Swingadelic!

If anyone's reading this, then sorry for my recent absence. Here's the deal. I had a bunch of plans lined up for the summer, but then my mom and dad decided I should go off the internet for the summer. Their reason? "It builds character." So here I am. I still have my computer, but no games, and minesweeper is interesting for only so long. Thankfully, I can always head down to the library to use their internet.

So, I've had a few interesting developments over the past few days. Saturday night was spent in the company of my school group. We had a fancy dinner and swing dancing lessons. I'm completely enamored. Swing dancing is basically my favorite thing ever now.
Monday night, we went to something called a "contra dance". It was all very friendly and very fun, even though I really didn't know what I was doing. You can rest assured I'll be doing that again soon.
Finally, tonight, Tuesday, I'm starting gymnastics. I really don't know what to expect, but I'm so excited.

Anyway, that's a quick rundown of the past few days. I've gotta finish up before the library closes!

This is the Vicar, signing off.

In which I build character

Hello everyone, it's the Vicar again! So I've been on a bit of a binge lately, that binge being unhealthy sleeping habits... School's over though and I don't have much to do, so I'm indulging in it for a week. Until Monday in any case. I'm actually really tired right now, but I don't want to go to bed.

So today was both busy and uneventful. I slept in till 11AM and spent the day mostly on the internet. Then I had to mow the lawn. Why do we even have lawns? I just don't understand why they exist. Why do we mow them? It's not like anyone spends time in the lawn. Also. Ticks. What is wrong with this country? The final icing on the cake is how I mowed the lawn. My dad came into my room last week and this is what he said to me, he said, "Vicar, I've got great news! I bought a working mower, so you don't have to cut the grass with scissors!"

Well, I suppose when you put it like that...

So I went out to the garage to see my new set of wheels. On what tractor will I be sweating my summer away? What are the possibilities of coming in first as I race down the back-roads in horribly dangerous illegal lawnmower derbies?

These are the questions that were racing through my mind as I opened the garage bay. Parked between my dad's vintage Mustang, and my mum's Lexus, was my new ride. Sleek. Shiny. Sexy. A brand new Honda HRR216PKA.

That's right. My shiny new ride is a push mower. It took me two and a half hours to mow the whole lawn, front and back. My dad, in another burst of wisdom told me "It builds character".

I just hope the summers don't get too hot here.

And my throat hurts. It looks like I'm coming down with something. Fantastic.

This is the Vicar, signing off.

A Beginning

Hello and welcome to my humble blog. Enter if you dare, but here I must warn you, and warn you well. None who enter may leave without having been changed forever in some fantastical way or another! So, if you dare, enter. If you’re man or woman enough, enter! If you are truly up to the challenge of joining me for my summer, then square your shoulders, throw up your guard and enter.

Is anyone still reading this? Yes? Hm. Commendable. You either see something great, a beginning, a promise beyond the cliche’d and overused lines here, or you’re bored, on the internet, and literally have exhausted every other resource of amusement there is to be found, in which case, you sir-or-madam, are superhuman, and therefore, commendable. And here we are again, having come full circle.

I suppose by now, you’re wondering who in the world I am, and why I feel the need to plaster my inner thoughts and outer ramblings on the internet for all the world to see. Well, here we go.

We’ll start with the introductions. My name is Ian. Ian Sullivan. Ian Odysseus Ulyssus Sullivan. Yes. My father is passionate about Greek culture, and my mother about Roman. Which is funny, because they’re practically the same thing. They must have thought it was funny too, because they got married, and so here I am.

I was born in 1994 into a very lower middle-class family. My parents were just scraping by, only a few years out of university. The day before I turned five years old, I asked my parents why I had two middle names. They told me that they didn’t have much else to give me, so they gave me the extra name. Of course, they’ve always been a bit cheap, and the they both refer to the same person! (Just kidding mum, I love you!)

A week after my father told me this, he got promoted to a high up position in an advertising company, and has been rising through the ranks ever since. Now he’s rich enough to afford a dozen or so middle names for all of us, with a few extra to hand out to people he meets on the street!

So, my name is Ian, but I don’t remember the last time anyone called me that. For as long as I can remember, it’s been Vic, Vics, Viking or anything derived from the original nickname, Vicar. Nobody knows how I came by it, it just sort of happened, like the Mona Lisa.

So here I am, a 17 year old boy, starting his first summer in America.

Oh, I should probably say something about that... You may have noticed that I have an Irish (Greek(Roman)) name. It’s not just the name. I was born in Cork, Ireland, and spent sixteen years there. Last Autumn, my dad’s job called for us to move to America, so here we are!

I just finished limping through my Junior year of highschool: a cobbed together course I completed at home. I froze my way through my first brutal New York winter, and now, as I said, I’m heading into my very first American summer.

As to why I would want to blog about all this, well, my mates back in Ireland desperately need to know about every tiny thing that I do here, and the truth is, I’m just bored, and hopeful for a beautiful and memorable summer.

You probably wonder what I look like! I’m afraid I can’t risk posting any actual photographs, as I’m wanted in four countries around the world, but here’s a sketch one of my mates, Sean, did of me.

One, yes, I’m ginger. Two, yes, I have glasses. Three, yes, Sean’s a rotten caricaturist.

I’m slightly short sighted, very much in possession of a soul, and that zit is a blatant exaggeration!

They say that gingers have the most fun, but I leave it for you to decide over the next few months!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the Vicar, and this is my life!