Surpriseeee :)

Seventeenth birthday was a success!
After the previous post, I went to Ridge Street Coffee, our preferred venue ;), with Shayla and Jenna. It was fairly warm out, so instead of the usual butterscotch chai, I got myself this calypso juice drink, strawberry something or another. It was good, whatever it was, haha. Then we realized we were hungry, so we ran over to Subway for some $3 six inches, haha. I like using that as the alternative to the $5 foot long. It was really nice being able to hang out with them, especially Shayla since there wasn't enough room for her on the boat :(. At this point Amanda and Julie were growing impatient, because they were already at the lake, waiting to go out on the boat. I had no idea they would be waiting on us, so I felt awful :P, and we rushed back to drop Shayla off. We wound up parking a million blocks away from the dock, but after a short hike through the village, we arrived. Mrs.Barosi, her husband, their daughter Kara, and Amanda and Julie of course, were all there. I wasn't expected their whole family, so I apoligized profusely for making them wait on me D:. None of them seemed too bothered, they were all smiles and such when we got there :), so I felt loads better.
Storm clouds were looming overhead, so we decided to take a walk around the village until they passed, before we would go on the boat. We looked in some neat little shops, talked amongst ourselves, and everyone besides Jenna and me bought lunch. Thankfully by that point the sky was much clearer, and we were able to make our way back for our boat ride :).





Hah, not the most flattering shots, excuse the double chinnage on my part in the last one :P, but the main point it, we had a good time. Just zipping over the waves was cool enough for me, because I never go out on the water. But Julie and Jenna took it a step forward and actually got in the water :P. First Julie tried tubing, because Kara did it, and it seemed fun enough. But when it was Julie's turn, after like a minute or so, her foot broke through the cover or something, and flipped her right out of it! Apparently there had been a tiny hole, but it got opened up, and the entire tube popped. So that exposition was cut short, hahah. She wasn't hurt or anything, thankfully. It scared us something awful though, :P. THENNNN they broke out the waterskiis. And of course Julie hopped right back out there, hahah. That girl has some guts. The skiis were alot trickier though, she said. After many attempts, and one short-lived success, she let Jenna give it a try, and she didn't have much luck either. I was contemplating on it, but I was kinda cold, and plus I didn't want to keep us out too long, because I knew they wanted to head back in not toooo long. It was definitely alot of fun though :):). Barosi said we're welcome to come out on it again during the summer, hopefully on a day that's sunnier.

On the way home we made a couple of stops that confused me. First sitting outside of Amanda's house for like 2o minutes, haha. I didn't understand why we were waiting :P. But then her mom invited us inside for some delicious bread, and there were streamers up, all pretty like. Then we went to pick up Shayla, and to Jenna's for her shorts.. then we went back to Amanda's for some reason, only to find out her and Julie had already come and gone. I'll later discover that whole thing was a diversion.. HAHAH. It certainly didn't make sense at the time :P. Then we drove to Julie's, and there were a few cars parked outside. I thought that was kind of strange, and when I walked in, everyone was gathered around the kitchen... "SURPRISE!" :D :D, it was so awesome. It was not only Amanda and Julie, but Zack, Derek, Jen, Sam, Greg, Ben, Steve, Jeff, Cody, Taylor, and Johnny Boy. Later Jeremiah, Bob, and three girls whom I had never seen before in my life, showed up :P. But it was really cool, and sweet how they planned that all for me. Zack was a big part of planning it too, so I'm quite pleased with him as well :). I've got some pretty incredible friends. After I went around hugging literally everyone there, haha, Steve and Cody pulled me aside. They asked if I wanted them to play for me, because they brought all of their equipment, but Amanda and Julie weren't sure if there'd be enough people and stuff. But I thought that was a great idea, and I told them I would love it if they played for me :D. So they brought in all of their stuff and set up in Julie's attic.

I know, the light isn't fabulous, but it's an attic :P. The whole thing was just really fun though, they played some of their original songs, plus punk covers. I'd totally post the videos if my internet wasn't so lame. I cannot wait until I get a laptop next fall. After awhile they decided to take a break, so we convinced Johnny boy to go downstairs and grab his saxophone for a jazz intermission, haha! It was so great. He wasn't practiced up, so he was nervous, but I loved it. He played me 'Happy Birthday'. Then the three girls who I didn't know were like "Ehmigawd, it's your birthday?" And I was like "Yupp.. this is my surprise party..thanks for coming." Hahahah. I guess they had met the guys last night, and they invited them along. I didn't really care, I just thought it was strangely amusing that they showed up to a place and a party for someone who they didn't even know. Oh well, made it look like there was a bigger crowd--haha :P. The only thing that vaguely upset me about the night was the lack of Tom's presence. He was there.. at the house. But he stayed downstairs with two of his friends the entire time, not coming up to see me once. He missed the whole initial "surprise!" too. I don't know, it just really disappointed me that he chose to blow me off like that. I would've been pleased as punch if he had simply come up, gave me a hug, and explained that it wasn't really his scene, but would hang out with me later. Oh well, I truly did have a wonderful time regardless, and it's not worth it to dwell on the itty bitty disappointing factor, haha. Plus he apologized after, when I told him it had hurt me to not see him there. So I may as well get over it. But THANKYOU,THANKYOU,THANKYOU to all of my marvelous friends, who helped make my birthday so amazingly sweet, I love you guys.

A few of the lovely gifts I received...


The top card's from Shayla, the bottom one from Derek, and the one with the fishies, Amanda made :). Julie made a cool one too, but I failed to take a picture.

The Pen Commandments, a book about writing from Jenna :). A cool Japanese style journal from Shayla, along with a funny cat bookmark, and an Ameila Earhart toy from my dad, because it came in his happymeal hahah :P. A little painted fishie box from Amanda, which held a necklace, faux pearl bracelets, and a giftcard to Forever 21, SCORE :P, haha, Then Shayla gave me that adorable little ceramic cupcake, with another pretty necklace, and these nice heart earrings :). Gah, these girls spoil me so baddd. And everything is sitting on my new hammock, courtesy of my parents. Now I can actually chill outside, without being covered in insects.
Oh, and what did Julie get me, you ask?

Burgle! Yes, that's her hamster that she got months ago, but with the addition of the ferret, she realizes the hamster doesn't get so much of her attention. So she offered her to me, because I don't have a little creature of my own, and I've wanted a dwarf hamster for awhile now. :). So, that was my birthday in a nutshell.


SIX,EIGHTEEN.
Alright, let us venture back to present time now :). I'm done reminiscing my glorious little weekend. This was my LAST week of tests, today being the final exam, English Regents Session Two. Woohooo. So it's safe to say... SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! I'm just so happy to be done. The past couple of nights I have been taking advantage of my new driving priveledges, staying out past 9:00 :). Tuesday night I went to a bonfire by the extremely large pond in our town. It's like at an akward size between pond and lake.. strange. But that was pretty fun. I mainly talked to Shayla, Julie, and Ben, but everyone else was pretty entertaining too. The guy who hosted it brought marshmallows and graham crackers. But, NO chocolate, hahah. We complained so much, just to be a nuisance. "Patrick, you have got to be kidding me.. this is the worst excuse for a 'smore I've ever seen" But he knew we were just messing around :P. Then the following night I went to Julie's for another bonfire, but it was just her, John, Shayla, and me. It was nice though, I enjoyed it. No fires tonight though, I have to go to work when six o' clock rolls around. I dislike this lousy weather, it's been raining relentlessly all day long. Hmmph. I suppose it's not too bad though, this way I was able to catch up on blogging :), which I'm sorry I've been slacking lately in. Now that tests are no longer in the way, I should be able to post often. In theory.. we'll see how well that actually works.
My U.S. History teacher is quick with his grading, and I got to see that I received a 98 on the final, and an astonishing 99 on the NYS regents.. that just blew my mind. Both I believe were the highest grades in the class. I don't mean to sound like I'm bragging D:, but I was just really surprised. I know I bombed chemistry, but it's nice to know I made up for it in other classes that I enjoy more.

I hope everyone's having a great beginning to their summer adventures :), I'll catch up with blogs eventually, I promise!
♥ Olive