Ah, the irony of mentioning To Kill a Mockingbird. Zoe revealed to me that since they didn't have enough black folk at her high school, she had to put on blackface to play the part of Tom Robinson. I replied with the comment that my friend Darryl colored himself to dress as Bill Cosby for Halloween one year.

Since Mikey hasn't yet mentioned how awesome this weekend was, I guess I will.
This weekend was awesome.

I think everyone on the retreat grew closer to Jesus, we learned a lot about what it takes for us to be the people that we are and do the things we are called to do. I think besides the planned studies and messages, there were ample times for worship and drawing closer to our brothers and sisters. And that was just mad awesome. There's nothing like praising God on the beach, with a throng of beautiful voices reverberating in the cool night air.
I made some new friends, and I thank the Lord for their fresh angles on life and love.

There were a ton of hilarious things that happened this weekend too, of course, but it was without the presence of Brooks McCluskey. It feels like it would have been five kinds of funny if he'd been there.
But I will say this:
The combination of tacky SC, daily flooding, Laura and Christie Ray calling me out on my big mack attack, and recitations of Eddie Izzard and Robin Hood: Men in Tights were just some of the elements causing fantastic fits of laughter and happiness all weekend long.

...speaking of books... In my quest to decipher Brooks' unhealthy obession w/ Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, I borrowed it from Walter Clinton Jackson, dove in, and finished reading it in under two days. whew. I will admit that it is quite a good read, and I would suggest that anyone who, like myself, has not read it since, oh, 3rd grade, to check it out (pun intended.) A timeless classic of boy and girl's struggle to understand the hypocracy of man. ... though, I still have not found the key to Brooks' obsession, seeing as how he's never actually READ the book. Perhaps the answer lies w/ Gregory Peck. Next step: the video library of the TLC.

Book lovers never go to bed alone. -Anonymous

with my limited time... i update you all on a number of events...

- the parts are all assembled for my new computer, and oh yes, it will be built soon... who will reap from the benefit of me having an extra computer to give away?
- i work all the time
- except for this weekend when everyone is going to the beach with IV... i mean, honestly - how rokkin is that?
- also, except for last weekend when i went to virginia to see people without power, BMW's with trees crashed through them, and john, my heterosexual life mate

*as an aside, some highlights from the trip
- john making sure that everything he said was funny... especially when he talked about his arm infected with deadly poison ivy that will eventually turn his arm into a sweltering cespool of gang green
- john's church being a slightly more virginian version of my own southern baptist church back in davie county
- me being a much better f-zero racer than john
- seeing FIF attain BURNINATION!!!
- seeing pictures of john with hair
- seeing pictures of john when he was little, and had pupies... in a bucket, and was happy (before he learned of the evils of women)
- all you can eat meat at the hickey's house in richmond

also in other news: the john update
- john has weathered the "hurricane of love" and as of 2:00am saturday morning has had power. this mostly because john slept with the power guy - or he lived a couple doors down, you decide
- he is still fat and sassy and is currently sporting a hideous, dripping mess on his arm from a fierce poison ivy attack. please send all sympathy cards and cash to THE SON OF PETE, care of Mikey "the hammer" fissel
- he is without cable, and probably will be for many weeks, which means no instant messenger (but it's not like you can't call him), and more importantly, no battlefield. but do not worry, for he has the game cube to calm his soul
- and in the spirit of john i will make a faux post in his likeness

what's new with me (but not really john)
1. i still don't have a job
2. i still wake up at 11
3. i still don't have cable
4. my phone rings all the time, but it's still never for me
5. *insert some random tidbit of hilarity from the national news (perfferably politics) here*

i never post - BAM!

ok, so that's about it... as for the fizz, i am a busy busy man, call me if you dare...

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

Good points about my day off work today (Friday, though now it's technically Saturday)

Had the day off work.
Got up at 12:30.
Got a new box of contact lenses.
Met the UNCG track coach for some fitness advising.
Did 300 pushups.
Beat the 85/100 qualifier for a 2 minute situp test.
Played disc golf.
Mowed the lawn in record time.
Invited Brooke Morton to a capture the flag match, she brought our team the victory!
Ate at Jake's Diner with Brooke, Bridgette, Jenny, Josh, and an assortment of other peculiar characters.
Got some awesome God-time in tonight on a 3-mile run where I saw a shooting star, comprehended the anatomy of silver refinement, and had bad gas from my double cheeseburger.

Bad points about the day

I had to mow the lawn.
Matt never called me back about hanging out.
But even if he did...I wouldn't have been able to stay out late.
Similarly, I missed movie night with my sophomore year crew.
My headlights are flickering on and off randomly and I do not know why.

But that about sums it up. I am so excited about how productive and crazy my Friday was, I felt compelled to share. Time to sleep.

Brooks, Brooks. I thought we already discussed that I am on the move? Oh well. I won't discourage
your attempts to play matchmaker for me-Lord knows I've done a wonderful job picking women
on my own in the past. Still, you must encourage a man who refuses to refer to his current pursuit
by her given name, all in the respect of good humor. Once again, nicknames play a crucial role
in the "paranoid", non-sensical life of Nathaniel Edgeworth.

As far as the perfect woman goes, I think John's right on the money. We have all been
fortunate enough to be blessed with Laura's presence and good graces for what will soon enough
be a year now. It is right that John should consider her a perfect woman. For although there
are far too few perfect women in this world, Ms. Wright would certainly qualify.
We must not rule out though, that the Wright Family must be from a more orderly and superior
parallel dimension. To wax nerdy-science fictional-Stephen Hawking-core, I would presume that
they're from some alternative universe. I mean think about it-how does one family produce such
a consistent pattern of perfect women-sister after sister after sister? We've all been graced by
Joanie's presence often, and I myself have been lucky enough to meet my personal Lady of the Lake,
Carol Ann. Beyond this trinity of excellence are several other siblings whose personal merits
will become them leaders, heroes, and figureheads of the coming age. I think maybe they're all
gonna take over the world-with love.
Back to how cool John is, I dunno any other guy whose personal enlightenment regarding imperfect women has
been so close to mine-now is just a good time to mention that all things that suck serve to make you
stronger, hoss.

Anyway, that's enough of my ramblin'-my original version of this post got annihilated in the fires
of tabbing screens, and I'm sure it would have been much more entertaining to read.

In other news, I am hoping to get ahold of our New Jersey brother so's I can visit him on the way
to Niagara Falls, even though it's a little out of the way and everything.

In still other news, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is coming up Friday. For more information...
www.talklikeapirate.com

So I'm sitting here in Connie's room, thinking about the wonderful day I had yesterday.
All I did today was go to work. I work all the time. But it's the good kind of work.
I went to a party last night. It was the good kind of party.
Before that I was at a show. The...good kind of show.
Before that I was at a bible study. The good kind of bible study.
And before that I was at work.

In other news...if I end up Special Forces...which would be my aim...I might be residing at Ft. Bragg. Of course, that's projecting forward over a year and a half's time. But by then, I would like to think that some people I know and love will still be in NC, or VA (Mr. Thesonof Pete)...close by enough to see once in a while. And of course, hoping my enemies will be far away. And that's all I have to say. Were I not tired, I might be saying something amusing. Farewell for now.

Note: I think I found the perfect match for Brooks last night. She still lives at home too, she's too hot for her own good, and she's real uppity. And who knows, she might be sleazy. I dunno what Brooks likes, but that actually probably isn't it. Anyway. Just want to quell Brooks' fears- you can be cool and still live at home. But not if you're me. :)

What an insane day.

i just saw cana... she kissed me... on the cheek...
i love that girl -- i shall make a point to call her more often, seeing as how she is famous and all now

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

BETRAYED! yes, that is how i feel. not that the person who broke my heart will read this since zoe has stopped reading the brotherhood page. my love cannot be quenched by any normal means, and i would rant and rave about how awesome she is on here but again, she will never read it. so yes, betrayed...

zoe had a hair affair with a hot gay guy... apparently. all the hair coloring love i was promised was shamelessly given to another guy. was it because he was hot? or gay? why will i never be good enough to be either of those? i was assured that more hair coloring love could be obtained. but what good is second best? who wants the love after someone else has taken the first and the best? so as i said - i suppose it doesn't matter because zoe will never read of her betrayal here... the irony is i write this on her on computer. but in some sense i get revenge using her own means against her. maybe my heart will rest easy now...

as always, keepin' it not blue... REAL not blue...

man, last night was SO rowdy... i mean, the other night - before the other night. man, i need a computer so i can keep up to date with these posts.

so i have thought of numerous things to post. but seeing as how i only get about one or two a week now with the wraith of Thor having been brought down upon my modem -- i must give this entry to willis and her visit to me today at staples -- which was most welcomed.

mikey: "i think i need to stop hanging out with girls who dote on me so much... it's bad for my ego."
willis: "so i guess this is why we haven't been seeing as much of each other lately, since i am always doing that?"
mikey: "you don't ever dote on me?"
willis: "what?! are you kidding?! i dote all over you!"

i am a fan of the willis... for life :-)

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

Dang man. Last night was one of the most fun hangout nights of my life. The reunion of the Original Brotherhood was not only powerful, but legendary too. The awesome might of the combination of Mikey, The Son of Pete, Kildoo, and the Edge is enough to shake the mighty foundations of the world. And so it did.
The insanity began as John, disguised as "Victor", made his fabled return/debut at Intervarsity Large Group. A little later, an unplanned arrival by Kildoo brought the room to an awed deafening silence.
En route from Intervarsity to the "gathering" the Original Brotherhood was able to ensnare countless unsuspecting ladies into our Web of Mack.
By the time of our fortuitous gathering at the Hall of Fissel, the evening's events were in full swing. We entranced a captive female audience with countless balladeering tales of our fame, might, and slayings. All gathered round the oaken table, and much meat was consumed and mead drank in merriment.
All in all, among many stories, including the one of Kildoo's aformentioned test failing, there were humorous anecdotes, some which I cannot even recall, some which I should not have the pleasure of reprinting. I am sure that shortly, either John or Mikey will recount those narratives for you, our ever loyal audience.
With my applauding of yesterday evening's fun, I have one thing left to say.
I will take my heart back from Jean Jacket Girl.

The time is overdue...people have been left out of the loop for long enough. What Danny should have shared with folks long ago, I am about to share now.
Chick-Fil-A at Friendly Center is the best place to work, ever.
Every day I learn a new valuable life skill. Every day, I make a little more money. Every day, I flirt with a different girl. Chick-Fil-A is to wage jobs what a grape is to a raisin. The unspoilt, juicier version, complete with more vitamins and minerals.
It will take me my entire time left in Greensboro to catch up with the soap opera entanglements of my workplace. This may or may not be a bad thing. In any case, it is all quite amusing.
I am sure more will come about all this. In the meantime, I am incoherent, and John is in Greensboro.

Love out!

On an entirely related note, I would like to proclaim Shannon my future wife and Brooks the godfather to our firstborn son.

so i have a job for you, the reader...

i know many... MANY of you, are wondering, atleast, why i am not in a band right now. well, i have your answer, and your job - all in one. the "band" is waiting on one thing; mark and nate to call the other and get together about mark's drums being in greensboro (specifically at nate's garage). so all of you fans out there of... rokk in general - get onto these two and convince them to call one another and work this out. be it convincing mark to be a man and realize that his drums only gather dust in durham, and that even though they will continue to gather dust in nate's garage - on occasion, they will be pounded upon by him in a genuinely loud rokking way. on the other hand, nate is lazy... but not as lazy as he was before he started checking out soccer mom's in the chik fil a drive thru. thank you, (brooks rules!) and goodnight...

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

Video Game Review:
I never do this, but this game blows my mind.
Chaos Legion is the best thing to come out on Playstation 2 yet. It's the ultimate fun action game. If you like Devil May Cry, Onimusha, or Dynasty Warriors, it shares qualities with all those games. Unlike Devil May Cry and Onimusha, the stage is fully rotating, which I love. You basically get to run around and fight monsters. You have different legions that you can use to aid you in battle. It more or less works like an RPG because you can level up your legions and equip them with new abilities, but it's an easy to use action driven battle interface with no clunky menus. The cut scenes are incredible, featuring some hip graphical effects I haven't really seen in any console games yet.
Overall, I'd say go rent this game. Since John is the only one who reads this that plays PS2, John, go rent it.

Peace.

Oh yeah, Kildoo still owes me $70. Sly devil.


Oh wait, John owes me too.

ON SALE NOW!!! T-Shirts for the John Gregory East Coast Tour 2003. Only $50 (still $30 cheaper than @ the Dave show) and available in XXL only. Contact Steamin' Beamon, John's public relations rep (and Love Bucket) @ 555-2946 for more details. Don't miss out on the tour merchandise of the year!! (Available while supplies last.)

so it is rather ironic that as soon as i make a extended effort to post more often about basically pointless things, that something goes horribly wrong with my modem on my laptop, thus making it reasonably impossible for me to surf "the net" -- much less, post. more ironic is the would be easiness of my online class, but the irony arrives when i have to go to campus to get online to do the work (or drive to davie county in this case). regardless, i am sure i will be left on campus at random times to update my bretheren and bretherenesses as to what i am up to. and fear not people, i am not dead... but much like punk, waiting in ambush.

in other news... i work all the time. and i think mom has given me the green light to start building my computer. brooks, where are you?! exactly...

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

I need prayer. Lots and LOTS of prayer. Not only was I up @ 8:00am this moring... of my own free will (and for those of you who don't know, I am NOT a 'morning person'), not only was I up, and rather chipper... I was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 2 epsiodes. Back to back. And I enjoyed it. But maybe there's still some hope... I @ least had enough sense to turned the TV off when 90210 came on.
And in other news...
Ok, there is no other news. I lead an overtly boring existence.


Weekend... here I come.

no more excuses... i now have my foriegn made dvd player which will ensure the watching of numerous movies at my abode. consider me, with cell phone in hand, butt on couch, and dvd player in my face -- part of your 21st century.

guess this means i may actually rent a dvd from cheap-o nate-o now... we shall see.

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

Troof-fully, I shouldn't make fun of Brooks, it's not cool getting picked on for making dumb posts, I know.
In other news, and speaking of Laura Wright, homegirl informed me that her sister Carol is madly in love with me. I think this is awesome, and works out pretty well, since Carol is the only brunette I have ever truly fallen for. And gotten hurt. I mean that quite literally, cause see, not only did I obtain a gimp leg in a "wrestling match" with her around Christmas-time (which prevents me from standing 8 hours at a time), but she also tore my heart out when she told me she could never love a man with dimples. But I guess that's changed. Maybe she finally figured out that she has dimples too. Nonetheless, I am over my initial getting-dumped-like-a-moldy-sandwich-cookie, and looking forward to the redress of our true love.
So, to make a long self-absorbed story short, I hope to make some kind of venture to the Wright household someday in the future so that I may ask her father's permission to wed, and then I can propose, since that seems to be the hip thing to do. It's gonna be a while before I propose, because I want to get a very special ring. I am thinking that maybe if I get trained and end up going on a covert mission to Sudan I can assassinate the Sudanese president and his wife and then take her ring. That would probably be a sweet looking rock. Plus I'd get props for bloodying up tyrants in the process of my engagement venture. Then I can enlist the help of my alpha team and pilot buddies to fly me into Rutherford County where I can propose from the hatch of a Chinook while my buddies creatively do a choreographed unconventional live fire exercise.
Dang, and I used to think I wanted to propose in a stadium.

By the way MIKEY (If that is your real name), I think you meant to call my writing "drivel", since you were pegging it as senseless rambling. "Dribble" would be more like the bouncing of a basketball. Then again, both mean the same thing in regards to salivary expulsion, but I don't have a drooling problem.

i think this speaks for itself... a message for laura...

THE SON OF PETE: is laura back at campus?
KngPolystr: um... why wouldn't she be?
THE SON OF PETE: i never see her online
KngPolystr: her computer isn't up
THE SON OF PETE: and that'd be why
THE SON OF PETE: send her my love, G-rated of course
KngPolystr: she is still pissed she has none of your boxers like you promised
THE SON OF PETE: i forgot all about that
THE SON OF PETE: i'll make up for it when i visit
THE SON OF PETE: i'll give her the grandest pair of undergarment my butt can supply

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

i owe nate like $100... you'd think he'd call a brotha and collect. instead he wastes his life away posting dribble...
is dribble > $100? i'll let you the reader decide --

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

I am all about The Passion. This movie is gonna be the bizzomb. http://www.passion-movie.com/english/trailer.html
As far as Pat Robertson goes, I could think of shadier folks, but he does give me a creepy vibe.
As far as liberals go, I could agree with John...I think I've seen a transformation through college that has caused me to reflect on my misgivings on a number of topics, such as feminism, gay rights, and socialistic tendencies. As I realized that uppity women, gays, and marxists would all hate me no matter what attempts I made to respect or sympathize with their causes, I slowly realized, I really don't give a hoot or holler about them anyway.
As far as The Brotherhood goes, I'm glad everyone's trying to be a "good Christian" today...really the ruse is working well.

...so ANYWAY... I'm probably going to catch flak for this, but... I think that the 700 Club is some of the best televison on air. Seriously. I mean, where else can you see public, nationaly televised displays of affection for Christ!? (and no, 7th Heaven does not count.) And I ain't talkin' about snake charmin' mountain folk, or public access Church of God revivals filmed in 1986. This is high quality Christian televison! And oh man... the testimonials... I don't think I've been able to watch a one w/o crying. You guys oughtta check it out sometime. Might just do your little hearts some good. Sure makes mine feel happy. Keep on rockin' it Pat Robertson. (http://cbn.org/)

ah, don't call it a comeback, i've been here for years - the blog champion! well, actually, john is the champion, i am nothing more than his ever wittier "Mickey" to his Rocky. but far from me to send whack shout outs to try to get people to back my ever growing front -- i will now stop posting metaphors about stupidity...

things have been tough all over. but you have those times when times are tough but you know life really rokks. that is now i think. i mean, i work like an unreasonable amount -- hence my short spurts of absence from the brotherhood page. but who still reads this anyways? oh yeah, i do! i prolly always will too. but that is cause i hold onto things i feel are kinda cool. i am also a trend setter, not killer. but Iv has started up and it is gettin kinda rowdy as we have tons of new people actually coming to BIBLE STUDY! not just large group, but people who are seeking after God's word and His will. that is uber rowdy - i know connie is getting all excited just thinking about it... but as for me, maybe i will find a cool freshman guy or older or whatever to take under my wing and possibly even disciple them. lessening the hate and bringing the love. so that's it for me, once again i will try to make a vain promise to post more often. how about this - i will post everytime i stop to spend some time with God every day. so this is kinda my accountability... we shall see. i know you're watching me, encouraging me - thanks :-)

and as for what i have to say about the little fued going on...
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20

as always, keepin it real... REAL real...

Brooks, what the crap? Why am I forced to resign myself to even commenting on the pointlessness of your posts? John could make more sense banging his head against the keyboard.
Laura Wright is once again right in stating that it was a good move for me to stop posting here when I did, but if it's to the effect of letting this once-sacred site go down like the Hindenberg, then maybe it would instead be a good idea for me to deliver a wake up call to the last templar knights of the blog universe and say "Stay the course, noble brethren! Hold the line of posting power and let no nefarious infidels encroach upon our lands!"
Keep it real, rah, rah, rah...how bout...keep it from sucking and we all might survive on to the next new year without putting guns to our temples? Yeah I think that'd be a better rule to follow, then the need for a Brotherhood Dungeonmasters Rulebook hardly seems necessary. Just...dang, someone help me out. I'm sure Mikey didn't call me back from the dead for no reason, but I can't possibly save the webworld alone...every superhero team needs wits and personality...and it's our wits that make us men...the thrilling interplay of characters here is what makes our readers compelled to read...the vivid discussions of life and love that reveal our hearts to the public.
Oh yeah. If we ever get another epidemic of "man, so and so's post was too long. let's all make mention of it in our posts cause we can't find anything interesting to say ourselves", I'm gonna post the entirety of The Volsunga Saga on here. Just to annoy you all.