REPORT CARD (for real this time)

I am in a fantabulously good mood at the moment. First the SAT, and now this.

I just got an A+ in U.S. History Honors. I am so excited right now, it's kind of unhealthy. I just worked ridonkulously hard on that portfolio, it's tough not to get excited about it.

And I'll be home tomorrow afternoon. See you soon!

Small Children and Facebook

This morning, I showed my cousins my facebook. First I pulled up the homepage, and explained that it was kind of like email. Then I checked my notifications, and there was a picture of Gretchen on there, so I clicked on it. May (who is 8 years old) looked at it. "Is she Chinese?"
"Yes."
"Oh," she said, nodding. I then clicked over to my sisters wall, on the post I'd sent yesterday, and Kat (who is 10) wandered over.
"Watcha doin?" she asked.
"Tea's showing me her facebook."
"This is Genie's wall. Do you want to write anything?"
They did, talking about Kat's new drum set and how obnoxious they thought it was. Then we went and wrote on other cousins' walls.
To a girl two years older than me: Kat says, "whatup? you missed a great vacation. I got a great new drum set that's sparkly and silver and big and loud." May says, "how's your boyfriend doing? he has really long hair."
to that girls one year older brother: Hi. How was your trip home? Kat says "I GOT NEW DRUMS!!! How's your girlfriend?" May says "she's like up to your chin because she's so short."
to another boy, a junior in college: I'm sitting here with kat and may, and they both wanted to talk to you. Kat says "you're so obnoxious. I got a great awesome new sparkley big and loud drum set." May says "All Kat's talking about is her awesome new drum set that she's only allowed to have for a year because she's borrowing it from her friend. Say hi to your girlfriend."
Then they just sat there for a minute.
"Do you want to see anything else?" I asked.
"Can we look at pictures of your friends?"
"Sure. Who do you want to see?"
"Hmmmm...." said Kat. "How about Mario-y"
"Who?"
"Mario."
"You want to see Mario?"
"YES!"
"Okay, okay." I went to his profile.
"Oh my god," said Kat. "He's hot!"
"What?" I said.
"He is!"
"Can we see more pictures of him?" asked May.
"Sure." I clicked open on his photos (there are only eight of them, fortunately)
"Why's he all dressed up?"
"He went to prom."
"Did you go to prom?"
"I already told you I didn't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not a junior."
"And he is?"
"No..."
"Then how come he went to prom?"
"Cause that girl asked him."
"Is that his girlfriend?"
"I don't know, I don't think so."
"Are you going to prom with him next year?" asked Kat.
"Um, I don't-"
"You should ask him out!" said May.
"What?!"
"Yeah! Ask him to see a movie or something."
"I can't just-"
"Yes you can. Just call him and ask."
"It's not that easy."
"Is too!"
"It's be weird. I haven't seen him for like a month."
"So?"
"Maybe next year, alright?"
"Okay..." said May. "Do you know anyone else who went to prom?"
"Uh, yeah. This is Tierra," I said, going to her profile. "That's a picture of her at prom."
"She's not very pretty. Do you think she's pretty?" asked Kat.
I turned and glared at her. "Excuse me?"
"Well, she's not the prettiest person in the world, I don't mean that she's ugly or anything."
"It's still mean. And she's perfectly nice looking!"
"I guess so. Can we see more pictures."
I sighed. "Sure." I pulled up the pictures of Tierra at prom. "That's a girl from math team. I love her dress. And that's the boy who asked Tierra."
"Is that her boyfriend?"
"No, they're just friends. And that's a girl who color-codes her closet."
"That's weird."
"Yes it is."
"She looks prettier in this picture."
"Thank you," I said.
"Can we see pictures of you, now?" asked May.
"Yeah, sure." I started clicking through. When I reached the one of Gretchen and a girl who went to China with Nyx, Kat turned to me and said, "You have a lot of Asian friends."
"Um, yes. I do."

Report Cards

It's been, like, a week, and I want mine, so I called my mom and asked for my code and whatnot, and she gave it to me, but report cards are not yet online. How annoying.

In other news, I have a spent-all-day-reading-in-a-beach-chair tan. My shoulders and chest are burnt, my tummy and legs are somewhat tan, but my back looks as if I never even went to the beach. It's rather comical, really.

Waves

The waves here are very very big. Sometimes, they are bigger than me. In the scheme of things, they probably aren't actually that huge. They are too small to surf in, after all. However, they are still large. My cousins do, however, manage to body surf. This involves bobbing up and down until a large wave comes along, then, when it tries to pull you under, paddling full speed towards shore until the wave sweeps you up and throws you around for a few seconds, slamming you into the ground repeatedly.
Needless to say, it isn't particularly fun, but the guys love it.

Vacation Thus Far

I was walking into the restaurant with my Uncle. He asked me if I like school, and I said that I did smiling.
"You know, you're really blossoming."
"Blossomed?" I responded incredulously.
"Yes, blossomed. Expanded. Opened up. Gotten happier."
I grinned. "I suppose." It was nice to know that the increased confidence I felt was also showing.
"You know, you must have a boyfriend hidden away somewhere."
"What?"
"Usually when someone seems this happy, it's because they've got a guy."
"Ha. No."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Really?"
"The only boys I have right now are imaginary."
He laughed, and we arrived at the restaurant.

The next day, I told my Aunt that I like Mario. When I mentioned that I was going to aske him if anyone got into the program, she started brainstorming ideas for me. They ran the gamut from "Hi, Mario. Did you hear who got into the program? How about a movie next weekend?" to "Hey, do you know who got in? Are they as cute as you?"

In other news, I got an 800 on the math SAT-II. My extended family (all 17 of them) has now toasted to me 3 times. My cousin (the one who played pro baseball for a year) said that my 800 was probably more than his girlfriend and his brother's SAT scores combined. My SAT scores from when I was 12 are also higher than his girlfriends. To be completely honest, I feel a bit guilty for testing so well. What right do I have to get such high scores. I'm hardly working significantly harder than everyone else.

I'll be back online in a few days.
Byeeeee

Vacaciones

I'm going to be out of town for the next week, and I don't think I'll have much computer access, so I suppose that you're just going to have to entertain yourselves.

Yes, there are heroic actions in Frankenstein, both by the Dr. and the Creation. At one point in the story, Dr. Frankenstein was in the process of creating another monster, this one as a wife for the creation. However, rather than bring another into the world, he decided to destroy the wife and sacrifice himself to his original creation. From his own perspective, he was being heroic. His actions actually had the opposite effect, and his friends were killed. Regardless, Dr. Frankenstein made a heroic decision, even if its results were not as he anticipated. The main heroic action of the Creation is his self-destruction and the end of the book. He is an abomination, the result of Dr. Frankenstein’s mishap. By removing himself from the world, he gets rid of all trace of Frankenstein’s work, allowing humanity to continue on its natural path. This is heroic because it is self-sacrifice for the betterment of humanity.

Now, here it is when I run it through babelfish back and forth

To Japanese: It is, Frankenstein hero behavior, it does both by the teacher and compilation. Temporarily in the story, as for Frankenstein teacher it was put in the process of compilation of this person the alone monster, as a wife for drawing up already. However, from in the margin world which is rubbed we had decided another ones, to destroy the wife and sacrifice him himself in compilation of that origin of him, it has, do. From his himself prospect, he was hero. That behavior brought the effect which is opposite really, that friend killed. In spite even to that, as for Frankenstein teacher that he expected, there is no result simultaneously, hero decision was done. Compilation being principal, hero behavior is that self-destruction and the edge of the book. As for him Frankenstein' of misfortune of hatred and teacher; It is the s result. He removes all marks of the work of Frankenstein by removing him himself from the world, in order to continue on the natural road, humanity does. Because this that is self sacrifice for improving the humanity, it is hero.

To Spanish: Yes, there are heroic actions in Frankenstein, next to the Dr. and of the creation. In a point in history, the Dr. Frankenstein was in course to create another monster, this one like wife for the creation. Nevertheless, something that others in the world, he decided to destroy the wife and the same sacrifice to his original creation. Of his own perspective, it was heroic. Their actions really had the opposed effect, and killed their friendly. The Dr. Frankenstein costs what costs, made a heroic decision, even if they were not his results whereas it anticipated. Main the heroic action of the creation is its self-destruction and the end of the book. It is a hatred, the result of the misfortune of the Dr. Frankenstein. Taking off of the world, it gets rid of all the sign of the work of Frankenstein, allowing that the humanity continues in its natural trajectory. This is heroic because he is self-sacrifice for the improvement of the humanity.

100!

This is my hundredth blog post. To commemorate, I thought I'd share some highlights of the past 100 posts.

In February, I had my first emo-ish introspective semi-rant. As far as I know, nobody bothered to read it, because, at that point, I had no readers.

Until.....Catering, written a few days after my 16th birthday, when Vicky first became a regular reader, at the time, my only reader. My birthday also marked when I began posting daily. Soon thereafter, I got my permit and began terrorizing the roads. I was also terrorized by high schoolers who lacked physical contact boundaries.

Then, in May, two important events occurred. Firstly, Mario became a regular character, and Nyx and Gretchen joined the club, with Gretch even starting her own blog. I also shared both dirty jokes and nerdy jokes. We also discovered both the Debrahs and the Jillians of cyberspace. We also learned about tampons and my subconscious.

It has been, to say the least, a very eventful 100 posts.

NOW, just for kicks, I looked up 100 random questions. I'm going to post the questions here, then answer them in a comment.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch?

3. Before you started this survey, what were you doing?

4. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

5. Without looking, guess what time it is

6. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?

7. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

8. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

9. Did you dream last night?

10. Do you remember your dreams?

11. When did you last laugh?

12. Do you remember why / at what?

13. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

14. Seen anything weird lately?

15. What do you think of this quiz?

16. What is the last film you saw?

17. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?

18. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

19. Tell me something about you that most people don't know.

20. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

21. Do you like to dance?

22. Would you ever consider living abroad?

23. Does your name make any interesting anagrams?

24. Who made the last incoming call on your phone?

25. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?

26. Last time you swam in a pool?

27. Type of music you like most?

28. Type of music you dislike most?

29. Are you listening to music right now?

30. What color is your bedroom carpet?

31. If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do?

32. What was the last thing you bought?

33. Have you ever ridden on a motorbike?

34. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?

35. Do you have a garden?

36. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem?

37. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?

38. If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be?

39. Who sent the last text message you received?

40. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

41. What time is bed time?

42. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?

43. How many tattoos do you have?

44. If you don't have any, have you ever thought of getting one?

45. What did you do for your last birthday?

46. Do you carry a donor card?

47. Who was the last person you ate dinner with?

48. Is the glass half empty or half full?

49. What's the farthest-away place you've been?

50. When's the last time you ate a homegrown tomato?

51. Have you ever won a trophy?

52. Are you a good cook?

53. Do you know how to pump your own gas?

54. If you could meet any one person (from history or currently alive), who would it be?

55. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school?

56. Do you touch-type?

57. What's under your bed?

58. Do you believe in love at first sight?

59. Think fast, what do you like right now?

60. Where were you on Valentine's day?

61. What time do you get up?

62. What was the name of your first pet?

63. Who is the second to last person to call you?

64. Is there anything going on this weekend?

65. How are you feeling right now?

66. What do you think about the most?

67. What time do you get up in the morning?

68. If you had A Big Win in the Lottery, how long would you wait to tell people?

69. Who would you tell first?

70. What is the last movie that you saw at the cinema?

71. Do you sing in the shower?

72. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

73. What do you do most when you are bored?

74. What do you do for a living?

75. Do you love your job?

76. What did you want to be when you grew up?

77. If you could have any job, what would you want to do/be?

78. Which came first the chicken or the egg?

79. How many keys on your key ring?

80. Where would you retire to?

81. What kind of car do you drive?

82. What are your best physical features?

83. What are your best characteristics?

84. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?

85. What kind of books do you like to read?

86. Where would you want to retire to?

87. What is your favorite time of the day?

88. Where did you grow up?

89. How far away from your birthplace do you live now?

90. What are you reading now?

91. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

92. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?

93. Can you close your eyes and raise your eyebrows?

94. Do you have pets?

95. How many rings before you answer the phone?

96. What is your best childhood memory?

97. What are some of the different jobs that you have had in your life?

98. Any new and exciting things that you would like to share?

99. What is most important in life?

100. What Inspires You?

Feel free to participate.

This little piggie...

Mom thinks that Shelby has swine flu, so she's taking her to the doctor's for a test. Also, if it is swine flu, Shelby can't come on vacation, because she'd be contagious for seven days after the first onset of symptoms. If it isn't flu, then she can't come unless her fever goes away. Regardless, Mom and I aren't leaving until Wednesday at the earliest.

In other news, I'm pretty much done with my room. The most amazing part is that you can see the floor.

Also, a couple nights ago, I babysat one of my neighbors. We watched the third Harry Potter movie and argued about whether Ron and Hermione were meant to be together (he couldn't understand why they fought so much if they actually liked each other). Then, around 11, I got home and went on my computer. Kathrya and I started facebook chatting about the compare people application. Basically, we both pulled it up at the same time and laughed at all of the ridiculous comparisons.

For instance, would Kathrya rather sleep with her brother or some weird ugly freshman? Is Will hotter than Bryant? Is Bryant or Josh more cuddly? Kathrya repeatedly got ones about Bryant.

On mine, I got rid of my 'interested in' back when my mom got a facebook, so that she couldn't tease me about it. So, mine were fairly gender neutral, but mostly guys. For instance, is Will sexier than Isabelle? (I said that he wasn't) Would I rather marry my camp-friend's ex-boyfriend or my father? (I skipped that one) Then, I started getting Mario. Repeatedly. Who is hotter, Mario or Otis? Is Mario or Chris a 'better catch.'? I started panicking into the fb chat.

"KATHRYYYYYYAAAA!!!!! WHY DOES IT KEEP TALKING TO ME ABOUT MARIO?????"

"I DON'T KNOW! WHY DOES IT KEEP TRYING TO GET ME TO SAY THAT BRYANT IS HOT??"

"This is awful. I blush at the computer screen every time his name comes up."

"ha."

Needless to say, it was somewhat ridonkulous.

other interesting questions: If Joanie (the talkative) and Dan (I can't identify the back of his head) got into a fight, who would win?

Also, Vicky would probably appreciate it if everyone would post their schedules, because she doesn't have a facebook, so can't obsessively check everything like I do.

Questionnaire Journey Continues

Name 13 people you can think of right off the top of your head. Don't read the questions underneath.

I'm going to instead do the top 13 people named on this blog.

1. Mario

2. Nyx

3. Vicky

4. Avon

5. Gretchen

6. Dino

7. Kathrya

8. Rube

9. Archie

10. Dora

11. Ginny

12. Kerry

13. Shelby

How did you meet 4?
freshman English, the first period of the first day of freshman year. Oh, and we may have known each other in elementary school, but I can't remember that.

Something about number 1?
you should be able to get a lot of 'somethings' out of the rest of this blog

What would you do if 2 and 4 dated?
they would break up at the first sign of paper stress, if anyone could, you know, convince them to start dating.

Have you ever seen 1 cry?
haha, no.

Tell me something about number 11.
the only other female sophomore on math team, and I love her for it. her general awesomeness is merely a bonus.

How long have you known number 8?
since january. I originally knew him as that annoying guy who sits behind me, never shuts up, and puts his feet on my chair.

Would you date number 4?
"she's awesome, but I don't swing that way"- I'm going to keep Kathrya's response on that one

What do you think about 12?
nice enough, working at my house gardening this summer. that should be interesting...

What would you do if 5 confessed they liked you?
wake up the next morning and tell Nyx that "OMG! I HAD THE WEIRDEST DREAM!"

What does 3 do for a living?
read U.S. history portfolios.

Would you ever live with 2?
yes, although I'm not sure that I could handle all her animal friends. Also, I'm not sure anyone can handle my messiness.

Is number 4 single?
yes

Where does 6 live?
the same town as me

What do you think about number 3?
Insanely funny and awesome. However, she could be a bit more mature (I kid, I kid)

Fact about number 9?
he is a homo sapien.

What's the best thing about number 2?

she's such an amazing friend all-around it's hard to name just one thing. Her willingness to both listen to me talk incessantly when I feel the need and to fill the silence when I can't is pretty awesome.

What's your best memory with 4?
hmmm....my tendency to forget specific events unless reminded is kicking in right about now. Playing ping-pong last summer was fun, but I don't have one particular moment. I do remember that after I got back from the math meet in which Mario and I had this really weird look thing occur, I was iming her about it, on and on and on, since I hadn't started talking about him with anyone yet, and she was totally understanding and nice. Or, right before a big test, or after I've done not-awesome, or forgotten something important, or anything that I'm upset about, she gives really awesome pep talks. I always feel better afterwards.

Best physical feature for number 12?
ummm *pushes up imaginary glasses while thinking* he's tall. At least, I think he's tall. I'm pretty sure he's not short.

What do you think about 7?
hysterical and fun.

Does 1 mean a lot to you?
I'm not sure if I want to answer that...

Have you ever kissed number 4?
ha, ha, ha, no.

When's the next time your going to see 2?
soon, hopefully? I don't know.

Is number 5 pretty?
gorgeous, dahling

What was your first impression of number 13?
wow, that baby is really small. and loud. and OMG SHE BIT ME OWWWWW.

Have you seen 10 in the last month?
yes (last saw her the day before yesterday, at arena, and will see her again at HARRY POTTER WOOOOO)

When was the last time you saw 1?
last tuesday, in the cafeteria.

Have you ever been in 4's house?
yes, i have.

When's the next time you'll see 10?
HARRY POTTER WOOOOOO (see above)

Are you really close to 13?
sometimes. when she isn't being a moody adolescent

Have you ever been to the movies with 12?
no

Have you ever gotten in trouble with 2?
me? in trouble? NEVER (although, if i ever DID get in trouble, it would probably be with her)

Would you ever hang out with number 1?
would I? yes. Will we? no.

What do you and number 6 talk about the most?
school. beyond that, we don't really, um, talk...

Do you even know 9?
well, yes, I know all of these people. Could I have put celebrities on this list? I hadn't even thought of that!

Would you give number 5 a hug?
yes!

Would you ever go on a date with number 13?
zomg! incest! But I'd totally do date-like activities (movies, dinner, hanging out, etc.) with her, minus the sexual stuff.

What is the best thing about your friendship with number 2?
I'm comfortable with her. I don't worry about sounding stupid.

What is the worst thing about number 9?
well, he's mean to Boris. This really shouldn't bother me, because I, too, am mean to Boris, but it does.

How long have you known number 5?
since 6th grade (you can do the math)

Does number 7 have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
no

Have you ever been a co-worker with number 12?
no.

Have you ever wanted to punch number 11 in the face?
no, I have not. I don't generally experience this punching urge you speak of.

How did you meet number 7?
gym class, this year.

Did you ever accidentally physically hurt number 10?
I hope not!

What is the best memory you have with number 2?
aaahh! so hard to decide! I love just hanging out with her. One time last year, we spent about four hours straight, comparing information on every single person in all of our classes. Now that was a good time.

Do you live close to 13?
in the same house.....she's across the hall.

What is number 3's favorite food?
I have no idea. Bella's blood?

Who is the most flirtatious?
probably my little sister (#13). This disturbs me greatly.

If you could change one thing about number 1, what would it be?
if he were capable of talking in cabs, that would be nice.

Say something nice about number 6.
he's good at math. And, um, tall.

Which ones live the farthest away?
Rube

Which one do you hang out with the most?
Shelby (it's too close not to)

Who is the loudest?
Shelby

The quietest?
Ginny, but even she's hardly quiet all the time

What kind of car does 4 have?
it's imaginary

Vacation

I've been 'cleaning' for the past hour, but I keep getting distracted by the cool stuff I find. My journal is now covered with adhesive glow-in-the-dark planets, and my leg is sporting what I like to call "ballerina mash-up." It's a statement about.....um.....the destruction of childhood dreams upon encountering an adult body (I learned that in Rediscovering Ophelia today).

These are each the first sentence or two of my vacation journal entries from the summer after 6th grade.

Costa Rica, August something

The plane ride here was terrible.

8/7/05

Today's horsebackride was boring. Pretty much, we just walked. And walked. And walked.

8/8/05

only a single word must be used to describe the worst thing about Tortuga Lodge: bugs.

later that day

dinner was umm.....interesting.

8/10

yesterday was actually pretty fun.

8-14-05

This was definitely the best place we stayed yet.

Thursday, in CO

camp was a total bore.

--end of journal

complain? who, me?

BONUS POST

i was bored, and tagged, but didn't want to post it on facebook, so, TORTURE BY INSANELY LONG AND BORING QUESTIONNAIRE

WHAT WAS YOUR:
1. Last beverage = water
2. Last phone call = dad, to tell him that my sister called

3. Last text message = I can't remember, and my phone is missing, so I can't check.
4. Last song you listened to = Never Gonna Survive (we were listening to WEBE108 in the car for traffic reports. WHILE I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY WOOOO!)
5. Last time you cried = in the beginning of Star Trek

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. dated someone twice = ...no. and not once either, for that matter.
7. Been cheated on= see question 6
8. Kissed someone & regretted it= no, not particularly
9. Lost someone special = depends on how you define 'lost'
10. Been depressed = yep. yay me.
11. Been drunk and threw up = No. I have an iron stomach (not drinking helps too :P)

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:
12. cobalt blue
13. that red color that they use for product (red)
14. Seduction (it's a shade of purple on Benjamin Morris samples)

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2009)
15. Made a new friend = always
16. Fallen out of love = yes, finally
17. Laughed until you cried = of course
18. Met someone who changed you = I dunno. Probably?
19. Found out who your true friends were = I wasn't aware that I had false ones. Are they like false idols? If I worship them, can we have a blasphemy party?
20. Found out someone was talking about you = yes
21. Kissed anyone on your fb friend's list = this year, no

GENERAL:
22. How many people on your fb friends list do you know in real life? = all of them (aside from one notably awkward exception (aka Caleb))
23. How many kids do you want to have? = um, some, maybe. or not. depends, on, like, something.
24. Do you have any pets? = two old dogs, neither of whom is capable of learning new tricks.
25. Do you want to change your name? = no! there are far too many good puns....
26. What did you do for your last birthday? = I invited a bunch of friends to sleep over, but only three of them actually could.
27. What time did you wake up today? = 7 am, for no good reason
28. What were you doing at midnight last night= sleeping. in my bed.
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for = nothing much, at the moment. I'm oddly content, and it's freaking out my parents, who want me to at least find something to do with my summer.
30. Last time you saw your Mother = an hour ago, during dinner.
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? = permanent good health. I've had a cold for well over a month at this point.
32. What are you listening to right now? = the fan
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom?= yes. There are enough of them that it would be rather difficult not to.
34. What's getting on your nerves right now? = my back. it hurts. because i'm..... old....yeah....
35. Most visited web page = facebook. i'm lame like that.
37. Nicknames = tea
38. Relationship Status = if I continue with my current rate, single for all of eternity
39. Zodiac sign = Aries
40. Male or female? = female. I'm sure you're shocked.

41. Elementary? = my dear Watson
42. Middle School = sucks, pretty much
43. High school/College = the office supply superstore!
44. Hair color = brown
45. Long or short = longish
46. Height = ridiculously tall (well, 5'9", but I like to think it's ridiculous)
47. Do you have a crush on someone? = of course!
48: What do you like about yourself? = my immune system. get better, goddammit!
49. Piercings= ears, although I half wish they'd just close up
50. Tattoos = i have an imaginary one on my back. if give me a cookie, you can see it!
51. Righty or lefty= righty

FIRSTS:
52. First surgery = I had my adenoids out when I was 3 or 4 or 5 (i don't recall)
53. First piercing = ears...
54. First best friend = Tina
55. First sport you joined = soccer for five year olds
56. First vacation= was so long ago i can't remember it
58. First pair of trainers = well I've never had a personal trainer, but I wasn't aware that they came in pairs.

RIGHT NOW
59. Eating = nothing. but i just ate chili. yay chili!
60. Drinking = aguamente
61. I'm about to = work on my summer reading (I'm a nerd like that)
62. Listening to = my sisters fight
63. Waiting on = the clock to reach ten so I can finally go to sleep.

YOUR FUTURE:
64. Want kids? = maybe
65. Get Married? = probably
66. Career? = definitely

WHICH IS BETTER:
67. Lips or eyes= eyes
68. Hugs or kisses= depends on the person I'm hugging/kissing
69. Shorter or taller= taller
70. Older or Younger = not too far in either direction, but generally older, because, otherwise, they're just too short.
71. Romantic or spontaneous = there is romance in spontaneity.
72. Nice stomach or nice arms = arms. mmmmmm, arms.
73. Sensitive or loud = not loud, anything but loud!
74. Hook-up or relationship = relationship. something about the phrase hook-up makes me think of being hooked with a cane and dragged away screaming. don't know why.
75. Trouble maker or hesitant = hesitant. trouble scares me.

HAVE YOU EVER:
76. Kissed a stranger = no
77. Drank hard liquor = is amaretto hard liquor? cause I had a shot of that once, and it tasted bad, but felt warm and fuzzy afterwards, but it's the only alcohol I've drunk, so I haven't got a comparison
78. Lost glasses/contacts = yes, once
79. Sex on first date = what date? what sex?
80. Broken someone's heart = doubtful
81. Had your own heart broken = no, not yet
82. Been arrested= never! I AM WITH THE LAW!!!!
83. Turned someone down = yeah... this insane eighth grader (when I was in ninth grade) who walked up to me on the last day of camp (i didn't know him). "You wanna hook up?" "No." "Okay." It was highly traumatic.
84. Cried when someone died = in movies and books
85. Fallen for a friend? = I prefer to trip gracefully

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
86. Yourself = I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!!!
87. Miracles = um, not really. maybe, a little, but mostly no.
88. Love at first sight = lust, yes, love, no.
89. Heaven = I'm not sure
90. magic = not really
91. Kiss on the first date = this seems slightly out of place for the category...
92. Angels =ehh, maybe?

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
93. Had more than one bf/gf? = no....(see above)
95. Did you sing today? = in the car
96. Ever cheated on somebody? = no, there hasn't been anyone to cheat on.
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go? = can I come back, or no? cause if i can't, I'm not going anywhere without good contraception and safe childbirth.
98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be? = oooooh. um. I dunno, actually. I can't think of any at the moment.
99. Are you afraid of falling in love? = I don't think so *scratches head*

(I didn't actually scratch my head)

Pool

I am far to sleepy to think, at the moment. I did manage to start my summer reading though; I decided on Reviving Ophelia for my nonfiction book. I've already read two chapters (yay me!) and so far, it's very good.

Anyways, here comes an essay, from 9th grade English. It's supposed to sound like something Bitzer from Dickens's Hard Times would say.

Pool. 25 meters in length. 6 Lanes. 4-foot deep shallow end. Deep end descends gradually to twelve feet. Water is heavily chlorinated. Chlorine prevents the growth of mold and bacteria. Creates a strong smell. An allergy to chlorine causes hives. The pool has two rows of flags. Flags mark ten feet to the side. Prevent swimmers from hitting their heads when doing backstroke. Pools invented by ancient Greeks and Romans. Used for recreational, fitness, and competitive purposes. Common safety procedure is moving no faster than a walk and remaining in ones own lane. Disorder can be dangerous. Pool is heated to a warmer temperature, preventing hypothermia. If the pool was outdoors and unheated, it would freeze.

Insightful, no? Speaking of pools, mine is now open. Maybe I'll go swimming tomorrow...

My Schedule

I got my first choice, after well over an hour of standing next to the English table. By the way, Margot (her twin sister's name is a flower) probably hates me at this point. Arena was about to close, and the department head was willing to give one of us period 8, but the other would have to take period 1, and I said I'd have to switch four or five classes, and Margot said she was just to confused, so the woman handing them out gave it to me. Avon later told me that Margot knew perfectly well that she'd only have to switch one class, she was faking it to get period 8. Ah well, I won in the end.

I hate how nasty everyone gets, though. For instance, Lily (and yes, that is a nickname) spent was continually saying nice things about the teachers she didn't want, trying to talk others into taking them. It just felt so underhanded.

Ah, well.

1 physics h

2 calculus b.c.

3 gym (with Nia and Kathrya and Ali!)

4 adv. drawing/anthropology

5 ASR

6 spanish h

7 gov (with the teacher whose name has two syllables)/oil painting

8 english

Tripping Tea Strikes Again

This morning, before my Spanish final, I was walking up the stairs. My foot caught on the edge, and I tripped forward. I looked back, hoping nobody had noticed, and that my skirt hadn't flown up. The guy behind me said, "Don't worry, nobody saw."

Except him....

In other news, the waiter at the restaurant we went to for dinner looked eerily like Lysander, only different, and with a possibly fake Italian accent, and no glasses. It was utterly bizarre.

Also, we had a pretty awesome impromptu party at my house; Ginny, Tierra, Dora, Avon, Nyx, Vicky, and Gretchen all came over, although Nyx didn't get there until almost everyone else had left. Regardless, it was a fun time.

I hugged Opmin during my last day of U.S. History. I was like, "this year was awesome, can I hug you?" and she went "Okay!" so I did. Horribly exciting, no?

Also, I might as well share a story from U.S.

I was sitting in my quartergroup with Emma, Joanie and Charles. Emma was talking about going to college, and how she wanted to go to University of Florida but that, since her sister (who is currently training to be a sex therapist) hadn't gotten in, wouldn't either.

Joanie responded with, "Well, was it a target school, or no, because it makes a difference."

and Rachel immediately butted in.

"Don't say that!"

"Um..."

"It's rude and cruel."

"Look, Rachel, I said a target school, it wasn't anything interesting."

"I told you not to say that!"

At that point, Charles mostly just looked confused, and Peter and I were cracking up.

"I have no idea what word you're talking about."

"Retarded. You said retarded."

"She didn't say retarded, she said target," I said.

"No she didn't." She looked at Peter and Emma for agreement.

"She definitely did not say-"

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Opmin interrupted.

"I didn't say anything in the first place," grumbled Joanie.

Oh, Rachel. In the beginning of class, Michael pulled out a pair of large silver headphones and put them over his ears. "These are great," he said. "I can't here Rachel at all!"

My table, at least, was in hysterics.

Also, there are suspicions that the gatorade was spiked. Charles was drinking it, and he said, "Wow, this gatorade tastes funny."

"It's blue gatorade, what do you expect?"

"No, I mean, it doesn't taste normal. Don't drink it, okay?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

"I'm serious. It's spiked or something."

I gave him an incredulous look. "Whatever you say."

A few minutes later, Daniel turned around.

"Charles," he said. "I think the gatorade is spiked."

"I know, dude. Weird." He turned to me. "See, it's corroborated. Don't drink it."

"I already said I wasn't going to."

"Good."

Cookies

This is written during my ASR final. It took me an hour, because Boris kept distracting me.
Stupid Boris.

I walked down the hallway, giggling to myself. As I entered the cafeteria, who did I see but Mario, sitting at a table in the freshman section, eating an omelet, friend who thinks he’s gangster in tow (I have got to come up with a nickname for that kid).
He waved, and I waved. I debated walking past and leaving it at that, but I decided I should at least talk to him. I walked over. “Hi, Mario.”
“Hey.”
“This is going to sound kind of weird, but your portfolio has typos.”
“What?”
“Well, I was reading your portfolio, because you had totally stolen my topic.”
“You did physics?”
“No, science, actually. Well, science classes.”
“Okay. You read mine? Did you like the jokes?”
“Yeah, they were funny. Actually, on mine, I only have one joke, but I put in something saying, oh, at least I only have one joke instead of a whole page.”
“Yours has jokes, too?”
“Only one.”
“So where was this typo? Was it in the first section? The second? Wait- was it in the jokes?”
“Well, um…”
He looked at me.
“Well, we found some reflection thing, and, well, we spent most of the time going ‘haha, Mario said “breasts”’”
Gangsta boy snickered, and Mario looked at him. “That does sound like something I would say, doesn’t it.” He turned to me. “The one with the really long title?”
“Long enough that I couldn’t understand it.”
“Well, I only really wrote one reflection. What did you think of it?”
“It was, um, interesting…”
“Interesting?”
“I was busy laughing at the word use.”
“So what were these typos?”
“Well, I caught three of them.”
“Were they noticeable?”
“It was the first word.”
“Really?” He leaned over to the trash can and tossed his plate and the remainder of his omellete.
“Yeah, you said I when you meant it.”
“Oh no. And Opmin has probably already read it.”
“Vicky said that she hadn’t.”
“Good- wait. When was this?”
“This morning.”
“Yes! You said there were more.”
“Yeah, the one I said before, then one where you put women and beautiful in the wrong order, and one more. I can’t remember the last one though.”
“Alright. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I should probably get to science.”
“Yeah.”
We paused for a second.
“Did you finish your paper yet?” he said.
“What paper? There’s a paper?” Did I miss something for U.S.? AAAAhhhhhh!
“The ASR paper.”
“Oh, yeah, I finished it a while ago.”
“You did.”
“Yeah, Breese had us write them a while ago, back in, like, April.”
“That’s lucky. Mine’s not done.”
“I suppose, but I switched my topic in, like, April, so it was kind of a pain.”
Mario shrugged.
We paused another moment.
“Oh, do you want a cookie?” I asked.
He turned to gangsta friend. “You want a cookie?”
Gangsta boy shrugged. “Nah.”
Mario considered it for a moment. “I can’t pass up a cookie,” he said, and stood.
I laughed and pulled them out of my bag. “Here. They’re chocolate chip.”
“Thanks. They look good.”
“I made them myself. Also, I really need to go to science now.
“See you later,” we both said, at exactly the same time.
I left, carrying my cookies. As I reached the end of the ramp, I saw Carly, from my math class. “Do you want a cookie?”
“Okay.”
Then, I saw my grandmother. “Cookie? I keep giving them to people, and I think I’m going to run out soon.”
“Well, you can’t ignore your grandmother.”
I kept walking, and then I saw Ginny. “Ginny! Cookie?”
“Thanks. What do you have.”
“ASR. Walk with me?”
“Sure. These are good.”
“Thank you. I even added the right amount of flour this time.”
“Good job. Do you normally not?”
“Well, last time I only added a cup, and they were kind of flat. Oh, I am going to be so late to science. I was talking to Mario, and I go sidetracked, which I, erm, tend to do…”
“Haha.”
Then, I saw Nyx and Avon. “Hi! Nyx! You know how yesterday I was talking to Vicky about Mario, and we were all, omg! Typos!”
“Yeah…”
“I told Mario!”
“You did not.”
“I did!”
“You’ll have to tell me more later.”
“Okay. Bye!”

Punchline

A brief English class transcript

Tea: Richard! You were in my dream this weekend!

Richard: I was?

Tea: Yeah, you were trying to kill me.

Richard: Oh. Well, dreams do come true sometimes.

Tea: *Laughs awkwardly.*

Richard: *walks away*

Tybalt (Bryant's twin): Ow!

Tea: Hahaha! Gemma, look, Dino hit Tybalt in the head with a book!

Tybalt: What was that for?

Dino: I missed

Tea: That was definitely an untethered projectile

Gemma: Haha, what?

Tea: ASR joke. There is no one from ASR in this class, so it wasn't really funny...

Gemma: Oh.

Mrs. Leon: Okay, we have cows, but they aren't our cows.

Tybalt: I told Dino that, but he didn't listen.

Dino (with computer on desk): Heh.

Caroline: Can I have a cow now?

Vampires and Zombies and Spaceships, oh my!

This is another dream, courtesy of Tea's twisted subconscious. Enjoy.

My sisters (Genie and Shelby) and Mario and Nyx and I started in this dark graveyard at night, using our magic powers to keep someone else from reaching the gravestone we are guarding. The graveyard itself was a cross between the one in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Goblet of Fire, so I suppose, in that context, these actions made sense.

Everyone else had normal magic powers, spell flinging and whatnot. I was a good vampire, and the vampires in this dream didn't drink blood; instead, when they were killed, they became a spirit that had to take over a dead body or a doll. Dead bodies could be possessed indefinitely, but dolls must be replaced after only a few days or hours, proportional to their size. So, when a spell was about to hit Shelby, I jumped in front of her, taking the hit. I dissolved, leaving behind a rotting corpse.

The others, unable to fight them off without me, went home. I followed them, trying to find a new body. I got back to my room and try to find a suitable replacement. I considered my Spring Pearl doll, but she was rather tiny and won't last for long, so I decided to use one of Genie's porcelain dolls instead. Even so, I would need a new corpse soon. While I was floating, I found my Spanish textbook and workbook, which had been missing.

I found Dad and Shelby on the front lawn of the house. There was a fairly large crowd assembled, angry about the vampires. I heard Shelby say something about Mario, and I panicked that she was telling everybody that I liked him, so I made Dad shut her up. However, I didn't want to tell an angry crowd that I was a vampire, so I went looking for Mario.

I needed to ask him to go back to the graveyard and find my a dead body, but by they time I found him, he was already in the mudroom, preparing to leave. Abruptly, I hugged him, because I was happy that he was going to find me a body, and because, in dreamworld, I was into him too. He was surprised for a second, but hugged me back. I gave him a look that attempted to communicate "I like you. Please don't die." He squeezed me and said, "I don't know," before letting go, although I don't know if he was referencing the liking or the dying.

I passed Dora on my way back to my bedroom. "I don't think I like these vampires," she informed me.

In my room, Nyx and my sisters were sitting around. I tried to tell Nyx about hugging Mario, but then I realized that my sisters were listening, and considering Shelby had been talking about it ten minutes before, I didn't want to give her more ammunition. Nyx told be that she hadn't slept for two days and needed a nap. I had been dead that morning, so sleep wasn't really that big of a deal, but I figured a nap couldn't hurt, so Nyx, Genie and I squeezed into my teeny tiny bed and went to sleep. Shelby was supposed to keep watch, but she soon dozed off as well.

That was when the villain chose to strike. I woke up to see Richard (the boy in Nyx's lab group with the twin cousins who harass Gretchen) standing in the doorway. He looked pretty much like Richard always does, only something about him appeared vaguely evil. I rushed towards him, trying to fight min off, but he glided right past me. I tried to take over his mind (which vampires can do to each other) but I'd never been very good at.

"Look at her, trying to attack me. Ha!" he said, and pushed back, making me into his automaton. He then made me stand still as he hit me with a spell, killing me again. The porcelain doll fell to the closet floor, cracked and dirtied, as my spirit dissipated.

Dad then came in, and Richard informed him that they will be spared and I returned if they'll do Richard a few small favors. Dad agreed, on the condition that he got me back right away, and Richard informs me that there are a few dead bodies out on the front lawn for exactly that purpose.

Richard wanted us to steal three electrophorysis trays from my church. When we got there, they were in the middle of Bridging ceremony, but it was the weirdest church event I'd ever seen. A girl wearing a buttload of makeup was standing in the front, wiping it off, layer by layer, using little round handiwipes. We decided to get the trays by pretending we were supposed to be fixing them, so my sisters and I walked up to the front and took them.

However, just as I was walking back, the woman holding the handiwipes intercepted me. "Hold these," she said, and I passed the machine to Genie and accepted the wipes. I went to put them between my knees for better holding purposes, only to realize abruptly that I was naked, and I then proceeded to pass out.

The next thing I knew, I was clothed and on a spaceship with a tall, thirty-something black guy wearing what was, for all intents and purposes, Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

"We have to complete a quest," he told me.

"What?"

"A quest to increase your powers. The quest of the moonfrogs."

"I was thoroughly confused, but there wasn't really much I could do about it. We came to the moon, which was shaped like one of Mars's moons, but with a hole drilled through the middle. On the outside, there were winds and floating moondust, and I became worried that they'd put me out there. Even if I couldn't die, it looked rather cold.

Instead, we flew inside the hole. We passed through a weird field, and, suddenly, I was in a store with Dad, Genie, and Shelby. We had to put the correct items into our cart in the correct order, without running out of time. I got into a fight with Genie over whether to pick cheerios or rice krispies, and then I woke up.

Anyone who can interpret this wins a gold star.

Tampons

Awkward conversation with my 12 year old sister, Shelby. Be prepared for graphic discussion of female anatomy.

S:Tea?

T:Yes?

S: I'm trying to use a tampon

T: okay...

S: I'm having trouble.

T: You just take the tampon and stick it up there. It's not that hard.

S: Yes it is! I can't find the up there!

T: What?

S: I can't find the hole!

T: Urgh. I was trying to read Questionable Content.

S: Sorry.

T: No, it's fine. I'll draw you a picture.

*tea grabs paper and pen*

T: You know where your vagina is, right.

S: Uhhh.....down there?

T: *sigh* Where does the blood come out?

S: In between the foldy things?

T: Gaaaahhh.

*draws picture of two squiggly things with some holes in between them*

T: Okay. Those are the labia.

S: They look like snakes.

T: Psh. Okay, that's the clit.

S: Ummm.

T: You don't know what that is. I suppose you'll learn eventually.

S: Okay.....

T: look, that ones where the pee comes out. That's the vagina.

S: Wait- the pee doesn't come out on the bottom?

T: No, it does not.

S: Really? Cause I always thought that-

T: No, it doesn't.

S: I still don't understand how I'm supposed to fit a tampon up there.

T: It fits, alright?

S: But it's so small.

T: When you have a baby, it reaches 10 centimeters.

S: what?

T: this big.

S: EEEEWWWWWW

T: How else are you supposed to get a baby out? Honestly.

S: What about penises. How do people have sex?

T: (thinks: why am I the one teaching my little sister about sex. Shouldn't my mother be doing this? or her health teacher? or the internet, even, just something other than me?) says: When you're going to have sex, you make lubricant.

S: What's lubricant?

T: Slimy stuff.

S: Oh. How does that help?

T: I don't know, it just does. Do you think you can find your vagina on your own now?

S: Probably?

T: Good.

10 minutes later...

T: Shelby, you alright?

S: Yeah. It feels funny.

T: But you found it?

S: Yeah. It still feels weird though.

T: You'll get used to it.

*end conversation*

Well, at least I probably will not have to do that again until I have my own children.

Thank god.

Star Trek

Which I am seeing with Nyx, Vicky, Dora, Tierra, and possibly Ginny as well. We'll see. I am looking forward to it immensely. Hopefully I can stop hacking for long enough to actually watch a movie. Stupid mild allergies.

I was going to add another English essay, but I discovered that the next one on my hit list had already been added here. Early March seems so ridiculously far away. I didn't even have readers then. How utterly absurd.

Ah, well. Have a couple of cartoons from xkcd.com to cheer you up.

Royal Flush

Last time I played poker, I kicked ass. However, we were playing for checkers, so I didn't win any money. Goddamnit.

Speaking of Royal Flushes, though, I couldn't find any notecards today, and I didn't want to do something immediately productive, so I decided to study spanish, but couldn't, due to the lack of notecards. To circumvent this issue, I found a stack of post-it notes that my father received recently. On each side is written, in large letters A ROYAL FLUSH. On the the upper fourth of each sticky is written:

A ROYAL FLUSH Portable Restrooms 1-877-###-####. www.aroyalflush.com

Said website opens to an extremely classy picture of a portajohn on a beach. Needless to say, phrases such as mortificade fondo (embarrassed bottom) are feeling right at home.

Were you aware that the standard portable toilet weights 235 pounds?

That is 101 pounds more than yours truly! I definitely could not lift that.

Speaking of portapotties, I love Glee. The T.V. show, with the singing glee club members. I almost wish it were September just so I could watch it again.

Also, since I'm working on my portfolio, here is a short paragraph of my musings on race.

I'm underexposed to those of other races. It is difficult to view black people as unique individuals when I only talk to two or three of them, and many others would say that those kids "act white." It reminds of Mean Girls, when they introduce the lunch tables, and there are plenty of cliques for the different social groups of white kids, but the groups of racial minorities must form their own, like the "Asian nerds" "cool asians" "unfriendly black hotties," as opposed to the multitude of white groups. Unlike white people, whom I see as individuals, or, at the very least, specific labels, black people are in their own category, labeled only as "black."

Deep, huh?

AND, as if your day couldn't get any better, I leave you with a piece of fiction I wrote last year, for English class.

Enjoy!

They meandered their way down the old path, arms around each other. She tripped frequently, much preferring the view of him to that of the path. It was just so wonderful. She couldn’t think of a better word. She and Derek, finally alone. She snuck another look at his smiling eyes, and snagged her toe on a rock. He caught her just before a tumble became unavoidable.

“C’mon, Lynn. Let’s sit.”

They settled themselves with his back against the tree, and her back against him. She leaned into his warmth, pulling her knees up to her chest. He reached his arms around her to fiddle with her shoes. He talked idly, and she responded with half her mind. There was always talking. The small town they lived in used to have farms and a small factory, but the products of the factory had long ago gone out of style, and the farm produced less than the amount needed to sustain the town. People were living on their savings, constantly talking about what they had lost. Lynn and Derek, still young, mostly just farmed, and usually together. They were always talking, but this nearness, this closeness, was so wonderfully new. Lynn leaned into him, smiling again.

“If we don’t get going, I won’t have time to show it to you,” he said, pulling himself up from behind her. He walked about ten feet away. “You coming?”

“I’m working on it. Maybe I’d be a bit more motivated if you would tell me what you’re taking me to.”

“Nope. It’s a surprise.” He grinned.

She smiled back, and then stopped when a barrier suddenly appeared between them. The sky began to flicker light to dark so quickly that the wood seemed bathed in twilight. Derek’s arm reached out imperceptibly, and sparks shot across the barrier where he touched. Then he was gone.

“Derek!” Lynn shouted and leapt up. She was halfway to her feet when he appeared again, but before she could even process that he was back, the wood was once again empty. “No!” She tried to run forward but landed with her face on the earth. He had tied her shoelaces together when they sat against the tree. She lifted her head up, searching for him. The grass turned brown, wilted, and then grew again. When it reached its tallest point, Derek returned for another moment. The cycle repeated thrice more while Lynn lay on the ground.

Lynn lifted her head to look at Derek. With each flash there was some difference, some change, it was, it was- he was getting older. He had filled out a bit, and now his hairline was receding, each reappearance with less hair. His clothes, body, and facial hair all changed, but one characteristic stayed the same; his sad eyes gazed solemnly at Lynn during each instant he returned. But he was getting older. He already looked middle aged.

Lynn pulled herself up, but her tied together shoes kept her from reaching the barrier quickly. By the time she got there, Derek would be a withered old man. She hauled her body off the ground again and threw herself forward, towards the barrier. Her hand slipped through, but she didn’t notice.

Then, she felt a quick pressure on her palm. Confused, she looked up, and her eyes caught Derek’s as he held her hand. An instant later, the connection was gone. Another moment, and he returned. She tried to squeeze back, but by the time she could react to his presence, he was gone. She began to time a returning squeeze with the growth of the grass, matching them so that she clasped when he held her. She smiled up at him, pleased at her success and enjoying the small touches and the fleeting glimpses of him. He was growing into a beautiful old man.

A moment later he vanished, and this time, he did not return. He was young, then old, then- “No!” Lynn cried. Her eyes began to fill. She went to wipe her face with the hand behind the shield, but could not break away. She watched the hand through her tears. Its nails grew longer and longer, looping into a spiral. The veins became more prominent; the skin wrinkled. The joints tightened without her control, and she couldn’t open them. Soon she lost all sensation in it. The hand curled into a tight ball, then began to shrink further. It was eaten away, and Lynn pulled her arm back from the shield. Skin had grown over the edge, but she was now without a right hand. She pulled herself back from that horrible wall that had taken both her hand and her Derek.

She gazed down at her stump of a hand, then turned and watched the endless cycle of the trees. She stood there for hours, trying to comprehend the events that had just occurred. Finally, she took a deep, calming breath, and turned to walk back to town. When she was about halfway there, the strobe light sky ceased, and she was once more bathed in sunlight. By the time she reached the town, it was empty.

“Hello”, she called, her voice quaking, “Is anyone here?” The was no response. “Hello?”

The she heard someone call. “Rodney, I found another straggler.”

“Huh?” Another man, most likely Rodney, responded

“Never mind, I’ll bring her in myself,” he yelled back, then rounded a corner and came face to face with Lynn. “Hello!” He said brightly, “I’m just going to bring you in for a few tests, then you’ll be free to go.”

She looked at him blankly. “What happened?”

“It was a bit of a scientific test. Six hundred years ago, a group of scientists isolated your town in a time bubble. Basically, every second for you was a few years outside, or something like that. I was never much good with math.”

“Wha- why- How could you do that? Isn’t it illegal?”

“You weren’t producing anything, and you were taking in more benefits than you paid in taxes, so they figured there wouldn’t be any negative impact on the economy. And, well, the guy who instigated it is long dead, so he can’t exactly go to jail. All we’ve got to do is pay a few fines, which is well worth the new scientific knowledge. There were all sorts of different microbes six hundred years ago. And there’s been some change in genetics overall, and you didn’t have psychiatric drugs, so your mental processes are fascinating, and you are stock full of extinct microbes. Did you know, we’ve already found sixteen variants of Acute viral nasopharyngiti? It positively amazing.”

Lynn fought to comprehend the barrage of information. “You imprisoned my entire town just because we weren’t contributing to the economy?”

“It’s not like you were harmed, and it was only for a few hours, technically, and-“

Lynn cut him off. “Not harmed! My right hand eaten in front of me, my boyfriend is dead, and no one even asked me anything!”

“Well, um.” The man seemed unprepared to deal with anything except happiness. “ You’ll be monetarily compensated, I’m sure, and we can get a prosthetis no problem. And just think of your gift to humanity. The world has changed so much in six hundred years. You’ll be able to bring history to life. It’s amazing, it’s wonderful, it’s-”

“Horrible!” She cried, and sprinted away from him, past the boundaries of the town to the graveyard that lay a behind an old church. She let the adrenaline from her shock carry her through the gate in the old stonewall. The graveyard looked faded, broken down, but also larger than it had before. She ran past many sections, searching for the area that bore Derek’s family name. She found it at last near the back. There it was. It said his name, his birth and death dates, and then a short statement. “A man who lived many long years, but whose heart shall always belong with the love of his childhood.”

"Anything is possible if you only try hard enough"
"that's right. If I tried to grow six fingers, I could grow six fingers"
-Garrett

My arena time is 12:50, first day. Definitely favorable.
I saw Mario this morning, before first period. He was standing outside of one of the learning centers, short-friend-who-thinks-he's-gangsta in tow. As I walked post, he looked up.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"did you see the arena times are posted?"
"seriously? where?"
"downstairs."
"great. I have got to see those."
he said, and started down

Guess what!

What?

I'm still working on my End of Quarter Rubric and Portfolio!

No way!

Way!

I guess that means I won't be getting an eloquently written sliver of the divinity that is Tea's illustrious, fascinating mind.

Nope!

Darn.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I suppose you'll have to get over it ;)

I did, however, reference this blog in my Portfolio. I wrote the following paragraph as my entry slip for Mrs. Opmin:

Yes, I have a blog, no, I will not tell you where it is, yes, I have readers (three of them! (Vicky, Gretchen, and Nyx)), and no, I divulge absolutely no incriminating personal information, so it's perfectly safe. This evidence includes two posts, one from March 4th, and one from April 22nd. I realize that you could quite easily find said blog by googling, but I'd rather if you didn't (although Vicky wanted me to tell you that she came up with your nickname which is Mrs. Opmin, which is short for Oppressed Minorities, all by herself). I chose to include sections of my blog in this because it demonstrates that I think about the issues we discuss outside of class, and that I've taken a somewhat more active interest. Having the blog has changed the way I think, to a certain extant. I remember conversations better, in case I have to later reproduce them. I also look at current events and newspaper articles from a perspective of "do I have anything to say to this? what?", even though I don't always end up writing anything. The first post shows my changing perspectives of advertising, further emphasizing the same points I made in my second quarter EoQR.

Yes, I think Mrs. Opmin will be thoroughly entertained.

.................

Oh, and I saw Mario TWICE today! Big news, no? The first time was after gym. I was walking with Kathrya, and he was going the other direction and staring intently at the ground a few feet in front of him. As we walked past, despite the lack of eye contact, I said, "hi, Mario."

He looked intently a few feet higher up, as if he may have possibly heard something, but decided that he hadn't and resumed staring intently at the ground approximately three feet in front of him.

"Is deaf...." I finished.

Kathrya looked at me and laughed.

"That was rather awkward," I said.

"I know! I hate it when you say hi to people and they don't hear you."

"Yeah, it's like, one time, I was walking down the hallway, and Dr. SeaUrchin was a little bit in front of me, and Julie was about 6 feet in front of me, and I yelled 'Hi, Julie!' but she didn't hear me, and Dr. SeaUrchin laughed."

Kathrya laughed, too. It's good to see that I get good milage out of my embarrassment.

Gym Class!

As I already informed the Fabulous Vicky, I caught the football twice today (*victory boogie*). I also wore no shoes the entire gym period. The teacher, who is the football coach at school, spends the entire period on his cell phone, so most of the kids in the class dump their shoes on the track and enjoy the squishiness of shredded tires between their toes. Kathrya caught the ball, too. I will sometimes swear when the ball comes towards me. She, however, released an extremely annoyed "you have got to be kidding me." She then proceeded to catch the ball, and even remembered to run. Yay Kathrya! The only other occurrence during gym today was that while I was totally looking where I was going and being a good little football drone, Peter, who was going in entirely the wrong direction, ran headlong into me. It hurt. I'm still a bit annoyed with him about this, but I suppose I'll get over it. Eventually. Maybe.

Again, I'm working on my portfolio, and really don't have anything long and drawn out in me. I did, however, manage to locate some Spanish homework from last year. It isn't as exciting as Harry Potter, but it'll do. By the way- most of my grammatical errors are kept intact.

In 2005, I went to Italia. First, I went to Piza. I saw the inclined tower of Piza. I tried but was unable to go within the tower because it could fall. I took photos of my sisters in front of the tower. Later, my family and I went to a restaurant and we ate pizza. It was delicious, but I like more the pizza of Westport.

Later, we went to the house of my uncles, near Florence. I spoke little Italiano, but I understood more because Italiano is similar to Español. We went to a parade of Easter. There was a Jesus and many youths were apostles. In Italy, they celebrated all of the Easters with a parade. It is a very interesting tradition. My family and I went to Lucca. We saw the Cathedral of San Martino. It was old and big. The Pope Alexandro II made the cathedral in the year 1003. There was a very big wall outside of the city. We rode bicycles and strolled with bicycle on top of the wall. It was very fun.

The last week, i went to Rome. I saw the Vatican. The Vatican is wear the Pope lives. I had to wait for two hours before I went inside of. When I arrived, I heard the pope, but I did not understand him because he spoke Latin. The church was very pretty, and it pleased me a lot. Then, I went to the hotel, and in the morning I left from Rome and returned to Connecticut.

The End.

And, just to be annoying and pile MORE old, boring schoolwork on you (at least I don't have to read it!) Here's my English recruiting letter. Boy, do I make the class sound like fun.

Welcome to English 9H! That is an example of a boring and unoriginal leading sentence. Which, had I not put this off until the night before, would not exist. If I had started this letter in advanced, my sentence would read more like “Your path through English 9H will be a rocky one, but the difficult journey will be well worth it when you reach the finish line.” Well, maybe not, that has too many clichés. A word of advice for English 9H- avoid the clichés. This teacher can’t stand them. And putting papers off until the last minute, well, I’d avoid that too. If you like to knock out the whole paper in one go, go right ahead, but do so a few days in advanced. Editing and revising does wonders. That’s why grades go up with second drafts.

And another bit of info- try to avoid over-stressing about the grade. As your writing improves (and with the number of papers you’ll write, it will), your grade will go up. The first few quarters it’s a lot of work, but after that I was mostly adjusted. By the end, some of the papers were even fun. I realize that grades are important, but I’d say the writing improvement is worth a couple of Bs (which are a perfectly good grade anyways). I haven’t received any grades this year lower than that of my first reading quiz. I’ve had a few equal to it, but none lower. I think. I’ll have to ask my friend, who keeps track better than I do.

That’s another tip; work with your friends. (I apologize for any unintentional improper semicolon use). Having someone else proofread your papers can be a lifesaver. And we have a lot of readings. A friend who complains about a reading you didn’t do functions as an amazing alarm clock. Just talking to people about English class can help a lot.

My last tip- and this one is going to be in all capitols, because it is both obvious and important- DO THE READINGS. Sorry, just had to get that out there. We don’t read things for no reason. Either they help with the books, the essays, the quizzes (hint, hint), or just class discussions. I talked to someone in the class (and I won’t name names) in around February who informed me that he/she (and I don’t mean he/she is a he-she, its subject-verb agreement) had read only two of the books. He/she was not having a great time in the class, mostly because they didn’t understand what was going on (shocker). Anyways, we read something like fifteen pages per school night (only not that continuously, and mostly on weekends), so keeping up would be a good idea.

So, basically, (this is getting more unprofessional by the whatever-the-heck-so-and-basically-are) English 9H is hard work, but writing everything gets better as the year goes on, (we just read Shakespeare and wrote some fiction stuff. Yay!), and, um, work hard and stuff, but English is pretty awesome, and it was usually a bright part of my day (except when it wasn’t, like when we had a reading quiz), but overall my writing got better and it was fun. So, while I know The Odyssey looks scary, take a deep breath, and remember that things will get better. Although thing is a nonspecific word, which I should not be using. But that is beside the point. Welcome to English 9H!

Busy Me

I've been writing my butt off for the U.S. portfolio, so I don't really have a full post in me. Instead, you can have a few messed up quotes from last year's theater homework. First is my writing about Beauty and the Beast, which I only viewed from the pit orchestra, where I was playing. However, I was still required to write a lengthy analysis of the production.

The first question, required a summary. I wrote most of it, then added "At that point, the show segues into 40 pages of constant music. I was unable to see much else until right at the end, when Belle tells the beast she loves him, and the spell is broken, reverting him and the others to their natural forms."

• "In my corner, I could only really hear strings, the drum set, and the louder brass notes. However, I could tell that we improved greatly during the rehearsal process, and complemented the actors by the end of it. However, we could have been quieter." (this is a reference to the brass section in particular, who enjoyed blowing my eardrums when I sat over there)
  
• "The spotlights on the speaking characters on the wraparound that caused sun spots on my eyes if I happened to look up were undoubtably bright enough to draw the audiences attention."
  
• "The pit orchestra was often unconcentrated" (we had too much pulp, apparently)
  
• In response to a question asking who I admired in the production. "As a member of the pit, I saw very little of the actors or the technicians. However, I did admire some my fellow pit people. The one I was able to see the most was Harry, the keyboard II, who sat directly in front of me. I admired how focused he was. He talked very little, instead concentrating on his music. When my keyboard was unplugged by an overzealous cellist, and I accidently flipped off his trying to turn it back on, he managed to continue playing and not get lost, unlike me, who missed the entirety of Be Our Guest trying to catch up."
  
• "My least favorite moment in the play was in the Gaston reprise. I had to play octave As with my right hand extremely quietly, while staying on tempo. Unfortunately, my amp was far about 6 feet away from me, and I couldn’t hear myself. This made it immensely difficult to stay on the same tempo as the bases, who were right next to me, and I ended up not playing the As at all."
  
• "The fog during the transformation smelled bad."
  

From Romeo and Juliet, which I wrote a second paper on, later in the year, I leave you with one quote

"Forming styrofoam bricks using a cheese grater is surprisingly time consuming."

New Color Scheme

I like it, at the moment. I think it's a bit more eye catching.

I just tried to wipe an apostrophe off of my screen using my sleeve. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful.

The S.A.T. this morning was easy, but that's all I'm legally allowed to say, since I copied that silly paragraph in cursive. Avon was in my testing room, but I haven't seen her since. She will be pleased to know that she took more practice tests than Bryant (the smart twin whose first name contains none of the letters in Bryant), who took 8. I was sitting next to Dino, as always. It's the last name proximity, I guess. Fortunately, he's not a loud test taker. Otherwise, I probably would have done poorly on my Saturday Science admissions test, my CAPT tests, and, now, the SAT. He's the only person I've discussed the test with thus far, and he said the same thing I did. I did hear him talking to Jeremy afterwards, though, and Jeremy said he didn't even finish. Ha. I'm hoping that means he won't get into the Saturday Science next year (not that I would ever ill-wish anybody....*shifty eyes*)

Also, I just read Evil Genius, by Catherine Jinks, which I positively loved. Cadel, the boy genius in question, is a wonderful character. I kept expecting him to be a caricature of an overly smart teenage boy, but he really rounded out in the second half of the novel. The whole thing was very funny, as well. I love the fake schedule in the front and back. For instance, Cultural Appreciation is struck through, with "Forgery" scribbled above, and the teacher named "Art East." How fabulously punny. There are also a few subtle (hopefully intentional) Harry Potter references, which also made me smile.

All in all, a good day.

In addition: this is my This I Believe statement, and the introduction to my portfolio.

I wrote a This I Believe essay once before, back, so very long ago, when I was fourteen. “I believe in questions,” I wrote. “I once dreamed of being omniscient, but as I’ve grown and learned, everything seems further away. For every answer I find, a thousand more questions appear in my mind. There are also times when I don’t want the answer, when I would prefer to continue my life oblivious to the suffering around me. I like to have questions, gaps in my understanding, that, although I will never fill them, will forever provide me with a sense of comfortable emptiness.”

I’ve grown since then, far more than I would have thought was possible in a mere two years. When I first started high school, I loved questioning for the sake of questioning. Now, however, I prefer answers. A large part of this originates in my expanding understanding of science. Where I once saw questions, huge blanks in my understanding, I’m beginning to find answers. While these answers still inspire more questions- knowing that zinc finger proteins help stem cells resist viruses sends me on to how they work, why they evolved, and how they could be improved- these questions are merely another step in my path towards answers. I have a habit of doing in math class whatever the teacher has just informed me is impossible to do. Even though I can never answer everything, I can’t say that questions are better and stop trying. I have to look for answers, in school and in life. So now, I believe in answers.

In U.S., I started the year believing what I read. Then, we were taught to doubt it all, searching for bias. However, even though I can’t trust everything I read, I still need to use what I have to search for the truth, piecing together the answers I so badly desire. I can do this by reflecting, thinking, and looking inward. I also search for answers in science and math, trying to learn about how the world works, why things function, how all the little cogs within me fit together to make a living, breathing human being. In this portfolio, I’ll be using what I’ve learned from my science classes this year to explain what I’ve learned about myself in U.S. History.

Enjoy.

Tomorrow

10 hours until SAT. I'm going to go to bed now.

But, just to keep you from getting bored....

I discovered my final planning from Western last year. I'm pretty sure that we got to pick our own topics, because I wrote about the effect of the French Revolution on the Catholic church, and I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who would actually care.

Basically, before, it was the official state religion, just like the Robin is the official state bird of our Connecticut. After, it was more like the Robin was a really well liked bird, but without the official stamp of approval, and if it were to chirp at us, we wouldn't be obliged to listen.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man, which is like the Declaration of Independence, but with a less catchy title and even more sexist phrasing, espoused religious freedom. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy said nice things about tolerance, originating the CCC, the primary rival of the slightly less tolerant KKK. This constitution reassigned bishops. I believe that this is a process similar to castling in a chess match.

Then, came the National convention and the reign of terror, which basically took the Catholic church to the guillotine, as well as making a ten day week and confusing the crap out of all the workers, who were especially disgruntled about having a seven day work week. The high level of church bashing, coupled with the severe difficulty involved in actually locating a Sunday in the new calendar, diminished church membership greatly.

Then, Napoleon put all the little pieces back together, like all the kings horses and all the king's men, only more successful.