My Dad, Gretchen and I had a great time at the movies on Saturday. We went to see "Charlie and the Chocalate Factory" at the movie theater and even though Dad had 3 cops of coffee, he fell asleep with 30 minutes left. Oh well, I couldn't concentrate on the movie anyways because Gretchens foot was touching mine through most of the movie. It had some funny parts and really good special effects so I guess I liked it, but every time Gretchen laughed I couldn't hear anything going on in the movie for a really long time. Afterwards, we went out for dinner and ice cream and then we drove Gretchen home. The only thing that was uncomfortable is when Dad asked Gretchen about her Dad and she had to tell him about how her Dad died. I guess it was my fault because i forgot to tell him about her Dad, but Gretchen said that its ok because shes used to it. Gretchen also gave me that picture of her when she was 7 (or maybe shes 8, I can't remember).

I talked to Cousin Mat yesterday and we talked briefly and he seemed somewhat excited by my ancestor project and he said he would send me some pictures soon with stories. He did say that many of the von Schamann family left Austria and Germany after the second world war and some cousins and uncles died fighting for the nazis. I was a little upset by this but he also said that some other members of the family including a Bucheister (different spelling) left before the war because they didn't agree with the nazis and Hitler. I told him that Grandpa Jems parents came here before Grandpa was born because of the first world war and eventually settled in Missouri. Then I said that I think it is strange to have to leave your home country because of a war and that I could understand how some would decide to stay and fight even though they don't completely agree with the war or are uncertain about what its for. He said that it is important to fight for your country because it is your only home, but it made me confused because in history class we talked about the civil war in America and how people fought against each other. "War doesn't always make sense" cousin mat said and I had to agree with that. I asked him why he is a bodybuilder and he said it was because he started lifting weights with his friends when he was a kid in austria and he liked it because it was challenging and made him feel good about himself. I wanted to ask him about steroids and whether he has taken them, but I was a little afraid by what he might say. In science class we have to pick a topic to research this quarter and I have picked steroids and its effect on people. Maybe I'll ask cousin mat to help me with the project and that might be better then asking him if he took them. He is afterall really big and kind of scary. Gretchen only laughs when she sees the pictures of mat because she thinks its funny that he doesn't seem to be changing very much during the 3 pictures of him. "I guess he seems to be getting more red" i said which only made her turn red (like her hair) when she tried not to choke on her french fries.
Amy (the only one who leaves good comments) has reminded me that I need a word of the week so I guess I'll choose the word "digital", which I heard someone say about the special effects in the movie. It means "relating to or using signals or information represented by discrete values (digits) of a physical quantity, such as voltage or magnetic polarization, to represent arithmetic numbers or approximations to numbers from a continuum or logical expressions and variables". Yikes. The only example of its use is "digital television". Maybe you can help me here Amy.