I've been thinking a lot lately.

Recently, I haven't posted much here because, truthfully, there hasn't been much to post. My job at medieval times ended quietly, and things are slowly building up to me moving out. Today, I had my Eagle Scout ceremony, which was awesome. A whole room of people standing up to cheer for me, who hadn't even sung a note, felt pretty good. I have felt like I've owed all of you something, and until I can record again, here's a poem I wrote in a few minutes and I hope to turn it into a song.

I'm dedicating it to everyone who I'm leaving behind as I move. Well, here goes...

I'm sorry I have to say goodbye

I don't want to, but the reason why

Things will be better, for me, for you

Things will be better, once it's all through

Four years from now, four years from this

What are we going to be like? who'll join the bliss?

I will make someone, out of who I am now

Just don't forget the passion, the reason, and how.

Writing one last verse, one last chorus.

One last chance to see who really loves us.

I hope you will understand, I hope you'll find out why

I want to do what I love and continue to fly

Once upon a time a man was born

He didn't know who, where or what for

Knowing and having, the tools to succeed

He went on through life never having the need

I hope that means as much to you as it did me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to let all of you down, so I'm going to continue with what I love, and hope everything works out for the best.

Thanks to everyone for supporting me these past several years, and I am hoping the support will not weaken, but grow as I go into college.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Each and everyone of you.

-Matthew Benton Wofford

Medieval Times

As the last few days of my job at Medieval Times come to an end, I looked back to a blog I wrote all about my first day there in the castle. It’s very old, but it really made me think of everything that went on in the castle and how I can’t believe it’s coming to an end. It has been a great experience, thank you everyone for supporting me and helping me through it. Here it is:

“Welcome my lords and ladies to the castle! How many are in your party this evening?”

That’s right, I have to say this about 700+ times every weekend. In case you haven’t heard, I am now employed at Medieval Times in Dallas. I was amazed when Mike said I got the job and took me off to meet Don McCoy. Don used to be the king, but he quit show cast and moved to manager of the photo department, while Chris, the photo manager at the time was moved to Food and Beverage manager. While this wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, Don is much more lenient than Chris. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. Sure he is nice a lot of the time, but watch out…he’s always watching. These are the events that happened before I started working and I was filled in on when I started by my friend and coworker Daniel.


Day 1: Thursday, April 17, 2008

So I was at school anxiously awaiting the arrival of Daniel to take me to my first day of work at Medieval Times. He was running a tad late due to his school running over class a little bit, but he picked me up and we were on our way to Dallas.

We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat before having to get my first day of work started. On the way he was explaining every aspect I probably already knew about my job and what to expect. I listened and nodded my head while hurriedly trying to finish my cheeseburger and fries.

Once we arrived at the castle, he explained I would need to talk to the costume lady. It was then she handed me my puffy shirt, a brown sash, and what looked like to be a pair of ladies capris. I asked her where the pants were and she responded, “No pants, tights!” Now, some of you at this point are probably thinking, “Ewww, he wears tights?” Yeah, I do now, so get over it. Trust me, it is the last thing us photo people have to worry about. So once I found an empty locker, put my things in there, put on my costume and headed back to the photo lab, the feeling of nervousness that filled me was unlike any I felt before. Little did I know, it was about to get worse.

I arrived in the photo lab suited up and ready to go. Daniel then handed me a small plastic shield. I turned it over and it read, “MATT W.” What? Since when did my first name have a W at the end followed by a period? He then explained that I was the second of two Matts that were working in photo. I shook off the idea as if nothing and started work.

He told me I would need to be in tower in about 15 minutes. So I went on over to tower and waited. And waited, and waited. After about 6 minutes, a bald guy with side burns and a goatee ran up and said, “Come with me, you’re going to be rolling tower along with 11 other serfs and wenches. I had absolutely what this bald man was talking about, but he was wearing tights as well, so I listened. We lined up and when a guy with long hair and a radio said, “Tower’s rolling.” I was in the middle of a line of 7 serfs followed by the executioner, the Chancellor and the King. The funny bald guy was also in the line. They just told me to do what everyone else did. So when they bowed, I bowed. And when they started walking back into the castle, I followed suit. Then the real fun began.

I soon learned that this funny bald guy’s name was Phillip, and that he was a valued asset to our little department. He had a great Medieval Presence that even I envy. I was soon to learn that a good Medieval Presence was all you really needed in this job. And also a strong sense of confidence that people thought it was normal that you were wearing tights.

I learned what I was supposed to do and with Keri as Princess that night, everything went great. She gave me some good advice on what I needed to work on for the next shows that would follow my Medieval Times career.

After tower was over, I met up with Dan and Don back at the photo lab. They said I needed to learn about selling photos. So they partnered me up with Phil and we went out into the arena. He taught me one thing. Just sell. The more we sell, the higher our raise might be. So we were selling and he had gotten through twenty photos. We only managed to sell one photo. Not good. But oh well. It’s not about selling the photos. Right? Anyway, he told me to wait at the door inside the arena to watch the show. I watched and as the knights were being introduced, he bust in through the door and said, “Come on Matt! We’re going to precession!!” What? What the heck is that? I didn’t say that out loud because I knew Phil would try and explain it to me the best he could. What he explained was too good to be true.

“We get a part in the show?” I responded after his long testimony as we walked down the long corridor that led to the employee hallway. We walked in and he yelled, “I’ve got a processional virgin here! He needs a cape!” The hallway was filled with serfs and wenches. One wench was holding a bundle of gold laced capes. She handed me one and said, “You’re both in green, don’t screw up.” I didn’t even know what to do, how could I not screw up? Once we were lined up in the pit, Phil told me a story about his flash light and how he lost it down in the pit three times. And just before the mob of serfs and wenches started moving toward the big opening that was the entrance to the arena floor, he gave me to instructions, “Watch for horse shit, and try and keep up.”

With flags in hand, we walked out onto the arena floor. The audience was cheering, clapping, screaming, and just about everything you can to do show appreciation to someone preforming something on a stage. Only this was a big sand pit. After procession was over and we all went back inside, everyone seemed to complain about procession except for Phillip and I. He enjoyed it because it was the only time his degree in theater could come into play, and I really liked it because I was in a freaking show! It was one of the coolest, scariest, nervous feelings I had ever felt. It was awesome.

I went back to the photo lab and sold a few more rounds of photos with Phillip. Then we turned everything in and Daniel told Phillip to go home. He went, but not without a fight. He had a little word fight with Daniel, I think people call those arguments. But he did end up leaving. Wishing me a good career ahead of me. Shortly after, Daniel told me to go out and change and wait for him.I went and changed, put my costume back with the wardrobe department, and walked out the employee entrance. I stood by Daniel’s car, the Ford CLI edition Taurus, (inside joke, that’s wrong Keri) and awaited what wonders would this workplace of a castle would hold for me in the future to come.

Special Thanks to: (In order of Apperance)
Phil
Keri
Lara
Lacey
Brady
Thanks for all your help in starting my job off right at the castle.
Never shall you be forgotten.

Somethings are just better left unsaid.

So when I went to talk to the lady at the admin building, all I got was a crappy explanation and no money. She said that I need to wait until Monday to get my check. Which totally sucks, because now I'm in debt like 70 dollars, and can't afford lunch! I honestly don't even feel like writing much today, I just needed to share what happened with that whole money thing.

Peace
Matt Wofford

Lighting Designer:

The role of the lighting designer (or LD) within theatre is to work with the director, set designer, costume designer, and sometimes the sound designer and choreographer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost.

Testing out a few different color/angle mixes. That's me.

-Wikipedia 

I think they forgot later that the job also includes not getting paid until people feel like it. I'm about to be on the phone again with an administrator with the school district. Why would I call her, you ask? Well, it turns out, if I want the 200 dollars I deserve, then I actually have to put forth phone calls, that later on, the bill would equal just about 200 dollars. It's ridiculous, and forgive me for bitching, but seriously! It's been almost a month now, and I still haven't gotten compensation for that program, which I thought was one of my best shows! It seems that with every show I design for, I end up getting better. Who'd a thunk it?! I'll put various pictures from that show up when I get them, but a few can go around now of the design process and stuff like that.

Ben practicing piano; Pancho, Oscar and Mike discussing
the com system; and me taking pictures. Yep. 

I just recently got hired on to do another lighting gig, one for the school district, again. So lets hope the financial side of things gets sorted out a little bit better now. Even though I would sell myself short and do all this stuff for free, getting money is a nice perk and I kinda need to get used to being paid for this stuff since I'm not a student anymore. And I need to learn to "get mad", as my dad puts it, when I don't receive any money for the things I do. In fact, I'm not the only one suffering through this financial torrent of crap, Oscar's right there with me. So I think today, I might call him and we will actually go up to the ad building and get shit done!

Martin 250 Wash.
Rigging up lights. 

The other show I did was put on by Dana's Dance Academy. I had to leave the warmth of the Jack Singley Academy to do it, but it was pretty fun getting to test out a new space and try to make intelligent lighting work for it. I will be happy to be at the Academy for the next gig I'm doing, which I'm told is basically just a celebration for the new Superintendent. I hope they enjoy it, because I'm gonna work my butt off! I might have to install some new trussing over a satellite stage just because they planned to have the band (M5) off to the side. Which I have no idea how they plan on putting an entire band on like, 30 square feet of stage, but let's get this done! (I'm secretly hoping they switch it out to the main stage, but eh, Irving's stubborn)

So here I am, on a nice Wednesday morning, awaiting the day to take over. I need to send out some emails regarding my upcoming Eagle Court of Honor, clean up my room a little bit, and then I have work at 5:30pm. But I also need to eat, and we just ran out of microwave pizzas, so it looks like I'll be having eggrolls...or CocaCola. I'll decide later.

As for now, I hope your day will prove to be awesome! good bye for now!
Matt Wofford

Pictures FINALLY!

That's right! I finally felt like sitting through the boring upload process that entails putting about 800 new pictures from a Nikon D70 to a Macbook Pro. So as that gets going, I'm going to select 10 or 20 photos from that pool of 800 that I feel are my favorites. The entire photo pool can be seen on my Facebook, and I'll probably use the ol' flickr account. If I can remember the credentials, that is.

Photo 1: From D/FW International Airport, with Amilcar. (Day 1)

I took this picture hoping to get the airplane we would be riding on for 9 hours to London Heathrow Airport. I also hoped to capture a childlike sense of wonder! I think I got both things. I don't know why I like this picture so much, but it really stood out to me. Amilcar, I think, tried to make it in every single picture I took. Although, he didn't quite do that much, I think he was in a fair amount, as you'll see if you check out my facebook albums.

Photo 2: From D/FW International Airport (Day 1)

I took this on my way to the D/FW Airport's "people mover". Ashleigh and I rode it around the entire airport while we were bored waiting for our London flight to take off. It was quite fun, and although a lot of the pictures I took on this trip didn't come out because of faulty camera electronics, this is one that stands out. There's almost an amount of symbolism in it. The sign on the pole says elevator, and gives two arrows, an up and a down. I guess thats symbolic to something you can choose, to either go up or down. But with an escalator, you can't really choose. You have to go where it's taking you and hope thats where you want to go. 

Photo 3: Taken at Trafalgar Square in London. Featuring Amilcar and myself.

This photo was one of the first ones when I looked at it I was like "WHOA COOL!!" Of course, anyone who looks at this should say the same. I think this one speaks for itself. But the actual situation was that I wanted to climb on the statue and Amilcar was helping me. It wasn't THAT epic I suppose. 

Photo 4: Taken at Premiere Inn, Wembley, London. 

I know you can't see much looking at this. Just a vending machine, right? WRONG! Well, not really, but it's a very culturally differentiated vending machine! You see some of the more recognizable things like Twix, or M&Ms. But look closely...kit kat never looked like that! Must be a new logo or something. And what's this "walkers" stuff. That looks a lot like lays chips! I really just love cultural differences. I could talk to my New Zealand friend Amy for HOURS about cultural differences. In fact, I think we have done that. Haha. Yeah. Ok. Moving on.

Photo 5:  Scaredy the Squirrely in London!

Oh this squirrel had to be my best friend on the trip. We totally kicked butt together! He would somehow always find a way to express the emotions that I was too afraid to tell! I think we also connected because I too was once I scared creature. (WIZARD OF OZ REFERENCE!) I made him sing songs of joy, and love. I talked to his owner(s), and learned that they are quite awesome people, and I shall be hanging out with them soon enough. Other than that, I really like this picture because you can see all the little details on the squirrel. I love detail!

Photo 6: Line of people at the Crowned Jewels in London

I wonder what it would be like to have something so huge and amazing, that people would gather in the hundreds to see it...to say they were within spitting distance of it. That's right folks, I'm talking about the worlds largest diamond. Measuring in at 530.2 karats, it belongs to the Queen of England, and will probably stay that way for a while, unless some crazy tourist gets creative. I picked this photo just because of the sheer multitude of people that gathered behind our group in less than 20 minutes. It's amazing when you think about how far people come JUST FOR THAT. Ponder that.

Photo 7: Small hotel room in Paris, featuring Amilcar, again. (Day 4)

The French might be super polite, but they really need to work on their living spaces. This is rediculous! Three beds in one room, wall to wall with only about 3 feet of walking space which is halfway taken up by a large wooden desk/cabinet thing! But it sure was fun pranking the dude in the other group with our ninja pillow fighting skills. But that will be discussed later.

Photo 8/9: The Louvre in Paris. (Day 4)

These two shots have to be some of my absolute favorites. I love the power of the sun mixed with a good Nikon. Just stare at these for a while.

Photo 10: Tour d'eiffel en Paris (Day 5)

The eiffel tower! Probably one of my favorite stops on the trip! Everything about it was cool! from waiting in line, to meeting people on the elevator and getting sold countless things by street vendors! It was a great experience and I'm glad I can say I did it!

Photo 11: Pere Lachaise cemeterie en Paris (Day 6)

Jim Morrison! You will be missed. In honor of him, I'm leaving this space fairly empty. Say your own thoughts. Leave some liquor or beer on the grave if you want. Peace.

Photo 12: French snacks! (Day 6)

Yay!! Very yummy items I enjoyed while in Paris. The Orangina is like a softly carbonated orange juice. It's lovely. The chips are actually potato chips au Nature. Which is, natural. No flavors or anything. Just the crisps. It's actually realllllly good. If you ever have the chance to try them, do it. You won't regret it.

Photo 13: Stuart in the middle of a Florentine street. (Day 7)

I swear, every time I saw this man I instantly thought about traveling around the world. He was born in England, taught to speak french and English, and now lives in italy. He eats culture for breakfast! He's a great tour guide and a good talk to person if you have any questions about politics and things of that nature. He has a way of putting words out there in a way that everyone can understand and agree too.  I think the best part about the tours he gave was how he was very "real". It's hard to describe, but most of you understand what I mean.

Photo 14: Crowded Italian Street...crowded by 50 american tourists that is.(Day 7)

It's amazing how small a space Stu managed to get us to take up. He could have fit all 50 of us in a single elevator, and in Europe that's saying a lot. Here we are crowded outside of Leonardo's Leather Shop awaiting our time to go in and be taught about the aesthetics of real Florentine leather. One thing I specifically remember about this time when we were standing in the street, a man came up on a vespa. He was short, and quite stalky. I could immediately tell he was a local just by the coarse curly hair and the gold chain around his neck. He approached me and I instantly reached for my wallet (which was a little bag necklace thing I wore inside my shirt) to make sure I wasn't going to be pick pocketed. He asked me the name of "the bald man". I told him it was Stu, and he instantly smiled and waved his arms around at Stu trying to distract him. He finally got his attention and they went on for a few minutes in the local vernacular, and then he sped off on the scooter as we walked into the shop. Fun times.

Photo 15: Taken at a Florentine Cafe featuring Pizza Margherita (Day 8)

This, my friends, was it! The mother load! The bees knees! The cat's pajamas! Real, authentic, Italian Pizza! I was so happy when it was brought to me. For one because I wasn't about to pay 6 Euros for just one slice of pizza (about 9 dollars), and two I was so happy it was an entire pizza because it almost wasn't enough to fill me up. I couldn't get enough of this delectable creation. Some people say when they have really good food it makes an "orgasm in your mouth." Well, this was like 10. Think of your favorite food and multiply it by like the biggest number you can think of plus another 20. That's how amazing this was. I hate writing about it because I am only missing it more and more with each key stroke. After I ate this, we went and had authentic Italian Gelato. I love italy. They could almost steal Hawaii's catch phrase. "Don't eat til you're full, eat til you're tired."

Photo 16: The bus ride to Assissi/Rome featuring a few different generations. (Day 8)

When i took this, it was really out of impromptu camera button pressing. I went to put the camera back into my bag and it snapped this picture. I now look at it and like it alot! There is so much activity going on. I love it! Ok, enough. This was taken on the way to Assissi, which was a stop on our way to Rome. This was also either shortly before or shortly after I had my first Italian Cappuccino. Oh my goodness it was amazing! The coffee was so good, I had two at every stop I could get one. How I wish starbucks could match it. How I wish.

Photo 17: Ancient History at its finest! (Day 9)

I think the only reason I like this picture isn't because of the photographic qualities of it, because, well, there are none. But because of the history presented here. I mean, I was standing no less than 200 feet away from something that was built by 100s of people over 2000 years ago. Things like that really amaze me. Like, really. The whole time I was walking around Rome I kept thinking "Russell Crowe walked here 2000 years ago". Just kidding about Russell Crowe, but I was constantly thinking about history, and Mr. Austin. Best history teacher ever. 

Photo 18: In the roman hotel featuring Brooklynn (DAY 9)

I know I know, "Matt, this picture has nothing to do with Europe at all." Well, step back for a moment and look, because it has everything to do with Europe! This here is Brooklynn Munsterman. Or as I like to call her M-un-st-errr-man. She is apparently now my best friend, who lives in Missouri. Ha. Her and I had a few good adventures on the trip. Of course, they were nothing big, but I say anyone who takes a picture with someone after only knowing them for a day or two is worth blogging about. It's either that, or this is the only good second picture from Day 9 I could find. Oh well. On to Day 10!

Photo 19: Saint Peter's Basillica in Vatican City (Day 10)

While I love this photo, it's only the second favorite as far as photographic elements are concerned. The first favorite is up on the page a bit more (Photos 8/9). I will never forget walking into Saint Peter's and this was the first thing I saw. Huge beams of light shooting down from heaven. It was really cool. A must see thing. Put this on your bucket list. Even though I could probably recreate similar lighting with some things I learned from my years of theatre and lighting, nothing will compare to this. Ever. 

Mamma Mia...

Here I go Again. My my, how can I resist ya? Well, that was random. Seeing as that the only thing I am trully thinking about right now is pizza, there really was no reason to start this post off with an old abba song. Oh well. Today is Monday, July 26th and it's a beautiful day back in good ol' Texas.

Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of telling the entire story of my European adventure to anyone that realizes I'm back and asks "Ohh! How was it?! Where did you go?!" I swear, people aren't original at all. No one bothers to ask about anything other than how it was, what the weather was like, or where I went. What about..the food?? Or...the coolest flooring I saw?! In fact, the purpose of me blogging...the purpose of me taking about 30 minutes to an hour each day updating people on what I did that day...was to keep from having to tell people about it once I got back....but apparently it's unavoidable. Oh well. Bragging to people is one of my strong points so I guess I can live.

Today I'm gonna head to work for the first time in a few weeks. Only to give my two week notice...which, in some ways is good, but at the same time, I will miss that place dearly. I'll have to elaborate more later. For now, I must shower and get ready for the day.

Peace!
Matt Wofford

Jet Lag.

Is defined by wikipedia as something:

"medically referred to as "desynchronosis," is a physiological condition which is a consequence of alterations to circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Jet lag results from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east-west or west-east) travel, as on a jet plane."

So basically, if one were to take a 10 day trip to Europe, going through 7 different time zones to get there, one would be really tired the next few days when one returns. It's as simple as that.

And right now, all I can think of is how tired I am. You know you're tired when you wake up at 11am and instead of changing into jeans and a t-shirt, you change into pajamas. That's what I did today. Haha. Apart from that, I got really hungry, texted people, and ordered food.

Texting people is slowly being assimilated back into my life, after the Europeans stripped it from me for 10 days. I couldnt believe it would be a dollar a text if I had sent or recieved any while there. It would have also cost 20 dollars per megabyte of data use, and 1.39 dollars per minutes used of talk time. Crazy huh? If Europe wasn't expensive enough, let's make the americans suffer more by taking away their technology while here!! Thats obviously what the queen says every night before going to bed. Ha.

Anyway, now I'm sitting on the couch, in my pajamas, waiting for the activity of the day to start...if there is even one to have. Oh well. I'm bored.

Time to go I guess. Europe kicked ass!
Matt Wofford

Blog for July 18, 2010

Today started off fairly well in Paris. We had our typical French meal. Our Typical French greetings and our typical French speaking bus driver. But something was different about today...we had free time!! And a lot of it!

Imbetween breakfast and lunch we had packed up everything and loaded into a secure room in the hotel. Then we all got on the metro rail to head to our meeting spot for today, which was the statue of saint michael in the middle of italian square. We were told to meet back at 2:30 so we could go get our stuff and get on the night train.

So I had in mind a few different things. I wanted to see the Pere lechaise cemetery, and/or the catacombs. First off because I wanted to see Jim Morrisons grave, and secondly because Mr.cole, the French teacher of the century, had recommended them.

I ended up tagging along with two people I didn't know, but they were from the other groups on the tour, so it's not like they were complete strangers, but that's pretty much how it felt. They were quite awkward and didn't like to talk...and that wasn't fun at all. But the good thing is we ended up seeing Moulin Rouge, sadly it was closed, but we stopped at the gift shop and it was awesome!

After we stopped there it was time for Pere Lechaise. I had seen countless slide show presentations in French class about this place, and I was stoked I would finally get to see it! When the subway stopped at the station to the cemetery, we got out and walked toward the entrance.

It was quite strange, the entire thing was surrounded by about a 25 foot wall that was all brick and grey. Almost like a castle, but with the sickest barbed wire ever. It wasn't even barbed wire, the top of this wall was lined with 10 inch spikes that were jagged and rusty, sure to stop anyone from grave robbing...or those people that go to cemeteries late at night that shouldn't be there...I don't know.

After we walked in we headed straight for a map...I looked for the name...and found it. James Morrison. He was marked at "CIRCLE 30". So I halfway memorized the map and headed that way. After about an hour of having no idea where I was in the cemetery, I finally saw it and the two people I was with (of whom I'm surprised kept up) were relieved. I took several pictures. The whole grave was surrounded by crowd control barriers, and also surrounded by a few of Jim's remaining fans. There were liquor bottles and beer surrounding the headstone. Many fresh roses and a few drawings and photographs of Jim, made by fans I assume. But after a little bit, we had to get back to Place d'Italie to eat lunch.

It was finally time to have a real European lunch. 3 courses and all. I tried to get Escargots, but sadly, no restaurants had them in the area the other two I was with wanted to eat. So I had duck salami as an appetizer, cow tongue and potatoes for the main course, and creme brûlée for dessert. It was really good, but the cow tongue wasn't the best meal I had. Ehhh.

I finally left the restaurant and met up with the rest of my group, who only wanted to shop, which is why I went with the other people in the first place, and talked to them for a while. Apparently, wherever they were while eating, someone felt like going to the bathroom right behind them. In the restaurant. The French are very unpredictable. Haha.

So we got back to the hotel after Stuart (tour guide) met up with us and took us down to the hotel, we got our things, and headed to the train station for my first experience with "the night train". And incase you're wondering, yes, it's a train that travels only at night.

It reminded me a lot of the train in the Harry potter movies. The set up was very similar to that at least. We had 6 people in an 8 by 7 foot room. 3 beds or chairs on either side, depending on your mood. But of course the food car was 20 cars from us. Which was a long walk...so I only made it down once before passing out in the bed for the night.

So that was my July 18th and so far I've been asked about 70000000 times "what's your favorite place so far?!" and I can't tell you people enough, it's all very nice. Europe has been one of the best experiences ever. So yeah. That's my answer.

I'm also kinda in suspense to see how many texts/phonemessages I get when I turn texting back on once I get back in the states. I don't know why that's so interesting to me...but whatever.

There isn't wifi anywhere, I'm on the bus to Rome right now (yes I'm late in writing this, but gimme a break, ive been dipped into every cultural staple of Europe in less than 2 weeks. I get tired at night and don't always finish the blog.) and maybe they will have wifi in that hotel. Hopefully.

Anyway, I guess that's it for July 18th. Ciao!

Matt Wofford

Blog for July 21, 2010

It's over. Today's the last time I'll spend a night in Europe. For this trip at least. I have hope of returning, because apparently throwing a coin into the famous fountain that was the trevvi, (spelling?) ensures that you will return to Rome. Hopefully since I threw two I expanded it to all of Europe, because there is still so much to see.

Today we went straight into Rome at 8:45 in the morning and went to the coliseum. We took a tour with our Italian guide. I forget her name...but she did really good. We later went to the roman forum, and then the Vatican. Afterward, we stopped out at a nice restaurant with no a/c. Boo. It was super burning up. Just like the rest of the day. Rome apparently has no concept of cool. Oh well. It was still pretty awesome.

One thing that bothers me is the driving and traffic. In Rome, what I seemed to observe is that if there is a spot where a car or moped can fit through, it's usually done. But the thing is, everyone seems to be fine with it! It almost scares me, but the other cool thing is that you can cross the road anywhere you want. So that's a nice little perk.

So after dinner, we went out on the Rome by night tour. We saw the trevvi fountain, and the pantheon, and the first church dedicated to the virgin Mary. So that was prettycool. Street performers are really good here.

But now I'm back at the hotel blogging my last blog for Europe. Maybe since I'm in the habit I can keep this going.

I have to wake up in about 5 hours, so I'm gonna go. Good night everyone!
Good bye Europe!

Matt Wofford

Btw, I sent out a whole crap load of postcards. Everyone that sent me your address should be getting one if you haven't already. Anyway...bye!

Blog for July 20, 2010

As you can probably guess, our day in Florence started off rather early and slow today. We had to bring our stuff down and eat breakfast. Afterwards we brought our stuff to the bus and got on for the ride to Assissi! (wrong spelling most likely)

Anyway, after we were on the bus for two hours we stopped at an italian rest stop, actually, an Italian Shell station. I forgot to take a picture, but the word they used for it was really cool. I also had the best cup of cappuccino ever. I had to have another as soon as possible. Then I bought water and went back out to the bus. It was cool though because you had to buy the drink first and take the reciept to get the drink. Reciept first, then beverage. It was weird but I liked it.

We were back on the bus then we got to Assissi and got off to look around and find the basilica of saint franceso, again, spelling is not the best with Italian, sorry. I got some more real pizza and real gelato. I was quite full. Then I headed back to the bus with the rest of the group.

I'm rooming with Fernando tonight, at this super cool hotel. Brooke is my new best friend apparently, which she didn't know legally binds her to a contract that will be mentioned later. On a better note, the couch I'm sitting on right now is comfy.

Tomorrow we go to Rome and the Vatican city to see the Sistine chapel and some other roman landmarks.

As for tonight I am done writing.
So...uhh...
Ciao!

Blog for July 19, 2010

You know when some people say that they are tired because they wake up and haven't stopped moving since? Well today I woke up moving already. Literally. Like, 80 miles per hour I think. I honestly don't know but I needed a good opening that had to do with the night train. Hah. Anyway, yeah...my nose started plugging up in the middle of the night, so sleeping was rather difficult, but was accomplished none the less. I was woken up to Greg saying to everyone that we have 45 minutes to get ready and get off the train. The thing was, we only have 10 minutes to get everything and everyone off the train. We got all the luggage next to the exit door and my friend and I were drafted to unload the train. As soon as it stopped I jumped out and we got everyones stuff off in 1 minute and 34 seconds. And luckily everyone got off before the train headed for Rome.

It was after all this commotion it hit me that we were in Italy. It was a pretty good feeling. The town seemed so much...nicer than Paris. Don't get me wrong, I love Paris, but our hotel (just like while we were in London) was out in some ghetto that was 45 minutes away from the city. But now that we're in italy, our hotel is actually inside a city!! I can actually walk to go get food rather than have to take the metro. Yay!!!

So after we got into the city from the train we got on the bus and headed straight for downtown Florence, Italy. Which was realllly cool. The first thing we did was go to a leather shop and learn about real Italian leather and how to tell what's real and what's not. We were taught several things about how it's treated and how it's dryed and stuff like that.

Afterwards, we took a walking tour of the city, and something surprised me about it. We were walking down a little street and then I realized...we were walking down a street! Not on a sidewalk next to a street, but in the street! What the heck?! I later learned that driving laws to Italians are a lot like the parsley that some restaurants put on your plate. The laws make no sense why they should be there, so the Italian people just ignore them. That's the same with a lot of rules. The cops are really just there to make sure Gucci isn't being counterfeited on the street rather than why the vendor was set up in the middle of the street anyway.

Something else in that city was really cool. The cathedral. I forget the official name, but it's just plain huge. But somehow it hides in the city so well. Seeing that was like...when you don't realize how tall something is until you're falling off of it. The feeling I got when looking at it almost made my stomach fall out of my butt. It was so awesome!

Ah anyway...after the walking tour, I went to lunch with some friends and had real pizza!! Like the real stuff!! It was literally the best pizza I had ever had. And it wasn't just a slice. Each person that got a pizza, got a pizza. But I swear I could have eaten three. Even the coke tasted royally good! I was in heaven! Then...we walked down the boulevard to a gelateria! Gelato! Real Italian gelato! It was amazing. By far the best food experience on the trip. On any trip, rather.

So after all that we actually went down to our hotel. I had a different roomate this time, but he was from another group and didn't have the best grasp of English. Luckily, my other friends on the trip had an extra bed in their penthouse of a hotel room, so I got to stay with them.

We had a really good dinner of pasta, turkey and cake. Then everyone pretty much either crashed or went out. Some people did both in the reverse order. But I stayed in our room most of the night and went out around midnight looking for gelato and got lost. Ha. It would have been better if I had a map that was in English. But I couldn't read the street signs because some streets simply didn't have any. But we made it back finally, and went to bed, I fell asleep before I could finish the blog from two days ago.

I'm still on the bus to Rome. So now I'm gonna put on my iPod and relax. My thumbs deserve it.

Ciao!
Matt Wofford

Blog for July 17th

July 17
The reason I'm not posting this the actual night of of the day is because the day didn't end til around 4:30am this morning. But you'll learn about that soon enough. As for now, a recap of yesterday.

We woke up at around 7:10am and went to eat a breakfast of cornflakes and French bread. There was also a very tasty drink that was almost like orange juice, but wasn't. It was like orange juice, and the sweetest tasting fruit ever met and had a baby. It's great. In-fact, I'm enjoying a cup now as I type. But this blog is about yesterday, so let's move on.

After breakfast we headed down to the bus and everyone, all 50 of us, loaded in. We headed around Paris with our French based tour guide. She took us to many of the major monuments in Paris, including l'arc de triumph, which I believe is my favorite monument. But my absolute favorite will have to be the Eiffel tower, in fact, the tower and I had a bit of a bonding experience, but I'll discuss that more later. As for the tour, it ended at around 11h30 and the Versailles tour group broke off from the rest and we headed off to the lovely city of Versailles and the palace.

When we arrived, we were all issued a "whisper". These things were a brilliant idea. What would happen was, the tour group would get a receiver necklace and the guide got a transmitter necklace. She would talk into a mic, and we would hear her in our right ear...even if it meant sometimes that wasn't the most opportune thing at the time to be hearing.

One thing I don't like about this trip is that I totally fit the stereotype for American tourist and there's nothing I can do to help that. Even with my knowledge of the French language, I'll never get to use it if I am constantly with a heard of homo sapiens that are all wearing the same backpack. Let's just say we get scoffed at a lot. Anyway, moving on.

After Versailles and some adventures around that area to try to find something good to eat, we headed back to a pizzeria for dinner. Even though Italy isn't until tomorrow, we get lasagna here...in France. But I won't complain because that was the best lasagna I have ever had. Ever.

Then, the entire group except for two people and myself went to a Paris by night tour. Now there are a few reasons I didn't go on that little excursion, and they follow. One, it cost 35 euros to go on the tour, and those things aren't cheap at all. Two, I'm not much of a sightseeer, it gets boring really quickly...especially from the seat of a bus. And finally, the last reason is because I really wanted to go to the Eiffel tower, and that wasn't going to happen if the three of us stuck with the group. So we ventured off alone into the unknown land of Paris.

We first got on the metropolitan rail lines to go to a station called Bir-Hakeim, which was 11 stops from our current position, but it was fun none the less. We headed off the train and walked over to the tower. The amount of people willing to sell you things surrounding the monument astounded me. There must have been at least 100 sales men that were around under there, and I think they each approached us twice. After waiting in the queue for about 2 and a half hours, we finally made it onto the elevator to go to the tower. Take in mind, we got there at 7:30, and didn't get back to the hotel until the next morning at 1:20am. Anyway, so we made it up to the first level...then took some pictures...and waited in another line. A line that took forever, but was definitely faster than the first one. Then we finally made it on the elevator and "got European" with the other locals and tourists that boarded the lift with us. Getting European means not having any personal space and being able to squeeze yourself into places and positions you never thought possible. But once we finally made it off the tower...which was an amazing experience, by the way....we headed back to the RER station that would take us back to the hotel. Unfortunately...no one reminded us that the RER closes at midnight...and we got off the tower at 12:25am. So we kept walking...looking for another station...but we passed a cafe and I was hungry. So I partook in the great food that was offered, and talked about the situation with the other two in the group.

We ended up going to a Metropolitan station, which runs until 2am and after much debating on which line we were supposed to board, we finally made it on one that would take us to a taxi station. Some folks in the subway recommended this instead of trying to find a bus that would take us back. After we made it back to the hotel, the adventure had only just begun.

My two roommates were waiting in the room when I got back. Not sleeping and not wanting to do so. So having the same attitude, I helped us decide what to do.

We watched some YouTube, got to walk around the hotel a bit, talked to other people in our group, and then did like the funniest thing ever. Which is too hot for blogspot! Well, not really, but you'll have to see the video, which should be on YouTube within the month.

I'm on the subway now, but I think I have to wait til we get to Italy to post this...which will be on Monday, but they might not have wifi. Hopefully they do.

Peace
Matt Wofford

PS they didn't

Bienvinue a Paris!

Alright...so officially day 4 in Europe, and now onto a new country! Just when I get used to the other country, I have to move off to another one that's even more unlike america! But none the less just as awesome! The feeling of being thrown into a language I enjoy is a very good feeling. I can talk to people, and they can talk to me...if I can understand them, that is. Mr.Cole spoke a lot slower in French 3 than the actually Parisians talk. But I like it, it's ringing a lot of bells from the past about my classes, and talking to people during the first day has already gotten easier.

We started the day in London, as you know. We got up around 5:15am, then went down for breakfast. But before that, we had to get everything ready for the trip to Paris. Of course, after everything is rushed to be packed, we noticed that a bus wasn't outside of our hotel. This is odd because a bus was supposed to be there at 6 ready for loading (it's already 10 past at this point). Apparently, the bus got delayed, so instead of a crappy bag lunch from Great Britain, we got one last real one.

So once we actually got on the train, I played cards with some friends for the amount of time we were aboard, and almost forgot to use the Lou while onboard. Whoops, that won't ever happen again.

When we got to Paris, we got off the train and headed to our hotel. Imagine the niceish part of Irving, under a whole bunch of construction, with a really nice hotel packed in the middle of it. Well, we happen to not be in the nicest part of Paris, and our building is lovely. If that paints any pictures for you.

We then went off to see Notre Dame Paris; cathedral. It's still under use today and it took over 180 years to build. Then we went to lunch and then we went to the night session of the louvre. It was excellent

Then we came back to the hotel and got hungry and tired. Luckily I had some cracker jacks because our dinner wasn't very much to fill us up.

But I keep dozing off and such so I will update more on Paris tomorrow!

I bid you adieu!
-Matthew Wofford

London!

Blog for July 15th, 2010:

Whenever I embark on a trip, I usually know if I'll have a good time or not depending on the amount of water surrounding the location...seeing as Europe is a peninsula and Great Britain (where we are now) is a huge island with a lovely little river running through it, it promised to be a blast...but that was not the case. The amount of joy and excitement I have received from London has absolutely and in every way turned my expectations into rubble that would compare to the amount left by the great London fire in 1066. This trip has totally blown my mind and it's only the second day.

Today when we woke up, we headed down for breakfast, which was a bit strange. They use a different type of sausage and they actually fry eggs in hot oil rather than just cheat and do it sunny side up like us. I got to try marmite for the first (and last) time. It was absolutely disgusting and will never be going into my mouth again. The toast here is very good, and the tube service (Aka London Underground) is brilliant. Watch out blocking and cutting in the queue. It's bad form.

After breakfast we headed off to our first official tour of London. We had a giant Mercedes Benz bus and it was pretty cool. We stopped at several places, my favorite probably being the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. It was shortly after that I found a post box, and my first batch of postcards went on their way.

We later ventured to the Tower of London and heard many interesting things about Torture and execution. We also got to see all the crowned jewels of England, and even one of India. The largest diamond in the world, at a measurement of 530.2 karats, is also housed in the tower of london, guarded by two armed guards. The same guards, infact, from the Palace earlier that day.

At the end of the night, we had dinner at some British food place (really Indian food, but it's so much assimilated into their society, they call it British) and then went to my favourite activity of the night...the show!

We went to see "Blood Brothers" at the recommendation of our guide, Stu. It was an excellent excellent amazing wonderful all out awesome production. The acting was good an the cast wasn't super huge, but it was great.

After the show, we headed out to the hotel and packed up for the night...my roomates and I stayed up til about 2 playing cards and stuff, not planning on sleeping due to we have to get up at 5am tomorrow....but a hotel worker came up and told us to quiet down because apparently the sound of mild laughing and card playing was too much for the other group next door.

Well, time to go...Paris tomorrow and it will rock!

Peace
Matt Wofford

Arrival.

So we finally made it to London today at around 12:00noon there time. Right now it's midnight here, and I've been forced to set up a little corner of my Internet bliss in the bar in our hotel. It's going very well so far though! I didn't sleep at all on the plane, but watched about 6 movies. They were all really good and most I hadn't seen before. The plane was really cool. We got two meals,
Dinner and breakfast. It was delicious. I couldn't even really taste it, but it was food and it was good.

So now that I'm hunkered down with only 36 minutes per 3 pounds I give them of Internet, I'll have to keep this brief, but I'll try to elaborate soon.

We started the day after we landed by going to the hotel to freshen up. We have a really cool tour guide named Stuart. Or stu. But nothing other than the two, or he will just ignore you. He is very down to earth and he has a twisted sick of humor so we get along pretty well. I never knew so much was different from the USA and Britain, but there is so much! I've taken probably 300 pictures just today, which I will have to delete some in order to capture the whole trip. We went to a few different places before heading to dinner at 6:30pm. We went to big Ben, the houses of government, the square of trifailger or something like that. And a few others. We went to dinner at a pub called the centre page. It was actually really cool. The interior structuring of buildings here is so much different than the USA it's almost surreal. It rains off and on, so having to constantly try to fumble with an umbrella and borrowed camera is a bit tough, but I get it done pretty well.

So anyway, at dinner we all were served the English classic, fish and chips. Which is actually fish and French fries, but don't call them that here! And I got to try out a Guinness extra cold beer. It was actually very good and cant wait to sample the rest of europes unique flavors.

Then after dinner, I reluctantly bought a ticket for the London eye at 17.85 pounds. Which is like, 24 dollars American. It really was just a giant farris wheel right in the center of london that could let you see as far as the eye could see. It was pretty boring after the first few seconds when while boarding the pod you are assigned, it continues moving...so it's a bit challenging for the slow folks.

After the eye, we went through one more shop and I got my first batch of post cards at 10.75 pounds. That included postage as well. So you lucky 7 people to get a postcard from london should be getting it soon...I hope.

But now as I sit in the bar while my roomates sleep, I realize I need to sleep as well because after about 30 hours without any, London won't be super enjoyable.

So tomorrow we are going to see "Blood Brothers" a show created by London for London. We got within the first 5 rows and the tickets were only 30 pounds each because our guide used to be an actresses brother.

Crap, ok, I'm going to bed. I can hardly think!

Good night everyone!
I miss you all!!!

T- 20H 27M to takeoff

I officially cannot wait for Europe. I know it will be a rewarding experience and I can't thank my parents enough for allowing me to go on this trip! I am trying to get as little sleep as possible so I can sleep on the plane tomorrow, but we will see how well that goes.
Right now, I'm updating my iPod and putting lots of boredom reducing materials on it. And as for tomorrow, I'll finish up packing and head to the airport around 2:45pm.
I got an amazing camera to use on my trip! And I can't wait to start using it.
Other than that, I will see all of you on the flipside. I will have wifi sometimes, but please, no calls or texts.

Thanks!
Matthew Wofford

Senior year... (T-1D:13H to takeoff)

Is OVER! I know it's been like half a year since I've cleaned the dust off my keyboard, and my typing skills are suffering greatly. I can already feel the fingers starting to ache tomorrow after I finish typing this. A lot has happened this year, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT! Somethings were good, some were great, and some were amazing! But we might as well go in order, shall we? Let's get started...

The Technician: Between September and December...
Well, I was officially the Head Theatre Technician at the Jack Singley Academy. that gave me great pride and responsibility as well. Not only was I in-charge of all things technical that went on with the theatre, I had to show up for almost every single Senior/Junior/Sophomore/Freshman event EVER. Between the several several hundred people in the school, only 3 were trained on the specifics of the new auditorium, which was finally finished in October of '09. Myself, Michael Hill (auditorium manager, musical guru) and Lacey Rowe (theatre teacher, scene painting wizard). And out of the three, the only one who had time to really get to know the equipment on a deeper level, was, you guessed it, ME. Never in a million years would I complain about having such a responsibility, because working under pressure is what I do best. ALL aspects of technical theatre amuse and confuse me, which is probably why I have stuck with it for 3 years, starting with medieval times. The thrill of knowing that you're only one button push away from screwing up an entire crew of people's hard work is exhilarating. But not only was I the tech for all class events, I also was assigned the choir shows that happened. There were two that happened during this period. The first was the opening choir show, that had a variety of songs that were nice, a few solos here and there, but I can't remember the theme of it. I'm sure there was one, but it's not coming to me right now. No matter, anyway...where was I....Oh yeah! The tech! Well, as many of you know, I am absolutely obsessed with lighting. I live it, breathe it, sleep it, and in some cases, eat it. But the chance that I was given to work with my own set of intelligent lights...was...nothing less than the BEST WEEK EVER! I had about a week to design a light show for a song called "Colors of Winter". It was not my best work, obviously, but with the help of my boss at Medieval Times, Rick Grimes, it was good enough for the entire choir to like it! I impressed a lot of people, including myself with that show. If you want to check out the final version of that very light show, CLICK HERE. I forgot to mention this, but at the first concert of the year, the one I didn't do a super fancy light show for, I performed along side my friend Chris Farrar as "The Matt Wofford Project". We played two songs, and both have a live recording on the projects website HERE. During all this auditorium awesomeness that is going on, I had to worry about getting my Eagle Scout, and the musical...which were definitely the best parts of the year.

The Actor and Technician: From December to May...
So after the busy season of the Auditorium died down...another one started up. The Academy's very first musical! It was nothing short of a historic event. I first noticed signs up for auditions around the end of December...and immediately started preparing a monologue. Now, let's take a moment to look at my past. The only productions I have ever been in that are even close to being theatre related would be church Christmas plays; where I was always either a shepherd or an angel. One year, I was a homeless man, but I wouldn't call that experience. I had honestly had no "for real" experience acting for theatre. Earlier in the year, around September or October, I auditioned for a part in "Sander's Family Christmas", which would have been my first real production, but, sadly, I was out read at the audition, and didn't get the part. I did go to see the play and Sonny Franks, the man who got me an audition in the first place, who was the lead role and musical director for the production. He said the kid only got the part because of experience, but he liked the way I read the part. The character was supposed to be a kid going to war. This kid looked like he was going to a puberty seminar on his way to see how an erection worked...not the horrors of war. But none the less, he did perform the part well, and I enjoyed the show. But as I approached the auditions for our musical, I thought of a few different scenarios that could happen. 1, I could have been exactly what they needed to play the part I wanted, but I wouldn't be allowed because I was too necessary on the technical side of the production. 2, I could have sucked at the audition and been stuck with doing the tech stuff. Or the scenario I wanted, 3, I would get the part I wanted, and still get to design all the lighting for the show. After the audition....I was very happy to be called back...and then even happier when I learned I had gotten the part of The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz"!!! As soon as I heard the news, I told the others in the cast and everyone else I could think of. I had to start advertising as soon as possible! I couldn't wait to begin work on the show! My first real show! And the best part was I got singing solos! I hardly knew it before this year, but I love singing. And the musical let me know I was also very interested in tap dancing. Two things I hope to get more training on next year at TCU. Before I get to that, I'll have you know, the three nights that "Oz" went on, were the best three nights ever! We couldn't have had a better show! The music, the acting, the lighting, the sound, the EVERYTHING went amazingly well for the Academy's first ever live musical production. After the musical died down, I did find myself a woman, who went with me to Prom, Arianna Nau. Her, Bree Keele, and I had a great little friendship, then some stuff happened, I ended up going out with Arianna, and that pretty much screwed all of it up. I admit, I kinda figured if we did go out, the whole "three of us" would go down the tubes, but it was definitely a good relationship to have been in, and while it didn't last due to some differences in opinion, I think it was for the better. We still all talk, but the three of us won't be like it used to be, and I have to admit I will miss it. But of course all of this was still going on while I was getting ready for COLLEGE! and trying to get my eagle scout, and the auditorium lighting business continued through the year. I had designed lighting for a middle school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, an elementary school production of The Music Man, and Dana's Dance Academy's Summer Show. I was only paid for one out of those, and honestly, I don't even care. I have so much fun doing lighting and the performing arts, I wouldn't even worry about money.

The College Freshman, The Actor and The Technician
May through June
Of course, as a senior, I was reminded all throughout the year to apply for college and make sure I get accepted to a good one. At the start of my college search, I applied to four universities. All were local, and all seemed to have what I needed, but only one would be mine. My application to the University of Texas at Arlington was the first to be returned and accepted. I was happy, I had been accepted into something, anyone would be. But the feeling I wanted wasn't there, it was then I decided this wasn't the college for me. Then, I got an acceptance letter from the University of North Texas. This was my absolute last choice, and when I had learned that I was accepted to UTA, UNT basically just fell through the cracks. I had later received a large packet from Texas Christian University. While this university wasn't my first choice...anytime I looked at the acceptance packet, or held it, I felt something. I don't know what it was, but it was a good feeling. I let it pass me up though, because the letter I was really waiting for hadn't arrived...the letter I wanted from Southern Methodist University. My best-gay-friend, Sammy Partida, had been accepted there for the theatre program, and I couldn't wait to get my letter....but it never came. I waited and waited, checking the mail box everyday...when FINALLY...I got....and email. Ugh. Not what I expected, but ok, I'll play your little game SMU. Apparently I needed to audition for the theatre program...something that had fell through my list of things to do. And with the little experience I had, I didn't expect there to be auditions! But sadly when I learned about the final audition date, it was too late to get the day off work I needed to go do it. Not to mention I had nothing prepared. So I ended up not doing the audition. I was hoping that they might let me in the school...just not into theatre...but I had this weird feeling...and sure enough, a few weeks later, a letter came in and SMU denied me. Well, I say, 3 out of 4 ain't bad at all. I was certainly happy with it, because I finally could hold that TCU packet and feel right about sending them my final transcript. It was at orientation when I started asking myself the obvious question of "Why the hell did I want to go to SMU? Stupid ponies." I love TCU, and I couldn't ask for more generous family members. Mom and Dad are taking care of the housing costs, while Grandparents are taking care of the tuition. That is such a good thing to not have to worry about financial crap while in college, and I can't thank them enough for paying my way. And if they are reading this, I love you! All of you! And I won't let you down! So now that I'm off to TCU...and pretty much set for the next 4 years of my life...nothing to do but relax. Right?
...WRONG.

The Worldwide Traveler, The College Freshman, The Actor, The Technician.
NOW
Europe?! I'm going to Europe?! I must have forgotten about the group I joined at the beginning of the year...so much has happened....so much has distracted me from the glory that is a European Vacation. When it did hit me that I would be going to Europe in less than three weeks, I was super excited. I couldn't remember the last time I was so excited to go somewhere...well...that's not true. When the school went to see "Wicked"...I'm pretty sure I peed my pants from how awesome that was. But anyway, back to Europe. So...yeah...I'm going to Europe! And I can't wait! The plane leaves on Tuesday at 7:45 from D/FW Intl. I am not looking forward to the flight, because I don't like being bored...but the experience will be worth a thousand more flights. I haven't even started packing, and I am almost positive I will be sleeping for the first half of the day tomorrow, seeing as it's almost 6am and I haven't even posted this yet. Which reminds me, I should probably get to bed.

Thank you for reading through my senior year....I left out a lot of things...more than I even know of....but if I left anyone else out...I'm sorry and I'm sure I'll remember soon.

I will be updating this blog (hopefully daily) from my new iPhone on the trip, but if I can't get WiFi, you can forget about that! There is no way I'm paying 20 dollars per megabyte just to write a blog. I would start charging my readers....ha.

Anyway, I shall now go to bed and I will fill everyone in tomorrow!

Have an Excellent Day!

-Matthew Wofford


NEW UPDATE:
I forgot to add in there somewhere, I recently became an avid fire spinning enthusiast. I have a video on my facebook of me spinning fire, and you can check it out HERE. Thanks! Sorry!