Homemade Smoke Bombs?

My dad, my brother, and (to a lesser extent) my boyfriend are just a little obsessed with paintball. They live, breathe, and eat paintball. They have their own paintball team and even their own field.

Personally, I don't mind their little obsession--it's good for them to have a hobby--and I even try to take a mild interest in it. I'd never play though. I've seen the wounds they come back with after their games.

Not too long ago, Daddy and my brother, Ronnie, resolved that they wanted to make some smoke bombs for their upcoming game. Ronnie has been waiting very impatiently for the salt peter, the main ingredient, to show up for nearly two weeks. It showed up today. I was waking up right around the time they were making their first batch.

That's what it looks like when you light it up....except I'm guessing they made their bomb extra huge. There smoke cloud was like....fifty times bigger. It seems a little dangerous and they've already ruined one of Mom's kitchen pots...but they're having fun.

Haha! I just went out to watch while they set off their second one. It took a few seconds to get it lite but once it got going, there was not stopping it. Daddy dropped it, it tipped over, rocketed out across the yard, flipped into the air and shot down into the field. It was HILARIOUS!

Goodbye J.D.

J.D. Salinger died. Yesterday, I believe. It's such a horrible shame. That's like losing a best friend. The Catcher in the Rye has been one of my favorite books since I first read it several years ago. I've probably reread it and referred to it again dozens of times since then.

I wasn't ever forced to read this book like I know so many people were. My high school english teachers weren't going to take a chance at pissing off parents by making their students read this one. I picked it up completely by choice. And I loved it from page one.

I first started reading it during a particularly dark time in my life. I probably looked pretty cliched--sitting in the waiting room at a therapist's office, thumbing through The Catcher in the Rye and laughing to myself.

Holden really helped me through all that. I could relate to him. He was angry and depressed and confused and he smoked and he cursed. He was like a fictional male version of me. Just another wayward teenager looking for the right path.

So, Rest in Peace, J.D. You will be missed.

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend to be one of those deaf-mutes..."

Haven't Accomplished Much Today

For the most part, I've been caught up reading My Immortal, a Harry Potter fanfic by Tara Gilesbie. Who here hasn't read that? Raise your hands...yeah? Well, go read it! Now! It is, I'm assuming, a big joke but it's really good if you need some lolz. I'm on chapter 19 but, believe me, you don't have to read that far to get the big picture. The main character's name, a "goffic" vampire witch, is Ebony Dark'ness Dementai Raven Way...no relation to Gerard Way. Ebony's interests include things like My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte and SLITTING HER WRISTS cuz she's that dark. Yeah...you see where this is going?

It's horribly written and...well, completely ridiculous but it's funny as hell. Seriously, just go to google and type in "My Immortal Fanfic" and click the first website that comes up. And then, just read. But don't read the too much though because your brain will implode in on itself.