Fantabulosity

Today started with getting to sleep in, so it really seemed good from the beginning. Unfortunately, my beloved youngest sister got into a screaming fight with my mom at the time my alarm would have gone off anyways, so my attempts at rest were thwarted.

On the plus side, I then spent many hours lolling about the house and being generally unproductive (and by unproductive, I mean "covered two more mini-units of vector review," obviously). Then I drove all the way to somewhat-far-off-town, successfully using the car's built-in GPS to locate the photography studio. It was easily identified by the nerdy looking kid wearing khakis and a blue shirt, just as ordered.

I derived a surprising amount of enjoyment from the photo-taking. I realize that the people there are supposed to go on and on about how beautiful the photograph-ee looks, but that doesn't mean that a mountain of compliments isn't fun. Posing with Rodney was probably more fun on the whole, though. We got lumped together after the photographer+assistants asked if we knew each other---not if we liked each other, mind you, just if we knew each other. This meant that as they posed us in various relations to each other, we got to make jokes at their expense, which more or just meant calling them crazy and then laughing a lot (you'd laugh to, if you were uncomfortable). There are also some photos of us making James Bond poses that I'd love to get ahold of at some point in the future.

Also, I met this cute guy from Tennessee who rides Tennessee walking horses (or something like that) professionally and wants to be a large animal vet when he grows up. I kind of really wanted to attempt to set him up with Kathrya, but then I found out that he is only a junior. Well, that and I remembered that Kathrya has a boyfriend, but these are minor details.

Later this evening, I went to movie night. It was a painful decision between settling down with a new way of thinking about projection vectors and going to watch A Fish Named Wanda, but I think I made the right decision. The movie was hilarious. Also, I got to meet Timothy, at long last. He is every bit as adorably nerdy as expected. I already want to be his friend, and he totally fits right into the group, which is lovely on the whole. He and Julie are colossally cute (I actually said to Yuma "they're like you and Ginny. It's adorable!", so I'm now officially on record on finding Yuma and Ginny cute rather than nauseating).

The evening ended with eight of us sitting hunched over in the back of Josh's car, eating ice cream out of the carton and discussing internet browsers in great detail. It was amazing. Nerdiness to the point of perfection.

The best terrible pun I can remember (I love puns so, so much) was Josh saying that Julie was covered in mud and therefore "so dirty." So much pun. So much wonderful.

Nyx also said, at one point, "this is so much more fun than getting drunk."

"Agreed," I replied.

"I really wouldn't know," said Brian.

It was then realized that none of us actually knew, but we nonetheless agreed that this sort of activity is in every way superior.

I love my friends.

Physics Study Party

Things I have done since embarking on this ridiculous task:

• Chatted on facebook with Leila
• Gchatted with Maxwell
• Talked about testicular tension with Nyx and Josh, the my two fellow participants in this party of ridiculousness.
• Drank tangello juice
• Read over the list of MIT housing seminars
• Attempted to find a complete online physics test
• Gave Nyx unnecessary advice on how to study
• Removed 96% of the clothing on my floor from my floor
• Spot treated my mattress pad
• Listened to Nyx explain rref in matrices to Josh
• Facebook chatted briefly with Jordan, who is on my list of people I want to be friends with when I get to college. 
• Stopped chatting with Jordan because she said that the AP Physics test was hard, and she went to physics camp, so I figured I should study--though she's probably just one of those people who says stuff is hard that isn't, I dunno.
• Played with Buckeyballs
• Ate dinner
• Started one AP Physics problem
• Got bored
• Announced intention of not studying
• Gossiped
• Sent emails about prom dress shopping
• Worried about prom being awkward
• Laughed at the spelling of the word awkward
• Worried about the fact that this list is probably not as funny as previous list
• Noted that nearly all of Josh's clothing is logowear related to his future college
• Congratulated self for using the proper where/wear in the above bullet point
• Listened to Nyx talk to herself

Day Off

Last science fair was today. It kind of sucked, actually. On the plus side, I made a couple of new friends--Karel, who knows some RSI folks and is super legit, and Dayton, who I am currently chatting with on facebook and have pressured into contacting me if she visits [college of choice] in the future. I also had some quality time with Dr. Verona, who got annoyed with me for referencing that time he talked about drinking and deriving during class.

I left early, what with getting out during the first round (Karel did too, so I'm not that mad, but still) and went shopping. Tried on a buttload of random clothes and dresses, came home with one pair of cargo shorts. It was fun, though, and finding dresses that fit was pretty easy, which makes me think the great prom dress search won't actually turn out to be quite so great.

Then I came home and read half of Squire, which is every bit as good this time around. I also played The Sims 2 for the first time in a while, which was pretty fun. Now I'm talking to people on the computer. When my hair gets a bit drier, I'll get dressed and head over to Josh's house, and that'll be that.

Diplomacy

I played my first game of it today. We only had five people, though, so the dynamic wasn't quite right. It was me, Genie, Julie, Peter, and Josh (though Cammie did eventually show up).

It took us an hour and a half to read the rulebook. This was partially because Julie outright refused to read it out loud, which meant that we read over it individually while the remaining people were talking. Genie actually never read it--she listened to my explanations and then repeatedly flubbed up the rules during gameplay.

We also were not particularly diplomatic. We tried, but it's difficult to make teams with only that many people, so alliances were boring and not that interesting. I allied with Julie, who turned out to be somewhat useless, and then we all kind of went off on solo campaigns. I attempted to worm information out of Peter, but he refused to tell me anything and said he was "planning a psychological invasion of Germany." Totally not helpful.

But whatever. In Soviet Russia, Diplomacy diplomacize you. Or something to that effect (I was Russia...though not Soviet, of course. Early 1900s and all that).

Okay, it is officially way too late for this. Goodnight world.

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.

Dracula

is officially the most boring book ever.

Today, I had my A.P. music theory exam, which went better than I expected, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see. Afterwards, Avon, Nyx and I (I has good grammar, see!) went to the diner and got lunch. We stayed there for about an hour, bought next to nothing, and then spent ten minutes sitting at the table waiting for them to come take out money because we forgot that you're supposed to go up there to pay. It was rather comical, actually.

Then, I had about an hour at home before I had to go back to school for a gala rehearsal. However, it turned out that there weren't enough people, so the conductor canceled the entire number and I got to leave early. Unfortunately, there was still an hour and fifteen minutes to go before my parents could come to pick me up. So, I wandered the school for a while before settling down in the lobby of the auditorium, where it was nice and quiet. The only activity for about half an hour was Josh repeatedly walking out one door of the auditorium, past me without noticing I was there, then back into a different one.

After I had read about two chapters, activity increased. First, Ryan walked by, apparently giving a tour ("Are there separate wings for each grade?""Um, kind of. Well, no, actually."). Then, Adrian and Jun walked by, talking about some complicated math problem. I assumed engineering team had just gotten out, and thought nothing of it. Then, to my surprise, Mario, Irving, Theo, and a junior whose name I don't know came walking down the hall, discussing another, equally complicated sounding math problem.

I tried to read for a while more, but I could still hear them distantly talking, and really, eavesdropping is far more interesting than Dracula, and I still had 45 minutes to kill, so I picked up my book and strolled nonchalantly down the hallway. As I got closer, I could hear Theo talking to our science research teacher, Dr. Breese ("I have all sixes," he frequently reminds her). I talked to her for a minute before walking around Mario, Irving, and the unknown junior and settling down on a bench to listen in. Unfortunately, their conversation was entirely boring and related to replaying some problem from their A.P. test, and when Mario finally realized I was there and talked to me for about a minute and a half, that conversation was also boring. Really, the only entertaining thing was that after Mario left, an unknown freshman asked the unknown junior something about Mario, and they came to the conclusion that Mario is "like, a genius or something."

Beyond that, my day was uneventful.

I leave you with another essay.

One man can have a great effect on society. However, apparently one woman can't, seeing as I don't reference any females at all in this essay. As a form of protesting my own lack of gender neutral pronouns, I will not post this essay, and will instead leave you with this, a study that I really, really don't want to believe.