Nathan Lake here.  Thought I'd write in here before going back to sleep; woke up, with something on my mind; had to get it down before it drove me slap crazy!

Still doing well; no problems there.  Church still awesome, enjoying the snot outta summer vacation; can veg until the day after Labor Day.  Wish we can go to someplace excitin' for vacation, but the parental units are staying put:  gas, plane prices way outta line, can't afford to go anywhere without them shellin' out big bucks, just to fill their tank.

It's beyond rediculous what they are charging for gasoline!! 

They ought to start charging the oil companies for gouging the customers while *they* rake in the record profits!! Nooo...they're more worried about their precious bonuses than seeing families struggling to put food on the table or pay their bills!!  It's ludicrous!!

Very hot here in N-Ville:  feels like a thousand degrees.  Have been doing an awful lot of swimming; have turned nearly black from the sun.  I'm so dark, I can easily pass for a Hispanic! LOL

In a few weeks I have camp.  Going to church camp; it's my first time attending.  I'm really stoked about it; I know I will have a good time!   We're camping for the entire weekend; it's a retreat for the youth, just to celebrate God's goodness upon our lives, reflect on our lives, spend quality time together, with friends, fellow believers.  It's going to be awesome; I just know it is!

I just pray and hope that the weekend isn't washed out!

One time when I was a little boy, we went to the KOA campground here in Nashville, me and the parents, and we were by the Three Rivers.  A thunderstorm blew up; soaked everything we had.  We ended up renting a cabin.  It was a disaster!!  Ever since, I haven't gone camping very often.  This is the first time I'll go camping in a very long time; I don't relish the idea of getting flooded out of my tent again!!

My friends the Sanduskys are going to Louisiana in a few weeks; they're going to some huge Cajun music shindig; they go every year.  The only reason they're going, even with the high costs of fuel, is because they planned this trip months in advance, and they have the money to go; they've saved up their pennies in order to do so.  I hope they have a great time!

Johnny is also going camping the week after they get back from Louisiana; he goes to a MDA-sponsored camp for kids with neuromuscular diseases.  He always has the best time there; he looks forward to it every year.  And his sister goes to HER camp about the same time; she goes to a camp for kids with arthritis.

She has fun at her camp, too.  Me, I'm not too keen on going to camp, but then again, I am.  It's really confusing how I feel about camping.  I want to go, yet then again, I'm afraid of getting flooded out!! LOLOLOL

I found a really cute book at the library, "Diary of A Wimpy Kid:  Greg Heffler's Journal" by Jeff Kinney; it's hiLARious!  I can't put it down, it's that good (not to mention, funny)!  I hear there's a sequel, but our library doesn't have it yet.  They've ordered it; it just hasn't come in yet.  There's already a long request list for said book; my name's on the list.  It'll be a while before I read it:  my name's somewhere in the middle.

I have been having dreams of chasing after Gemini Sandusky.  Man, is she HAWT!  Tall, lithe, graceful as a gazelle when she walks.  Moves like a gymnast, which she is.  She's been doing gymnastics since she was small; she can do all those Olympic type moves the athletes do!  She's really good!  She's also won medals (including gold!); she could give some of those athletes in Beijing a run for their money!  I bet she'd even nail gold!!

I have to work up the courage to ask her out.  Yeah, buddy, she's a babe! :)

I just wonder how she'd feel to be seen with the likes of me.  A kid with a face that looks like a piece of raw meat. Not bemoaning my fate here, folks, but my face IS not much to look at.  If anything, it sometimes makes people stop in their tracks, or gasp out loud in fright.  And that's AFTER surgery, to try to make it look more presentable.

If they think my face looks this bad now, they should have seen it BEFORE the surgeries!  I've seen pics of my face when I was a child, and unless you want to keep your dinner in your tummy, I'd suggest not to look at 'em after you've eaten! 

Let's face it:  my face was a royal mess! (Still is, but compared to where I was, I think I'm looking pretty good now! :) )

Whoops!  Was that thunder??  If so, I'm shutting this down, going back to sleep; not even a quarter of six yet (five forty two, as a matter of fact)!  Too early to be up!  Take care, and will write in here again; this is Nate the Great signin' outta here!  Ciao!

~Nate. :D