Sing a Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Song - Dummi Bears

Good News, Bryan!

Today, instead of gloating about your upcoming punishment for not posting, I have decided that I would discuss and analyze some of my favorite quotes.

Oh, but in case you forgot, I have yet to break a rule, while you have broken two thus far.

Without further ado, my three favorite quotes:

“Max, trust me, there will come a day when you or I will become wrapped up in senior life and just forget to post.  There will be punishments.”

Bryan Rainey said this dandy quote.

Bryan, long ago in the month of May, I called that I would not be a rule breaker, but that you would.  I would have to applaud you for your acceptance to failure so long ago though.

“So here I am now. I was so sure that you were going to be the first TPA blogger to be punished.”

Bryan Rainey said this on June 17, 2011, in his post.

Here is my analysis.  This quote was funny then, because so many people thought that I would be first, but here we are, with you receiving both of the punishment for breaking rules thus far.  Irony.

My last quote is as follows:

“Max, I will never forget to blog.”

Bryan Rainey said this ironic quote on August 25, 2011.

Bryan, literally less than a week ago I approached you at your locker before school and expressed my amazement that you posted since you had not even started a post when I went to sleep.  This was your response.

Bryan, I am not shocked that you forgot.  Honestly, Friday posts are just unfair.  Last Friday, I had 20 minutes to write my post after factoring in the time it would take to find something pirate looking to wear to our football game.

Now for something less tense, the poll results.

It would appear as though people enjoy Pegasus (11 votes) over a unicorn (7 votes).  Bryan, I voted for unicorns.  Your assumption that a Pegasus is just a flying unicorn seems to show your hubris.  You assumed that the Vlogbrothers were up on their exotic horse breeds, but they are not.

Unicorns can dip their horn in a polluted river and make it clean.

I have not decided my poll yet, but you can be sure that this poll will actually make sense.

Now about your punishment, Bryan.  I have not figured it out for sure yet, but I have some ideas.  I suppose you will want to know my ideas, right?

• Get 50 meters on QWOP and video it.
• Compose a song, complete with lyrics depicting all the ways I am better than you are, to the tune of some song of my choice; I am thinking Brittany Spears.
• Cut an entire pizza at your normal Chicago’s Pizza using only the supplied fork.
• Find all of my grammar errors in a future blog of mine.
• Write a 300 word blog in German with a translation in English.

So Bryan, I do not want the punishment to be something terrible, because I am merciful, unlike you, but I do know that if I ever should break a rule, that you will not return the favor.

Here is a cat.

Until tomorrow Bryan,

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Momma Mia - Abba

Hello Bryan, lovely poetry yesterday!

Bryan, on this thirteenth day of August, it is with gratitude that I say happy birthday to my mother!

You may have seen my Facebook status yesterday about my printer being dead so I had to draw, with crayons, my mother’s birthday card.

Bryan, I may have gotten an A in art, but I cannot draw with crayons.  I am a pastels guy.

I only have one thing left to do before tonight's deadline -- my last German blog -- and I've already planned it all out, so I'm giving myself a little break right now. Also, I'm pretty sure I just opened a lot of doors for Max to brag about how he's been finished for a few days, now. Oops.

Bryan, I found this funny.  We both know that I do not need you to open the door for me to brag about how I did something better than you.  Yes, Bryan, I am relating the speed of completion with the quality of work.

Time to go all-nostalgic on you Bryan.

In about two and a half months, we will return to school as seniors. I actually have one final proposal in this blog post -- that as seniors, rather than taking the easy route of glorifying ourselves, we focus instead on being welcoming leaders and role models at Roncalli. Maybe I’ll devote a future post to this topic.

Bryan, this is from the first ever post on TPA.  You know, the one where “TPA” became a legal initialism?

Yes, Bryan, the day we have been awaiting for three glorious years is already upon us.  The time has flown far too fast, but I have enjoyed every step of the way.  I found that sentence quite humorous.  If time has flown, then how was I stepping?

This is our moment, Bryan, to lead the school.  Okay, so probably not the school, but the German club for sure.  Then you of course have the band to co-lead, while I have the newspaper to co-edit.

It will feel odd driving into the Roncalli parking lot for the first time as a senior, then walking down the illustrious middle hallway, knowing that my locker is there, but not actually remembering my combination.

Speaking of being a senior, guess who got a Whoopee Cushion yesterday?  This kid.

Bryan, throughout our senior year, we should make it our goal to not look forward to the weeks ahead, but rather embrace the time we have at Roncalli.  We only have one hundred and eighty, or so, days left at that school, and many of those will most certainly be spent outside of class or thinking about college.

I suppose I should get to the poll results Bryan.

Beyond any comprehension of the mind, Bryan, the poll was  split ten to ten in terms of cheese to chocolate respectively.

Bryan, I look forward to knowing your answer, but we all know I am a cheesy person.

Until Monday, Bryan,

Enjoy your time without summer work.

Edit:  Cheese got an eleventh vote before I changed the poll.

Cheese or Chocolate?

Abby from the comments:

"I predict... disagreement on one point."

Max, if she's talking about your point that "nothing is worse than dark chocolate," then she couldn't be more correct. Not that "correct" isn't an absolute.

I like dark chocolate. I like when there's dark chocolate in my M&Ms, in chocolate muffins, or just by itself. Overall, dark chocolate is just a good thing for me. And in my opinion, Max doesn't have a normal palate -- I've learned within the past week that Max likes neither Subway nor pizza, which is not normal -- so he's not allowed to make food judgments. I mean, "not normal" is a good thing in my eyes, but . . . so is dark chocolate.

But that's not what my post is about today. I want to talk about a more important issue that was brought up earlier in my life through a few vlogbrothers videos.

Hank asked a simple question: cheese or chocolate? John answered, "Why did you just name two things I can't eat anymore? God, that's so mean!" Hank's response was, "Chocolate, because it's more advanced. It's more difficult. It's more new and fresh and complex."

So you'd think that chocolate won the battle. But then a few months later, when John and Hank were looking for things to feud about, Hank brought up the "cheese or chocolate" issue again. Here's what he said: "I'm a cheese man, myself. There are just more kinds of cheese than there are kinds of chocolates; I feel like I would be giving up more."

How could Hank have been so wishy-washy? I'll tell you why. It's because the "cheese or chocolate" issue is kind of like modern political issues in that it's hard to know what the right thing to do is.

I wonder what this week's poll is going to be . . . hmm. . . . Well, as for last week's poll, Charmander is the most common favorite starter Pokemon among our readers. I picked Pikachu because I don't know anything about Pokemon and somebody referenced Pikachu on Whose Line Is It Anyway? recently.

For the new poll, I ask everyone one question: cheese or chocolate? I want you to think of it like if you pick one of them, the other one would disappear from the world. I like them both; I really do. More than most people would understand. Few people know which of the two I prefer, though. I'll let everyone know which one I voted for after the results are final.

Feel free to debate which one is better.

If I Die Young - The Band Perry

Bryan, this is my last post on an even date for a while.

Before you look at the poll results, I must warn you:  If you have small children in the room, please have them look away.

Yes, Bryan, everyone wants us to do a double punishment except for you, me, and another person (unless you are like me and voted twice).

As we said earlier though, the ultimate decision will be left up to Bryan and me as far as what we want to do for our punishment since we really did not break any rules.

Bryan, since tomorrow ends July, I found it necessary to look up what all happened in July and I realized I had not participated in Cell Phone Courtesy Month!  I think that maybe I should let my cell phone sleep in my bed or something, but I just realized how useless that would be.

Next topic!  Bryan, I have had a rough day so this post is very choppy, sorry about that.

At Ball State, I was told my singing was lovely, but the same person said that it was like elevator music.  I am very confused as to if that was a compliment or not, in case you were wondering.

Okay, now for some July wrap up news.  Bryan, during July, we received a little over 600 fewer views than during June.  I think that this may be because of people going on vacation and the like, but I really hope that this is not a trend.

At our current rate, we will hit our 10,000^th view at some point during September with around 30,000 views in May, but that will require us not to stay on this downward slope.

We also hit our 10^th foreign country view.  Ireland took the spot as our second highest foreign country viewer (using many adjectives can be fun!).

Okay, I end this post with a song, because music is fun and it is raining and I am sad and I am tired and Zoey is lying on the couch watching it rain.

  

Until August,

Goodnight Bryan.

Leave Questions for Me in Comments (or Elsewhere)

Max, it's July 9, 2011, and you know what that means. It's the 143rd anniversary of the day the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified! Let's hear it for due process!

Today's post is in six parts.

Part One: Question Monday

Next Monday is my Monday, and it's going to be another Question Monday. I only have so many questions left over from last Question Monday, and I don't want to do any physics, so . . .

Send me your questions in comments or some other way. (Facebook works well.)

Part Two: Planking

Max, your post yesterday was excellent. Why isn't that picture on Facebook yet?

I'd heard of planking and seen examples of it before your post, but it definitely wasn't in the front part of my brain until yesterday. Thanks for reminding me of the activity! We should do this sometime. With lots of people. In public. For pictures. That's a lot of prepositional phrases.

Part Three: Yes, it was a joke.

Good observations, Max. I actually think that most people underestimate the power of contractions.

Part Four: Baby Rabbit

Part Five: Yay!

I finished Brave New World! In effect, I think that I learned a lot, and I'm going to like AP Lit. Also, I finished my German blogs! I didn't even procrastinate that much. Yay!

Part Six: Books

In addition to my required books for summer work, I have a reading list. I needed to write these books down somewhere so that I could remember them, and this is as good a place as any! There are five of them.

• The Martian Chronicles (almost finished with this one)
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson
• The Great Gatsby
• The Catcher in the Rye
• The Hunger Games

Why here? Two reasons. First, now that my reading goals are public, I feel more obligated to complete them. Second, Max, I think you should read something with me. Sort of like the Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club, except not. The TPA Book Club. You don't haaave to, but it would be fun if we could both read one of these books and maybe blog about them. Promotion of literature! If you want something lighter, I would choose either the second one or the fifth one.

It's totally worth a shot, right?

Bonus Part: I Forgot About This

It's time for a new poll! Here are the results of the last one. I saved the picture in case Max needs it:

The new poll is in honor of Max's favorite thing in the world.

Facts of Life - Lazy Boy

Bryan, this post is dedicated to our lovely polls.

You asked the question: “Who is your favorite Dumbledork?”

The results are in!

• Richard Harris: 9 votes for 40%
• Mike Gambon: 7 votes for 31%
• Max’s Awesome: 6 votes for 27%

Clearly, people just noticed you spelled “awesome” wrong, though it appears the other 73% of people were unaware of this typo.  Bryan, I am ashamed of your poll and I hope your topic of choice changes drastically next week.

This week’s poll will explore the realm of topics I have for my future Top Ten Tuesdays.  I think the choices may need a bit of explaining (not to make fun of our followers, but they could not even see the clear typo in last week’s poll).

1. Movies:  Find out what movies I enjoy.  I am not a huge movie buff, so they will range from childhood classics to semi-newish movies.  (By the way, I enjoyed that running movie!)
2. Drinks:  Non-alcoholic obviously.  There is a large group of drinks in this world and it would be difficult to narrow down (especially if I separated Kool-Aid flavors).
3. Countries:  This could be interesting because of how many variables I could judge countries based on such as vacation hot spots or awesomeness of names.
4. Music Artists:  I will struggle with this one.  Bryan, if I do this one, could you maybe allow me to break the word limit rule so I can put my favorite song from each of the artists?  Everyone would have a new list for his or her iPods!  I have a very eclectic list of both main stream and little known artists.
5. Random Facts:  Everyone knows that I have a large amount of random facts floating in my head, but ranking them because of importance and randomness may just be needed.
6. Stupid Laws:  Really people, why can I not hunt whales in Oklahoma if I so choose!  I think I could think of some good one-liners to follow each of these laws.
7. Things I do not want to blog about: This could be interesting.  It would include things I both like and hate.
8. Cartoon Characters:  The title is a bit confusing, but it would also include several video game characters I would expect.

I will make this poll such that you can vote on multiple, but keep your votes to only things you would really be interested in reading about.  Hopefully this will help me stay away from any flop posts, otherwise I may have to just eighty-six Top Ten Tuesdays.

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!

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.

Ask me questions!

My next post is going to be Question Monday, and I need questions to answer. Leave me questions in the comments, text me, or send me something on Facebook (unless you're Max).

This post is What-Bryan-Did-on-His-Secret-Mission Saturday. I'll tell you what I did -- after I announce the poll results.

It was a close race, but it looks like the answer to "If Max has two apples, and Bryan has two apples, then who has more apples?" is Max, who got three more votes than I did. Congratulations?

Here we go -- Bryan's adventures at Hogwarts.

Those are the moving portraits in the halls of Hogwarts, the giant, air-conditioned castle I walked through ten times to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey the same number of times. This ride was beyond awesome, and it made all of the heat, sunscreen, and annoying people worth it. I also rode Flight of the Hippogriff a couple of times, but I was too scared to ride Dragon Challenge.

But wait, there's more! (By the way, I stole these pictures from my sister's friend Joe.)

Do you see those people, Max? Their job is to go outside every hour and sing Harry Potter songs. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the most amazing park just to walk through. There was so much -- Ollivander's, a mandrake, dancing Durmstrang students, Butterbeer stands. The only thing I didn't like was listening to Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom.

I'm pointing to the Great Feast which I didn't eat but feel deserves to be capitalized nonetheless. The Three Broomsticks is my favorite restaurant, and the Butterbeer is delicious. Abby, I think I liked the regular kind better than the frozen kind.

There were also a bunch of shops in Hogsmeade where I didn't buy anything. Ha, that's a lie. I probably got too many things which included a Chocolate Frog, a Remembrall, and a Slytherin tie which I have every intention of wearing to church.

I've decided to give my new poll a Harry Potter theme in honor of my secret mission.

And if anybody else is going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, please take me with you.

Mario Kart Love Song - Sam Hart

Blog News:

Alright, so, to start, congratulations to all you pants lovers out there for reigning supreme over your sock loving counterparts.  May all us panters now be known as overlords over evil?  The poll has been updated (unless you check this blog like, the second I post this).  I hope you all enjoy your first full week of June.

In response to your keyboard fun, I suppose I must also try my own.  This will be done with my foot - the left one if that matters.

greh

• Green reindeer eat horses.
• Gravy raindrops excite Haley.  (Hi, Haley!)
• God rules every human.

Lastly, we are fast approaching our one thousandth-page view.  Go us!  Now, on to something near to my heart.

Mario Kart:

This list is in order of my favorites to most hated.  I have use scientific evidence to support each of my choices.

1.      Dry Bones:  This is not just a turtle, but it is also a skeleton.  His small stature keeps the screen clean, but is allegiance towards Bowser makes him tough enough to not get knocked off of Rainbow Road.

2.      Yoshi:  Nothing is better than listening to this little green dinosaur yelling his name repeatedly.  Oh, and I am always him on Mario Party so he has home field advantage.

3.      Birdo:  I call this pink thing Honko.  Her love of Yoshi makes her a love of mine.

4.      Mario:  He is the guy in red on the cover in case you do not know who I am talking about.  Yes, that is also why he ranks number four on my list.

5.      Mii (both):  Call me “cocky” or “egotistical,” but I made my Mii into Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

6.      Luigi:  Sorry, Luigi, but Mario is more well known than you.

7.      Toad:  Something about his head just makes me want to play him.

8.      Toadette:  I enjoy staring at those pig tails for four minutes every race, and her small stature makes her just feel faster.

9.      Donkey Kong:  His huge graphic makes him sit awkwardly in the cars.  It just bugs me.  Otherwise, I love Donkey Kong and just cannot stand rating him lower than this!

10.  Baby Mario/Luigi/Daisy/Peach & Bowser Jr.:  I do not discriminate.  I love all these little guys equally.  Basically, the fact that the green turtle shells are the same size as them makes me enjoy being hit by them when using these racers.

11.  Koopa Troopa/Diddy Kong:  I am slightly shocked that they rank this low.  It has to do with the fact that Ben always races with them, and that Ben is better at Mario Kart than me – especially at the Mall.

12.  Daisy/Peach:  You two may be very iconic in the Mario market, but I am sorry to say that you are just not good at racing.

13.  Bowser/Dry Bowser:  Why would I want to be either one of them when they are fundamentally the same character model with a different skin.  This means that I pretty much have to cheer against myself if I want to win.

14.  Rosalina:  That star thingy that follows her is just weird.  Need I say more?

15.  Wario/Waluigi/King Boo/Funky Kong:  These racers come in last because they are just awkwardly sized for the Mario Kart games.  Plus, I cannot see past them.