Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sledding

We haven't gone sledding as a family in a while, but it was fun when we did. With variety of sleds including 'snowboards', we tried all sorts of things. Going down a park hill is hard when you're standing on your sled. Another fun twist was purposely falling off. When you're going fast and fall off, rolling and tumbling down, it makes things much more fun.

After sledding for a long time, we'd drink hot cocoa there, then come home and relax. The perfect ending to a fun day.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Glasses

Looking back, it's weird remembering what it was like without glasses. I had no concept of blurry/clear, to me the world was blurry and that was normal. Then on one trip we visited this big church that had something written in big gold letters. My mom noticed me squinting, trying to read it. After that trip, I visited the eye doctor. I turned out to have bad eyesight, which fyi has been slowly deteriorating since. I've never taken the ability to see clearly for granted since. I might as well be legally blind without my glasses or contacts, everything is so blurry. Well... That's an exaggeration but it does seriously limit me.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

New schedule

I apologize, I haven't had a chance to post for awhile. Life has been hectic, which is busier than just really busy. Anywho, I will only try posting once per week now, starting next week. Expect the posts to come Monday nights anywhere from 6:30 to 11:00 PM, EST.
And because I need to get it out on paper, here's what my schedule has been like with more than just times I leave the house included.

Weekly:
Mon-Piano
Tue-Science, creative writing, public speaking classes, debate
Wed-Babysitting in morning and at night
Thu-spanish
Fri-church
Sat-CAP
Sun-church

Daily:
Chores
Babysitting
Taking care of siblings
Homework from classes/CAP
Regular school besides homework
Misc. other stuff

Special:
Debate tournament starting this Friday, I had to get alot done to be ready for it.
CAP always has more than just Saturday meetings.

I'm probably forgetting something, oh well. It's out there now to an extent at least and I feel better.

Nate

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

My first nightmare

I suppose technically it probably wasn't my first nightmare, but it's the first I remember. In fact, it's the first dream I remember period.

The dream started all yellow. There was a ferris wheel, I was riding on it. My dream view was out of body, so I was watching myself ride it. Then two cartoonized dragons swooped into view. One was red, the other blue. They circled the ferris wheel, acting friendly enough. But then the wheel stopped, with my seat at the very top. Then the dragons started breathing fire, and set the ferris wheel on fire. I was watching the flames slowly reach me, even though I wasn't in my body so to speak. The ferris wheel started to crumble and fall, when I woke up crying. My dad came to get me, and I slept with him for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Cape Cod trip

We took a trip to Cape Cod way back, I was in the stroller for some of it, so that gives you an idea how long ago it was. I was probably 3-4 years old. I don't remember much from the trip, except that there was this ferris wheel, probably in a festival of some sort. My dad asked if we (me and Anne) wanted to ride on it. I absolutely didn't want to, because it was so tall, so we didn't. It was dark and we went to the small cabin we rented. There our parents gave each of us a little toy (James was born and got something). Mine was a plastic dome with little balls in it. Facing inward were four hippos, with little buttons on their backs. When you pressed the button, the hippo's neck would extend and it would chomp down on anything in front of it. The goal was to get as many of the balls as possible. We had loads of fun playing it. Then we went to bed. That night I had my first nightmare, which I'll write about tomorrow.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Tunnel that leads anywhere

Me, James, and John used to share the biggest room in the house, which is up against the bathroom. There's a removable panel on the bedroom wall, to get to various pipes for the tub. We always thought it was more than that though. So I convinced James that it was a tunnel leading everywhere in the world. But not only that, it also had a fountain with any drink you could want just inside it. He bought it, and that's how we left things for quite awhile. As you can see we had active imaginations.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Lost in Canada

We went to a hotel in Canada during Valentines day for a vacation. That's all I remember about the trip, except that we went to a huge arcade. We were having a ton of fun, but then I got lost. I stopped to look at a game, and when I turned back around my family had disappeared. I had enough sense to find a worker and tell her I was lost. She asked what my parents looked like, and I described my mom, though not very well. I got as far as the color of her shirt (green) and the color of her hair (black). It felt like forever even though I'm told it was only a few minutes, and I was scared the whole time. But finally we were reunited and enjoyed the rest of the day. But ever since then, and even at 15 I'm still struggling to shake off, I've been scared stiff of getting lost. In stores my mom will ask us kids to run off and get things. I do it, but my legs are jelly the whole time and thoughts of being lost forever run amuck in my mind. Like I said, recently i've been getting better but it definitely was a major life changing event.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Breaking my arm

Ok here's a big one. Me breaking my arm is actually pretty boring. I slept in a bunk on the bottom bed, which was high off the ground for a bed. I rolled over for whatever reason, and fell off. I landed on top of my right arm, which broke. I didn't cry, it didn't hurt much. But when my dad came to check on me, I couldn't move my arm. It was late so I just slept on the couch with my dad.

At the hospital I only remember one thing. I had to lay on a conveyor belt thing with my arm positioned just so. Then the belt brought me through something, out the other end.

While I had my cast life was frustrating. I'm right handed, but due to the nature of my break/cast I couldn't use my right hand. Have you tried eating sphagetti with your non-dominant hand? It's tough. But eventually the cast came off, and life went back to 'normal'.

My left and right

It's kinda funny how before you know left and right, everything feels normal. Yet, after you know it's hard to believe you could live without such knowledge. It took me awhile to catch on, but then one day at six flags I found out how to go about learning it. I had a wart on a finger on my right hand. So I asked my mom which was which, and from then on I never had any trouble.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Family demographic

Not sure demographic is the correct word... oh well. Life has been hecticly awesome except for the getting sick part. But unfortunately in all the bustle I haven't been able to post in a while. But I'll make it up with a handfull right now.

In a big family I suppose it's natural for kids to group up, by age or interest. Since most of us are two years apart agewise you'd think it wouldn't work quite right, but it did.

At first it was just me and Anne, and we did pretty well together. Then James came along. Me and Anne have always been pretty close, but Me and James probably have the strongest connection. Now here's the slightly interesting part. As far as age goes, me and James are actually the closest at one and a half years, and James and John are the furthest apart at two and a half years. That's always been the dividing line, reinforced by the fact that for ages James was completely disgusted by John for no particular reason.

Then Maddie and Peter came, making the groups equal. We referred to the younger three as the littles or the babies, and still do out of habit even though there's now two more babies in the house. The rift between the two halves is closer now than it used to be, but there's still a very distinct line there. And with Peter and Chris being five years apart, that means Chris and Luke will likely be their own pair. I'm excited for that, I'm praying I'll be able to see the relationship me and James have in them.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Cleaning our room

Me and James have always shared a room, (we all double and now triple up) and cleaning it was always a couple day job. We couldn't be bothered to keep it clean, nor get it clean quickly when told to. So our parents would say no eating until it's done. Which, like other punishments, encouraged us to steal some food. So we'd grab handfuls of chex cereal and store in in a small plastic case that was meant for plastic knights. We weren't even starving, it was just a snack to 'tide us over'.

Another thing we'd do is make cleaning our room a game. The goal was to not touch the floor, which of course got more interesting the further along we got. It took us forever, but cleaning our room was always loads of fun in the end.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Head stuck in railings

Our stairway to upstairs have railings, which are just posts with a banister. The gaps between posts are just wide enough that me and James were able to get our heads through. We did it quite a few times, even though we knew we would get stuck and need help getting out.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

My friend's dad died

Just so you know, this isn't a memory, it happened yesterday. Currently I'm in bed, it's 12:42 AM on a school night. I can't get to sleep because my good online friend's dad died yesterday. Normally this stuff doesn't affect me, but this time is different. He had mentioned a few weeks ago that his dad was sick, and being Catholic I promised I'd pray for him. Then I forgot all about it until today. So even though it's unlikely, I feel like this is my fault.
..............

Baby brother!!!

My baby brother was born yesterday at around 8:15 PM at Crittenton(sp?) hospital.
His name is Luke Anthony Weil, He weighs 9 pounds, and is 23 inches long like I was. I saw him for the first time a couple hours ago and he's adorable. I'll probably start blogging again Monday, possibly sooner.
Nate

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A little information

Hola senores y senoras. Probably didn't do that right, oh well (:

First, I'm giving you a heads up and announcement. My baby brother is due tomorrow. So get excited for me, and don't be surprised if I don't post for awhile.

Second, I'd like to jump in and say the next load of memories PROBABLY aren't very accurate timewise. To me they're in a hazy period after we moved but before/around age six. I do sort of have an idea in what order though. Either way, you can still enjoy them even though posting them in the wrong order will likely drive me crazy. (I have something close to but not as bad as OCD, read on I'll get to it eventually.)

Oh yeah, one more thing. I have so many memorable things that have happened recently or are coming up. In my intro post I reserved the right to throw these in if I couldn't help it, and I'm thinking I won't hold out for long. We'll see what happens as they come up, though.
Cheers, Nate

Monday, January 19, 2009

Five posts a week

I have a busy life, so for whoever may actually read this, my promise• is five posts a week. This gives me some leniency but maintains a nice schedule.

•By 'promise' I mean I'll try my best, but it may not always happen. I will post before trips where I won't be able to blog for awhile.
Cheers, Nate

Five posts a week

I have a busy life, so for whoever may actually read this, my promise• is five posts a week. This gives me some leniency but maintains a nice schedule. •By 'promise' I mean I'll try my best, but it may not always happen. I will post before trips where I won't be able to blog for awhile. Cheers, Nate

Saturday, January 17, 2009

After we moved... 1995-96?

We moved into our current house in 1995. One of my earliest memories is of me and Anne putting on 'acrobatic shows' for our parents. This involved a lot of running in circles, 'cartwheels', and partially completed somersaults, and heavy use of a fake plastic microphone to accompany it all. This was just the start though. As years passed we put on loads of shows, some that turned out pretty well after taped and edited. When I get there, I may upload the files.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Doorway swing, 1995

While at Saint Claire shores, we had one of those baby swings that clamp to the top of the doorframe. It was probably the worst baby swing design ever, as that doorway was then pretty much useless for adults. Me and my siblings however had alot of fun with it. Me and Anne would run by while James was in it, spinning him around. It kept all three of us amused for quite awhile. We would have kept it when we moved but our current house doesn't have a convenient spot for it.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

My bedroom, Saint Claire Shores

I can still picture my bedroom from way back then. The walls were white, but there was a wallpaper border on the top of the wall, right up against the ceiling. The wallpaper had dinosaurs on it. Standing in the doorway, my bed was in the far right corner. I had a dresser in the close right corner. I can't remember if I had toys in there, or if there was a closet. It's kind of funny, I can picture it surprisingly well but I don't have a single memory of me sleeping in there.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Nighttime walks, 1995

If you read the introduction post, you know that I have quite a few siblings, but back at Saint Claire shores there was just us three oldest, James being the youngest. We used to take walks downtown, James in the stroller. We always walked past a car lot that had lines with colored party flags hanging, tied to light posts and such. The yellow ones reminded me of the hats a handful of characters in a baby video I loved wore, though I cant remember the name of the video now. I probably got my love of the outdoors from back then. I still take nighttime walks with James as often as possible.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Icicle licking-1994

This is probably my earliest memory. It was at our first house in Saint Claire Shores, which we lived at until I was two, so I have a decent idea when. Me and my sister who's two years older were playing outside in the snow with our dad. The house was lined with icicles and Anne wanted one so my dad got broke one off for her and she started licking it. I really can't say why I remember that, but it's there and I cherish it because it's one of only a handful of memories at that house.

Introduction to me

Welcome to my (new as I write this) blog, The Story Of My Life! I will post sporadically with various memories as the mood strikes me. As this is a public blog I'm writing to an audience but for myself. This is my way of saving and cherishing those special moments forever. One more note. I will half heartedly try posting in chronological order, but that isn't likely to work well because sometimes I simply can't remember when something was, or because I just don't necessarily have my memories sorted that way in my head. I'll be writing them as they surface. Oh yeah, another thing. This isn't a diary, but I will throw in recent events as I see fit. Man I'm forgetful. One more thing, I promise. I don't ever swear, but some posts may contain explicit text. Those posts, if they come up, will be marked as such in the title and on top of the body text. Now a little about myself. The rest you'll be able to pick up on gradually as you read my posts, this is just to get you started. I'm 15 as of today, my birthday is September 24, 1993. I am and always have been Catholic. I have 6 siblings, soon to be seven. Two are sisters, the new baby (due in ten days!) is a boy. { As of today... Anne-17 Nate-15 (me) James-13 John-11 Maddie-9 Peter-7 Christopher-2 Luke-ETA 10 days } My three main passions are playing piano, writing, and programming. I'm an Apple fanboy, be forewarned. Finally, I have always lived in Michigan, US. I guess that's enough for now. That's just scratching the surface, but let's not be hasty. Please follow and comment if you enjoy my blog. Thanks for reading, Nate