Last year I threw a Halloween party at nearly the last minute, but things came together fairly well...and luckily the 99 Cent Store had some awesome decorations, which really helped with the budget.

This year I'm planing on having a New Year's Eve party because I'm always stuck at home doing nothing on that night. It won't be too fancy, but I figured the guests could get a little dressed up...like party dress, slacks and a tie. Not too stuffy, but it's a reason to get a little gussied up. I tried finding some sites with ideas, but there's not a whole lot and the majority were for kids. Ehow.com had some good articles, but that was about the best that I found.

So, I'm thinking I'll have a few games to play. One is an ice breaker game: everyone will write down their New Year's resolution on a slip of paper and put it in a bucket. Then we go around the room and have everyone draw a slip at random and they have to guess who the New Year's resolution belongs to.

There's also a game that I have to kind of prepare for. Take 20 events or so that happened through out the year, type them out and make copies for teams of guests. They have to guess what month the event took place. The person or team who gets the most correct will win something...I'm thinking of handing out gift cards for this.

Any other game suggestions you guys have? Pictionary is always popular. I might do that too...

As far as decorations...I'm thinking of getting a lot of balloons and letting them float on the ceiling with ribbon hanging down from them. I read that you can fill them with confetti and have everyone pop them at midnight for a sparkly explosion. :oD I'm guessing our Christmas decorations will still be up, so I don't really know what to do to make it more festive for the "new year" party. I also don't really know what colors to go with, since Christmas stuff will still be out. Do I stick with the red and green?

Any ideas are welcomed and appreciated!

I'm having problems with computers at the moment and can't get on to do a whole lot...this goes for Zombiphill too.

When things get back in order, I'll be back on here. I miss you guys!

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Hey! Here's an idea! Since you're here, post an opinion to the following topics so I can get an idea as to where everyone stands without having to go through weeks of polls:

1: Bernie Mac's death
2: Micheal Phelps and Olympic history (which I've been watching non-stop since I haven't been able to get online)
3: Issac Hayes' death
4: Evangelical interviews for McCain and Obama
5-8: Whatever topics you feel like discussing...

I went shootin' yesterday! :oD I asked my Dad to take me to the firing range to shoot the gun that he has. I told him if I ever needed to use it, I wanted to know what to expect. So, he grabbed his .357 Magnum revolver and away we went!

I was pretty nervous because I've never handled a gun before. The indoor range was pretty loud, but there was only one other guy there so it wasn't as bad as it could've been. My overall biggest fear was that I would drop the gun, but thankfully that didn't happen.

My Dad shot first and was trying to explain a lot of things to me, but it was pretty difficult considering we were both wearing ear muffs. I did my best to learn visually and picked up a few things he was telling me.

Finally it was my turn, and I got kinda shaky. I wasn't freaking out, I was just sort of nervous loading the bullets. After the first shot, I laughed a bit in relief. I was incredibly proud for not dropping that damn thing, haha. It didn't scare me as much as I thought it would. I managed to hit the body on the target every time, so I was pretty happy about that.

Except when I tried to make a head shot...out of 5 bullets, only 1 hit him in the head. My Dad said that he did need to adjust the aim, so maybe I'll do better next time. ;o) I had a lot of fun actually, and I'm glad I went. I'm not so scared to use it if I have to now, so I feel a lot more safe and secure knowing that I can protect myself if I ever need to.

Last night I went down to the gas station around the corner with my brother to grab some munchies. I was crusing the candy aisle when this man walked in with a motorcycle helmet. He slammed some change down on the counter and said "TWENTY SIX CENTS ON NUMBER FIVE!!!"

I was very startled because he was yelling, but then I started laughing. It was the funniest thing I've heard in a while. The man behind the counter was so confused. I heard him count the change to double check that it was all there. He even asked the man with the helmet, "Are you sure only twenty six cents?" The guy said "YES! I HAVE A SCOOTER OUTSIDE!"

I hope that .06 gallons he bought filled up his scooter tank...

I had to take a break for a few days, mainly to keep my sanity. I'm getting too involved in this place, it actually affects my mood and attitude in real life. I think a big part of my problem has been those religious polls, so I might try to avoid those for a while and stick to light hearted topics...at least until I can develop a healthy balance of internet and reality.

It's rather hard because I like to talk about religion and politics, but some of the hate emails and responses I've gotten make me want to leave Sodahead and never come back. It's just my personal opinion, yet I still get attacked for having one. At first I really enjoyed this place because it allowed me to express myself, but now it's just about insults and downraves. And when it starts to affect you in real life, you know it's a problem. Some would say to stick with groups if you don't want to deal with contrary opinions...but that's not why I come here. I like to hear the other side of things, I like to debate; what I don't like is the pure hatred behind some of the comments.

Argh, so that's that. I'll try to keep things light for a while and see how that goes...

Yet another fire has started on Mount Baldy, in the Angeles National Forest directly behind my house. Normally this wouldn't be out of the ordinary because we're quite susceptible to brush fires around these parts...but it just so happens that the neighborhood I live in has a huge water reservoir a few blocks down. Helicopters have been flying nonstop directly over our house all day today to scoop the water to take it to the fire.

Since the fire is 0% contained, they will continue to circle around my house though-out the night and probably until tomorrow. There are no properties up there in direct danger, but it is rather windy, so that's not helping matters much. The terrain is too rugged for the firefighters to do anything, so the helicopters are the only hope at the moment. I just wish that I didn't live underneath their flight path...

So my brother Nick pre-ordered a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4 for his Xbox 360. If you're not familiar with the series, you pretty much just run around and carjack people while performing tasks for the mob, gangsters and such. He just HAD to have it tonight, so we went and stood in line for about an hour outside of a Game Stop.

It was pretty lame at first, seeing as lines are rarely fun...but the manager came out of the store and offered raffle tickets for GTA trivia questions. My brother knew most of the answers, but refused to speak up. I (yes "I" as in "me") ACTUALLY got one correct! She asked who was the star's voice in Vice City...which was Ray Liotta. I shouted it out without even thinking, and I was right! So I got myself a raffle ticket for the drawing thanks to my random trivia knowledge.

She came back around again and started drawing for the prizes. One was a $35 gift certificate, a GTA pin and other little trinkets for the gamers. Of course I didn't win anything, so she ran back inside and brought out these Super Mario Galaxy Christmas ornaments left over from last year to hand out as prizes.

If you're a Playstation or Xbox gamer, I can probably hear you laughing right now...but I happen to love the Wii, and I love Mario. I knew this prize wouldn't go over well with the crowd. Some punk kid behind me won and threw it down on the ground and proceeded to smash it. I asked him if I could have it before he did that, but he ignored me.

So anyways, I got pretty bummed because I actually wanted one and here were all these jerks demolishing the ornaments around me. She finally called the last ticket for the raffle and it was mine! I got really happy, seeing as I actually got something for my time there.

We all dashed home and my brother threw in the game...I will admit the graphics are pretty awesome. Geeze, even the detail on the damn asphalt of the street is exceptional. So far there's been a lot of cussing, which I guess proves beyond a doubt that this is for adults...because it seems no one can carry on a conversation without dropping the f bomb or saying "tits". To be honest, I was more concerned about seeing what songs were on the radio stations, that's the best part for me. :o)

I used to write --or type I should say-- tons of blogs on my myspace page, but I was really pissed when I found out that they would only let you post so many before they pushed the old entries out of the way to make room for new ones. I have experiences and lame stories that I would like to read again, but I can't because they're gone.

They're not really achieved, they're in a sort of "blogging limbo." I can get to them if I delete my newer entries, but I really don't want to do that. I'm going to make an effort to start posting blogs here because they're saved by the months and I'll be able to get to my entries.

So...yay! And wouldn't you know it, I have nothing to talk about at the moment...

What would you do to help save our constitutional republic? Would you forward an E-mail to 10 friends? Would you post it on your blog (if you have one)? I hope so.

The American Freedom Campaign has set a goal for itself. We want to expand our base of online supporters from 38,000 to 50,000 people over the course of the next month. With this 30+ percent increase, we will enhance our ability to influence Congress when important bills are under consideration. We will also be able to activate a larger number of Americans during the upcoming general election season when the issue of excessive presidential power should be at the top of the national agenda.

Why should your friends join the American Freedom Campaign - either by signing our petition or by signing up for AFC updates on our home page? That's a good question. This is why (and this, of course, is what they will read when you forward this E-mail along):

o The American Freedom Campaign was launched less than eight months ago to build a grassroots movement to help restore the Constitution and reverse the violations of civil liberties and human rights that have occurred over the past seven years.

o Over the past few months, the American Freedom Campaign has filled an important role in Washington by leading the fight to restore our system of checks and balances. While there are many organizations fighting specific policies considered unconstitutional, few, if any, are focused almost exclusively on restraining executive overreach.

o Consistent with its mission to restore checks and balances, AFC aggressively - and successfully - pushed the U.S. House to pass a contempt resolution against Bush administration officials who refused to comply with congressional subpoenas. The Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, in an article about the contempt vote in the House, cited AFC as an example - in fact, the only example - of an advocacy group generating grassroots pressure on House members.

o AFC has also helped inject constitutional balance of powers issues into the debate over the nation's Iraq policy. As the Bush administration negotiates an agreement with the Iraqi government to establish the parameters of the two nations' bilateral relationship beyond 2008, AFC is working with members of Congress to ensure that no significant commitment is made without the approval of Congress. Toward this end, AFC hosted a conference call on which Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), joined by two constitutional scholars from Yale Law School, introduced a resolution expressing the sense of the House that any major agreement reached without congressional approval will be invalid.

o As the 2008 campaign moves forward, AFC will play a critically important educational role. We will aggressively push the message that the Bush administration's dramatic expansion of executive power makes the selection of the next president one of the most important decisions the citizens of this nation will ever make.
But if we are going to succeed moving forward, it will only be with your help. So, please, take a minute and forward this email to anyone you think would be interested in our mission. We hope they will then either sign our petition or sign up for AFC updates on our home page:

http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org/

If you are not able to forward this email along, we hope that you will consider making a financial contribution to the American Freedom Campaign. If every person on this list gives just $10, we will be able to dramatically expand our public education efforts. To visit our donation page, just click on this link:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/2629/shop/custom...

Best,
Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign and the
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund