The First Frappuccino of the Year

Today is possibly the most auspicious day of 2011, because today was the day I got my first frappuccino of the year. This is a very important milestone, because it means that the weather has at last gotten warm enough that I can get an iced drink at Starbucks instead of a hot drink. Up until now, every Starbucks drink I have purchased in the year 2011 has been a hot cafe mocha. Today I got a mocha frappuccino. 

Really, the only difference is the ice, (being in my drink rather than on the ground) but the symbolic difference is really part of what makes this time of year amazing. It's WARM outside. I can look out the window and see blue sky. People around here say that they would like to live and Florida where it's blue sky nearly all the time, but I think people in Florida don't appreciate it as much. When the sun comes out after winter here, everybody rejoices. Because the cold of the winter is bearable, but the fact that the sky is gray for the whole entire season really gets me down. And now SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!!

I also went to Bruegger's today, but we get the same bagels every week no matter what season it is. 

This weekend is a Harry Potter weekend on ABC family, so that's why I'm in such a good mood. There was an extra-special preview for Deathly Hallows part 2 yesterday AHHH I'M SO PUMPED! I'm actually counting down the days until I get my braces off, but once that's done I'll start counting down until Harry Potter. 

I'm wearing a Ravenclaw shirt today. XD

One more week until spring break!!!! By the way, I probably won't be able to post next Saturday because I'll be at an Episcopal thing called Happening (it's a really exciting one-in-a-lifetime thing) where I will sadly not have access to the internet. I might think to write something up earlier in the week and set it to post automatically on Saturday, but knowing me I'll probably forget, so just letting you know. I'll be busy doing Jesus-y stuff. Hooray!!

I don't really have anything else to say, and I have a ton of stuff to do, so farewell!!! :)

Virgil

Adventures in the Post Office: A True Story

It is a wonderful December morning. There's a layer of fresh snow carpeting the ground, it's chilly but not too cold, and I am clutching my delicious peppermint mocha from Starbucks, breathing in the rich, sweet fumes. It's a great day to go to the post office.

My dad and I arrive at the parking lot; he carries the package, I carry my mocha. We are going to mail my sister's birthday presents today, and they're all wrapped up and neatly packed in one of those "it fits, it ships" boxes. We go inside and patiently wait in line. There's a short line for the window, but of course it's moving slowly, so we wait and talk.

A woman with a baby and two small children is in front of us in line. The children are very well behaved, and they munch happily on the pretzels that their mother has given them. The little girl and I make faces at each other. She giggles. The cute little baby in the mother's arms is sleeping quietly. It's just a normal day at the post office.

There's another line which feeds to the same windows but is meant for special services. A woman with a huge shopping cart overflowing with identical brown paper packages gets in this line. Everyone stares. There are so many packages. It's like that scene in the new version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when all of the Whos are doing their Christmas shopping, and they all have piles upon piles of presents. This woman's packages are wrapped in plain brown paper, but she does resemble a Who. Her nose is red and upturned, but her face looks more like Professor Trelawny's. Everyone silently prays that they will get to the front before this Who-lady does, but no such luck for us. The man in front of her finishes his business, and she goes up to the window with her shopping cart full of what must be at least sixty packages. The post office worker's eyes widen, but she begins the tasks of preparing all of the packages for shipping. The Who-lady unloads her packages and stamps them one by one. 

My dad and I exchange glances. 

"It's like some sort of comedy," he comments.

"Or a reality show," I suggest. 

Other people contribute similar remarks, but the Who-lady does not hear us. She stamps a few more packages, and then says to the post office worker:

"I'll be right back. I have to get the rest out of my car."

The post office worker's jaw drops. "Are you serious?" she says with an air of attitude, like somebody who has just been told that they have been sentenced to five years of counting grains of sand as a punishment for something they must have done in a previous life. 

The Who-lady doesn't seem to be in any mood to mess around. "Oh, I am very serious." 

She leaves with the shopping cart, while my dad, the other patrons and I all begin theorizing about where the hidden cameras might be placed, and whether we'll see ourselves on YouTube later as a comedic skit about how real-life people in a post office might react to a film-like situation. We wait for her to come back. 

When the Who-lady returns, the cart is even more full than before, with piles of identical packages towering about twice the height of the edge. She does not say anything, or even acknowledge the fact that everyone is staring at her. She just begins stamping every package and setting them on the counter, one by one. We can tell that the post office worker is not very pleased, but at the same time, she is trying not to laugh. 

Eventually, another window opens and our line once again begins to move. My dad and I mail the birthday package, and we exit the scene, leaving behind about fifteen bewildered people and one determined Who-lady.

The End. 


So yeah, that was my adventure today. I thought I would share it with you because it seemed really funny at the time, but now that I read over it, it seems kind of mundane. Oh well - I hope you enjoyed the two minutes of your life that I just wasted.

Happy Advent!

Peace,
Virgil   

Why October is Obviously the Best Month of the Year

Hello, all!!

La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! La la la la, la la la la, Virgil's world! Virgil loves October and mochae too! That's Virgil's worrrrrrrllllld!!!

I'm a little bit on the hyper side right now because I just had a grande mocha from Starbucks and I don't usually get grandes because they're ginormous. (Firefox accepts ginormous as a word!) Today, however, I was in desperate need of caffeine after a long rehearsal so I deviated from my usually order of merely a tall (which, for you non-Starbucks-goers, is a small) and got a grande. I love mochas. Or is it mochae? Is mocha a first declension noun? Mocha, mochae (f): yum.

Today is Saturday, September 25th, which means that a certain someone's birthday is coming up! It also means that the most awesome time of the year is once again nearly upon us: October. 

I've spent my whole entire life trying to decide which time of the year is the best. The Christmas season is, of course, high up on the list, but where the 6LCF live it gets unreasonably cold in December. November could be argued as the best month since it is National Novel Writing Month, but the stress and lack of sleep partially cancel out the awesomeness. Summer is awesome since there's 1) no school and 2) my birthday, but summer also involves putting on sunscreen, which is one of my least favorite activities. It also involves sweating a lot, which I also do not enjoy. (I used the word "also" too many times in the last couple of sentences. I apologize.) There's really no argument for February or March or April.  Sorry, guys.

October is very clearly the best month of the year, and I am going to tell you why. 

This is going to be in list form, because I had enough of writing persuasive essays in English class last year.

The reasons are in no particular order.

1.) Hoodie weather!

In October, the temperature gets just cold enough for one to wear a hoodie all day, but not so cold that one has to wear an unflattering marshmallow jacket. Hoodies are the best type of clothing to hug people in. 

2.) Pretty leaves!

The leaves go all pretty in October - not like in November, when they start to get all brown and gross. The best kind of leaves are October leaves.

3.) Apple cider!

People drink apple cider in October. I love apple cider.

4.) Halloween! 

     a. Pumpkin carving!!!

     b. Haunted houses

     c. Hay rides

     d. Dressing up

     e. Trick-or-Treating

     f. Candy!

     g. Making decorations

5.) Outlining!

In October, you can enjoy the awesomeness that is NaNoWriMo without the actual stress of knowing that you have to complete your 1,667 words per day. You can outline, world-build, character-build, and all that good stuff. 

6.) Routine

When October comes around, the year has at last fallen into a normal-ish routine. After October, one starts to get really sick of this routine, but it's awesome for the time being. 

7.) Clubs

Extra-curricular activities at school take all of September to get going, and then in October, everything is finally organized. Science Olympiad events will be assigned. Latin Club will be able to start thinking about things that are more important than the Homecoming Parade.

8.) The tennis season ends!!!

This one is fairly self-explanatory. I will finally have a life, and I will no longer have to physically exert myself.

9.) Hot drinks! (Apple cider sort of falls under this category)

October is the month in which one transitions from frappuccinos (cold drinks) to cappuccinos (hot drinks). This is really, really exciting.

10.) Harry Potter movie marathons on ABC Family

Of course I own all the films anyways, but abc shows them with the deleted scenes! OMZ!!!

Those are just a few of the many reasons why October is the best month of the year. I would open the comments to discussion, but is discussion really necessary when it's just so plain that October is the best? No, I didn't think so.

In the comments, add one more reason why October is amazing that I haven't listed already. 

DFTBA,

PDBAZ,

Peace, Love, and Otters,

Virgil

P.S. I forgot one! October is when there's a family weekend at my sister's university! I get to see her for the first time in almost two months! Yayyyy!!!