Greetings once again, my friends!

As the title suggests, I just had my 20th birthday, on October 29, 2015, to be exact! It was quite the occasion, I suppose, as it marked the end of my teenage years.

It also marked the tenth anniversary of my website, a most auspicious date. Back in 2005 my website was a simple page with a photo of birthday cake, and a message reading something like “Happy 10th Birthday, Peter!” For whatever reason, I considered posting a photo of me at age 10, which is when I got my website as a birthday present. Fortunately for you, I a) thought better of it, and b) discovered I do not personally have any.

I imagine a picture of me at that time would have been soon after I’d just gotten braces, and too soon for any significant improvement to have occurred. My smile back then was pretty! … Pretty weird. 😀

Funny thing is, I remember always wanting braces right up until I got them, because I thought they were the coolest thing ever. Now, ten years later, I still have braces. Word to the wise: Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it! (All right… let’s face it, I still think braces are the coolest thing ever. 😎 )

As for how my birthday went, it was great. Though my favorite class, conversational Chinese, was cancelled, and I had a quiz and an exam in my other two classes, I got to visit home afterwards. I had some Italian food, some apple pie and ice cream.

I insisted on twenty candles. I blew out the candles easily, surprising myself. (In addition I’m almost surprised I didn’t burn the house down somehow with that many candles.)

Daniel took a picture of just the pie, and informed me he thought it looked better than when I was in the shot. Ha, ha, Daniel. You win this one…

I got some pretty great presents, which funnily were all either edible or LEGO Star Wars sets. I built the LEGO sets I got but have already disassembled most of them.

On Saturday we went to the Randolph air show. I did not know about this until about twenty minutes before we left, but I enjoyed it, so I’d say I was pleasantly surprised.

There was a pilot performing insane tricks when we first arrived. Nose dives, spins, free falling, you name it, that pilot did it. The plane even had a colored smoke trail. I did not think to take any photos then, which I maybe should have, but who knows, they might not have even turned out well.

And as if that wasn’t good enough, the pilot then flew not more than a few yards above–I kid you not–A. Rocket. Truck. Now I’m no rocket surgeon, but it looked like your average everyday truck, just with a crazy rocket strapped to it. If you’ve never seen a rocket truck, I’m sorry, but words cannot describe that kind of awesomeness. You’ll just have to go see one for yourself.

Though the thunderbirds were the main event, I have to say the stunt pilot really stole the show. Especially since the thunderbirds flew 50-something minutes later than scheduled.

While waiting for them, we walked around a bit, looking a bunch of the planes that were on display and stuff. Of course they started just as we were about to go inside a plane we’d been standing in line for like twenty minutes!

All things considered that plane was worth missing most of the thunderbirds show. Daniel and my dad had gone off to look at some other stuff, so it was just John, Gloria, my mom, and I who went inside the plane.

We got to sit in the cockpit, and then after, go down into the belly of the plane. Come to think of it, I never asked what the plane’s intended purpose was, but I suppose it was a troop/cargo transport hybrid, as it had a lot of seats, as well as a cargo hold.

During the weekend we played some Super Smash Bros., and on Sunday I got to go with my uncle Paul to Chester’s Hamburgers. Their hamburgers are so good they don’t even need to put any advertising on their sign, they often simply have “Go Spurs Go”.

Afterwards he and I walked down to the Cibolo Creek, and the flooding from all the rain we’ve been having was unbelievable. There were cactuses that had been brought downstream to rest in treetops! We found a couple small fish that had been stranded in a puddle, so we moved them into the creek.

When we got back to his house, we ate some fruit and watched the Spurs game. They won, despite making some pretty sloppy plays in the second half.

All in all, it was a pretty fun visit back home, and a great 20th birthday.

By the way, there is a new post on the Adventure blog. Check it out: Æthelred the Second’s Ill-Advised Treasure Trove. I’m still working on getting subscription up and running, which should be happening soon. After that my next priority is the comments section, then correct redirects.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with a photo I took the other night:

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!