A large Howdy in return

My name is Brandon Cox. All of my friends will let you know i am the nicest person ever, when i want to be. I also believe that I could crush anyone that crossed my path, let this be you're warning. My goals in life are to attend Annapolis Naval Academy and enlist in the United States Navy as a Neuclear Engineer. Once i retire i will live a wonderful life with my wife and kids on a large ranch in Wyoming. My house will be completely Bomb/Zombie/Apocalypse-proof and completely self sustainable. If that does not let you know who i am as a person then I dont know what will.

I believe in working hard and living happily with what you have.

Land has been the grounds for countless wars and disputes through history and i agree that land is the most important thing to own. The picture I have chosen to show everyone is one of the greatest pictures I think i have ever taken. This symbolizes everything wish for in life.

The thing that geeks me out the most is my iPhone. I upgraded from a "stupid" phone to my wonderful "smart" phone in may and ever since I have been in constant aw at all the things i can do with such a device. My favorite website has got to be www.google.com. This site, as well as company, is the greatest company in existance. The web search engine that is Google is also the portal to everything on the internet and will forever be supirior.

Edward Antlerhands

     Hello, my name is Clay Whiteheart, I am 16 years, and I have a name that spell check will eternally consider wrong. I consider India and its people two of the most indisputably honest and spiritual things in our realm of existence and i hope to travel there at great lengths someday. I wish to someday learn to do something practical in life, honest and practical. i believe that college is for intellectuals and  a place of learning, not just another pit stop on the road to a lifeless white-collar career. In keeping with this i plan to attend school and learn as long as my parents will stand to support me, which might being the end of this year at the rate im going.
     My goals in life are to try and get rid of all the hangups of things, im a generally carefree person, but i hope to live in an environment when i am older in which i feel free from all others but myself. I hope to do well in school this year and for the rest of my High school education, both to compensate for my earlier sloth and so that i am in a position that will allow me to live out my dreams in relative security.I enjoy apple orchards, fall and long walks when the sky is gray. Gray is the color in which life should be; it detracts from our obsession with superficiality and allows for a more noble and visceral understanding of the world. Like Soviet Russia, but with less borscht. I have very many ideas about things, and i love to talk to people about them. Writing is another passion of mine, though you couldn't tell from this blog post, and i try to write on a regular basis, my chief idols being Jack Kerouac and Ernest Hemingway. I am a veteran member of the NRL, though youll have to talk to me about that in private sometime, and i enjoy long walks(most would consider wanderings) around town and country.
     Conquering the world geeks me out, as well as reading. this is a picture of me doing the first one.

     My favorite website is www.cracked.com because it is the funniest way of getting information on the web. My boyfriend is James Karl Parr-Marx, thats both of them together, and we have a very intense mutual respect for each other. ive known him since i was a wee buck and even though my parents think its wrong he will always be my friend. a large portion of what i do in my personal life revolves around that man.

About

I'm Leah, I'm sixteen, and I have this really (not) cute thing for series commas. If you don't use a series comma (or an Oxford Comma for you Vampire Weekend junkies, a Harvard Comma, a whatever-sorta comma) I will give you super condescending looks from my head. I'm a blonde, my older brother is a redhead, and everyone else in my family has brown hair. I like to start a lot of books and never finish them. The only television series I acknowledge as worthy of my time are Doctor Who and Modern Family. I live on a horse farm with my family, so naturally I enjoy riding horses. I have an incredibly chubby chinchilla with a name I can't mention in a school setting and a cat that has spent 95% of her life hiding behind my bathroom door. My mother is a painter, my father is a musician who conducts orchestras, plays the clarinet, piano, guitar, flute, trumpet, and drums, while I am the child blessed with virtually no musical abilities. I laugh when I don't know what to do...which is actually quite a lot.

Something that geeks me out in the weirdest of ways is anything health related. I could seriously spend all of my waking hours getting lost in the WebMD diagnosis hole or convincing my mom to buy pesticide free/organic/non-GMO/HFCS free food item from the farmer's market or (the less wonderful but still wonderful) Whole Foods.
I have a personal best record of spending two hours and forty-five minutes in Whole Foods. I also have countless jars of dried herbs I keep convincing myself I'll use for holistic purposes. If you allow me, I will spent hours lecturing you on the importance of reducing your carbon footprint and the eighteen different things you can do today to help the environment.

If I could change one thing in this world, it would be for everyone to enjoy Chinese history. I think Chinese history needs a little bit more lovin'.

This is a photo of my chinchilla because he deserves much more attention than anything else that comes to my head.

My favorite link is, without any sort of questionable doubt, the wonderful and glorious StumbleUpon. My most stumbled interests include health, neuroscience, coffee, and metallurgy. I'm not really sure why metallurgy is up there, but it is, and you can never have too much information about the composition of metals. 

Hello, my name is...

Why, hello there! My name is Lauren Gilbert. I am currently 15 (and sadly cannot drive... legally, that is), but will be turning 16 in the near future. I have lived in Lexington for most of my life, and must admit that until more recently, I only ever thought of leaving this town. Now, as the time quickly approaches to when I'll actually have the chance to leave, I am just beginning to learn to love it more and more. My goals for this year are extremely general (get good grades, do well on AP tests, have fun, etc), but I await for them to become more specific as the year progresses.

While I am an avid fan of photography, I must say that my true passion lies in helping others. Although I do not have the time to volunteer as much as I wish, I truly enjoy giving my time to others - knowing I am making a positive difference in their lives or the lives of others around time. That brings me to the most meaningful part of my summer. This summer I travelled to Clinton, TN where I participated in a program called Reach Workcamps rebuilding and repairing homes for "neighbors" in the community. Being able to see the impact we had was fantastic - not to mention all of the new friends I met there. I plan to go back to Reach for my fourth consecutive year next summer when we will travel to Sylacauga, AL. Only 290 more days! Or 9 months and 17 days, depending on how you count it. (I'm just a little bit excited, if you couldn't tell...).

To be completely honest, what truly geeks me out are foreign languages. My parents started me in the Spanish Immersion Program in kindergarten and I have taken Spanish since. This year will be my first year without a Spanish class since I started school 11 years ago... I already feel deprived. So, as an alternative, I plan to volunteer at Maxwell St. Legal Clinic as a translator (helping people AND foreign language?! It's a dream come true!). Striving to learn many languages has been a goal for myself my entire life. Although I would consider myself mostly bilingual, I do not think that's enough - not for me, so I am pushing myself to learn more. Currently, I am working on sign language and am thinking of starting Mandarin Chinese. While I want to be fluent in the two previous languages, I also would like to have a grip on French, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian. I know, it's alot.

Loving photography, I enjoy this website very much: http://dearphotograph.com/ When I scroll through the pictures daily, I often ponder the stories behind the moment in time captured in each picture. For the most part, this is a hopeless effort, but I must say, I do imagine up some very creative stories when I am truly stumped!

I could not pick just one picture, so here are three:

The picture to the right is of my workcrew. We started the week as complete strangers and by the end, not only were we great friends, but we'd also successfully built the ramp which we are standing on (along with some other things).

This picture was taken at Burnamwood, a camp I attended this summer. You see there a prime example of the creativity put into the photographs taken that week.

 

 

 

 

All in all, my summer has been a splash. Literally. 

I very much hope this school year will be as well!

howdy post

Hi, I'm Lauren Stigers, and I just turned 16 which i was very excited about because everyone seems to be older than me. I have one sister, Natalie, who is also my best friend. I just visited her last weekend at UGA. I miss having a best friend around my house all the time if I want someone to talk to besides myself..or my parents. I also have 3 dachshunds(most people refer to them as wiener dogs). Their names are Romeo, Lovey, and Honey. My goals this year academically are probably the same as any academy student:get A's and do well on AP tests and the ACT. I also hope to improve a lot in swimming this year in order to get certain cuts, which is difficult to explain to people. I want to swim d1 somewhere, so I would like to go times that would put me at a good standing for this.
The most meaningful moment of my summer was giving my life to Christ at Younglife Camp, which was a life-changing decision. I love people and spending time with them, so I did a lot of things with friends this summer, including a few trips.
If i could pick any superpower, it would definitely be to fly. Going on the firehawk at king's island is just a glimpse at how amazing it would be, and i would be able to get around so quickly while having a lot of fun.
If you can't tell, I am very into fitness and sports. If I don't do some sort of activity everyday, I feel gross, and my mood is much worse. I try to be very positive, and I don't like when people around me are negative and bring me down. I would say the two things that "geek" me are sports and being around friends. I'm not very unique in my music or internet choices. I usually like the popular songs at the time and social networks. Instagram and twitter are my favorite social networks, so this is the twitter link. #yolo i know Mr. Logsdon said something about yolo haha

www.twitter.com

These are my best friends spelling nature with our bodies, if you couldn't tell, thinking we are really creative..

Rhinestones and White Chocolate

Why hello there! My name is Mary Austin; I’m currently 16 but will be 17 on February 12^th, I share a birthday with Abraham Lincoln. I have a younger brother who is now a freshman, which makes me feel old, and he is an amazing baseball player. My dogs are my pride and joy. They are both yellow labs that are actually white. Sumter is 8 or 9 and he and I snuggle together on my bed and Bullet, who is 3, is well for lack of better words, challenged. Pretty much the most important thing in my life is: my friends. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them. They are the people that keep me going no matter what. All in all, my life can be summed up in pretty much one word, dance.

Monday I completed my ninth and second last AP audition at my studio. We have an advance placement program which our version of a competition but we do more than just compete. I have been dancing since I was three but when I was eight I auditioned for the advanced placement program and I made it. I live and breathe dance, it is a cliché but one that is all too true. I had the honor of going to the Governor’s School for the Arts this past summer. I cried when I found out, yes I am that person.  It was AMAZING, painful, and totally worth it. I came home with what could have been a career ending injury, my hip started popping in and out of place uncontrollably, but its all good, for now. Dance is my life, and as trite as it sounds nothing else matters the second my foot makes contact with the floor. I choose this picture because it was taken the same day I found out I made it into GSA and although I was competing and had about 50 million detail and correction notes to remember, nothing mattered. I was dancing because its what I do, love, and all I know.

Now you're more than likely wondering what in the world my title is about, well fear no more! Rhinestones are my favorite thing ever. I love rhinestoning, whether it is hair pieces, picture frames, or skirts. I like sparkles a lot, and generally any gift I am given I will like as long as its sparkly. My favorite food is white chocolate. I enjoy eating white chocolate while watching TV or listening to music. There isn’t much to me really. www.itunes.com is what I ‘geek out’ on. It keeps me up at night and allows my to dance around my room, which is one of my favorite things to do. I would tell you my favorite song but it changes, daily. I also enjoy talking, if you haven’t caught on. I’m very much an open book with my life, with the exception of a few things. So go forth and do what you love because you love it and it feels right not because you have to.

Stuff About Me - Kono

My name is Jessie Kono. I am 16 years old and have lived in Lexington my whole life :( But I would love to live out west in California, Washington, or Hawaii. Of course, Italy or Australia wouldn't be bad either. I plan to get all A's (it is a necessity for me), find the perfect major and college, score at least a 4 on all my AP tests, score high in my SAT and ACT tests, and basically survive the school year without breaking down. My personal goals include improving my cello playing skills so that I can get in an orchestra in New York (although I have to be 19 to actually get to go), run in track, possibly swimming, etc, etc.

I will get extremely hyper one moment and will be dead silent the next. There will be moments when I won't shut up or stop fidgeting or stop kicking my legs at the air and other annoying stuff but I am also semi-good at self-control.

The most meaningful moment of my summer was getting baptized :) I also learned how to surf (equally amazing!) And there was a wonderful morning in Kiawah Island where I got to see baby sea turtles.

If I could have a superpower it would definitely be extreme speed. I'm deathly afraid of heights (and falling) so flying is not an option, being invisible would require people bumping into you (a lot), and i see no purpose in super strength unless I had a sudden urge to pick up a truck with one hand.

Doodling and running for no apparent reason geeks me out (if you call that "geeking"). I will doodle on everything and most of them will turn out to become scribbles when I am agitated. I prefer running to walking  and will scold any of my friends who walk slower than 20 mph or somewhere in that range.

My favorite website is www.runnersworld.com  (currently).

Sharks give me lots of emoceans.

My name's Bay Phillips, and in case the title of this post didn't make it too obvious, I really like sharks. Aquatic puns are pretty coral, too. I'm 16 years old, and I'll be 17 on February 18th. My favorite kind of cake is red velvet, only partly because it stains everything it touches and makes you look as though you've just participated in some sort of horrible bakery massacre.

My academic goals are the same as everybody else's - get good grades, pass my AP tests (preferably with 5's, but I won't hold my breath), etc. In terms of personal goals for this year, I would really like to start forming a concrete outline for at least one of the books I plan on writing, seeing as how I've been procrastinating heavily on that front. I would kill to become a published author one day, hopefully a popular one, but, like with getting 5's on my AP tests, I'm not going to hold my breath.

The most meaningful moment of my summer vacation would probably be when I made a piece of digital art that I was proud of. Funnily enough, it was a picture of the main character of one of my books. (If you'll pardon the selfish plug - fans of psychology, particularly developmental psychology, please buy this book. Even if you don't like psychology, please buy it. I really don't want to be poor when I get older.)

If I could have any superpower, it would be super speed, all in the name of laziness. Instant teleportation could serve the same purpose, but it seems a bit finicky, so I'll just go with super speed. Homework wouldn't take nearly as long, for one thing.

What geeks me out (which I'm assuming just means 'gets me passionate') would be animals, especially sharks, psychology, psychological horror, emotions (feelings give me lots of feelings), and, if you'll pardon the pretentiousness, cosmicism.

Holy jeepers, does cosmicism give me a lot of feelings.

It makes me drown in a sea of very passionate emoceans.

If you haven't heard of cosmicism, I very highly suggest looking it up. If it piques your interest, read its creator H.P. Lovecraft's works as well as (shameless plug alert) one of the books I plan on writing, which is actually going to be part of a SERIES! WOW!

Instead of a picture of me or anyone I know, have a picture of a gummy shark and a gummy crocodile fighting.

Just look at 'em go.

On another note of pretentiousness, here's one of my favorite sites. http://www.beksinski.pl/ The layout's kinda wonky and confusing, but it's got a fairly expansive gallery of one of my favorite artist's works as well as some pretty awesome and atmospheric music that plays while you browse. His name's Zdzisław Beksiński, and his work just inspires me bunches. 

I'm gonna go ahead and shut up now, and if you're not my friend and read through all this junk, you deserve a medal.

Introductions..

Hey there! I'm Kristen Morrill, and honestly I'm not all too sure how to start this. As you may be able to see, introductions aren't my strongest point, but if you get to know me I'm a pretty open person, or so I like to think. I like taking risks and adventures; taking chances are in my opinion extremely underrated. Music, church, and friends are basically my life. Violin is one of my passions and I enjoy playing in orchestra for both Henry Clay and in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra as well as fiddling for fun with some of my friends. I have to say that church and friends come before anything else though. Growing in my faith and keeping my hope alive are what keep my head above water through all the rough times, especially the ones junior year is bound to throw my way. And I can't even begin to stress enough how much my friends mean to me. Whatever cliché sayings you've ever heard, they ring true for them. They are the cheese to my macaroni, the bubbles to my bath, the milk to my cookies..you get the idea. Basically, I love the people in my life.

Goals..honestly I don't have too many of those. For this year, I'd simply like to be able to look back and say that I did a good job (with my standards). In the past, I've been an extreme procrastinator, but I'm determined to change that. The last goal I have is to simply branch out. I tend to be shyer when it comes to reaching out and putting myself out there, but I'd  really like for that to change. I plan to participate in more extra curriculars this year and reach out to different people I haven't in the past, which is hopefully a good start. So as far as goals are concerned, I hope to just become a better, more educated person as the year goes by.

As for what geeks me out, it's the small things:

Searching for those picture perfect moments. Listening to old veterans tell their war experiences. Watching little kids run around. Taking photographs, knowing years from now I can look back and see the memories. There are so many minuscule things people pass by every day and take for granted that I strive for in every moment possible. I love when people see what makes me happy and ask "why?" because the pleasure I get from those little moments other people can't catch is what makes it worth absorbing.

Because music is one of the most important aspects, my favorite website is simply www.youtube.com because I spend a lot of my time looking up music and watching music videos of my favorite songs.

And my picture is simply this:

Because not only was this picture from one of the most amazing trips of my life, but it also represents that I enjoy being behind the lens rather than in front of it.

Swanson

My name is Benjamin Andrew Schoenberg Swanson. Swanson is my last name (and I am happy to be called by it) and Andrew and Schoenberg are both middle names, although my permit, social security card, and birth certificate all have that wrong (my passport is correct).

Academically, I would like to expand my knowledge and do well on AP tests in the subjects for which those apply this year. I am also committed to maintaining a satisfactory GPA. As far as extracurriculars, I would like to improve and expand Young Dems and Y-Club while debating on a national level (fun fact-- the world's premier debate tournament takes place in Lexington, KY).

The best part of my summer was, hands down, the month I spent in Denali National Park, AK. I was building trails for the Park Service through the Student Conservation Association. A couple especially cool moments: smashing rock with a doublejack (sledgehammer), seeing my first wild wolf, and watching a male caribou with bot flies (insects that lay eggs in the noses of large mammals, causing intense discomfort) freak out.

My favorite kinds of art are sculpture and graffiti. I am irked by eurocentrism and neoimperialism. I am suspicious of neoliberalism and neoconservativism. I read lots and lots of news, but watch almost none. I really like dogs, partly because they don’t talk. I love being outside, especially kayaking and backpacking/hiking/camping. I went mountain biking for the first time this summer. I like climbing trees. I like trees in general. I prefer deciduous trees. I like tying knots and poking fun at boy scouts (for example, the knots they learn are limited and not particularly useful).

Geography and world affairs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, geek me out. I follow them semi-obsessively and would really rather talk about African news than any other kind. To that end, two of my favorite websites are Al Jazeera and All Africa.

Here is a picture of me swinging a Pulaski with my crew (DENA 1). I still have the hard hat.

Evan Caldwell

Hello! My name is Evan Caldwell. I was born and raised in Lexington, so I've lived here for 17 years in November. Some basic stuff you should know about me would be that I run Cross Country for Henry Clay, I attend Crossroads Christian Church and consider my faith in the upmost importance. My academic goal for the year is simply to feel like I've grown intellectually, and passing all my AP exams would be fine too.

As for what I "geek out" on, music and technology, primarily everything Apple, are two obsessions if I have any. My dream job would be to work for Apple HQ in Cupertino, CA. But I spend about a fourth of my day either listening or investing some sort of time into the music I listen to. As some of you know, my music taste isnt shared by too many. Many don't even consider it music. I listen to anything from punk rock to hardcore "screamo" as it is most commonly called. I call it all rock. Right now im really diggin' the bands Pierce The Veil and A Day To Remember. I also have a large collection of Vans shoes, as seen in the picture, and consider myself a fanboy. I now have owned 11 pairs.

My favorite website would have to be http://www.stheartclothing.com/shop/ because I really love their clothes and designs. Check it!

me, myself, and i

my name is matthew logsdon.  i'm 42 years old and will soon be 43 - you never think you're gonna get old and then all of a sudden, you're there.  i'm a total movie nerd and my daily web browse goes to www.aintitcool.com   and then i go to www.likecool.com and -- well, it's like, cool.  i'm not sure i have any personal academic goals, but i want to have all 75 academy students pass the ap test and I'd love to push 50% of ya'll to have a 5 or better.  I also want to have an amazingly successful year with my freshmen and TV class, but that's a bit more difficult to measure.

on a personal note, i am married (11 years in november - ya for me) with two amazing daughters (6 & 9) and really honestly truly love what i do for a living.

if i could have any superpower it'd have to be . . . i'm not sure i can pick just one.  perhaps it's gonna have to be super smarts so that i can invent a mechanical means for all the other powers - i'm thinkin' Batman.

Anyway - that's me in a teeny-tiny nutshell

here's to an amazing year
m

ps.  www.collider.com is really awesome too, but i don't like the layout   

Assignment 1: Howdy

For your first post, introduce yourself!

Share your name, but also a little bit about who you are. Some ideas to consider are:
What are your personal and academic goals for this school year?
What was the most meaningful moment of your summer vacation?
What superpower would you have if you could pick anything?
And so on and so forth.

I want to know what Geeks you out.
To receive full credit, you must insert a picture or video AND a hyperlink to your favorite (appropriate) website.

This must be completed by midnight on Sunday, September 2nd.  I know it's Labor Day weekend, so I'd advise getting it done, before the weekend starts.
150 word minimum and posted on time.