Shoulda Knocked on Wood...

so, y'all are so gonna think im some crazy, schizophrenic, bi-polar freak...but since my last post (you know, the one where i was more bored than a corpse at applebees?), i have become the busiest man alive...i musta forgot how hectic the life of a teacher can be...suddenly, i have no time to sit and breathe...yeah, thats an exaggeration...but im demandingly engaged in teaching (obviously), soccer coaching, speech festival, and one extra class (yup, im unexpectedly teaching a creative writing course during my prep period...no time to relax during the day for mr. neman)...for the speech festival im the director of a humorous play...so my lunches are spent on that...and then im coaching soccer and dealing with all the duties of that job (including getting uniforms made, etc.)...im doin that for two and half hours everyday after school...by the way, the first girls game is tomorrow...wish us luck...and then i have teaching, with all the lovely lesson planning that goes with it...oh, and correcting, too...the greatest thing since ground beef...i guess what im trying to say is, my bad...maybe im not as bored as i described in that previous post...though, my life here is like a roller coaster...so, who knows...maybe ill be bored as all get out by tomorrow...bare with me and thanks for listening to my totally random, outlandish psycho talk...

the pic above was taken right outside our house...you can see the roof of the convenience store thats next door to us...i ran outta pics, so thats the best i could do tonight...

for the most part this post is just gonna be one of my weekly lists...i promise that ill write something profound and intelligent about the island in my next post...pinky swear...

once again, an image of right outside our house...down the road in fact...at dusk..."pink, pink, pink, pink...pink moon"...ten points to the person who can guess the song...

k, this week's My Five list deals with nintendo video games...i decided to focus on nintendo because that was, for the most part, the console i played when i was a kid...notice that theres no mario brothers...i figured thats pretty apparent to most people to be the best nintendo game of all time (maybe even the best game ever!?)...i probably played that classic game for more hours than hours ive slept in my lifetime...(though i could probably ask which is the best mario brothers?...my opinion is number three!)...anyways, i had to disqualify that one...but here's the rest...oh, and let me just tell you this was a difficult, nearly impossible list to create...just look at this list of killer games to choose from...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NES_games

MY FIVE Best Nintendo Video Games of All Time:

5. Marble Madness = a tense, sometimes stressful, game of finger dexterity and hand-eye coordination...its also hella addictive..."woah! watch out for that edge!"...who knew playing with marbles could be so damn fun?... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Madness

4. Duck Hunt = couldnt leave this one off the list...a legendary shoot'em up game..."ha! look! i just murdered that duck! yay!"...its raining dead ducks...pure happiness... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Hunt

3. Excitebike = the game where YOU get to create and build your very own motorcross track...bumps, hills, jumps, oh, my!...we played this till our thumbs bled... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitebike

2. Mega Man = i put this game on the list only because there were so many sequels...and each and every one was a blast to play...like super mario brothers, its an adventerous, fantasy game that you could always depend on to be as cool as hell...oh, and remember all those bad ass bad guys at the end of each level?...there was metal man, air man, bubble man, wood man, gravity man, crystal man, and even nepalm man...its mega, man!... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_(NES)

1. Contra = an ultra violent, action-packed, war game with awesome machine guns, righteous fireball launchers, and sweet laser weapons...and remember those cool bosses at the end of each level?...like the machine in the first level?...now everyone can be rambo!...sweet!...id love to be playing this tremendously timeless masterpiece right at this moment...two words...sickest game EVER... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_(arcade_game)

heres a photo of the korean convenience store next to our house...i could bore you guys with a million stories of the ghetto hoodlums and scary samoan drunks that hang out outside this lovely establishment...but i dont wanna give y'all nightmares...

those were two pics of the road in front of our crib...ones of one way, and the others of the other way...did i just write that?...

k...ill try to write my top five obsessions for the week tomorrow...and this weekend ill actually try to teach you something about the island...i apologize...thanks to campbell taylor for your wonderful support...ill try to give you better insight into the island next time...im a little worn out tonight...as far as the book?...i dont know if ill ever write about the island...(i think id have too much to say!)...but im hoping to write a book someday...

bye, everybody...love ya and miss ya,

-JOE

p.s. the following quote is from jon krakauer's "into thin air"...ya know, that book about the tragic, ill-fated mountain climbing expedition?...its a good'ol survival tale...and y'all know how much i love survivor stories...anyways, the quote is given when he's near the top of everest...and it reminded me of how i feel sometimes while im on this island...

"There was loneliness, too, as the sun set, but only rarely now did doubts return. Then I felt sinkingly as if my whole life lay behind me. Once on the mountain I knew (or trusted) that this would give way to total absorption with the task at hand. But at times I wondered if I had not come a long way only to find that what I really sought was something I had left behind."

-Jon Krakauer "Into Thin Air"