Zippadeedooda

We flew from Maui to the big island (The Big Island?) today, which was a flight only slightly longer than the one I took from LA to Santa Barbara a week ago. There's a lot of volcanic rock here. At least, I think that's what it is. I can't imagine what else could cover everything the eye can see (except the ocean) in crumbling darkness.

Shelby's in the shower, but we're supposed to go to dinner at 6:45. This is inconvenient, especially considering I just exercised (be impressed) and am vaguely sweaty (okay, maybe I could have done with a little bit more on the exercise front, but at least it's better than nothing).

I can't get over how easy this keyboard types. I mean, in theory, the keyboard on my desktop should be the same, but this just feels so much smoother. Maybe I just got too used to the keyboards in the Athena clusters--but I'll be back in those soon enough, so I suppose it all works out.

I really need to figure out how to get ahold of the next Wheel of Time book while I'm still here, because I really don't want to think about getting through the six hour plane ride to San Francisco without one. We're stuck in some far-off corner of resortyness, though, and I'm not sure what the major booksellers are our here anyways. I'm going to have to come up with some more creative googling. Just because there's not Barnes and Nobles doesn't mean there's no anything...right?

Gretchen and Tea add Kathrya to the Conversation

Gretchen: OMG, OMG, OMG.

Tea: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Kathrya: hahahaaa

Gretchen: aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea: AAAAH

Gretchen: AAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Kathrya: good god you two hahaa. It's not that big of a deal :)

Gretchen: YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!

Kathrya: hahaa. It's just a first datee relax.

Gretchen: did he ask you out? What movie are you seeing? Are you excited? omg.

Tea: AAAAAH. I NEED DETAILS.

Kathrya: nah, we're watching movies at his plate, which was kind of the general plan, as Tea can say.

Gretchen: oh

Tea: TYBALT HAS A PLATE. OMG.

Gretchen: haha

Kathrya: Plate? What?

Gretchen: place*

Tea: You said plate. Got it. Wait. What were the precise circumstances?

Gretchen: Yes, do tell.

Kathrya: Okay, okay anyways we were going to watch movies, and then Ali texted me asking what chocolate I liked and then Tybalt texted me telling me he bought it, and then she told me he was going to ask me out tomorrow and we had a conversation which I think all got relayed to Tybalt, because eventually he just cut out the middle man, so no one said it straight out but now it's like a date. Does this make sense?

Tea: Dino is yelling at me for not telling him why I'm leaving, by the way.

Gretchen: haha.

Tea: Anyways, YAY KATHRYA!

Gretchen: Congrates :)

Kathrya: haha thanks.

Gretchen: that's so cute!! ahhhhh. This is more exciting than the Olympics.

Tea: AAAAAAH I KNOW!

Kathrya: hahaa

Tea: Gretchen and I have been going OMG for like EVER

Kathrya: really gus??

Tea: yes!

Gretchen: YES

Kathrya: hahaa. Well, I'm glad I can entertain you guys.

Tea: I'm going to need a big report afterwards. And also, Dino is still yelling at me.

Gretchen: Haha.

Kathrya: tell him to go away.

Gretchen: second. By thew way, do you (Kathrya) mind if we bug Tybalt when he signs onto fb.

Kathrya: uhmmmm yes. Feel free to do so after tomorrow though.

Tea: Okay.

Gretchen: ok

Kathrya: I feel like it's not official enough. I don't know, I'm fairly confused, cause he didn't say it straight out, but it like, is, so whatever.

Gretchen: When it's on facebook, it's official.

Tea: Don't put it on facebook, that's awkward.

Gretchen: I guess...not that I would know.

Kathrya: Well, it's just one date. We'll see. I sound like Avon.

Tea: Dino is now threatening to remove friendship. I wasn't aware we were friends.

Gretchen: Just tell him you're going to help your sister with something, or just tell him you have to go. The end.

Tea: But we're getting into a really good fight. It's fun? and BACK TO KATHRYA. AAAAHHH OMG OMG OMG OMG cough.

Gretchen: OMG OMG OMG OMG

Kathrya: I'll take it this means you approve?

TEa: YES DUHHHHHH.

Kathrya: hahaaa

Gretchen: Kath, you have no idea, Tea and I have been FREAKING OUT.

Kathrya: it's okay I was freaking out earlier. It went from OMGGGGGGGGG YAY to OHNOESWAH to COMMITTMENT PHOBE TIME to YAY. :)

Gretchen: Stay at Yay :)

Kathrya: I plan to.

Tea: Be married to someone else on fb, and then don't worry about it, because if it's not on fb...

Kathrya: hahaaaaa if it's not on fb then I have privacy.

Gretchen: Kathrya, will you marry me?

Tea: I PROPOSED FIRST. I DID. WITH MY SHIRT.

Gretchen: WHAT!?!?

TEA: SO THERE.

Kathrya: with your shirt.

Tea: HA. HA. HA.

Kathrya: SO TRUE

Gretchen: MINE WAS SO MUCH MORE OFFICIAL

Tea: MINE WAS FIRST

Gretchen: MINE WAS BETTER

Tea:AND WE LIVE IN A FOURTH DIMENTIONAL WORLD

Gretchen: ?

Tea: WHERE TIME FOLLOWS A MOSTLY LINEAR PATH AND WE CANNOT GO BACKWARDS BECAUSE WE ARE NOT FIFTH DIMENSIONAL BEINGS. BOOYAH!

Gretchen hey, does facebook let you marry more than one person?

Tea: polygamy.

Kathrya: No, it doesn't, stupid. I wish it did. But anyway, I just took my relationship status of facebook. I think that just solves a lot of problems.

Tea: I agree. Also, Dino is still yelling at me.

Gretchen: ABOUT WHAT??

Tea: WHAY DO YOU THINK

Gretchen: AMC? beach coverups?

Tea: I told him I was leaving, and he said why, I said can't tell, he says TELL ME, I say no, etc., for like ten minutes.

Gretchen: I'll tell him you're talking to me, and I'm hogging you.

Tea: NO. Then he'll think it's about you and Tybalt. Sorry.

Gretchen: Then suffer. WHAT!?!?! Did you mention Tybalt?!?!??!?!

Kathrya: what??

Tea: he says it's that KATHRYA HAS A CRUSH ON TYBALT. He came up with it by himself.

Gretchen: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea: What the hell am I supposed to say.

Kathrya: ommmmmmmmmg WHY IS HE TALKING ABOUT ITTTTTT

Tea: I don't fucking know.

Gretchen: DON'T SWEAR. just log out...

Tea: Then he'll think it's true.

Kathrya: just tell him it's none of his business and log out.

Gretchen: woah, I said log out first. Credit it to me.

Kathrya: Also, why do I feel like EVERYONE knew he liked me before I did.

Gretchen: :P

Tea: Oh, shit. I swore at him. Now he says Tybalt likes Kathrya.

Gretchen: Well, he's not wrong.

Kathrya: This is true.

Gretchen: Kathrya is very likable.

Tea: He blatantly just told me that Tybalt likes Kathrya, by the way, so he's clearly a crappy confidant, and I should have told him this sooner, because then you would have found out sooner.

Kathrya: Well, it's cuter this way. I like the Valentine's Day theme.

Gretchen: What's he saying now.

Tea: WHAT'S THE SECRET TEA? ROHO. ROJO. BASTARDO.

Gretchen: HAHAHA.

Tea: I responded with: TALK TO TYBALT. ROJA. BASTARDA. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Gretchen: Presuming he understood that much spanish.

Tea: We've devolved into all caps. I should probably just log out, but I'm enjoying myself way too much.

Kathrya: This is amusing. I vote stay put and keep us updated.

Tea: I think he's giving up. I need to give him something though. He's starting to stop responding.

Kathrya: Something what?

Tea: Am I allowed to end with him finding out or not? Because otherwise this is just cruel.

Gretchen: Well, he basically got it.

Tea: I just dropped a massive hint and he stopped responding.

Gretchen: My dad is playing dramatic classical music in his room and I can hear is and it totally fits!!!!!!!!

Kathrya: I like dramatic classical music.

Gretchen: It's Beethoven's fifth symphony. duh duh duh DUH.

Chat with Gretchen

Gretchen: hello

Tea: hey. so. OMG.

Gretchen: I KNOW OMG!!!!!!!!!!

Tea: AAAH. also, packing.

Gretchen: oohhh, have fun in mexico!!

Tea: thanks. I'm trying to make Kathrya log into gchat also. OMG, OMG.

Gretchen: haha

Tea: AAAAAHHHHH

Gretchen: OMG, WHAT? WHY ARE WE STILL SCREAMING?

Tea: still Kathrya and Tybalt.

Gretchen: oh, okay. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tea: BECAUSE IT'S EXCITING

Gretchen: !!!!!!!!!! I AGREE. I yell in my head when it's caps

Tea: me too.

Gretchen: haha, do you think Tybalt thinks that Kathrya told us? Do you think he's avoiding

facebook?

Tea: omg. Dino is talking to me on fb right now.

Gretchen: about?

Tea: he just said question.

Gretchen: umm

Tea: I'm resisting the all caps urge.

Gretchen: with Dino?

Tea: I CAN'T STOP. AAAAAHHHHH

Gretchen: haha. ME TOO. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea: AAAAAHHHH

Gretchen:GAH. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?!?! What's Dino saying now? have fun in mexico?

Tea: he's asking if I'm going to The Challenge/taking the AMC

Gretchen: ohh. So I take it guys don't talk about going on dates? or at least Tybalt doesn't tell

Dino?

Tea: I don't know. Maybe not yet.

Gretchen: Are you going to The Challenge?

Tea: no, I'm taking the AMC.

Gretchen: is it the same day?

Tea: yeah :(

Gretchen: ohh. Is he going?

Tea: I'm working on Kathrya, she's almost in gchat!

Gretchen:? How is she almost in gchat??

Tea: I'm working on her. "I don't know which buttons to push!?"

Gretchen: haha. Does she have gmail? When she figures it out, make a group chat. Please.

Tea: Also, I'm like this close to telling Dino to go bug Tybalt.

Gretchen: HAHA

Tea: thisclose

Gretchen: are they good friends?

Tea: I dunno

Gretchen: like would they talk about that kind of stuff?

Tea: I'm not sure if Tybalt is one of Dino's friends that doesn't like Dino.

Gretchen: haha

Tea: it's kind of sad really

Gretchen: is Dino still talking about The Challenge? what's sad?

Tea: no, now he's not talking. We're on the AMC.

Gretchen: okay, but what was sad?

Tea: That Dino's friends don't like him.

Gretchen: aww. Are you sure Tybalt doesn't like him.

Tea: Gretchen

Gretchen: Yes?

Tea: Add this email to the chat.

Gretchen: I can only invite current friends.

Tea: add it then!

Gretchen: I'm doing it.

Tea: GO

Gretchen: is that Kathrya's email.

Tea: it's my other email. Kathrya is on it right now. go go goooo

Gretchen: hold on

Tea: also, I just told Dino I have too many beach coverups, and he goes "I have the same

problem"

Gretchen: what beach coverups? What are they? I sent Kathrya an invite to chat. Tell her to

accept, then when she shows up in the contact list, I can make it a group chat.

Tea: They are dresses.

Libros Para México

I'm working on lining up seven posts for the next week, so you won't have to miss me while I'm gone. This "planned posts" thing is really ingenious.

For now, I'm lining up books for break. I'm bringing twelve. Dad says I'm insane, but I think it's important to make certain I have enough with me.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: a retelling of Pride and Prejudice that involves zombies. The first sentence in this book is "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." This is vastly superior to the opening of the original, which reads, "it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Impossible, by Nancy Werlin: This book has the all-time most beautiful cover I've ever seen. It's got a girl, I think she looks Asian but her face is covered so I don't know, in a blood red dress, standing in a marsh, with these huge, gorgeous mountains in the background. The cover quote is by Gregory Maguire, who wrote Wicked and is awesome. It's based on the song Scarborough Fair, which I love, so it should be good.

A Fine Passion, by Stephanie Laurens: The Baron has come home to intrigue, duplicity and peril . . . and the only woman in all of England who sets free his hidden passions, reads the caption on the inside front cover.

I Thee Wed, by Amanda Quick: Another romance novel. It's heroes are Edison and Emma, and I think that's so adorable I just had to read it.

The Forgotten Legion, by Ben Kane: Ben Kane is a solid name. This one is Ancient Rome, from the perspective of the scum rather than the leaders. If it's any good, I'll probably loan it to Gretchen, as it seems like her sort of thing.

The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale: Princesses, princes, animals, and magic. Exactly the sort of books I was devouring in middle school. I couldn't resist the urge to get just one more.

Remember When, by Judith McNaught: another romance novel, but this time set in the modern era, but with all of the same silly ideas about marriage. It also has an extremely unscandelous cover, so can be easily hidden.

A Summer Affair, by Susan Wiggs: These protagonists are Isabel and Blue. Again with the wierd names. It's about a doctor and a fugitive. Should be horrifically exciting.

Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson: A fun book about teenagers from the woman who wrote 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Should be a good read.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N. K. Jemison: This one is coming out February 25th. I got a pre-publishing copy from the school library, and it looks to be an exciting bit of fantasy. Weirdly, I got through the first chapter and thought to myself "this girl feels black," and proceeded to read the next chapter with that as my mental picture. Turns out the author is African American, so she probably imagined the hero as such. I'm still not sure how I got that out of it, though.

Harry Potter y la cámara secreta, de J. K. Rowling: Opino que sea apropriada si leería una novela en español cuando estoy en México.

City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare: the second book of a series that is very, very good. However, the fact that the main character is named Clary by an author called Clare is a little bit weird.

Home Is Where the Boredom Sets In

The funny thing about being at home all day is that one really doesn't do anything interesting enough to blog about. The most exciting thing I've done thus far is buy a new pair of pants which I fear may become permanently attached to my derriere, seeing as they're so warm and comfy that I can't bare to take them off.

That bare above is actually supposed to be bear, but I was making a pun/homonym that is somewhat funny. And weakly supported. And not really that funny. At least it's in English, though. Homonym-like code structures in perl are easily the stupidest thing I've ever heard of (although, dear, dear, beloved coding language, I say this only because you are too intricate and complex for my wee little human mind to handle, and I mean no offense. Well, I can mostly handle it. I'm having an easier time with perl than I am with my TI-89.).

That is a long enough parenthetical that I should probably just add it into the text, but I'm really not in the mood.

Time for a Breather

Thank god.

I could not have survived one more day of school. I feel so tired, as if all I need is to just sink into bed and never get up again. I know, intellectually, that I should feel better in the morning, but right now that's difficult to comprehend.

I just watched Slumdog Millionaire. I was confused for at least 50% of the movie, but it didn't matter, because whenever I was confused, I just went mmmmmm, Dev Patil, and it was all good.

My family is so high on Christmas spirit that it's insane. Gretchen came over and we made meringues and decorated cookies. It was extremely fun. My parents attempted to extract information from her about guys, such as which of the Vaseline twins is better looking. Gretchen thinks that talking about that sort of thing with any adult is absolutely nuts, but to each their own, I suppose. Or, to be more correct, to each his or her own, but that his or hers thing is so very unwieldy.

Arguments

Genie, Shelby and I are standing in the bathroom, brushing our teeth.

"Hey," said Shelby. "That's funny. We're all wearing t-shirts and underwear."

I laughed and looked at my sisters. "Yeah, we are. Wait a second, Genie, that's my underwear!"

"No, it isn't!"

"Yes it is! It's spandex-y, and it has a black tag cut out in the back. Why are you wearing them?"

"They were in my laundry."

"They're still mine."

"Well, I thought they were mine."

"Well, they aren't. How did you not notice?"

"They'd been in my laundry for months-"

"They have not! I wore them a couple of weeks ago."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes, I did, and, anyways, you can't just claim underwear as yours because it comes in the laundry. I get your underwear in the laundry all the time, and you don't see me wearing it."

"Well, soooory!"

"You should be! That's my underwear, and you shouldn't be wearing it."

"I told you, it came in the laundry!"

"That doesn't make it yours!"

"Well, I thought it was!"

"It isn't!" I yelled. We'd migrated from the bathroom into the hallway, still yelling.

"Do you want me to take them off right now?"

"No! I want you to stop stealing my underwear!"

"Fine!"

"Good!" I stalked back into the bathroom and resumed brushing my teeth. "She shouldn't be taking my underwear," I informed Shelby. "This is the third time I've caught her, and I don't even see her in underwear that often. It's ridiculous!"

Shelby laughed.

"Shut up!" Genie yelled from her room.

Old Friends

Shelby spent most of the week calling her friend from last summer, trying to get her to come visit. She finally did, today. This girl is extremely fond of King of the Raft, in which everyone tries to shove each other off. Shelby and her friend spent a good deal of time pushing, then they turned on me, so I did my best to fight them off, but still ended up falling in twice. Then, after they were both in at the same time, I said to Genie, "this was a lot more fun when we were wrestling the guy from last summer."

"Yes," she replied, "Him and all his muscly muscles."

The friend heard this, and told us that said boy "and his really hot friend" spent time at the beach last summer saying the following rhyme:

"Have you seen my beachball?" (flex arms over head)

"It's about this big," flex in, around belly-button.

"And it went that way," gesture with one arm pointed out, the other bent.

"or maybe that way," switch directions.

We were in hysterics for a good few minutes.

Highlights

When the highlight of your day is that the cute boy who was working at the blueberry farm smiled at you while your mom paid his boss for the berries, you know that your life is far too unexciting.

Also, we're pretty sure the neighbor's oldest kid isn't actually there, so they're probably only about fourteen. Damn.

Stuck

Today, my sisters and I were sitting around and playing crazy eights when we looked out the window.

First, we saw some ducks. We then made a Duck Song, which goes something like this:

I am a duck

*quack quack*

I can swim fast

*quack quack*

I am a duck

*quack quack*

quack quack quack quack quack.

This is accompanied by Genie doing a dance with lots of extra shimmying.

Then, we went back to crazy eights. Shelby was down to her fourth hand, and I was still on my first. We looked out the window again, and there was a stranded person on a hobey cat, paddling along. First we argued about his age (we're going a bit stir crazy, and Shelby in particular is missing the boyz) and eventually decided he was around Genie's, then we decided to find Dad to ask him if he'd offer the boy a tow. Then we went down to the dock (where Dad had actually been the entire time) and Genie yelled over to him, "Are you stuck?"

"I'm good," he called back.

So he didn't get a tow. Then we heard noises on the other side of our dock, and looked over. The neighbors were playing on the next raft over from their house. These neighbors have three boys, but I have yet to actually meet any of them.

Report to come.

Bloodwork

I went to the walk-in clinic today because Dad thinks I have lyme disease. Mom brought the results from my last blood test, a year ago. The doctor at the clinic took one look at the test and said that I didn't have fifth disease when the test was taken.
"what?"
"No acute antibodies. Only immunity."
I was shocked. That meant that all last summer, something was wrong with me, but not what I thought.
It was probably lyme disease. Which I could have treated the first week and been fine the rest of the time. Gaaaahhhhh.

Oh, and I'll answer my first question. How do people have green eyes?
"Green eyes are the product of low to moderate amounts of melanin and probably represent the interaction of multiple variants within the OCA2 and in other genes, including perhaps the red-hair geneGreen eyes are the product of low to moderate amounts of melanin and probably represent the interaction of multiple variants within the OCA2 and in other genes, including perhaps the red-hair gene"

answer curtesy of wikipedia.
Oh, and I am now on vacation. Posts will be somewhat sporadic through the 24th.

Forgetfulness and Remembrance

I completely forgot to post yesterday, and I'm very sorry for that. I'll do my best to be more consistent in the future.

Yesterday, I went to Nyx's house with Dora. We mostly just hung out for a very long time. I borrowed three of Nyx's sister's books (Dream Stone, Petals on the River, and The Elusive Flame, all of them utterly ridiculous romance novels). I even went swimming- kind of.

When we got out to the beach in front of Nyx's house, Nyx ran right out into the water, Dora went in up to her waist, and I waded in almost to my knees before deciding that it was, really, far too cold and gross for this sort of thing and got back out. Dora soon joined me, but Nyx had already made it out to the raft and untied her boat. She paddled it over to us.

"How about I ferry you out?" she asked.

"No way," I responded. "You'll tip me in!"

"No, I won't."

"Will too."

"I didn't even have the idea until you suggested it."

"Hmph," I said. Dora had already climbed onto the little Laser. "Fine. But no tipping."

"Fine."

I climbed into the boat and Nyx pulled it over to the raft. Then she climbed onto the raft and then onto the boat. The whole thing tipped with the addition of her weight. I squeaked and quickly moved to balance it out. Nyx lay down on the front of the boat and paddled like it was a surfboard. When we came next to a buoy, Nyx climbed in and scrambled towards the side of the little sitting place.

The boat tipped dangerously. "Nyx!" I said loudly, moving to the side as a balance again. Dora even squeaked a little bit. "Don't do that! We might fall in."

"Hmmm," said Nyx. "I have a plan. Tea, hook your feet under that strap and lean all the way out of the boat."

"No way!" I said.

Dora laughed, and Nyx leaned out anyways. The boat tilted sideways, but didn't fall over, fortunately. Nyx eventually came back in, and we made it to the raft without further incidence.

We sat there for a little while, just talking, when I realized that it was starting to tilt into the water. I laughed as a memory of last summer came back to me.

"What?" asked Nyx.

"Last summer, in New Hampshire," I began, "we met another family that was staying nearby. They had a guy my age and a couple of younger girls, and a raft in front of their house that we'd play on."

"Was he cute?" Dora, of course.

"Yeah. Bit short, but very cute." I smiled, a little bit dreamily. "We'd basically hang out on the raft a lot. We played king of the raft, which pretty much involves wrestling everyone else off."

"Wrestling is fun," said Nyx.

"And, one time, we got my Dad to come on, and everyone stood on one corner and the whole thing just tipped right in and we all fell off. It was fun."

"Sounds like it."

"Yeah. Anyways, the raft tipping reminded me of it."

Ah, remembrance. I'm really beginning to look forward to vacation.

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.

My Laziness

Well, would you look at that. I haven't written in a very, very long time. I've been too busy reading. And writing papers. Although I did get in a little bit of work on writing for me during the holiday break. It's funny how whenever I get busy, writing is the first thing I stop doing, even though its one of my favorite activities. It's masochistic in the same way that I refuse to play piano until I finish my homework.

In other news, I officially love Justine Chen Headley. I just read and thoroughly enjoyed Girl Overboard, which was fun to read and left me with a feeling of girl power for a few days after I finish it. Even if it's the character who's awesome and not me, it's still enjoyable. And it's nice to read about someone who has plenty of money and isn't a total snob like the girls in A-list and Gossip Girl.

But for now- back to midterms!