> My brother is at college now. I miss him. He was honestly my best friend, and we've gotten e-mails from him and stuff, but I still miss him.

I absolutely reek at good-byes. In fact, I make all possible attempts to avoid the words whatsoever. This might be my only optimistic characteristic; I usually go with "see ya later" instead of "good-byes" or other more definite departures.

The last such incident was at OELC, a leadership camp that I attended at the end of June. You meet the most incredible people there. Just the other day I got the letter we mailed to ourselves at the end of the OELC... man was that a rush.

> At this time next year, I'll be at college. With any luck, at the same one as my brother, I adore the place. I'm afraid I won't get in though.

Here in Ontario I have another year of high school to go through after this one... never really had problems with school, but I still worry about getting into university. Part of life, I guess.

> When I go, you people are the only ones who will remain constant in my life. Isn't that odd? Everything else will change, and I'll even know my brother in a different context, but you will all be still here on the Rinkworks pages.

That is the magic that is the internet. Here, all faces, voices, places are rendered irrelevent; we are all true equals in nature, separated by actions.

> Rinkworks is hard to explain, so I don't. Most of my friends don't know about my addiction here. Isn't that weird? I just never talk about it.

Rinkworks is about as easy to explain as the name. There is no better description than "Rinkworks". I refer to site features to my friends every now and then, but not really my community involvement... I guess it's just another evidence of how we divide our real and internet personalities.

> I'm taking Photography. There are some pictures I've wanted to take for 2 years with black and white film, and now i get to. I'm excited.

It's always good to do something you love. I have my music and programming to keep me interested, and as long as my life continues that way, I will have that satisfaction.

> I should have gotten a purple squishy cow when I was at Williams. It would make life that much better.

I remember seeing a poem about a purple cow, and the followup. I still enjoy them.

> Crying is a healthy thing. You start gulping for air and you look icky, but you feel better afterwards, really. Try it sometime.

I don't generally cry. The weird thing is, when I do, it seems to be for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes I just trigger it accidentally when I have morbid thoughts... I think too much.

> I'm really quite pretty. It's sort of a random thing to notice, and it's random that I'm only realizing that now, but I am.

Something I noticed a little bit ago is that if you really look at or study someone's face, little things seem to come out that you didn't notice before.

> I can't wait to get my braces off. I've had them for 5 years and i hate them but my teeth are almost straight and I'll get them off in just a couple months. So I'm excited.

That's weird... I only had braces for one year. After, I was supposed to wear a retainer every night for a bit, then every other night, and less and less frequently, but my teeth are still straight and I keep forgetting.

> There might be something very wrong with me. Every now and then, I get this weird pressure in the right side of my chest and it gets all tingly and sometimes it spreads down my arm and it's really weird. So I finally remembered to tell my parents (because it happened when they were around) and now I'm going to the doctor's on Monday and I'll probably get sent for special tests. It's kinda scary.

I have this dimple that forms in my cheek when I smile or just bunch up my cheeks, and I have no idea how it got there. I just noticed it one day.

> I'm in an ultra-spiffy Shakespeare class. It rocks. The second meeting is tomorrow, and I'm sooo psyched.

I quote and refer to Shakespeare at times, to the extent that no one has any idea what I'm talking about. I guess I should fix that.

> Guys make no sense. But I've said that before.

You know, I could say the same thing about girls, but then I'd just be repeating what everyone knows. Maybe it's just me.

> uni"most of those were rather serious..."peg

--Pliff"unsure of everything"ilif