It was kind of funny, though, seeing the differences in the schools. I was walking around the field to get to the bleachers, and this grub walking with two skanks said "Look at his fuckin' head, its fuckin' huge, dude." I was going to say something back, but then I remembered the futility of it. I had forgotten how bad that felt.

The first person I saw that I recognized was this girl I had gone to classes with last year. She is really nice, and it was great to see her, and she gave me a hug without hesitation. When I got to the bleachers, everyone started yelling "KATZ!" and I thought that it would be ok, but then this kid said "You belong in the Burr and Burton side, don't you?" and then another said "You tall fuck." The rest of the people were fine, and it was good to see everyone, but people expected me to be exactly as I was last year; trying to impress everyone regardless of what it meant to me, and all that shit.

Nobody really talked to me other than a few girls who are nice. Then I went home. THat's about it. I talked to Iona and she was really happy for me thatI was liking VA so much, but other than that...It wasn't anything extremely special. Which I had built it up to be. I talked to Lee after the game, which was nice, but that's the only guy I really talked to.

My best friend's parents just separated. I feel so horrible and whenever I IM him, it says "coma" or "eating poison under the sink" and I want to see him and reassure him that everything will be ok, cause I know how he feels. I know how everything that you expect, everything as simple as having both your parents at your birthday parties, to thanksgiving, to christmas--changes.
When he told me about it, I had a sinking feeling in me almost as much as the WTC. I have slept over at his house probably 30 times, we have been best friends for 5 years...I know what he must be like right now. I know how deep it must hurt.
If you are reading this, I feel so bad for you man. I really do. I'm sorry.

I am in English class, so I have to go.

I will write about VA, since I haven't for a while.
There is this kid named Mike who was one of my good friends. He was always negative, but I tried to make him look on the bright side of life, and stuff like that. But now it's overwhelming. He hates it here, and he's always talking in a drone and I can't stand him any more cause he's never any fun to be with. I really hope htat he can find a way out of his negativity and his self-depreciation, but it doesn't look too good.

There's another kid named Drew, who is Mike's roommate. He's a nice guy, and he likes to find attention by being loud and bombastic. When he's alone with you, however, he's a really nice and emotional kind of person, so that's good.

THen there's Pierre, probably my best friend here. People say he looks like Kyle from Road Trip, and I will try to describe how he acts later, cause now that I have tried to think about it, I am drawing a blank. He's good-natured.

Ken is my roommate, and he's awesome. He is a funny guy and good at situational comedy. He's also very open with how he feels about certain things, which is good cause I like to know what people are thinking.

Well, the bell just rang, so I have to go to 3d Design. Good class; I forgot how much I love art.

Two planes--jumbo jets--crashed through the largest buildings in New York, the largest city in America. It collapsed those two buildings, building number seven, and now another building. Tens of thousands of people died. It is the first time in 60 years that a planned attack has killed more than 168 people. The whole city is on shutdown. The nation was on shutdown. No planes--NONE--left airports or were in the air for 30 hours straight, unprecedented even in wartime.

The nation has seen the worst act commmitted not in wartime. And I watched it live.

My friend James put it best, I think. He said "We go from here living afraid."

The school was in shock, but many people just went outside and played football an hour later as if time just heals everything. There are some wounds that no, time does not heal. There are tens of thousands dead. Tens of THOUSANDS. And we're looking up at the sky, seeing it perfect and blue, seeing the alpine glow of the setting sun upon the leaves and the mountains. But that does not mean that in New York, hundreds of people are not trapped in the rubble, that does not mean that thousands don't lay lifeless under the concrete. That does not mean that the world does not keep on turning.
Well, the world does turn, and New York IS dying. But, thankfully, America, my friends, and my family live on.

I will express myself more about how I feel later.

Ok, people, don't worry.

In soccer yesterday, I hurt my foot pretty badly and it hurt every time I kicked a soccer ball. It wasn't very fun at all. I also hurt my hamstring, so that wasn't good either. I hope that I make Varsity, but I heard that there's this thing where you make Varsity but don't go on the road trips. That actually would be fine for me, since they are all like 4 hours away. Then I would have more Wednesdays and Saturdays at my disposal. Pretty cool, eh?

I am going to now do other stuff; there really isn't much time here to just veg and do the internet, which is both a shame and a plus.

I'm glad that you're enjoying VA.
Take advantage of the opportunity and use all of their resources and facilities to suit your needs.
It's an experience that only comes one's way during a fraction of your lifetime so simply do the best you can.
Do it for you and only you.
You, my dear son, are the pilot of your ship. Your family and friends are simply crew members helping you to navigate.
I love you.

Dad

Isn't that really nice? I just got that and I am still wondering where this has come from. Wherever it was, more is welcome any time he wants to hand that out.

Vermont Academy is really still great. It's kinda like a summer camp except that there are little classes in between the hanging out and the sports. The classes themselves are really good, and the teachers I have are so far thought-provoking. Very different from MAU. I a, not trying to avoid certain people or not talking to someone cause I know that they'll just bash me if I do....I don't find myself acting out as much, which is odd. I knew that I acted out sometimes cause I was trying to impress people, but I didn't know that it was as much as I guess it was. Interesting kinda stuff.

No one is going to my site now. One person in the past week has been the only visitor...They came twice. Other than that, it's just me checking up on myself. How fucking sad.
I never knew that MAU people were so concerned with themselves when they went to my site. I thought they were interesting in how I was. But maybe it's an "out of sight, out of mind" thing.

Anywho, this is my free period, so I am goign to go get something to eat or something like that. I have lost too much weight here (prolly about 15 pounds, I'd say), but now that the hot chocolate machine is turned on, I am in business.

My roommate is this Japanese kid who's from Tokyo. THe first couple of days, he wasn't talking to me and actually the first day he was caught smoking so he was almost thrown out. Now we are getting along well.

I have a good base of friends who live on my floor and who are really cool. I will go into them later,but I am running short on time, so I won't do that right now.

My room is kinda small. It's basically the size of my old room, but with two beds and two huge dressers, so it's pretty tight. However, it's the biggest on my floor and it has become a hangout place which is really neat cause I love hanging out with people in a place where I can kind of "play host."

Sports are cool, and I have a nice coach who is also my latin teacher. We have some dorm parents per floor, and mine are really cool guys, one of whom is the basketball coach so that later in the year, I am pretty much hooked up with whatever I want to do.

The one thing that is my biggest complaint---rather, two--is:The size of the showers (they are about the width of a normal shower, but perhaps 1/3 the length), and also the food. I have had one good meal so far, which is lasagne, but tonight is a "formal dinner" where you need to dress up and shit, so that should be much better food.

Other than that, I will write more later now that I finally have access to computers. I wish everyone good times back in bennington or around the world. I will be at the James on the 15th but I might be like 1 hour late cause I have my first soccer match that day (WHICH I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ARRG).

Anyway, love y'all.