Kitten's Korner

O.O

2007-04-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

I'm soo sorry. This time, the lack of updating wasn't my fault! The stupid blog wouldn't let me in. But it's okay, cuz I finally figgured it out and, well, here I am.

To those who are reading my story (of which there is only one chapter posted thus far) the next chapter will be posted by the end of next week. Thanks so much for your patience.

weekend

2007-02-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get to this earlier, but I've been home sick for the last couple of days and haven't been in much of a mood for writing. I'm feeling a little better now, though, so it's time to tell about the LAST SPEECH MEET OF THE YEAR! Duh duh duh DUH!!!

Well, technically it's no the last meet. We still have districts, but it's the last normal meet. It was last Friday. I had felt fine in the morning, but after the hour long drive to the school were it was being hosted, I had a sore throat, headache, and a fever. Yay, me. All that made the competition interesting. Very interesting, in fact. More so than I had expected, because for some reason, I made it into finals!! I don't if this sounds like a big deal or not, but I haven't broken into finals once all year. Being the last meet before districts, I was elated. I ended up getting 11th place out of 70 odd competitors over all. Now I'm excited for next week. I feel as if I might have a chance at making it to state.

The ride home was unpleasant, despite my high ranking. It was the wind was blowing like mad, sweeping snow over the road and blocking our vision. There were times when we literally couldn't see anything. I was scared out of my whits. Plus, my headache had come back worse than before. I was in tears by the time we were finally home.

After a long sleep, my headache was gone, but my throat was still sore and my fever hadn't gone away. For three days, I was confined to my room which gave me a lot of time to do stuff like watch a ton of movies and a few episodes of an anime that my friend introduced me to on youtube. That and talk for hours on the phone with my boyfriend. He was a sweety, saving me from my lonesomeness.

So that was about the extent of it all. My fever went away last night, but I'm still to weak to try to go to school yet. Maybe tomorrow. At least I'm not contagious so can be upstairs now.

Intro

2007-02-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

As the title suggests, this is the intro to the book I'm writing. I'm hoping that by having people read as i go, it'll give me more of a motive to finish it. But don't get too attached, because knowing me, that won't happen. Anyway, here's the preface.

Tyleen stared out the window, wanting to murder the mailman. He was an older model, the city didn’t often replace their worker robots, so he wasn’t able to move extremely quickly, but it seemed to Tyleen that he moved deliberately slowly today. His box-like figure inched carelessly along on rickety wheels driving her nearly insane. By the time he began crawling up her front walk, she was kicking herself to keep from rushing out to him then and there. If she ran out and created a scene, the others would see. They would know.
The doorbell rang. Tyleen squeezed her eyes shut and slowly counted to three. She didn’t want to open the door too soon and appear anxious. Taking a deep breath, she stood and strode to the door. After inhaling once more, trying to compose herself, she opened it.
“Good morning,” said the box. His voice was dull and metallic, one of the things Ty hated about the old models.
“Just give me my mail,” she retorted irritably.
A small slot opened and half a dozen letters slid out. She grabbed them, perhaps too quickly, and shuffled through them, checking names, addresses, and anything else she could think of that might hold a sign. There was nothing. Her shoulders dropped, and with a furious sigh she put her hand on the door, ready to slam it shut in the robots stupid, blank, metallic face. Before she could, however, a larger slot opened on the mailman’s front.
“You have a package. Please sign and place your finger on the sliver box.”
Tyleen’s heart pounded as a writing pad and pen appeared from the opening. She quickly scribbled her name on the digital screen, returned the pen, and placed her finger on the small, sliver square that the robot offered to her. There was a quick pinprick as a sample of her blood was taken, and then she pulled her hand back. The mailman had already pulled a medium sized cardboard box out from somewhere in his interior with tow metal claws.
Tyleen snatched the box, shut the door, and rant into the kitchen, leaving the other mail on the living room couch.
This was it.
Using a pair of scissors, she cut through the packaging tape and tore open the cardboard flaps. Shining beautifully on top of a bed of packaging peanuts were two small, platinum blasters. On top of one was taped a small note with four hastily written words.
“Don’t tell your mother.”

poem

2007-01-29T19:24:00.000-08:00

I got creative. Here's a poem for y'all...or something

When I smile at you from across the room...
It means I can't get you off of my mind
When I say "I love you" a little too much...
It means that I'm overflowing and it just leaks out
When I walk a little closer than normal...
It means I want the world to look at us and be jealous of what we have
When I seem clingy...
It means I've had a bad day and know the one person who can make things better
When I apologize for things I can't control...
It means I want to be perfect for you, and know I can't
When I sacrifice something for your benefit...
It means you're my world and I want you to be happy
When I ask to pray for you...
It means I can't make everything right in life, but I know the one who can

Kearney Adventures--Day 2

2007-01-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

As I'm writing this, the lights are dimming all around. I think I jinxed us last night when I complained about the power not being off long enough to enjoy it. We've had no power all day. It wasn't until 5:30 that we were returned into the world of electricity. We had a really fun day, though. At first, we were all worried because the house had no heat and we couldn't find a hotel to stay in for the night because there were no vacancies. Soon, we found a place at an out-of-the-way inn, but at least it had power. They told us not to come for a few hours so they could clean our rooms, so we were stuck at home. We broke out 'Life Stories' again and played that until people slowly lost interest and then we moved on to lunch. It turned out heat wasn't going to be a problem either because the sun was streaming in through the window. I even shed a few of my five layers because it got kind so warm. After lunch, we sat around in the living room talking, reading, just being together. We also listened to the radio. Mom, not wanting to stay in Kearney long if we weren't going to have power, wanted to go home. However, the interstate exits and a lot of the streets were all closed, so any hope of getting somewhere that wouldn't freeze us out at night was dashed. But at least we were together, so we'd be okay.

I challenged my brother to a game of Risk (which I stomped him at, by the way ^_^) And the others played Cranium. We had just finished our game, and Cranium was about half way done when the lights flickered back on. All of us did our happy dance, and it was literally about 45 seconds until the boys had abandoned the game and turned on the Game Cube. I, sadly, also went to the electronics, but not before cleaning up and only so that I could blog, so I'm not in the wrong…right? >.>; Don't answer that.

Hopefully the power doesn't go out again, but we can only pray. We really don't give those power guys enough credit. We're always thanking the firemen and police a lot of credit. Not that they don't deserve a lot of credit, but you never realize how much power is needed in our society today until you loose it. So thanks, power guys. You all are really great ^_^

As a final note, I'd like to wish a happy New Year to everyone, and I'll see you in '07.

Kearney Adventures--Day 1

2006-12-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

My family, including Grandma and Grandpa, trucked it up to Kearney today to visit my Aunt Reanna and Uncle Rick. They spent Christmas with Rea's side of the family, so we're spending New Years and celebrating Christmas at their house at the same time.

This morning was a little bit stressful. Not so much for me, but Mom and Dad were kinda freaking as they rushed to make sure that we could get out of the house on time. I did manage to pull out for a few minutes to call and tell Randy good-bye. Shortly afterward, we were on the road. This soooo did not release any of the tension. First,
Gareth started complaining that he felt sick, so we had to make a side stop at Food-4-Less for a bucket in case he needed to throw up. When we got to York we started getting pelted with rain, which eventually turned to sleet as the temperature dropped. Then the roads got SUPER icy and the wind started blowing really hard. We passed a lot of cars that had spun off the road, and Mom got really worried. Finally, Liam needed to pee an hour away from Kearney where there are no rest stops. Lucky for him, we had an empty water bottle on hand. At first, he was a little hesitant, but once he finished he thought peeing in a bottle was the coolest thing ever. He cracked many “Don’t forget it’s not lemonade” jokes by the time we got to the house. When we went to throw it away, we saw just how bad he had to go. He filled the whole freaking bottle!!! That boy can pee! Gareth was the only one not amused by this. He though it was a total abomination to go to the bathroom in something you’re supposed to drink out of.

At the house, it took a little while to calm down. The ice on the roads was really scary, so we needed a lot of hugs once in the house. I didn’t realize just how bad it was until I looked at the grass. Every single blade was coated in a cylinder of ice the size of my fingers so that it looked more like a crystal wonderland than a front lawn.

Moods soon lightened as we sat around the dinner table, talking and laughing while the lights flickered above our heads as a result to the terrible wind outside. Just as we were about to clean up and open Christmas presents, the lights went out entirely. We all ran to get the candles and gathered around the table and the soft glowing light. We didn’t even get time to enjoy the comfy hominess of the candle lit room when the lights came on again. With a sigh, we finished the dishes and sat in the living room to open gifts. My second youngest cousin, Molly, got a Baby Alive doll. It’s a baby doll that you have to play with, feed, and change her diapers to keep content. Because you know that we don’t have enough real baby poop in the world, so we need to change an artificial diaper every now and again. –sigh- I don’t understand kids.

Right now, everyone’s kind of settling down and getting ready for bed. It looks like we’ve got a pretty fun weekend ahead of us.

Christmas has...changed

2006-12-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas in my family has slowly been evolving over the past years. We still keep the same traditions and all, and maybe it's just because I've been getting older, but I've started to see things change a little bit. For the better, of course ^_^

At about 7, my dad came to wake me up because, unlike my brothers, I hadn't gotten up at five in the morning to stare at the Christmas tree and the gifts leaking out from underneath. As I rose sleepily, Dad commented, "You must be turning into a grownup. You're tired on Christmas morning!"

I trudged up the stares and took my place on the living room couch, where my parents started to divvy up the presents. I already knew what part of my gift would be because every year I get a doll, usually porcelain, to add to my collection downstairs. In years past, I've received little girls riding ponies and princesses with their dresses all pretty. This year it was a gothic pirate girl holding a skull with a blade clamped between its teeth. My other gifts were similar. A Jack Skellington jacket, and a hoodie that reads "Pink Goth" across the front. Oh yeah. Change is good.

After a quick clean up, it was off to Grandma's. There, the gifts weren't quite as dark, but they were all just as wonderful. My one big gift was a keyboard that I had been asking for since September!! WOO HOO!!! As a thank you, I tinkered around on it, playing carols until the rest of the family arrived.

I love Christmas at my grandparents house because it's always such a loving environment. That much has always stayed the same. Sounds of cooking came from the kitchen as the rest of the adults set the table for breakfast, and Gareth sat in the living room playing with his two Godzilla toys which he has named "Triangle Godzilla" and "Godzilla House".....don't ask me why.

Another thing that stays the same every Christmas is the tradition of ebleskivers. Ebleskivers, if you don't know, are a little pancake balls usually filled with some kind of treat like peanut butter, cherries, or bananas. In recent years, Grandma has added another filling to the list. A nickel. Obviously, no one eats the nickel, but whoever is lucky enough to find it gets five dollars. It adds a little friendly competition to breakfast, and it makes sure that there won't be many left overs. All of us dived into the two platters as soon as they touched the table. We also partook of the other dishes, of course, because that's part of the rules. You have to eat the other food, too.

After a long time of competitive face-stuffing, Grandma reveled that the nickel was in the tray on my side of the table. Everyone suddenly became hungry again. Finally, with only a handful of ebleskivers left on the tray, there were only two people who weren't too stuffed to eat them: Rowan and my cousin Leah. Rowan just grabbed five of them randomly and started eating, but Leah and I, deciding to work together, took another rout. I took a clean spoon and gently used it to turn every ebleskiver on the tray, looking for some sign of a filling. Any that had one were pushed aside. One of them, though, didn't have any peanut butter or cherry juice leaking out the side...and it looked strangely flat. I tossed it onto Leah's plate, and as she cut it open, the silver of a nickel poked up through the dough. We had won! That's what you get for teamwork, I suppose. ^_^

The final change, probably the best, was a game. Grandma had suggested that Dad bring the game "Life Stories" along so we could play it after breakfast. The game has four stacks of cards, each with different kinds of questions on them, but all of them ask you to dig into your past and recall, as the game says, your life stories. I didn't know that there was so much about my family that I didn't know. It was absolutely amazing some of the things they had to say. I'm thinking that this should definitely become a tradition.

My weekend

2006-11-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

So, my weekend was quite the adventure. It goes as follows:

Saturday, the first thing I did was clean my room. Now, why this may not sound exciting, it really was, because I haven't seen my floor in at least 2 months, and finding it again was almost miraculous. It feels really nice being in a clean room again. I think I'm going to try to keep it that way. (Inner voice: Yeah, like that's ever going to happen)

After that, I went to a photo shoot. A photographer friend of ours, Terry, wanted to make business cards with my face on them so I can hand them out to my friends and say "See this? This photographer rocks. Get your Senior pics from him." The best of the shoot, I posted in my photo gallery. They're the last two on the list. Check them out ^_^

Finally, at about 6:30, came what I had been looking forward to all week. Randy, his friend Michael, Amber, and I were all going to go out to see Stranger than Fiction (which was a very good movie, by the way. I recommend it). Now, I had never met Michael before, and all I knew of him was Randy saying "He's my complete opposite." I had expected that this meant something along the lines of him being a little more out spoken than Randy is. No. The description was extreamly accurate. The first thing he said to me when we piled into the car was, "Hey, just so you know, I'm a stud." Then he went on about how he met these two hott girls at Taco Bell who were going to another movie and were probably going to call him later. Little did he know (and I only found this out today) that those two "hott girls" were actually two very close friends of mine. Small world.

So the night went on with Randy, Amber and I kind of following Michael around the mall as he gave high fives to everyone he encountered. This kid has no fear. I was waiting for someone to clock him, but it never happened. He just got a lot of strange looks.

Sunday, Terry (the photographer) came over with the pictures, and Randy came and hung out for a few hours. My grandparents came over, and so Randy got to meet them. I expect that it was an odd first impression though. Grandma was skimming over the pictures and noticed that in one of them that I was wearing a ring that looked strangely like a wedding band. Noting this, she turned and shot a stare at Randy who, turning red, backed up in an "I swear it wasn't me!" kind of way. I explained to her that it was my purity ring and she need not worry. She laughed.

We then all sat down in the living room, talking and laughing, and Randy played "Stairway to Heaven" on our guitar quite awesomely. Soon, though, everyone had to leave because Mom and Dad had to go to a small group meeting and so I watched Monster House with the little one and tucked him into bed.

So, yeah. Pretty awesome weekend. I had fun, anyway.

Squashfest!

2006-11-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

Squashfest! We had our second Speech meet yesterday. This one was called "Squashfest" because the runners up get...you guessed...a small squash to take home and let rot. Also because the school thought squash would be a cool November-y theme.

Anyway, this meet wasn't nearly as painful as the last one. I didn't bring my script along, hoping that maybe I could do better if I knew that crutch wasn't available. Well, actually, it was because I couldn't find it, but that's beside the point. LOL But I was right. I forced my self to remember all my lines, and ran over all the trouble bits in my head before I performed, and, lo and behold, I did pretty well. Got third place in both my rounds. It's not enough to get to finals, but it was enough to make me happy.

I did a second event this tournament, one only offered at Squashfest. It's called Duo Impromptu. Basically, what happens is you and your partner are given three random topics. You choose one of those topics, and then the two of you have five minutes to make a speech about it. It's really a lot of fun. First round was okay, except that my partner ended just before we hit three minutes. The time limit is 5-7 minutes. We got last place, needless to say. Next round was better. The topic was harder, Survivor Speech Forensics, (i haven't seen Survivor since the first season was on air) but we got third place there. ^_^

Two of our people made it to finals, so we watched them and waited through the award ceremony. It was 11 by then, and I was half asleep. It had been a long day. I slept the whole bus ride home except for when I was looking at my ballots. Then I got home, went to bed, woke up, and here I am typing this. Yay!

Oh yeah, and One Act auditions were the other day. I made lead in "Sorry, Wrong Number". -happy dance-

Speech Meet Numero Uno

2006-11-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Today was an up-down kinda day. I'll start from the beginning...

I woke up today at FIVE THIRTY so that I could be at the school on time for the speech meet. I felt nauseous because I'd been up late at the novice meet the previous night and would have like very much to go back to sleep. I ran over my speech, thought I did pretty well for only have having it for a week, and then started to get ready. It went good, except that I had trouble with my hair because the hairspray bottle was being stupid, but I was determined to make it a good day anyway.

At the school that the tournament was being held at, I went over my speech three more times and then was overcome by a HUGE headache. Luckily, Jenn had aspirin, so I was okay in the next half hour, and my stomach ache had gone away, too. That was good.

My first round (there are three rounds and then finals) was bad, but could have been worse. I handed my script to Emma and had her cue me when I forgot my lines, which happened twice. I would freeze and look directly at her, and then the little angel would silently mouth the next word as to not get me in trouble, because I don't think your allowed to have a cue-er.

Second round was fabulous. I did forget one part, but ad libbed until I got back on track, and I got second place for that round! Woo hoo!

I was a mile high until third round came along. I went up, confidant as ever, and started my piece. Half way through, though, I froze. I was totally unable to think of what came next, and this time there was no Emma to save me. I hung my head in defeat and asked the judge if I could look at my script. He was really nice about, didn't make it a big deal. All he put on the ballot was "Don't worry. Mind slips happened. You did great." I got last in that round, but his comment made me feel better.

On the way home, even though none of us made it to finals, we were in high spirits. We sang to the radio at the top of our lungs and laughed and compared scores. I love our speech team. So, with a little spirit lifting from God (that's the only way I can explain being so cheery after my embarrassment at the meet) I had a good day after all. And now it's time to catch up on that sleep...

So random I can't give it a title

2006-11-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

The man didn't come to school today. (tear tear, cry cry) And I dressed up cute for him, too. Don't worry. It's not the guy I posted about in my last blog. I've finally gotten over him ^_^ I promise never to get so obsessed over someone again, especially if they treat me like crap. This guy's a sweety. He walks me to class and everything.

Moving on. I'm learning how to play guitar. So far I know four chords. Whoo hoo! My fingers hurt really bad, though, but hopefully that'll end soon and I'll grow rough callouses (sp?) and have man hands so I can play better.

So I have a headache from hell, and I'm just as tired, so you all better feel loved that I'm staying up typing this for all ya'll to read.

The play (Up the Down Staircase, for those of you who don't know) went great. The first night the whole first scene was brand new to all of us, as lots of people forgot their lines or said them in the wrong place, but the way the others improved around it and got the scene back on track really showed me how wonderful our drama group really is. i was blown away. Uber kudos to them.

The cast party was fun, too. So fun, in fact, that we had Stratego going on one side of the room, Risk on the other, and infomercials on the TV. Yeah, we were partying it up that night. LOL It really was fun though, cuz when your surrounded by that many friends, even Monopoly is exciting. ^_^

We had to take stupid tests today. Maybe that's why I have a headache. Anyway, I wasn't able to finish the math section in the time allowed. I don't think I've ever been able to complete it since grade school, and I'm in honors math, gosh darn it! A calculator probably would have moved things along a little bit faster, but oh well. I think I did well on the other stuff. If not...I don't wanna talk about it.

I'm going to get off now. I'm falling asleep on the keyboard. Much love to everyone,
Kitten

Romance Sucks!!

2006-09-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

There's this guy at school that I like. He's into a lot of the same stuff as me, like drama, choir, speech, Tim Burton, etc., plus he's got an awsome sence of humor and is super talented in about everything he does. The only problem is, he treats me like CRAP!

At first I thought that it was just in my head because even though he seemed to be avoiding me, he asked me to do a duet with him in speech this year. But the other day during play practice, I noticed he would go up to just about every one, including one of my friends, Amber, who he barely knows, and talk to them, but when I went up and said something to start a conversation, he threw me a cold reply and turned to talk to someone else. Then, I had to go on stage for a bit and he was with a group of my friends talking when I got back. The second I stepped into the circle, he turned and left. Even Amber noticed it.

I don't like his as much as I used to, but there's still an attraction and I don't know why. It's obvious that he wants nothing to do with me (other than this speech duet, which I might decide to pull out of) but I just can't help myself. I want to talk to him about it, but my mom says that doing that would just make matters worse. She's right, but I still wish there was something that I could do. It's so frustrating!

I have know idea what I'm going to do about this, and I don't want to make him out to be a bad person, cuz he's not. It's just this thing he apparently has against me. -bashes head against wall- Why does everything have to be so freaking complicated???

My Pirate Name

2006-09-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

My pirate name is:

Calico Morgan Bonney

Often indecisive, you can't even choose a favorite color. You're apt to follow wherever the wind blows you, just like Calico Jack Rackham, your namesake. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Yo Ho Yo Ho

2006-08-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

I'm in an uber good mood today. A few days ago, my G-ma took my brother and I shopping for school stuff. As we were weaving through the aisles of Wal-Mart looking for binders, erasers (which they ended up being sold out of) and so forth, we came to where the notebooks where. The first thing about those notebooks that caught my eye was, of course, the stack PotC notebooks. I dived in and searched for any of the few remaining that had Jack Sparrow on them. At first, it seemed that the only ones left were Will, but at the very bottom was one with only Jack and one with Will and Jack. They were the last of their kind. Needless to say, I own them now. ^_^

After we got our last minute school suplies all piled up in the shopping cart, we went to look for G-ma, who had gone to do her own shopping while we did ours. She said she'd either be in the grocery section or the toy section, so that's where we looked. When she wasn't in the groceries, we searched through the toys. On our way through, I spotted a large collection of PotC toys. I stopped and looked through them, wondering if Jack would be sold out here. He wasn't be the only one they had left didn't come with a hat! How can Cap'n Jack go around without his hat?? (Yeah, I know he did all through the second movie, but that was an extream circumstance) I was about to give up my search when I noticed something above me. It was all the extras that the employies stuff up on the top of the shelves. There appeared to only be two up there, and lo and behold, one of them was Jack with his hat I put it in the cart, readying myself for a "No", we were spending a lot on school suplies already. But when I asked, she said "Sure! Throw it in!" I ed her and thanked her and hugged her and kissed her. Happily, we checked out and went home, and I put my brand new Jack doll on my "Shelf of Jack", which I will take a picture of to show everybody once we fix our camera.

And so, with just a little more pirate in my life, I feel as happy as day! Thank's Grandma!

Tis True

2006-08-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

If you've read Dad's blog, then you already know that I'm getting 80's hair and 80's clothes and 80's accessories because the 80's are awsome. Some people are frightened by this, but don't worry, I'm not planning on dressing like this EVERY day, just when I get a wild hair. Robo is not fond of the idea of his big sister getting big hair, though. He says it looks too much like a mullet. I told him that it does not and his opinion doesn't count anyway, so there. Another thing that he doesn't like is the idea of Chaotic Sanity being a cover band instead of writing their own music. For those of you who don't know, Chaotic Sanity is the band me and my friends are trying to create, but we're at about the lowest point a band can be at write now. So low, that only two out of the five people in our band actually know how to play their instruments. See? I told you. But I'm still dreaming and Chaotic Sanity WILL SEE IT'S FIRST PERFORMANCE SOMEDAY!!!! Hopefully it'll see more than just it's first, but we'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, Robo wants us to write our own stuff. Unfortunately for him, I'm the one who was in charge of writing the songs and the music for everyone, so that ain't going to happen. I have to struggle just to add piano to the lyrics, but putting bass, rhythem guitar, lead guitar, solos, etc....like I said, it's not happening. So dad and I were talking and decided that maybe we would be a Christian cover band instead. I love the idea, and the rest of the band members really don't care, they just want to play something, so Robo's the only one against it. Thus, he opinion yet agian doesn't count. Poor kid.

Guess Who's On Crutches!

2006-07-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Yup, it's me. I fell on the stairs this morning (surprise surprise) and really hurt my foot. As time passed, it felt worse, so Mom let me use a pair of wooden crutches that we own until dad can take me down to the hospital to get it checked out. This isn't exactly how I planned to start today. I thought it'd be more like me bouncing off the walls all morning in excitement because my friend who I haven't seen in a year is coming down from Minnesota to spend the weekend with me. Won't she be surprised when she get's here! I just hope it's not really hurt so we can go to the festival that my town is having this weekend. I want to see the hypnotist this year, cuz I missed him last year. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Even if I am stuck on crutches all weekend, I'll probaly go anyway. Why let something so little ruin my fun?

My Hero

2006-07-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

IT'S OVER! IT'S OVER! LA LA LA LA LA LA! The worst day of the year has finally passed!

So, I thought that me and the fam were going to have it pretty easy this year. WRONG!! Our neighbors went out of their way to find the biggest, loudest, most illegal fireworks they could get and lit them off at the same time we were lighting our little ground flowers and fountains. One kind that they got shot fire balls into the air and each one made a huge BOOM! Each one went on for a few minutes, causing not only my 4 year old brother to cry, but I almost did too. Big fireworks, especially LOUD ones, at a close ranges scare the crap out of me. Once they lit off their second loud one, Dad grabed the phone and called my g-ma, who let us come over and light of our dinky little fountains at 11 o'clock at night. She's my new hero! So this is my thank you to the awsomeist grandma ever! (am I allowed to say that?) Thanks for saving my fourth of july!

2006-07-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

This title has double meaning. First is that it's fourth of July again (America's independance day for those of you who don't live here ) and it is my least favorite holiday. I mean, I'm all for the freedom thing, but whoever thought it was a good idea to give all the pyro yahoos explosives should have to live in the house next to them. Almost every year I can remember, I or someone I know almost gets their face blown off! When I was younger, my cousins and I went to go see a fireworks show one 4th of J and one of the artilery shells tiped over as it exploded and waves of colored fire came rushing at us. One of my cousins got caught between the legs so the crotch of her pants were singed and I almost got hit straight on, and would have too if Chirs (on whose lap I was sitting) hadn't rolled the chair over and out of the way. So my response to this holliday? RUN AWAY AND LOCK MYSELF IN MY ROOM TIL IT'S OVER!!

Now, the double meaning of this title is the fact that the sequal to POTC comes out in THREE SHORT DAYS!!! I have been waiting for this before they started filming it! Not only this, but Dad said that I might be able to go to the midnight premiere! That would totaly make my year! now if only I can convince mom...

Hajimemashite!!

2006-06-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in forever, but, so goes life. I need to update my picture, too, because now my hair is about a foot and a half shorter than it used to be! It's only a few inches long now.

In case you didn't guess, yes, the title is in Japanese. "Hajimemashite" is like saying, "How are you?" I think it literally means "We haven't met in a long time," or somthing along those lines. I had my second class last night, and I'm loving it. The first day I met a girl named Elizabeth, and we became friends almost imediately. She just graduated from high school, so our ages aren't that far apart, but I am the youngest one in my class. Had to see that comming, though. ^_^

My first day of class, I was super attentive, paying super attention to everything the teacher said and taking notes like crazy. I wrote down every assignment so I wouldn't forget. "Make flashcards for the first 15 Katakana symbols and memorized them. Read the first section in the text book." That wasn't very hard, so I got it done pretty quickly. When I went to class yesterday, I handed in my assignment very proud that I had done so well. Then, during first break (we get two ten-minute breaks in class because it's four hours long) my teacher came up to me and asked where my other flash cards were. Apparently I miss heard her the class before. We were supposed to make all the flash card and memorize the first 15. Doh!! So last night after class, I went up to her and made sure that all my homework was written down correctly. I won't make that mistake again! She was really nice about it, but I don't plan to take her grace for granted!

2 1/2

2006-05-19T20:12:00.001-07:00

That, my friends, is the number of days left of my freshman year of high school!!! Yay! It's not the end of this year's schooling, however, for I will be taking Japanese lessons at one of the nearby colleges. On top of that, I might be getting a job at the library. Now, I know what you're thinking. "The library? What a loser!" But I'll have you know that our library is awesome. I have been volunteering and helping with the children's programs since I was in grade school! (I started with helping with the story-time puppet shows and moved up from there) I know almost every librarian, and one of them was friends with my parents when they were in college. She even has a baby picture of me on her desk. I really hope I get this job. It'll be so awesome to actually get to work in my little piece of heaven! I don't find out until Tuesday, though, so wish me luck!

Um...Ew!

2006-04-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

A group from my church youth group and myself went to the Fine Arts Festival last weekend. Unfortunately, we didn't book our hotel room early enough, so almost all of the hotels were sold out. There was one left, USA Inns. Personally, I would have rather slept in the car.
One of the first things that my roommate, Kelsey noticed about our room was that the coffee had not been emptied out. Upon further investigation, we found little white fuzzy spots floating on the top. Not only this, but there was trash under our beds, the sheets smelled funny, and the walls were paper-thin. Dad, who came on the trip as a sponsor, could not fall asleep because he could hear the voices of the teenagers outside. Apparently, one of them fell against the wall, which caused Dad's bed to move despite the fact that we were on the second floor! On top of all this, he had to take a cold bath because there was no hot water and he couldn't figure out how to get the shower to turn on. And finally, when we got back to the hotel from a concert, I was parched. Of course, I didn't want to drink anything that came from the faucet in our room, so I borrowed 75 cents from Dad to buy a bottle of water from the vending machines outside the front door. The thing was THREE INCHES TALL!!!! It was the smallest bottle of water I'd ever seen!

However, other than these set backs, the trip was actually very fun. The two sign language groups we brought (one of them being Kelsey’s and mine) tied for first place and got invited to nationals, as did our sign language solo. Needless to say, we were all very happy. God was very good to us.

Teddy Bear Comfort

2006-03-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

My mom was being driven crazy by being stuck in the house, so my dad took her out to a movie. Thus, I was stuck at home babysitting the boys. I stuck in a video for them to watch, the second Harry Potter movie, and gave them all some popcorn. After the movie ended, Lemur got in the shower and I turned my attentions to the youngest brother, who really needed to go to bed. It took me an entire hour to get that kid to go to sleep! He would get to the point where he was just about to fall asleep and he would jump up and say something in order to stay awake. Finally, I was able to coax him to lay still when I explained that his teddy bear was tired and wanted Bear to lay with him. When he was holding the teddy and cuddling with me on the couch, he put his hand on the top of the bear’s head and began stroking his fur. It was so precious. After all his kicking and wiggling and screaming that he didn't want to go to bed, it was adorable to see him comforting his little teddy bear like that. Then, of course, I ruined the moment by picking him up to put him in bed, and he returned to his kicking and flailing and screaming and such. *sigh* Oh well. Thus is life.

The final day of finals

2006-03-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

We took third quarter finals today at my high school. My four I had this quarter were German, English, Science, and Phys. Ed. It really wasn't all that hard, but I didn't enjoy them much. I mean, they are finals after all.

I was talking to my friend about the most quoted movie of teens today, and we decided that it is tied between two. Holy Grail and Napoleon Dynamite. Neither have much of a plot, but both are very good movies.

So, the speech season is finally over. I just got over the sad after effects and now I'm getting ready for next year. I've already got my HI (humorous Interpretation) picked out, and now I'm looking for a good duet to do with my friend Matt. However, the season being over isn't as bad as it would be otherwise, because auditions for the spring play are soon and hopefully I'll make it in at least as an extra. If not, I plan to be a techie. (Techies are the people who move the sets and stuff, for those who don't know what I'm talking about)

Anyway, not much has been going on in my life. Not much interesting anyway. I did get to go shopping with Mom and Grandma and got a bunch of cute outfits!!! (Oh no! My inner girlie-girl is surfacing! Ahh!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

It's Valentine's Day! Isn't it wonderful? The love, the flowers, the having to stay home sick. Yes, 'tis true, I am home sick on Valentine's Day. Actually, it's more like I'm home recuperating from being sick yesterday. I’m healthy, but I wasn’t yesterday and Mom wanted to keep me home to make sure that the fever wasn’t going to come back. So today, I sat in my room watching romance movies and eating chocolate kisses. Oh yeah, the good life. I also had a carnation on my door, but it had no tag identifying the deliverer, so what I’m wondering is, do I have a secret admirer? If I do, he must not know my dad, or he wouldn’t have given me that flower.

Crazy For You

2006-02-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

That is the name of the school musical that is coming up. Today, I helped with the set, and I've got to say it was great! It's been so long since I've worked on the stage. Just to be able to get up there again...*happy sigh*

Anywho, life is going pretty great. I had another speech meet last weekend. The school it was being held at was about three hours away, so we stayed the night in a hotel. This also happened to be the school my uncle teaches band at. One of his students said he hadn't come to school that day, so I went sadly to the auditorium. After studying my piece, I heard a voice over the speakers saying that I needed to go onto the stage. I looked up, and lo and behold, my uncle was there at the mic. I ran up and gave him a hug, and he stayed to watch my first round. Unfortunately, he had to leave after that because he needed to get home to the family. After three long rounds and getting lost in the school multiple times, I returned to the auditorium for the awards ceremony. I won 5th place for Dramatic Interpretation and my O.I.D. (Oral Interpretation of Drama) group also got fifth place. This is very good for us considering that we've only performed that piece once before. When checked into the hotel, most of us raced for the pool. They had two awesome waterslides and a very nice hot tub. At 12 o'clock, we went to our rooms (because our coach told us to), but we stayed up and talked for a while. At 8 the next morning, we all went back down to the pool one last time before we had to leave. The ride home wasn't very eventful. Everyone slept most of the way. One of my friends took a picture of me while I was sleeping...grrr. But I guess I have no room to talk as I, too, took photos of my sleeping speech mates. I plan to post these pictures A.S.A.P. so you can all see how much fun we had.

Sorry it's taken me so long to write an entry. It will be sooner next time, I promise.

Drawing A Polar Bear In A Snowstorm

2006-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

The title doesn't actually have anything to do with the post, I just thought it was interesting. I really don't have much to write, but something is better than nothing, right?

I just got done watching Ferris Bueller with the family. We all ate nachos and sat in the living room. Dad, of course, said the lines along with the movie, but only once at the very end.

I got an iPod Shuffle for Christmas and a gift card to iTunes. With part of it, I bought five songs, got charged for all five, but only received three of them. Dad's going to help me figure it out, though, so hopefully I'll get them back.

Quarter Finals are this Tues. and Wed. I am, to put it mildly, VERY VERY VERY happy. I get to start German next quarter! Yay! Plus, it means that I'm half way to summer! Double yay! Not that I don't enjoy school (most parts anyway), but who in their right mind wouldn't be happy for summer break?

Today, I just discovered that when you're writing a blog, you can change font, size, color...sweet! So I can write small and big, purple, red, green, make my words type writer-ish, and I can even write in shapes! (that says, "And I can even write in shapes!) So I'll be having lots of fun with my blogs from now on! Oh yeah!

I got my hair cut. Over fourteen inches off my head! I donated it to, but before they took my ponytail away, I got to hold it. I almost cried. I was thinking, "That's part of my head!" But I got over it really fast.

One more thing, the word 'blog' isn't in the blogger's spell check dictionary. Go figure.

Lazy Days

2005-12-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

It is almost 12:30 in the afternoon, and I'm still in my pajamas! You have NO IDEA how good I feel right now. I woke up and 9:30, laid in bed, read a bit, and finally decided to go upstairs. I had leftover pancakes from last night's dinner for breakfast, a nice break from cereal and toast. I sat with my mom and dad for a while and we all just talked and laughed together. I played the piano for a bit, talked with dad some more, and got on the computer. And this is all after and great day yesterday where I passed the written DMV test, allowing me to get my learners permit, and cuddled with Mom while we watched a movie a borrowed from a friend. (Mom and I rarely get to sit down and do something together like that) It has been a great day. I wouldn't want it to be like this forever, of course, but every now and again, it's nice to just be lazy for a while.

Now, I suppose you all want to know how my Christmas vacation was. It was a wonderful mix of family and laughter. I got to see Grandma B who I haven't seen for a while, and also my aunts Missy and Christa. I was supposed to give Mom a scarf that I had knitted, but I realized to late that it takes a while to knit a scarf, so she might get it as a birthday present in February. I got a lot of great gifts, but there was one that stood above all the rest. Every year, my G-pa John carves a Christmas ornament for the tree. A few days before Christmas, he takes me downstairs to his shop and hands me a little wooden buggy that has no paint. "You want to finish it?" he asked. He wanted me to paint it! He wanted me to put the finishing touches on this beautiful little item that he made with his strong, steady, loving hands. Me!! I almost cried. This is the second year that he's asked me to do this. Carefully, I covered the delicate ornament with light green, red, yellow, and brown paint, trying to keep my hands steady. Without realizing, I'd hold my breath so as not to risk any careless movements and many times had to gasp for breath. When I handed the finished product to G-pa, he looked at smiled and said, "Wonderful." G-pa, I hope you're reading this so that you know how much this means to me. Thank you, and I love you.

And The Winner Is...

2005-11-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

Alright, now that the luck has been wished, I might as well tell you how the Speech competition went.

First off, I was triple entered, which is worse than it sounds. I'm not saying it wasn't fun competing in three different things, but it does get stressful trying to get to each of your rooms, which are usually all the way across the school from each other. You get to your first room, perform, ask to be dismissed, and race to find the next room you need to be in. You have to do this three times in both rounds. It makes you very tired at the end of the day.

In case you were wondering, the three things I competed in were Dramatic Interp., performing a clip from The Boys Next Door, Oral Interp. Of Poetry, and Duo Impromptu, which is where you and a partner are given a topic and a few minutes to prepare, and then you have to come into the room and improvise the whole thing.

And how did I do, you ask? Not as well as I had hoped. I didn't bring home any medals, but I did get second place in one of my poetry rounds! Yay!

So, anyway there it is. Next competition is on Dec. 2, so I have that to look forward to. If I work harder this time, who knows? I could bring home first!

"Wow!"

2005-11-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

Before each quiz in my US History class, we play a review game where six teams rotate members to answer a multiple choice question. Each question is worth so many points. The person writes their answer on a piece of paper, and if they get it right, that many points are added to their teams score. One of the girls in my class, Ashley, was up and happened to get her question right. This made her very happy. In her excitement she exclaimed, "I didn't even cheat this time!!" Way to go, Ashley.

Speech competitions are tomorrow! Wish me luck!

Confounded Technology

2005-11-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

Speech competitions are tomorrow, and I'm not quite finished with my persuasive speech yet. *gulp* I have a reason, but it's not a very good one. Here it goes:

I had my entire thing done except but I didn't have any detail on my sources except the title, so Ms. S (my speech teacher) wanted me to have more information on them (copyright date, is it a book, etc.) I had thought that all my info had been picked up off of the E-Library (an online resource center that the school subscribes to) and so I was madly racing to find the info again so I could add the details that I needed. The thing is, though, I could only find two of the three that I really needed. I looked and looked and looked, but I couldn't find the third source no matter how hard I tried. I searched until my head felt heavy and I couldn't think straight anymore. Filled with rage at the stupid E-Library, I marched into the speech room and wrote in big black letters on the Wall of Fame that I HATED the E-Library. This was totally okay, because the Wall of Fame is actually a sheet of paper Ms. S put up on the wall so we could write whatever we wanted on it.

Anyway, I came home today after staying after school to practice what I had on this speech and my complete Dramatic Interp. with Ms. S ready to search for hours on the internet for something with similar information to that one that I couldn't find so that I could just change the source to the site that I found. So I typed in some keywords on Google, and you wouldn't guess what came up on the first page. The source that I couldn't find on the E-Library. Turns out I didn't get all my sources from the E-Library.

And so, E-Library, I apologize for all the contempt I felt toward you. I'll try to control myself next time. If I feel like it on Monday, I'll erase my mean message to you on the Wall of Fame, but don't count on it.

Alas...The End Has Come

2005-10-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

So, I sit in my dad's office on Sunday night at 6:30 writing this entry, and all my mind can focus on is two words: It's Over. Well, I guess that's a bit of an understatement. My mind is thinking about a lot of things, but they all revolve around those two words.

That's right. Big River is over. The last performance was last night. It was so much fun, and, just like I said I would, I cried. Not because the play was over, though. Because Reverend Bell and his daughter, Bree, are moving across the country. His last sermon at his church was today, and almost the entire cast and crew came. He touched all of our hearts, and I don't think anyone is ever going to forget him. I know I won't. Bree and I became friends over the course of the play, and I'm going to send her so many letters, emails, etc., that she will get sick and tired of me. But she'll still write me back, because she's great that way.

Rev. Bell had worked songs from the musical into his sermon, and when he sang "Leaving's not the Only Way To Go," with the people who played Mary Jane and Huck, I was in tears. It's been such a blessing to work with him. I don't think he even knows quite how much he means to all of us.

On a happier note, my drama career is far from over. Student directed one acts are coming up (unfortunately I probably won't be able to participate in those, but we'll see how things work out) and I plan on being a techie for the big musical, the one only Junior and Senior honor-choir students are allowed to be in. Plus, there's always the play at the end of the year.

Am I sad about the end, of course. But this is just the beginning.

I Have Returned!

2005-10-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever! I've so busy with school and the play and everything. Speaking of which, it's next weekend. I'm so excited. I'm going to make a short little behind-the-scenes video that I'll probably post on Dad's vlog when he gets that started up so that you can get a little peek into what's going on for me. It's been so much fun, I'm going to cry when it's over. To make it even worse, Reverend Bell, who's come in to play the part of Jim, (the play is Big River-The story of Huck Finn, by the way. Jim is the slave that Huck travels with to set free) is moving half way across the country the day after the last performance. *tear* I'll miss him, but I hope he and his daughter have a great life there.

I've made a bunch of new friends on the stage. Almost everybody there is so nice and fun. I'm just so glad to be a part of all this. It's been a wonderful experience.

Finals are over, the first quarter of school is gone. It's gone by really fast. It seemed to take so much longer in middle school. I'm glad that it's the second quarter now, because I'll be in Intro to Theater first block.

Speech competitions are coming up in November. That's going to be fun. I'm doing a scene from The Boys Next Door for my DI and a persuasive on why we shouldn't stereotype men. Another thing happening in November: My uncle's getting married! I've just got a fun schedule in front of me!

My 15th birthday was a few weeks ago (yeah, I know, I'm old). It was so much fun. I wasn't going to have a birthday party at all, but that really didn't bother me. Homecoming was that weekend, so I just figured that the dance could be my replacement for a party. My Grandma Phyllis came to take me shopping at Gordmans for a birthday present and I got this cute pair of brown corduroys. Anyway, when I get home, a bunch of friends are sitting in my living room, there's a happy birthday sign hanging on the wall, and streamers are hung everywhere! I almost cried, I was so happy. After I opened my gifts (all of them were wonderful, by the way. It wasn't one of those birthday parties where you have to pretend to be happy because the stuff you got is kind of cool, but not what you really wanted. Things I've been wanting forever came to me wrapped in colored paper and bows. One came wrapped in toilet paper, but that's just James for you) everyone started going on saying, "Should we do it now?" "No, let's wait 'till later." "No, we need to do it now." I'm sitting in the corner, very excited of course, thinking, 'What? What do we need to do?' Dad, who decides that now is a good time, comes around the corner with a blue bag that has everyone's name written on the front. Obviously, something that everyone chipped in for. I open the bag and literally tear up. They all chipped in to get me the first season of Lost on DVD. I know that probably doesn't sound fabulous, but to me, it was a wonderful thing knowing that my friends and family loved me that much to all chip in to get something that they thought would make me happy. After this, we all got dressed up and went to the homecoming dance. If you'd like to see pictures, Dad's got them on his blog.

I've written a really long entry. I wouldn't expect another one any time soon, because I've only got time for this because it's currently fall break. But I promise to write again as soon as I can.

Love lots and God bless

Lost in Lost

2005-09-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I'm obsessed with Lost. It's by far the greatest thing to hit public television. I'd talk about it all the time, but I can't find someone as into it as I am and I don't want to get on anyone's nerves.

For those of you who don't know what Lost is, I'll pray for you. In the mean time, here's a basic overview.

A plane headed from Sydney to Los Angeles crashes on a remote island over one thousand miles off course. There are only 47 survivors. A small band of them become the 'leaders', or at least, they are the ones the show centers around. Soon they find out that they are not alone on the island. Not only are there more people, but there is...something out there. Some giant monster that no one ever sees, they never stick around long enough to find out, and if they do, they are killed and mutilated, like the pilot in the first episode of season one.

It's a great show. If you haven't seen it before, watch it. The new season starts this Wednesday (the 21st) at 8 central time. If you don't want to start without seeing the whole thing, buy it on DVD. If you don't want to pay the fifty dollars, rent it. That's what my dad did. It was so funny. He rented the first disk over Blockbuster Online, and he and mom watched it after my brothers and I went to bed. "Don't tell Kitten we got this," Mom said. "She'll flip."

The next night, I went to put a C.D. in the DVD player. I opened it up and froze. There it was. "Lost. Season one. Disk one." In Mom's words, I flipped.

Last night, Mom and I were discussing possibilities of what the monster on the island could be. On the first episode, when they first see trees being knocked down in the forest from the beach and hear an animal-like sound (the monster's first appearance) one guy says that the sound reminds him of something he heard in the Bronx. Mom thinks that that could be a clue. I started thinking, 'How could the monster be connected to New York?' and then it hit me. A mutant subway train!! It came to life by some crazy experiment and ate everybody. That's why there's no civilizations on the island. And the tunnel that they found at the end of the season that leads underground? It's the entrance way to it's subway tunnel!

Another weird twist is six numbers that keep showing up on the show: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. They're everywhere! One the first episode, when the pilot asks how long its been since they crashed, Jack says it's been 16 hours. The distress signal that the group picked up has been playing for 16 years. These six numbers are the numbers seen on the jerseys of a girls soccer team at the airport. They were the numbers that Hurley put on his lottery ticket.

And, on a final note, including the day that I write this entry, I will be 15 in 23 days. Coincidence? I think not! BWAHAHAHA!

Yee Haw

2005-09-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

I spent Labor Day weekend with my cousin Kelsey this year. I love being with her and her parents. We went on a trail ride on Saturday. Kelsey rode her horse, Ms. Kitty, and I rode someone's pony. His name was Tonka. I think he knew I was new to riding, because he wouldn't listen to me at first. He kept veering for the grass to eat. I felt like such an idiot. Everyone else had been riding for a long time, and hear I was, not even able to keep my pony out of the grass. Finally, with some tips from Nole, the ranch's owner, I was able to get the stubborn little guy to listen to me. After that, it was smooth sailing; however, my back hurt the next morning from when Kelsey and I had a 'trotting race'. Trotting is hard on the back! Despite this all, I had so much fun! I'm definitely going to have to do this again sometime.

First Impressions

2005-08-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

First impressions are very deceiving. For example, Jak (I found that's the real way to spell his name) isn’t as weird as I figured. He and Jess are such sweet people. They’re accepting and loving. They'll give you a hand when you need help. They may be a little weird, but I think they’re great.

Now that that’s cleared up, I have some very exciting news. I made the musical! La la la la la! (happy dance) I didn’t make a part, I’m just in the Chorus, but even so, it’s such a big deal for a Freshmen to get into a high school production. I almost had a cow! The funny thing is, though, most of the characters in the musical are supposed to be black. There was one black person who tried out. One of the lead black characters is played by a red head with blue eyes. He’s really pale, too. This should prove to be interesting.

G-pa’s birthday was this weekend. We threw a surprise weekend for him. It was really great to see him so happy.

The first day of the party, we went out on a cruse down the river. There were speed boats on the river with us. One of them drove past the front of the boat and a man held his hand up to catch the eye of most of the passengers. Then he turned around and mooned the lot of us! Totally wasn't something I wanted to see.

Oh well, the rest of the party rocked.

Pizza and a Potty

2005-08-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

A few days ago was my friend BJ's birthday party at Pizza Hut. We were all having a lot of fun, and then we sang happy birthday to him at the top of our lungs so that the whole restaurant could hear us. He didn't enjoy that much. (hee hee)

We've been trying to potty train my youngest brother Bear the past few days. The first day, I was recruited to go to the library and check out all the books/movies on potty training that I could find. I got a bunch of books and one Bear in the Big Blue House video. We had him sit on the potty chair all day (the chair was in the kitchen so he could be with everyone and watch movies on Dads computer) and didn't give him pants to encourage him to go in the potty. He refused to do anything unless something was around him. He's so tired of the darned thing now that he won't even go into the bathroom anymore. Mom's beginning to get frustrated. Bear was watching the movie I got, and mom walked into the room chanting, "Do what the bear says."

Today was the first day of high school. It went kinda like this:

Welcoming assembly, stress, stress, stress, Speech Intrerp, lunch, stress, stress, stress.

Well, maybe not that bad. I did get lost four times before my first class due to being new to the building and misreading my schedule three times. My Sophomore friend, Thorn, introduced me to two of her friends in Speech class: Jack and Jess. Jack was clad entirely in black, was wearing dog tags (real dog tags. Like, the ones dogs wear) and had purple hair. Jess had a white shirt and blond hair pulled back into a pony tail. Jack had a box of Milk Bones (you know, dog biscuits) in front of him on his desk (we're allowed to have food and stuff in there). Before class began, Jess reached into the box, pulled out a treat, and commanded Jack to sit. Very obediently, he leapt from his seat and sat, dog style, in front of her desk.

"Lay down, Jack."

He did.

"Roll over."

He did.

"Good boy."

She placed the dog into his open mouth and he ate it.

Ewwwwwwwwww! I told him that was gross, but Jess replied that they were more nutritious than the school lunch. I told Jack that it would give him dog breath. He pointed to a label on the box that proclaimed that the biscuits made breath smell better. Fine, so he'd have good dog breath. It's still dog breath.

He put the box away and took it out later at lunch. That's all he ate, except for my pretzels, which I gave to him because I couldn't finish them.

High Schoolers are soooo weird. I suppose I'll get used to it though.

Jack let me look through his notebook during lunch, and he is an AMAZING artist. His book is full of awesome, manga style drawings. They look like professional stuff. Maybe I've finally found someone to illustrate my manga scripts. That should be fun. I just hope he'll agree. I feel like a child compared to all the upper classmen, but I suppose all Freshmen feel that way. I'm expecting my high school life to be great, so I'm just going to have to get over that.

Sing a Happy Song

2005-08-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been updating at all lately. I haven't been able to get on the computer much because Dad's been working on this big project and hasn't wanted my brothers or me getting online. I've only been able to check my e-mail, but I asked if I could update my blog and, as you can see, the response was affirmative.

School starts up on Monday. I'm excited to finally be going into the high school, and a little intimidated. Those of you who read my blog regularly already know that I plan to graduate a year early so that I will be able to go to Japan as a foreign exchange student my Senior year. In preparation for that, I have written out all the classes that I hope to take in order to do this. Doubling up on classes and squeezing in all the honers and AP courses I could, there was no room left on my written schedule for any choir classes. This means that *sad sigh* I would be unable to be in any of the school musicals. So, assuming that I am able to get into all the classes I wrote down, one of my life goals of making lead in one of them (I would have only gotten one shot anyway, seeing as only Juniors and Seniors are allowed to be in those anyway) would be forever unfulfilled. Then, all of a sudden, I get this wonderful news. You no longer need to be in choir to audition for the musicals! Not only that, but there's going to be one this year (I think it's about Huck Finn, but I'm not sure) that everyone can try out for! Yay!

I'm so happy. God is so loving on me right now. I doubt if I'll make a big part if I do try out, but I'm going for it anyway. We'll just see how things turn out.

Toilet Brushes, Hummers, and Satallite TV

2005-07-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

I’m in a human video group in my church. We went to the Fine Arts Festival to compete and got invited to nationals in Denver, so we’ve been doing a ton of fundraisers so that we can go. Today, we did a car wash. We went down to Auto Zone, which is where everyone holds their fund raiser carwashes. We don’t get as much business as other people, but then again, we don’t have sorority girls in bikinis dancing around on the corners holding the car wash signs. This is perfectly fine though because we’d rather get dirt old cars than dirty old men.

Personally, I’ve never been particularly fond of Hummers. In the words of Thorn, they’re shoeboxes on wheels. But when the Audio Visual Hummer pulled up to get a washed, I flipped. Audio Visual is a business in our town that sells really expensive home theaters, kicking car sound systems, and stuff like that. Their ‘mascot’ is the Hummer that came to get a wash. It’s got two slashes painted onto either side of the car, spinners, wicked awesome woofers, and a little hookup on top that allows them to have satellite TV in the car! Now you probably understand a little bit more why I was so excited.

Except for the Hummer, every car had bug splats on the front, some more then others. Usually, I got stuck with the job of getting those suckers off. For a while I was using a little red and white toilet brush, but then one of our leaders said to switch to a softer brush because it was less likely to scratch off paint. Then the toilet brush was used to scrub tires.

Sometimes, I’ll see a person and think to myself “Ya know, I’d really like to be friends with this person.” It’s really easy to complete this goal if you’ve just met the person, because when you go up and start talking to them, they’ll just think you’re a really nice person. But if the person is a guy, and you’ve been around them for a while, when you just walk up and start talking, they might think that you’ve suddenly got the hots for them and pull away. One of the guys in the human video team, Jimmy, is a person I’ve been wanting to make friends with, but have been to afraid to confront because I didn’t want him thinking anything. But today, I was talking with another one of my guy friends, KC about Dragon Ball Z (one of the Japanese cartoons I like to watch, for those who don’t know what it is) and then Jimmy came in and started up in our conversation. We got talking, and then KC went to go do something, so Jimmy and I just sat and talked for a while. So thanks, KC, for helping me out with this sought after friendship.

Business was starting to slow down a lot, and we were just getting ready to pack up when a guy rolled in with his truck and asked if we could wash his four wheeler that was in the back. We all happily agreed. It didn’t take very long, but it was one of the highlights of the day.

After the long carwash, I took off my green flip flops with the see-through flower on the top off so that they could get sprayed down with the hose to get all the soap and grit and stuff off, when I realized my feet now have tan lines. My semi-tan feet (I’m still pretty pasty) have two white strips and a white flower on the tops. Fun fun fun. I bet no one else has gotten a tanned the shape of a flower on their foot before. So ha! I feel special!

And now, I sit here writing this half asleep, totally worn out from a combination of work and heat, but the thought that I’m going to Denver on Monday for the FAF Nationals, still gets me jumping. But not literally. Not enough energy.

Lots of Junk About My Life This Last Week

2005-07-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I went out of town with G-ma for a girl’s day out thing. Of course, we went in the Miata. There was just no accepting the alternative!

Anyway, we went to Famous Footwear where I got new tennis shoes (my old ones had a hole in the toe) and green Converse High Tops! Robo was so jealous! We went to the mall, Barnes and Noble, and a gorgeous Chinese restaurant called China Road. Not only did they have amazing food, but also for a centerpiece they carved a white bird and a beautiful yellow flower out of some kind of vegetable (Mom thinks that it’s a radish). I had such a fun time, despite the 104-degree weather.

We got new carpet today. It was supposed to happen yesterday, but something went wrong (I’m not sure on all the details yet) so they did it this morning instead. My brother stayed the night at G-ma’s these last two nights because when the old carpet was taken off, it revealed a bunch of tack board that Mom and Dad didn’t want us stepping on.

I’m a volunteer at the local library, and the other day at the end of my ‘shift’ there was a knitting class there. My friend, Thorn, who went every week, had been telling me about how fun and soothing it was and that my friend’s girlfriend, Robyn was one of the teachers, so I decided to go. Robyn taught me the basic technique, but I kept doing something wrong; the yarn kept getting too tight around the needle. I thought I was copying her exactly, and I was starting to get a headache out of frustration. So much for being “soothing.” But she found out what I was doing wrong and things went great from there on out. Doing it right calmed me down a lot, and Thorn and I went on knitting even after class was done. We sat in the back of the library with our yarn and needles and chatted.

I’ve finished a story I’ve been working on since halfway through the year. Now all I have to do is send it to my wonderful editor (aka, Dad) and have him check it out. We’re going to send it in to get published once all the little quirks are fixed. I’ll post it on the blog, too.

Supersize Me

2005-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Supersize Me is a movie that makes you very self conscious of just how much junk food and physical activity you actually have in your daily life. I was watching it today while my brothers were at G-ma’s, and I realized that I do next to no physical anything. The strongest muscles in my body are probably my fingers because they get such a work out hitting keys on the computer keyboard and piano and turning pages in the new Harry Potter book that G-ma and G-pa bought for me and that I have become addicted to. (It goes everywhere I go and my nose is always somewhere between its pages.)

Inspired, I jumped off my lazy butt and went to the garage to grab my bike. I felt mocked at the sight of it. To emphasize my lack of physical activity, dust, cobwebs, and even a spider web complete with little black spider in the middle covered my bike. There was another spider crawling around on the handlebars. After much dusting and a little bit of time pumping up the tires, I was on my way out. I didn’t go much of anywhere, just spent an hour riding through the streets of my town. I went to G-ma’s to get some water about half way through (it was pretty humid outside today) I rode around downtown, and just basically wandered. I did find a house for sale with a box of flyers, which I grabbed. I do every time I see one and keep them in my room for if I ever need inspiration for a house in one of my stories. Just a fun little thing I do. Anyway, around a half hour through the trip, I started feeling rawness on the inside of my legs by the seat. I am so going to feel that saddle burn in the morning, but I pushed myself to go the full hour. I did it, and I am very proud of myself. Surprisingly, I don’t feel very tired at all, which means I’m either not in as bad shape as I though I was or I didn’t work hard enough. Oh, well. I’m hoping to do this as much as I can for what is left of summer holiday. Only three weeks left. Better make the best of them.

When I finally got home, I was greeted at the gate by Mom, who was watching Bear play in the backyard. He was butt-naked, so I assumed he was running around with the hose or something. Anywho, he ran up on the patio and started to pee. I don’t know if he’s ever seen himself pee before, because we usually don’t let him run around naked. He was very amused by it though.
“Look, mommy!” he cried, starting down at himself. “Look at that!”
Mom and I laughed. This was the second “potty moment” in the back yard that Bear had this summer. You can read the other one in my entry “Monkey Boy Is In Our Kiddie Pool.”

And the last thing, as I promised in my entry “100 Things About Me,” here’s the story of how my friend Thorn and I met:

When I was younger, my best friend in the world was my next-door neighbor, KayKay. One day, we went to one of her friend’s houses, which was a block away. When I walked into the friend’s back yard, I saw a girl dressed entirely in black running around carrying a baby doll with a small group of children chasing her shouting “Give it back! Give it back!”
Wanting to play the hero, I somehow got the girl next to a wall and punched her as hard as I could in the gut. (I’d never do that today. I regret what I did)

As it turns out, the kids, including the girl, were playing dress up. The girl, who turned out to be Thorn, dressed in black play clothes pretending to be the kidnapper, and the family was chasing her around the yard trying to get their baby back. It was all just a part of the game.

I don’t quite remember what happened next, but I’m pretty sure that the horrified kids ran to get their mom and I was never allowed back there again. Somehow (I don’t remember this either) Thorn and I met again, this time in a much friendlier way and we ended up being best friends. Life is a curious thing, ain’t it?

Monkey Boy Is In Our Kiddie Pool

2005-06-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today was my second youngest brother, Lemur's, 7th birthday. We went out and bought a new pool so all his friends came over and we had a pool-birthday party! My youngest brother, Bear (3), spent all his time in the pool or in a mud puddle which he had created by bending the edge of the pool down and letting the water run out into the grass. While he was in the pool by himself, he started flinging things out. The rest of us thought it was just dirt or sticks or something of that sort, but we were sadly mistaken. See, he had 'relived himself' in the little kiddie pool and all of it had fallen out of his swimsuit into the water. He was flinging his poo! We all call him a little monkey, but I think that was taking it a bit to the extreme. Poor little Bear thought he was doing a good deed by cleaning out the pool. After all, it was his doody. (ha ha) Dad ended up having to clean off the patio with a shovel. Meanwhile, my dad's friend and I sat and made jokes about it. Fun fun.

100 Things About Me

2005-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

This seems to be a popular thing to do, so here goes:

1. I love to write stories, but I always have a hard time figuring out how to end them
2. I have the widest variety of friends in the world, from bouncy happy-go-luckies to dark pyroes, but I love them all
3. I love animals of all kinds
4. I don't really have a favorite color because it always changes with my mood
5. I'm into anime (Japanese cartoons)
6. I love Japan: I think it's one of the best countries in the world. Don't ask me why
7. I have eaten squirrel, alligator, and beaver
8. Currently, I am turning the walls of my room into a big collage that screams, "This is me!"
9. I've never kissed a guy before
10. I've had two "binary birthdays" where the date and my age were all made up of 1's and 0's (ex. I was 10 on 10-10-00)
11. I've tried to make my own comic books before, but I found out that if it's really hard for me to draw someone twice and make them look like the same person.
12. Every time I try to paint my nails, they get bumped and messed up before they get a chance to dry
13. I start picking at my nail polish the day after I apply it
14. I'm a habitual nail biter, but I am trying to get over it
15. I love movies of all kinds
16. I have recently gotten very interested in Broadway musicals
17. I want to be a writer when I grow up (just have to work on those endings...)
18. I want to act on Broadway someday
19. I want my first real kiss to be on my wedding day
20. I love the Final Fantasy games, even though I've only ever played one of them (FFX) I've watched my friends play some of the other ones, and they all look fun
21. My cell phone that my grandma got me for Christmas is only used to play Tetris most of the time because no one ever calls me. That might be because it's never on, but hey, I only have so many minutes!
22. I play keyboard in my church's youth group worship team
23. I won second place in a math competition that I didn't even know I was in
24. I'm not going to date until I'm 18
25. It was going to be 17, but my parents made me make it higher
26. I want to find a guy that shares my faith (preferably, his will be stronger) before I date
27. My favorite comic book characters are Batman, Spiderman, and a number of the X-men, including Wolverine and Nightcrawler
28. I like cherry flavored things
29. I believe that the kind of perfume you wear tells a little bit about who you are or how you are feeling that day
30. I don't wear perfume because it gives my mom headaches
31. I think my dad is cool
32. My mom has the best ideas for parties ever
33. I'm a HUGE goodie goodie, but thankfully my friends still love me
34. My favorite actor is Johnny Depp because of how amazingly well he acts and because even so, he doesn't stand in the limelight and worship himself. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT because of how he looks
35. My second favorite actor is Nicholas Cage because of how his voice when he acts so low and quiet, but at the same time so full of emotion
36. Cinnamon is one of my favorite scents
37. I played one of the three wise men in a comical Christmas play at my church
38. My character was named Melkyar, and he was the one who brought myrrh
39. The play was called Three Wise Men and a Baby
40. I can 'pop' each of my hands in 20 places
41. Four of my friends and I made a group called the Pentagon, consisting of the five of us
42. The Pentagon was created at a jazz festival the our school jazz band and show choir competed in
43. The show choir won second place that year, and first the next
44. Two of the Pentagon members are in the jazz band, two (including myself) are in the show choir, and one is in both
45. There is only one guy in the Pentagon
46. I love Veggie Tales
47. I can't remember the first Veggie Tales movie I ever watched
48. Before I got really into Veggie Tales, I saw "Larry Boy and the Fib From Outer-space" a billion times and thought for a while that it was the only one that there was
49. The first Veggie Tales movie I ever owned was "Rack, Shack, and Benny"
50. It was a gift from my second cousin
51. I'm a horrible pack rat
52. I have two cats, a grey tabby named Tigger, and a black long hair named Shadow
53. A lot of the stories I write have something to do with animals
54. One of my favorite directors is Tim Burton
55. Another is Steven Spielberg
56. George Lucas used to be one before he made Jar-Jar Binks
57. I really don't like Jar-Jar Binks
58. I like watching Star Wars fan films on atomfilms.com
59. I was in the school show choir both years that I could be
60. I played clarinet in 6th and 7th grade
61. I played bass clarinet in 8th grade
62. I'm no longer in band because I decided to drop out
63. My favorite board game is the Series of Unfortunate Events board game. I think it's the funnest thing on the planet
64. I like to say "funnest" instead of "most fun" because it's more fun to say
65. I live with my mom, my dad, and my three younger brothers, Robo (9), Lemur (7), and Bear (3)
66. I have no iPods; however, my dad has 2 (iPod Mini and an iPod Shuffle)
67. I have a giant collection of porcelain dolls
68. Some people think that I forgive too easily
69. It really hard for me to be mad at someone for a long time
70. Most of the time, I'm better at expressing myself with writing then I am with words
71. I volunteer at the local library ever summer
72. I have a friend in Brazil who was a foreign exchange student that lived with my G-ma and G-pa
73. My next-door neighbor is 100 years old
74. When alone in my room, I pose and dance in front of my mirror (but doesn't everybody do that?)
75. I was born with deep "cuts" in my tongue
76. They really gross out my friend, Kat
77. My bedroom is yellow with white trim
78. My only 'real' job so far in my life has been baby-sitting
79. I find pleasure in alphabetizing things
80. I play Jesus in a human video that a group from my church competed with in a Christian festival
81. We got invited to nationals, even though we technically didn't get enough points to qualify
82. I love to work movie quotes into conversations
83. My mom doesn't like it when I do that all the time
84. Jelly beans are my favorite candy
85. I was foolish enough to try a grass flavored Harry Potter jellybean once
86. The gross aftertaste was in my mouth all that day and the next (gag!)
87. My favorite M&M's are the peanut ones
88. My favorite chocolate are the afore mentioned M&M's and Reese’s Peanut-butter cups
89. I like chocolate regular, but I don't really care fore it as far as ice cream and stuff like that go
90. The first time I met who was to be one of my best friends ever, I punched her in the gut, knocking the wind out of her (I'll explain in the next entry)
91. I really like fireflies
92. I've been shot at by illegal fireworks before
93. I've almost drowned before
94. I've been to Epcot in Disney World twice
95. I'm a major drama queen
96. Some people have told me I'm weird. Go figure
97. I've seen Finding Nemo about 108 times (give or take)
98. I recently found out that a guy I've been going to church with for about a year is my cousin
99. My G-ma called me Duke before I was born because she was positive I was going to be a guy
100. My mom's water broke when she was pregnant with me in the movie theater. She, dad and a few of her friends were watching Fantasia

I want to add just one more

101. The guy at the theater gave Mom and Dad the Fantasia movie poster afterward. It was hung over my crib and is now somewhere in the attic

Ain't I Lucky?

2005-06-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

It's times like these that make me thankful that I'm still a kid, in a matter of speaking. Normally I don't consider myself a kid unless it'll get me out of something I don't want to do. But that's beside the point.

It is summer vacation, and that means that I have three entire months for my brain to be shut down; however, for my parents and it means that they just have all the responsibility of the school year, plus the play that my mom is directing, plus my younger brothers are running around the house with their friends and causing chaos! All this stress is making them look like they're going to explode! I'm helping out as much as I can, but even so, they're pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Isn't it great being a kid?

The Moon

2005-06-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am. Back home. My rollercoaster-less...beach-less...home. (bursts into tears) I want to go back to Florida!!!!!!!!!

No, but really, I am glad to be home. Florida was a lot of fun (even though I almost lost my voice from screaming on all the rides) but I missed my family. It was kind of an interesting trip, though. The first day we got there, our bus driver (she said not to call her that because "bus drivers drive cheese busses". We were in a charter bus. I can't remember what she told us to call her, though) informed us that it was, coincidentally, the first day of hurricane season. Everyday we were there except for the day we left it was cloudy and/or raining. I had a fun time, anyway.

Strangely enough, this trip was a huge spiritual stepping-stone for me. The whole trip, my few of my friends were in a fight (it happens so often with me, I've gotten used to it). Anyway, the fight escaladed to horrid heights and deeply hurt everyone involved. During all this, though, I was deep in prayer. I didn't understand what was going on or why it was happening, but I found my trusting God to help me through it. He's doing all this for a reason, and even thought I don't know what it is, I trust Him with everything I am that it's the right thing. He's been so good to me; I have no reason to turn away now.

Something similar to all this happened a year ago, and I got me thinking. Being fascinated by the moon, I often gaze up at it at night. Like many, I love it when it's full, and can't wait for the new moon to pass. Once I really thought about it, I found that that was exactly like life. The full moon is like the good times in our life. The times we want to live forever. As the moon goes through its cycles, different amounts of life and dark enter and leave, just like the good and bad times sometimes mix. Finally, there is the new moon, that time in our lives when everything seems to go wrong. Many people feel like just giving up, as I did last year; however, that is not the right choice. No matter what, no matter how long it takes or what the situation is, the moon always goes back to being full. The darkness may last for days, months, or even years, but the moon always goes back to being full: things always will get better. After the fight with my friends a year ago, we became closer than we had ever been before. The hard stuff seemed to last forever, but, in the end, the wait was worth it.

God promised us that he would never dish out anything that we couldn't handle. Sure it would be hard, but it strengthens us. I am just going to have to hang on and see what happens next. How will this new fight end, I don't know, but whatever it is, I know I can handle it with His help.

Florida, Here I Come!

2005-05-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

In two days, I will be headed to Orlando, Florida with a bunch of other just-graduated 8th graders on a trip that happens every year. One of the science teachers started that tradition. He's retired, but the 8th-grade Florida trip lives on. The only down side is that I will have to be out at the school at 2:45 in the morning. Yeah, that's right, there is a 2:45 am. I can hardly wait! If there's a computer at the hotel (there was one at the hotel we stayed at when we went to Six Flags hotel, so there might be one at the Disney World resort) I plan to update my blog while I'm there. We're going to Epcot, MGM Busch Gardens, Sea World, Kennedy Space Center, and a bunch of other places. Fun, fun, fun!

I'm the happiest girl in the world. Dad's writing a melodrama that is going to be performed over the summer, and he gave me a part! ^_^ I love to act, and I love the plays that Daddy writes. I've been asking him for a part FOREVER and now I get one!!! (happy dance)

This summer is going to be a long one. It's only the first week, and I'm already dead bored. *sigh* I guess I can always alphabetize stuff.

Aww! How Cute!!

2005-05-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

My mom was driving me around today, and we happened to drive by a Burger King. Because of the new Star Wars movie that came out, the Burger Kings all have a big, inflatable Darth Vader on the top. These Vader's, I've noticed, look like a puppy. Normally, when people mess up that badly on an inflatable character, I think, "Why did you even try?" but for some reason, I love this Darth Puppy! It's just so adorable! I want one! Every time I see it, I just can't help but envision a little black dog drop his lightsaber on the ground, look Luke in the eye, and say, "Arf! Luke, I am your father!" Am I the only one who sees this?

Dad and I were talking a while back, and he did something weird. I laughed and said, "You're such a nerd!" In reply, he said, "No, I'm a geek." The difference, you ask? Simple. Geeks have social lives. Nerds usually get stuck living in their mom's basements until they're 30. I always used to get them confused, until Dad taught me an easy way to keep them straight. The "g" in geek stands for "good" because it's good to be a geek, and bad to be a nerd. Now I don't mix them up anymore. Thanks Daddy!!

I've made a change in my carrier choices. Whenever I thought of being a mathematician, I didn't get that spark of excitement like I thought I should. I never thought, "Hey, let's crunch some numbers!" Then Dad brought up that, though I was good at it, I never seemed very ecstatic about math. In truth, I want to be an author, but I'm a realist and know what will pay the bills. The reason I wanted to work at NASA was because I could do it and it was a big paycheck, but I realized that if I get enough rave on my books, I could do that instead. I'd be happier, too. I'm already started a novel that I'm planning on working on all summer. Whether this is the job God has in mind for me or not, I don't know, but it's going to be a lot of fun if it is! ^_^

May The Force Be With You

2005-05-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

My family and I went to go see Star Wars III the other day. It was an amazing end to the trilogy. It made me think (for reasons that I'm not going to say for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet. I don't want to give away anything) how blinding love can really be. If we're not careful, our emotional side can make us do things that we will regret later on. We really have to be careful in choosing our partners and guard our actions, and ourselves or we could end up hurting ourselves or those around us.

Something else I've been thinking about is how many people we leave behind in life. Last week was our last choir concert. Next year, I'm off to the high school. I may never see Mrs. D (our choir director) or Mrs. B (her accompanist) again. I had grown so close to them these past two years, and now I have to leave. That's kind of like what happened to my friend Curtis. He and I were best friends (plus I had a major crush on him). But then one day, he disappeared. I learned later on that he had done something to get him kicked out of the Masonic Home and moved to York or Boys Town or somewhere like that. Everyone thinks he went somewhere different. What are the chances of me ever seeing him again? I used to say that once I got a job at NASA that I would hire a search warrant to search the country for him, but even so, would he remember me? I've gotten over my crush on him (finally) but I still miss him. My friend, Katty, just had her best friend move to Florida. But I guess, like I told her, you will inevitably lose or leave behind a ton of people in life, but you will always meet more. God knows what he's doing in my life, and I trust him when he takes people out of it. He knows best.

On a lighter note, school lets out in 2 1/2 days! Yay!

My Japanese classes start in August. I can't wait!

Onomatopoeia

2005-05-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Onomatopoeia is, as Lemony Snicket would say, a word which here means, a word used to describe one of the various sounds that Kitten hears as she sits in her room in the basement. I stayed home sick today, so I got very acquainted with these noises. There’s a drizzling sound coming from somewhere, I'm not quite sure where, footsteps of my family walking around on the main floor, the purring and content whines of my cat, Tigger, who enjoys sleeping at the foot of my bed, the voices of my two youngest brothers singing "DAY-O! DAY-AY-AY-O! DAYLIGHT COME AND ME WAN' GO HOME!" at the top of their lungs upstairs, and then there's the loudest and most odd noise of all: the sound of the heater, which is conveniently placed in the room next to mine. As of recently, you can hear the heater throughout the entire house. It starts up with an alien-like "Bwee-oooo! Bwee-oooo!" and then comes the low, rumbling, "WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" and it's going to keep doing that until the repairman shows up. Please God, let him come soon!!!

My cat, Tigger, is one of the sweetest of all God's creations, but with a few minor setbacks. First, because he loves us so much, he leaves "offerings" of animal insides on our porch. Also, he gets up in your face whenever you're trying to do your homework or read. Finally, there's the drool. When he's really happy, he starts to drool a little. It drips down from his mouth and hangs there, suspended in midair, until it slowly drops onto his chest or your arm. Okay, so maybe he's not the greatest cat in the world, but I still love him. ^_^

I Have Returned!

2005-04-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in a while. It's been almost a week, hasn't it? Anyhow, life's been pretty slow lately. In my business class, we looked up different career ideas for our future, and I've decided what I want to be. (drum roll please) A mathematician at NASA! Yeah, I know it's WAY out there, but I really think I can do it. God gave me strengths in math and science for a reason, and I think this may be it. I guess I'll just have to pray on it, won't I?

There's not much else to say right now. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Practice Makes Perfect

2005-04-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

The title of this isn't totally true. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. If you practice it wrong, you'll perform it wrong. Just though I should say that before I get on with my story.

I had asked to speak in front of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes, or Anybodies, as my school says) for the second time this year, and the dean of students, who is in charge of it, said that I could. I did a pretty good job the first time, and I love to speak in front of groups (yeah, I know, I'm crazy) so I figured, "Why not go in for a second?" This is my last year in middle school, after all, and it would be fun, right? Wrong! In the beginning, I thought that I could procrastinate and practice within two weeks of the 'big day' (which was last Wednesday 4/13/05), but when the time came closer, I started becoming loaded down with homework and didn't have time, and when I did, I did the foolish thing and got online and stuff. Finally, the day arrived and I hadn't practiced once! I had my notes with me, though, so I got the basic point across, but I stuttered, took long pauses, and the way I wrapped it up was, "And...uh...yeah...that's it," and walked off. I left the room crying, but now I look back and laugh. Live and learn, right? I just hope that none of you have to go through that.

Finally, I want to thank those of you who commented on my blog. It's great to hear what you have to say! ^_^

Japan or bust!

2005-04-12T14:24:00.001-07:00

For a long time now, I've had my heart set on going to Japan sometime during my life. One day, Dad brought up that I could go there in high school as a foreign exchange student through AFS! I totally flipped, and so we are now working to make that a reality. I'm going to take Japanese language courses at the local community college, but we just learned that those classes wouldn’t transfer to high school credits. This is bad, you see, because I still need about 20 vocational/world language credits to graduate from high school. I only have three years of high school because I'll be in Japan on my senior year, and there's no room in my schedule (I already have all three years planned out). However, Mom and Dad discovered that I could take classes from another college that offers classes to high schoolers like me who need a few extra credits. So, everything is going to work out just fine. *Thank you God!*

Dad tells me that everyone has been posting comments on his site about my blog. Why not just do it on my blog? I don't understand. I don't bite, I promise. No one has posted any comments on my site, and it's really getting depressing. No, wait, I take that back. My loyal friend, who goes by The True Evanescence on his blog, is the only one who has given me feedback. Go check out his blog. It's Jeremysblogthingy.blogspot.com. And my grandma tried to post something, but it didn't work for some reason. But, getting back to the point, please post comments on my page!

It's Dynamite!

2005-04-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love Napoleon Dynamite and those who think it's the stupidest thing on the planet. Personally, I love it, but not everyone I know does. What I've noticed is that you can't watch the movie for the first time without someone who has already seen it and laughs out loud at it, otherwise you end up hating it. For example, when Dad rented it from Blockbuster, he, my mom, by brothers and I all sat down to watch it as a family. The whole time, I remember thinking, 'Well, Dad seems to like it, so there must be something good about it.' Then I got to school and talked about it with my friends. We quoted it and laughed and had fun. If I had watched it alone, I probably would have shut it off and left, wishing I could get that time in my life back. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, don't rush out and buy it. Go over to a friend’s house who already has a copy and watch it with him. Then you can go get yourself a copy.

Hello, World

2005-04-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first real blog. I am Kitten. You are my reader. Now that the introductions are done and over with, on with the blog!

I suppose I should tell a bit about myself so that you, the reader, may be able to relate with me a little bit. I like every style of music under the sun from the scream-your-head-off heavy metal to the oh-so-hated country. Mostly, though, I listen to Christian rock and rap; however, I have taken a particular liking to Rebecca St. James and music from musicals, Broadway or otherwise. My latest musical favorite is Cats. My dad went to Australia as a senior in high school and got to see it live, the lucky thing. He bought the tapes and kept them in his large collection of various 80's tapes. One of the girls at my voice recital sang Memory, and my dad and I got talking about Cats. Long story short, he let me borrow the tapes and I've been listening to them over and over. Them my friend let me borrow the movie so I could actually see it instead of just listen to the music. I liked it a lot, except for the fact that the movie left out the song, Growl Tiger's Last Stand, which was my favorite song on the tapes. I had been looking forward to seeing it, but other than that, I loved it.

My favorite author is S.E. Hinton. I am currently working on a continuation on the Outsiders for extra credit in my English class. Writing is one of my absolute favorite things to do on my free time, as well as reading, singing, and doing pencil sketches of everything from fairies to my friends to X-men characters that my friends and I made up. That's another thing I like to do. I'll take a really cool movie, book, TV show, etc., create characters to add in, and write my own little adventures about them. I do original stuff too, but it's kind of fun to work off of something someone already started.

Hot Topic is the best store in the world. Dad went there and saw a shirt that he thought I would like that said, "I used to have super powers, but my shrink took them away." As he thought, I fell in love with it and am determined to get it. I love stupid little phrases like that. I'm planning on making myself a shirt that says, "Forget Simon! I'd rather listen to what Jesus says!"

I could go on and on forever, but unfortunately there is no time. I apologize for any spelling errors that are in my blog, and those to come. I am a horrible speller, and the spell check on my computer isn't working. Please forgive me for that.

God bless you all. Until next time,
Kitten

My first post

2005-04-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog! Yea!