WinterJam 2020

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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One of the highlights of my year is always attending WinterJam. WinterJam is a concert that tours the states with roughly ten different Christian musicians. The lineup is different every year with the exception of Newsong, who founded the tour. In my area, they perform in the same venues every year. I've attended in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland, but Pittsburgh is my favorite.

Selfie at PPG Paints Arena

I thought I would be in Australia by this time, so WinterJam this year was kind of an afterthought, but it is a silver lining to still being in Ohio. We went to Pittsburgh this year, the PPG Paints Arena. 

The artists included Andy Mineo, Riley Clemmons and Crowder. Newsong played a shorter set this year because several members of the group were ill.

The arena was so crowded we had to sit in the upper levels this time. This was the furthest away we'd ever sat, and I felt a little wobbly at that altitude, but it was awesome. You could feel the sound reverberating through the building.

One of the highlights when Crowder headlines the tour is always how all the musicians on the tour come out on stage and perform the final hoedown with him. This year he also performed a few songs with Riley Clemmons. 

As you can see, I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone, but the venue doesn't allow larger cameras, so I didn't chance taking the Canon PowerShot in. (Though I seem to remember taking it in there once before without an issue.)

I had a blast and though I hope to be in Australia by this time next year, I will look forward to attending another WinterJam in future!

Pittsburgh skyline from the parking lot

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Giving My Brother a Haircut!

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog.

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Today was much the same as yesterday, I spent a lot of time working on things I was behind on - and looking forward to future projects I'm working on. The highlight of my day is when my brother Mitchell stopped by and asked me to give him a haircut.

Mitchell often grows his hair down to his shoulders, but he decided today that he wanted to try it short for awhile. He messaged me before he got off work to make sure I was home and then came down for a haircut. 

Before

Mitchell is always on the move... He's a ball of energy, and refuses to sit still. It took everything in him to sit long enough to let me whack the hair off. I managed to snap some before and after pictures though! 

After

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Playing Catch Up

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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Basically, I spent most of the day writing blogs that I was behind on. I also recorded several videos that I'd been planning to upload earlier in the month. 

I uploaded a video I had previously recorded about the backyard farm I used to have, and then recorded new videos about my time at the Cadiz Food Pantry, my dogs I had growing up and how my macaw cusses me out. 

Eventually, I'll share a post with an overview of everything I am working on and it will become clear where I spend all my time.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Visiting Aaron and Playing Blackjack

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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I decided to go with Mom and Dad when they visited Aaron this evening, because he had recently told us that he wanted to move on and live with someone else. For those of you who don't know, Aaron is my youngest brother, adopted, has been living with us since he was 3 days old and is afflicted with various mental and behavioral issues that are to be expected when one is introduced to crack cocaine and alcohol before birth.

He's 14 now. Gonna be 15 in May. He's as big as I am and has been  displaying worse and worse behaviors as each year passes. About a year ago, I had to press charges against him, and he's been in and out of juvie and eventually landed in a residential treatment facility. As I said, recently he decided to he really just doesn't want to live with us anymore, and hopes that he'll land in a home in which he can live in town with other kids.

At this point, I have to say that I'm just glad this could be over. I've been worried about him hurting my Mom when I'm away at work or something, so this is something of  a relief, though it is also what was afraid was going to happen.

So, I decided to go and visit with him, since I have no idea how many more times I'll be able to see him.

He brought a pack of cards and he and Dad taught me how to play Blackjack. I'd never played before, it's pretty fun and not complicated at all. So we had a fun visit.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

The Postal Service

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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Today, we confronted a problem we've been having for awhile.

You see, we've had some difficulties with our postal service since we moved into this house, just over nineteen years ago. Over time, we've had complaints from the mail carriers about where our mailbox is, demands to be allowed to turn around in our driveway because it is the end of their route, they've deliberately smashed packages, refused to deliver our mail, carved ruts in our driveway and ditch, and may well have hit our cat.

So, we've been in a bit of a situation lately. A couple of days ago, the postmaster stopped by to let us know that once again, there was not enough room in our driveway to turn around. (We'd moved one of our vans that wasn't running into a place they found inconvenient and they implied that they would not deliver our mail until it was moved. We'd moved it, but they still weren't delivering our mail.)

Dad was at work and he suddenly felt like he should call the post office and see what was up. (If you roll with us Medley's for long enough, you'll find that as unlikely as it might seem, God speaks to us sometimes - this was one of those cases.) Dad called the post office and found that they'd dispatched two inspectors from the Cleveland office to check out what was wrong with our driveway. Clearly, our friendly local postal people didn't want us to know they were coming and be able to talk to them about our problems, but since Dad had called when he did, we were able to.

I went down to talk to them and then Dad called back and wanted to speak with them. We explained the ongoing issues and that we just want our mail to be delivered. They didn't see why our mail was "undeliverable" and assured us that they would be instructing everyone to deliver our mail and that everyone would be receiving a copy of their report. 

So, that was what happened today.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Lessons from Mount Carmel

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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The main thing I remember from today, amid the haze of everything that is going on, is the evening sermon at church. The preacher that night read the story of the Elijah and the prophets of Baal.

"How long halt ye between two opinions?" was the question Elijah asked the people of Israel and the preacher asked the congregation that night.

You cannot serve God and the Devil, you cannot live one way all week and live differently only on a Sunday.

I was very familiar with these passages of scripture because I had memorized them some years ago and entered in a Bible memorization contest. But something new jumped out at me tonight.

The prophets of Baal thought they had to do something crazy to get their god's attention (they were cutting themselves, jumped up and down and screamed according to the scriptures) and to be loved and acknowledged by him - but the prophet of the One True God knew that he only had to speak to Him.

Out of all the different lessons in that story, that one jumped out at me, because I see parallels between that and things I see every day, and I'd never really given it any thought before.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Power Steering and Binge Watching

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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Today was interesting. I was going to sleep in and work on my writing while Mom went to her ladies breakfast with the church... But Mom woke me up: the car's power steering fluid had leaked out and it was too difficult to steer. I rode with her to the store and bought some more and put it in for her. 

She let me get something to eat with her card, since now she was running late and I had to ride with her. I chose a package of Nutter Butter cookies because the store's selection was lacking any good choices. I neglected to get a drink though, which I later regretted.

I sat in the parking lot while Mom attended her breakfast. I worked on writing some blogs. I read some of my writing to Mom on our way home and we stopped and got something for me to drink.

When we got home, I fixed lunch and signed into my YouTube account on the Xbox so we can watch YouTube on the TV. Aaron had messed that up so that it didn't work either. Dad showed Mom & I the Jim Bruer comedy special "Let's Clear the Air." Hilarious!

Then Mom and I went to visit Aaron.  

Later when we got home, we binge watched a cop show on Amazon Prime. We were all pretty burnt out from a roller coaster week. 

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

The Medley Farm

This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley. 

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There was a time when my family had a little backyard farm. 

It started after Mom had recovered from her second bout with cancer, my little brother decided that we should start growing our own food. He bought a couple of laying hens, and that's how we got started.

We ended up getting a lot more birds: chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guineas. Then we got some goats, a sheep, a couple cows and a few pigs.

For a little while, we were producing so many eggs we were able to sell some for a few extra dollars. 

My brother started showing birds in poultry shows and that was a whole other adventure. I spent my time at home taking care of the animals while my family traveled around for the poultry shows. 

I have a lot of crazy memories from that time: going out in the pouring rain to take care of the animals, hunting for runaway birds late into the night; I even remember one time I was so sick I could barely stand, but I managed to get all the animals taken care of.

The birds could be a bit of a handful, but they were nothing compared to the goats. The goats were a riot, and not always a good one. The first few goats we acquired were supposed to be good milk goats, but it turns out we had been duped and they were sick. Their milk tasted awful and they didn't produce very much at all, in addition to respiratory problems.

We eventually found a proper milk goat. She was a pretty good goat, as far as that goes, but I still didn't enjoy having to go out and milk her at the crack of dawn. We had good goat milk for awhile. But then, she "mysteriously" turned up dead. 

The cows were also ill-fated. We only got one or two to the butcher, the others just dropped dead. 

Once we started keeping farm animals, they would turn up dead some mornings when we went out to care for them. We were taking good care of them, making sure they were receiving proper nutrition and everything. We suspected they were being killed by family members and local people that didn't like us.

Let's put it this way, when we got a gun and people found out about it, the animals didn't die as often. Then, there was an increase of calls to the Humane Society in reference to our animals. All kinds of accusations that they were not properly cared for, which the Humane Society investigated and determined were untrue.

The pigs did alright, no mysterious deaths - maybe people were afraid of them? Pigs can be scary! We bought piglets in pairs, we never gave them proper names because we planned on having them butchered, so we would call them "Sausage" and "Bacon," or "Jimmy" and "Dean." 

The thing is, the first four pigs were friendly and not hard to care for, but the last two were savage. They ate random chickens that wandered into their pen and would stare menacingly at any living thing in visual range. I certainly didn't want to fall in their pen. When they went to the butcher, I was so relieved.

So, I've talked a little about all the animals, except for our pet sheep. Whereas we eventually sold off our remaining birds and goats, when my brother moved away, we kept the sheep - because she was a rescue and a pet. We love our Hannah Banana. 

So, I'm not really about that farming life, but I figure someday I'll have a few chickens in my backyard. Them fresh eggs and the roosters crowing in the morning, that's where it's at.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Attending a Funeral

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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Today is the day that we had been dreading all week. Grandpa Soos' viewing and funeral. I rode into town with Mitchell, who stopped at our house first. 

I get terribly anxious at funerals, it's such an awkward time and then you feel bad for feeling bad because you're alive, reasonably healthy and not the one in the casket. 

Thankfully, our family is very kind and everyone understands about being anxious and most of us had to step outside a few times for some fresh air. I might have taken this a step further and hid in the children's playroom for a few minutes and then took a walk around the block to my old workplace. But I came back.

There was one little dust up in which someone from Dad's side of the family came by to harass Mom, I mean you'd think people would have a little respect for the fact that Mom just lost her dad. But no, some people are simply so uncouth they cannot leave her alone. 

But in the end, the person left and Mom was alright. So, all in all it went alright.

After we finished up at the cemetery, I suggested that my brothers join Mom, Dad and I, and we all go down to JP's for a bite to eat. I'd been too frazzled for breakfast this morning.

So we did, we all met up down at JP's and Dad bought two fish platters. We all stuffed our faces with fish and fresh french fries. 

After this Nathanael had plans, and Mitchell left too. Dad and I stopped in at the library to pick out a couple more movies. I messaged Mitchell to see if he wanted to come by and watch something while Mom and Dad went shopping in Canton. He had already made plans, so I worked on catching up on writing and planning my social media posts.

I also solved the problem I've been having with the Xbox. My youngest brother messed it up while trying to modify a game and now there has been no Xbox Live connection for awhile. I'd got subscriptions to Hulu and Amazon for Christmas, but the only streaming app that would work was Netflix.

I solved the problem by setting up a whole new Microsoft account and profile on the Xbox, because I couldn't remember any of our previous logins and Aaron had wiped them completely out.

When Mom and Dad got home we watched some stuff on Amazon and then went to bed, they both have places to be in the morning. Me, I just want to get some more writing done.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Volunteering at the Cadiz Food Pantry

 This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley. 

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Volunteering at the Cadiz Food Pantry was an important part of my life for quite a few years, until work and being an adult got in the way. 

It all started on the first Thursday of 2010, the 7th of January. My brothers, Nathanael, Mitchell & I went with Gary from our church and our Pastor to help unload the trucks that deliver food from the Mid Ohio Food Bank. It was my first time doing anything like that.

At that time, the Food Pantry was run by sisters Betty and Edna. They were hard workers, and I later learned they had served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Betty liked to bark orders and Edna was a good listener. 

I miss them very much. During the time when I got busy with work and couldn't find the time to volunteer anymore, I got word that Betty and Edna's health was failing and they were moving to Texas to be closer to family. Later I learned that Betty had passed away.

I made a lot of other friends during my years there: Mattie, Johann, Mary, Virginia and Gladys - just to name a few. 

Anyway, that very first day we helped unload trucks. We continued to help them unload trucks on the first Wednesday of the month for the next year or two. Later on, perhaps late 2012, (I didn't keep good notes back then) we began to help them on distribution days, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Back in those days, we would arrive early before the pantry would open and we'd prepare boxes of food for the different families, according to the number of people in each family. 

Over time, I got involved in just about every aspect of the food pantry operation. I never learned the office paperwork part of things, but I helped sort, stock and inventory. I even would go to the garage outside town where the Mid Ohio Food Bank deliveries would come and help divide the food between our pantry and the others in the area.

Volunteering was a very rewarding experience for me. I enjoyed all the time I spent with the Cadiz Food Pantry. 

In more recent years, I've popped in to help out a few times a year. It's a little different now. Under new management, the pantry has been updated so that people can shop for food they will use, so that nothing goes to waste. The main work that needs done now is unloading trucks, putting things on the shelves and helping people carry food to their vehicles, having eliminated the need to box food in advance.

Someday I may be able to work some more volunteer work into my schedule and I look forward to it.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Writing and Reminiscing

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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I'd gotten behind in my writing projects, so I knew I had to catch up before things got out of hand. 

My "Raised by Wolves" blog had been slated for the evening of the 7th, and I had it partially written, but I didn't actually finish it until today.

It's a long read, but it reveals some important pieces of my backstory. I really loved my dogs, I miss them very much and I've been planning a book about, and dedicated to, them.

Soon, I plan on digging out my old photo album of the dogs and adding some pics to the post. A post that long definitely needs some visuals. I have some absolutely stunning pics of Buddy, Lady and Bubba.

I have been unable so far to completely catch up on my YouTube videos, as I've spent most of my time writing and the lighting and acoustics around here are not exactly friendly.

I plan on catching up on the videos soon. I want to have an increasingly good hold on things with each passing week and for everything to be completely under control come the end of January, with blogs and videos published regularly and on time.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

New Life: The 2.0

 This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley. 

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Today's post is very important. I am a Christian. I take my faith very seriously.

My parents came from different religious backgrounds. They both wanted something more, but didn't know what it was. Not long before I was born, just a little over a year, they discovered a church that taught from the Bible differently than they'd ever heard before.

They passed these teachings on to their children of course.

I've always believed in God. 

I'd pray for the ability to see things like one of the prophets as a child. I didn't realize it at first, because it wasn't exactly how I expected, but I started having dreams and visions.

As I got older, life got more difficult in a lot of different ways, and that's a different story - but I started to pray more, I was more interested in going to church and reading the Bible.

Baptism, the Holy Ghost and Christian teachings were something we discussed a lot in our home. I remember listening to discussion over what the proper baptism is, how you know you're born again and related topics. 

Then one day I was reading and praying and I read the passage in Matthew, when Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I had a moment of realization that the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost was "Jesus." It was a real revelation. Mom and Dad were baptised in Jesus' name, by full immersion back in Texas before I was born - and now that I understood the scriptures myself, I wanted to be baptized as well.

We hadn't been to church in awhile, in fact we were looking for a new church in late 2009. Our family had just been through a loss, significant upheaval and Mom was struggling through recovery from cancer.

It was during that time that I asked God to help us, send us to a church, save our souls and get us through these struggles we were caught up in. A few days later Dad visited a church and then we started going there. 

One night in November 2009, I asked to baptized. When I decided to be baptized, two of my younger brothers decided to be baptized too. 

Acts 2:38 says that if you repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus, you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost - God's spirit to lead and guide you through life. Various other scriptures indicate that when you are filled with the Holy Ghost you will speak in other tongues, languages you don't understand. 

I was filled with the Holy Ghost on March 7th 2010, with the evidence of speaking tongues. 

Being a Christian is certainly not always a walk in the park, but it is the most rewarding part of my life - it is my life - I cannot imagine going through this world without my faith. 

My faith and God's Spirit have guided me through some pretty incredible and terrible things. I just listen for the still, small voice and He helps me through. 

I wish everyone could know my God and understand my faith. Not everyone is ready to hear it yet, but I believe that someday they will understand.

Thank you for reading, God bless. If you have any questions, comment below or message me on my Facebook. I currently attend a great church in Minerva, OH - Minerva Apostolic Church, I hope you can join us for a service sometime and if you need a Bible, I recommend the King James Version which is available, along with other translations, through BlueLetterBible.org - check it out! 

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

An old favorite of mine today, "Born Again" by Newsboys

Changes at Church

  This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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The most notable thing to happen today was our Wednesday night church service. Dad ended up staying home because he was doing some wiring in the basement so we could hook up our dryer and finally do laundry at home again.

Mom and I went by ourselves. We already knew tonight's service would be different, as it would be downstairs in the fellowship area instead of upstairs in the sanctuary.

The pastor announced that our Wednesday night services in January would be held downstairs in preparation for a change we will be making in February. In February, we will begin holding our Wednesday night services in people's homes, in different areas, so everyone will get to know each other better and people who are not comfortable in a traditional church setting will come and hear the Word.

The pastor will be writing the Bible studies, so all the teachers/hosts will be teaching the same things. He asked us to choose a house to attend, so as to make sure the church is evenly divided between locations. He emphasized that while snacks may be served, fellowship and the Bible lesson will be the focus; however, come the fourth Wednesday of the month, we will all gather at the church for a meal and fellowship all together.

We then had our Bible study, with participation from the congregation. It was about miracles, particularly the "little" miracles that happen around us all the time.

Afterwards we talked to a few people and I asked the pastor (who is an electrician) an electrical question for Dad, who was almost ready to plug in the dryer. With the answer, he was able to finish the job and we are finally able to wash and dry our clothes at home again.

When we got home we watched a movie and then headed to bed. I didn't want to be up as late as the night before, but somehow we managed to be up pretty late again.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

What it was like being Homeschooled

 This was originally published as part of "The Life of Zack" series on "I Am Medley. 

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A lot of people ask me about my homeschooling experience, so I figured I'd devote a post to a few thoughts about this. 

Short answer: I loved being homeschooled. 

Also, a distinction between our homeschooling and a lot of other homeschoolers: My parents chose my curriculum, made my lesson plans and filed the appropriate paperwork with the county to prove that I was being educated. The other method is just to do school at home, whatever the school is teaching you, it is done online. It's an important distinction.

Part of the reason I was homeschooled was because my parents wanted to teach me their own way, and not leave it up to someone else. Mom selected the curriculum. We tried different things as far as lesson plans and structure from year to year. 

Early years were based around the teaching strategies of a curriculum called "Weaver;" we spent a couple years in a unit study based around the Little House on the Prairie and we bought a curriculum that was entirely on CD-ROMs when I was in high school.

I enjoyed the fact that my brothers (who were homeschooled as well) and myself got learn at our own paces; I struggled with math and excelled in reading and writing, but my brothers were the complete opposite, so being homeschooled allowed us to spend more time on what we struggled with until we could get it right.

One time I repeated a year in math while I moved ahead in my other subjects, because I was having a hard time with it.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time reading, in school and in my spare time. Summer Reading programs at the local libraries were definitely a highlight for me growing up.

The big question everyone always asks - "how did you get a chance to socialize?" The truth is, I socialized all the time. Kids on our block, kids at our church - and perhaps more importantly, I learned to interact with people older than myself - not just people my age.

Here in Ohio, there are two ways to pass the grade and go forward to the next year: to take a standardized test or to have a certified teacher review samples of your work for the year and sign off on it. We always did the latter. 

When I graduated high school, there was a ceremony at the state homeschooling convention, with a number of other students (perhaps a hundred?). I'm not sure if they do anything like that anymore, but it was a great experience for me.

People ask me if I'll homeschool my kids and I always say, I'm definitely planning on it.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Catching Up On My Videos

 This is part of the "2020" series, originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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I spent a lot of the day indoors working on writing and planning some things. Applying to jobs as well! I've got to start making money again.

Eventually, I decided to go outside and film some things for my YouTube. I'd been discouraged by the slow upload times for the past week, but I decided that I'd make it work and probably try to keep my videos closer to 3 minutes long. 

One of them was 6 minutes long, but the others were shorter.

I Talk a Little About My Life

Choco the Brown Dog

Spending the Night with an Angry OSTRICH!

I crossed alligator-infested waters!

My brother Mitchell stopped by and visited for a little while later that evening, after Mom and Dad came home. Then we watched "Alice in Wonderland," I'd seen it before, but Mom and Dad hadn't. 

I got the videos uploading at the same time, which pretty much slowed our internet connection to a stand-still.

Dad and I stayed up late listening to classic rock music.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.