I send my sincere gratitude! Without fathers, we would have no babies, and without babies, we would have none of the wonderful things that humanity has to offer. Oh, Hank Green has a message for you, as well:

Part Four: My Punishment

To make things clear for everybody, I'm going to explain the background of this punishment. In January, a while after I sang songs in Chemistry class, Max rewrote the lyrics to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I wasn't exactly feeling the Christmas spirit at that point -- you know, school had already started again -- and I really didn't want to play his "Argon the Noble Gas." But now I have to. So I'm not actually composing anything because I was given a lot to work with. Preposition? Passive voice? I'm writing this quickly.

Yeah, Max was actually very reasonable in issuing his punishment. He's wanted something for half of a year, and he's finally cashing in to get it. And I'm happy, too, because I don't have to blend pickles and gushers and eat/drink it.

I'm actually getting ready to film it right now. Max, is it all right if I post the video before my due date?

Part Five: This Week . . .

. . . I will be at Ball State for the jazz track of Music for All. For the jazz band, the website says, "Please note that you will be in air conditioning for the majority of your day." SCORE!

Since I won't have Internet access on Tuesday or Thursday, I'm going to write the posts tonight and schedule them for posting. Hopefully, these two posts will help everyone understand me better. Heh.

I'll catch up with your posts on Saturday, Max!

Go Shawty It's Your Birthday - 50 Cent

Blog News

Okay, so our poll was dumb, but Ravenclaw won.  Whatever that means.

Also, as was previously mentioned, Bryan broke a rule and must endure the first punishment (even I figured I would be the first to break a rule).  For his punishment, he must compose the music, sing, and video himself playing/singing “Argon the Noble Gas,” which is clearly a spoof on the Christmas classic “Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer.”

My Birthday

Seeing that it is my birthday – thanks for the birthday text, I was hoping you would write on my wall though – I have decided to tell everyone my favorite aspect of every birthday to date.

The day I was born – Well, a gift to the world was born on this day – me.  I would say that was my favorite aspect.

My first birthday – I had survived a year of life and was beginning to speak.  Now the world was blessed by hearing me.

My second birthday – You know, shockingly I do not remember this one.

My third birthday – Oh, a drizzly Tuesday (BBT reference!) – just kidding, I don’t know what day it was.  Anyways, that year I not only passed the 1,000 day mark, but also survived an allergic reaction.  Score!

My fourth birthday -  Four is my lucky number; therefore, it was good.

My fifth birthday – Nothing special.

My sixth birthday – I had a zebra birthday cake.  How cool is that? (Rhetorical question)

My seventh birthday – I believe this was the year that I did not like any of the gifts I received, but was kind enough to still keep them.

My eighth birthday – Well, I had passed the first grade?  Small victory.

My ninth birthday – Nine year olds are brats.  For those who did not get the joke, I had an excuse to be a brat.  Haha, it was funny.

My tenth birthday – Okay, so I turned double digits.  Yay.  Also, my cousin (Sam) chased my brother (Beau) around the house with a broom and my grandpa almost fell off the picnic table laughing so hard.  My aunt then went on to blame Adam for the incident.

My eleventh birthday – My cousin (Troy) dunked my head in a bucket of water that had formerly had horse manure in it.

My twelfth birthday – I invited every guy in my grade to my birthday party – ten showed up.

My thirteenth birthday – I was a teenager, duh?

My fourteenth birthday – I am going to assume this was one of my standard water balloon fight birthday parties.

My fifteenth birthday – Really, once you become a teenager life goes downhill birthday-wise apparently.

My sixteenth birthday – Yay, I can drive.  We all know how that went.

My seventeenth birthday – I got my grandmother who had never been bowling before to play Wii Bowling.

My eighteenth birthday – I received far too many Facebook notifications.  I once again got my grandmother to bowl; she got a strike… just kidding.

Until tomorrow,

Good luck on your punishment, which I will require to be posted along with your July 1^st post.

This is where it gets interesting.

Sjsaekopogdbljdewisjnvewww.

Max, I . . . may have accidentally commented on your Facebook status.

Let me explain myself.

I was sitting right here -- I'm pointing to my desk chair -- and I was super multitasking. Sometimes, I think that if I were a stock character, I would be the absent-minded professor, and absent-minded professors such as myself are not good at multitasking.

So I was doing a lot of things. Texting, organizing my summer work, listening to music, reading about J. K. Rowling's new project . . . Facebooking.

And then Abby was all, "You just commented on Max Browning's Facebook status."

It was a good comment. Max, Abby commented on your status with a link to a snippet from A Very Potter Sequel, and it was very natural for me to reply, "Crookshanks! Thanks, Herman."

I don't care if you don't understand it -- it makes sense to me!

So here I am now. I was so sure that you were going to be the first TPA blogger to be punished, especially after you accepted my Bananagrams challenge. We'll see what happens with that.

But tonight, I broke a rule -- a rule that I wrote myself in the first draft of the welcome post -- and I await my punishment from Max. For those of you wondering what it's going to be, you know just as much as I do.

And for those of you wondering what punishments are like, here are a couple of examples. We're using the vlogbrothers system of punishments, and in fact, both John and Hank Green have punishments to endure over the next few days. Hank's punishment is to film himself humping . . . various things. John's punishment is to eat a sandwich with two ingredients. (The ingredients are undetermined as of yet, but I assure you that they will be disgusting.)

I leave you with a video of the first ever punishment from Brotherhood 2.0:

Right Round - Flo Rida

Blog News

Okay, so, in case you did not notice somehow, we have over 2,000 page views.  Unfortunately, our follower count has stagnacized.  Do our “loyal” followers have no friends who they can talk into joining?

“I just thought you should know that Harry Potter is first and foremost a series of books. And that you should try reading them. I mean, I know you're not an avid reader, but I started reading Harry Potter when I was seven, so it's not terribly difficult.”

Show off.  Also, let me point out that it is not just that I am not an avid reader, but I actually cannot read.  In fact, I had to have my brother read your post out loud because of how bad I am at reading.

“I just sneezed.”

Gesundheit.

“Also two days ago was the first major Republican debate of the 2012 presidential election, so it was a pretty big night for me.”

I watched them too, but only because my brother wanted to.

“Would endorsing a presidential candidate (I think you know who I'm talking about) on TPA be too extreme?”

Yes.  We are not doing this.

“I think the best time for that would be July. Does that work for you?”

Yes, but I have a Ball State workshop in late July.

“Max, I challenge you to a Bananagrams tournament sometime in July. One on one. Best two out of three. Do you accept?”

Yes, but on my turf.

Also, let me point out the irony that you just asked me three questions the post after your question Monday.

Okay, so I have a lot of planning to do for my Saturday post, but trust me, it will be fun!

Until then, good riddance.

No Coherent Topic Today

I should probably organize this post into parts, but I'm just . . . asjlkvbsaekj.

Max, two days ago, you made a comment on your post from Sunday. In response to EB's message, ". . . how do you not know anything from HP?" you said, "I've never seen any of the movies." I just thought you should know that Harry Potter is first and foremost a series of books. And that you should try reading them. I mean, I know you're not an avid reader, but I started reading Harry Potter when I was seven, so it's not terribly difficult.

I just sneezed.

Also two days ago was the first major Republican debate of the 2012 presidential election, so it was a pretty big night for me. I know that a lot of people probably aren't interested in politics, and I respect the wide spread of political beliefs that we have on TPA. But since the primaries are going to be extremely important to me during our senior year, totally avoiding presidential politics in this blog would be lying. What do you think, Max? Would endorsing a presidential candidate (I think you know who I'm talking about) on TPA be too extreme?

Hmmm.

I have to do a lot of summer work this week because jazz camps start next week. I know what posts I'm going to do while I'm away next week, but right now, I'm just . . . blrheajlkhghh.

Oh, I also wanted to resurface the idea of making videos and speeding them up (and making yours go backward, maybe). I think the best time for that would be July. Does that work for you?

Also in July, I think the two of us should have some sort of tournament. If I had my way, it would be a Euchre tournament, but I think the playing field would be more even if it were Banagrams, or something. Maybe this could be a challenge.

Max, I challenge you to a Bananagrams tournament sometime in July. One on one. Best two out of three. Do you accept?