NaNoWriMo Count: 25,075. I've made the half-way point! Now just the other half to write and two days to go. Heh.
I'm thankful for . . .
Turkeys, those noble birds who sacrifice their lives for the happiness of others.
Holidays, especially when we get out of school for their observance.
Acquaintances, family, and friends, but mostly friends and sometimes family.
Novels, namely those that will be finished within the next two days.
Kittens, especially those named Silvia, Romeo, and Malvolio.
Songs, especially from my favourite artists/musicals.
Good books, which I can spend my free time reading.
Internet, the.
Vegetarian meals, which I can eat in the stead of turkey.
Ice cream, of all flavours, even those with nuts.
Nice people, because they're better than mean people.
Gro.seye-nwo-reh, esuac' ti sedivorp em htiw na teltuo rof ym ytivitaerc.
At dinner this afternoon we made toasts.
Me: To one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all!
My mater: To peace on earth and no war with Iraq!
My pater: Death to the Iraqis!
:D My daddy is so silly.
Happy Thanksgiving and whatnot.
Norm: So, you guys going to do some of your comedy for us tonight?
Cinder: Actually, Norm, Sarah and I feel that we'd be really remiss if we didn't use this platform to address an issue tonight. Um, we were at a Maya Angelou poetry reading, um, last night with Fiona Apple. She is so wise. Um, yeah.
Sarah: Well, we were discussing the ritual torture and senseless slaughters of turkeys in the name of the gluttonous, nationalistic, patriarchal holiday that we call Thanksgiving.
Cinder: [emotional] Right, and the sickest thing that Fiona told us is apparently that one company has a 1-800 number that gives out cooking tips and recipes encouraging the mutilation and consumption of these beautiful birds!
Sarah: [puts hand on Cinder's arm] Are you gonna be okay?
Cinder: Yeah . . .
. . . So um, we wrote a song about it for all the turkeys out there who celebrate Thanksgiving.
[long pause to get guitars] . . . It's called Basted in Blood
We gather together for yams, beans, and cranberry sauce
But have you given much thought lately to the turkey holocaust?
20 million noble birds slaughtered every fall
Ain't no difference between Hitler, Stalin,
And the folks at Butterball! Butter-baaawww-aa-aaww-all!
So set your tables, America, from Birmingham to Branson
But when you carve that turkey you're a finger lickin' Charlie Manson!
Enjoy your pumpkin pie, your buttery Idaho spuds, Grandma's chesnut stuffing
and . . . a turkey basted in blood!
Basted in blood! (x3) [Sarah holds "oo" from "blood" to back up Cinder's frenzied singing]
Together: Basted in-a-the-blood, basted in blood, [Cinder sings something unintelligible in her frenzy]
[Simultaneously]
Cinder: Basted in bloo-aa-uh-ud
Sarah: Basted in blaa-ah-ha-ya-hu-uh-hud . . . . [holds]
ARGH. There was a conversation that I really wanted to post here, but I was on AIM rather than AIM+, so it didn't save it. h8h8h8.
I guess I can summarize it though. I need y'all's objective opinion.
Friend: want to hear my funny story now?
Friend: well
Friend: read
Me: Sure.
Me: But only if it's REALLY SUPER DUPER funny.
Friend: well, in that case . . .
Friend: never mind then
Me: No, please do tell.
Friend: okay, I have this friend shannon (not haley) and her gf came over
Friend: she's bi
Me: Do go on.
Friend: and she was like haven't you ever liked a girl?
Me: Liked as a FRIEND, maybe.
Me: Is what I would have said.
Friend: haha, you know what I mean
Friend: and I was just thinking what if I was lesbian and didn't even know it?
Friend: maybe when I'm forty I'll find a woman and it'll just click
Friend: that's why I don't like to say I'm straight
Friend: I hate labels
Me: I understand.
Me: You fall in love with whoever you fall in love with.
Me: Be it boy or girl.
Friend: yeah
Friend: I can't explain it
Me: Well, then don't try.
Friend: you're no help
Me: Well, what do you want me to say?
Me: I hate labels, too, [Friend]!
Me: I think we're all bisexual at heart!
Friend: haha
Friend: lol you're great
Me: I try.
Friend: there's someone I like
Friend: a female someone, as shannon would say
Friend: what do I do?
Me: I don't know. What do you want to do?
Friend: you're not helping
Me: Sorry, this is me being a peer mediator.
Me: We're supposed to let the people find their own solutions.
Friend: well, be my friend
Me: *be's your friend*
Me: So who is this someone you like?
Friend: . . .
Me: Don't you have a boyfriend?
Friend: haha yeah
Friend: but this person is cooler than him
Friend: much cooler actually
Me: Oh, that was a DIS.
Friend: and smarter
Me: Well, I would decide if you really like her that much or not.
Me: And then I would tell your boyfriend. And dump him, I guess.
Me: I'm not really an expert on these matters.
Friend: haha I know
Friend: what if I just did tell them?
Me: Tell who?
Friend: the person I like
Friend: you're out of it
Me: Oh, sorry.
Me: It's past my bedtime.
Friend: mine too actually
Me: You'll have to speak in one or two-word sentences to get your point across.
Friend: okay
Friend: I'm going to go to bed now
Friend: night
Me: G'night.
Finite.
So that's the conversation as best I can recall it. Right after it happened I c&ped some of it to Mimi, so if she happened to have been using AIM+ [which isn't likely, but one can hope], she has the most important part of the conversation verbatim.
Anyway. Am I being dense or paranoid? Whenever someone is even the slightest bit vague, I assume s/he's talking about me. But then I don't want to say, "Oh, are you talking about me?" 'cause then s/he would think I'm self-centered. And if s/he IS talking about you, then they think you're really stupid because you don't realise. I really wish I had the exact conversation because I probably forgot something important.
Three cheers for the weekend and days off for giving thanks!
It did snow last night, but it was only like an inch, and it all melted away. =(
We played Shakespeare hangman today in English. :D First it was a free-for-all, where anyone could guess letters and if you knew the answer, you raised your hand. I figured out All's Well That Ends Well [but Pete raised his hand before me ;-;] and Measure for Measure. Then, 'cause not everyone in my class is a Shakespeare genius, they were all like, "Let's work in teams! Let's work in teams!" So Mr Lodewick was like, "All right, Pete, Kate, Kelly, and Tom are captains."
Then I had to go to the front of the class and pick people for my team and that wasn't cool 'cause I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by not picking them. Oh, well. Then we were in teams, and I guessed Coriolanus, Venus and Adonis, and perhaps another one, I don't remember. The last one before the bell rang was Henry VI Part III and I guessed "Henry VI Part Two" 'cause two had three letters and I wasn't thinking in Roman numerals. That made me very sad. But don't even worry, I'm still a Shakespeare genius. :D
In German we played scrabble, which was crap because I kept thinking of English words. My group still won anyway, though, so don't worry. And we got yummy chocolate. :D [I probably use that face too often, but whatevs.]
I had a test in chemistry and math today, and I probably did pretty well on both of them. Today we had a double period of chem for lab, but since we weren't doing a lab we used the first period to review. Also, we did a crossword puzzle with chemistry puns for extra credit which was possibly the lamest thing I've ever seen.
An amusing prisoner? Silicon!
Cash from your mother's sister? Antimony!
Et cetera. Chemistry is a silly class. Oh, man! Speaking of silly classes, in math after I finished the test, Krysta passed me a note so we were writing back and forth, only I tossed the note at her whilst Mr Kusner was looking and he was all, "Kate, can you please pick that up?" So I had to get up out of my seat, walk over to Krysta, pick up the piece of paper on the floor by her desk, walk to the rubbish bin, throw the paper out, and walk back to my seat, and I was giggling the whole time 'cause Mr Kusner is a silly. I blame Krysta because she is a bad influence on me. I was a perfect student before I had to sit next to her. ;P
My goal for tonight is to reach 25,000 words for my novel. I can do it! *thinks positive*
W00t! The outline took me far less time than I was expecting. I stupidly did not save and then my computer crashed, but it only took me ten or fifteen minutes to rewrite it, and besides, I had a chance to reorganize everything more logically while rewriting.
If you don't read morons.org, you should. Some recent articles I really enjoyed include Your Relationship with God and The Heterosexual Agenda.
Now off to work on my novel! [Which I WILL finish by the end of this week.]
Tonight is the night that procrastination ends. I have to write my detailed outline for my term paper by tomorrow, and I WILL get it done.
And it BETTER snow or else.
[NaNoWriMo count: 17,724. What am I thankful for? No school Thursday or Friday. Prime days for novel writing!]
Oh, man. I need to majorly prioritize. There should be more hours in the day. Or I should need less sleep. Or I should never go to ACLU club, even though it is fun and super and I love it 100%.
Last night I attended a birthday celebration chez Ryan Collins, which was quite enjoyable. =) I went to Barnes & Noble to buy him a present, and now I've gotten all sorts of ideas for winter solstice gifts. Honestly, I lovelovelove books. I could spend the rest of my life in a bookstore, especially if it had a nice café, as B&N has. <3
NaNoWriMo count: 15,404 and I swear I am going to get 50,000 by the end of this week. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but mark my words, I WILL.
Also, today is Sunday. I'm sure some of you noticed that I forgot to do my little friend appreciation thing last week, and I'll have you know that that was entirely intentional. Because, you see . . . well, Colin is such a dear friend I decided to dedicate two weeks of friend appreciation to him. Er, yes, that's it. Anyway, now for this week.
Deirdre
I've known Deirdre for quite some time in online years [one normal month = one online year], and as I've gotten to know her, I think I've begun to appreciate her worth more and more. Last year, when I had that rabid crush on He-Who-Won't-Be-Named, she was extremely supportive of me to no end and boosted my self-esteem, and even drew me that cute picture. <3 Now I'm old and bitter and have a cynical attitude towards love, but she gives me hope yet. It seems like whenever I talk to her, she's in love. :D And that is an inspiring thing. Also, whenever she IMs me, she greets me with ALL-CAPS and exclamation marks and that makes me feel quite loved. So, yes. She's a real sweetheart and I love talking to her. And because she's online at the same time I am so rarely, our conversations are all the more special. :D
ARGHHH. *rages at the world*
My report card came today. First, the good news. Nine "A"s, with a "Y" factor [Good Class Participation] in algebra and Latin, a "T" factor [An Asset to the Class] in chemistry and art, and a "Z" factor [Shows Initiative / Highly Motivated] in Latin. I'm in all honors courses, so this is quite an accomplishment.
[Note: If you tend to be of the you-obnoxious-whingey-bint-shut-up-and-put-things-in-perspective-and-be-grateful-for-what-you-have position, I would suggest skipping the next bit.]
Now, the bad, horrible news of despair and DOOM. I got a "B" in academic access English!!!!!!111 Why? Because my parents made me visit my dad's parents during September and I missed a day of school and didn't make up whatever we did that day in class. Of course, this is largely my fault, but STILL. We only have that stupid class once a week. I didn't realize I had to make up the work before the next day of class. I hate my school district with a burning flame of fiery passionate hatred. "Oh, let's give sophomores completely pointless courses to prepare them for standardized tests so we will look super great and get lots of money!" DEATH, DOOM, DESPAAAAAAIR!
Okay, I'm done.
Because I stayed up past my bedtime last night talking to Colin, I overslept this morning. My mum woke me up at 6:45 and had to drive me to school. And then, I thought I had left my chemistry notebook at home, so I called her and asked her to bring it in, but then third period I found it in my backpack. Go team unorganised!
Oh, and Mr Beagle asked me if I would have been a hippie if I lived in the sixties. I was like. . . um, I dunno. And he said that's how he pictures me. Then I whispered to KT that I wouldn't do drugs 'cause drugs are bad and I'm high on LIFE!
In art we got to draw this really cute boy's face today. Well, I think he's really cute. But I have very strange tastes. I've realised I tend to judge guys' cuteness level by their clothing. Like if he's really ugly and has nice clothing, that doesn't work, but if he's average, but wearing clothes that I enjoy, he becomes cute. ^^; I'm so superficial. [Although I'm really not because I'm not attracted to boys who are stupid or annoying. Intelligence and personality are factors, too, you see.] Anyway, he's a senior or possibly a junior and he hangs out in Ms C's room and sometimes works on art projects and has really nice cheekbones, which I noticed whilst drawing them. I think the face I did today turned out a lot nicer than the face I did on Wednesday of this other girl who hangs out in Ms C's room during my art period. She is loud and rather whingey.
At 7:30 tonight I am seeing the school play. =) Should be q. interesting.
The Continuing Gym Clothes Saga.
This morning I shoved my gym pants & my BIG t-shirt into my GAP bag even though the Gap is evil and ran out the door to my bus stop. [I would like to pause here and say how much I enjoy the English language. In English, you don't have to change the case of the word just because it follows a certain preposition. Like it's "out the door." Door stays the same. I really appreciate that.] There I met my pal Allison, and we boarded the yellow limousine. All is well thus far.
The ride to school goes without a hitch, but when arriving at school there was a little mishap. I was getting off the bus, when SLIP!SLAPSLAPSLAP. I slid down the steps of the bus and fell back onto the stairs. One, it hurt. Two, it was more than slightly embarrassing. But I blame the mud. 'cause I'm really not that clumsy. Don't worry, though, I survived. [Hey, hey!]
Anyway, then I sat in the cafeteria for ten or so minutes with my dawgz, then went to my locker, Allison's locker, Amay's locker, and first period.
Fast forward to after fifth period. I go to my locker to get my bag of gym clothes, but: GASUPAH! There is no bag of gym clothes in there! So sometime between when I left my house this morning and went to my locker, I must have lost it. Fortunately I explained the circs to my gym teacher and she was all, "Since you've come to class every day, I won't take any points off today. I hope you didn't lose your clothes."
Me: ME TOO. 'cause I would bust a cap if I did. [Not in the literal sense, like go shoot someone. But I would be v. upset.]
She was really nice, though, and let me play ping-pong, even though gym teachers are usually like: "J00 AIN'T GOT NO CLOTHES, SO J00 CAN'T PARTICIPATE, DIZZAWG."
Also, sith [old English for "since"'tis used in Othello quite often] this week is American Education Week [what a joke!] our parents were allowed to come into school today [note how the word "school" doesn't change even though it's after a preposition. In Latin, they use the same word for "in" and "into" and the only way you can tell the difference is the case ending of the word that follows it.] and in honor of that, each club set up a table in the lobby for guests to look at or whatever. The ACLU club was no exception, so I got out of fourth period to [wo]man the table. I was going to get out of third, but Mr Kummer was all, "We only meet three days a week, and we're going to be doing new stuff today." And he did the thing where he acted as if he was giving me the choice, but he really wasn't. Which frustrated me, but it was probably better that way. After all, I would have missed learning all about the genitive case, and wouldn't that have been simply dreadful?
So instead I went fourth period and missed art. Which was too bad 'cause I'd rather have missed something stupid like gym, but c'est la vie. Our table was kind of lame. Key Club had all these handouts and papers and shizznit and the marching band was playing videos of all their little thingies, but we just had a poster that said ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union in large letters 'cause they threw it together like the night before. Don't worry, though, we improvised. We taped a piece of crepe paper that said "ACLU Man" around Abe Hmiel's forehead and rolled up a piece of paper and put orange and red and yellow crepe paper on it and PRESTO! Instant Torch of Liberty! And then we stole name tags from another table, so he said: "HELLO, my name is: Freedom!" "HELLO, my name is: Liberty!" "HELLO, my name is: Justice!" et cetera. And then we put a "HELLO, my name is: Oppression" on Monica and she stole one of the sabres from the color guard and they dueled in the middle of the lobby. So that was exciting. :D
And now I've got to go eat dinner. Ciao.
NaNoWriMo count: 13,003.
Oh, man. Today on the bus we were discussing school pictures and smiles and Milessa told me to smile, so I made this hugely exaggerated smile, and then Milessa decided I look like Molly Shannon, but don't worry, I even don't.
Also, visit Orangutan Foundation UK and Red Ape Trail. Links courtesy of my aunt Jacqueline, who says:
At any rate: I was remembering how when you were two I took you to the zoo and said,
"Kate, look, there's a monkey!!" And you said (endlessly patient and precise)
"No, Aunt Jackie, I think that's an Orang Utan"
That's me. >D Nitpicking since I could talk.
Or not. Not only did I not get up early to write three hundred words of novel, but I also overslept and nearly missed my bus. But you know, I've passed the 10,000 mark [10,772, to be exact] and that, I think, is quite an accomplishment. 20% done, baby.
Ooh, today was a good morning because I got to read Iago! Mr Lodewick had been reading it because the person who was reading it in the beginning stumbled and Mr Lodewick was like, "This is a big part, do you mind if I just read it?" And the kid was like, "Yeah, sure, whatev." But today Mr Lodewick was like, "Does anyone want to read Iago?" and I was like:
HERMIONE!HANDRAISE!!!11
So I got to read Iago for the very last part of act two and into act three. :D Iago's great 'cause he has mucho long speeches. And he's so damn evil! J'adore l'Iago et le Shakespeare [l'Edward de Vere]. <3
And guess what! My Latin name is Lepida. :D After I picked Lepida, I decided I liked Hortensia better, but then it was too late. So whatev. I will just name my firstborn child Hortensia.
Talking of firstborn children, FRAUIE'S PREGNANT! [Frauie = Frau E. = Frau Eichler = Ester Eichler, the German teacher I've had since I was a wee seventh grader.]
Oh, man. Remember how yesterday Mr Palmer was like, "You've gotten none wrong so far."? I got a 94. :D None wrong on the first two pages, but then three wrong on the third page. But it was a pretty difficult test and the class average was like a seventy-something. And this is an honors course. Le sigh. Children these days. Oh, and for the last problem on the last page, I put "5f" instead of "4f," but he didn't notice. I wasn't going to say anything ['cause I'm a Slytherin and all >D], but then I started feeling guilty. And I was like, "If he had made a mistake in your favour, would you have told him?" And of course I would have. So then I was like, "Mr Palmer, I had "5f" instead of "4f," and you didn't mark it wrong." He just said, "Okay," and didn't do anything about it. So I'm guessing that means I get to keep my 94. :D Oh, and because everyone did so poorly, he made the test out of 96 instead of out of a 100. So really my grade is 97.9. :D
La vie est bonne. [Colin's helping me hone my French skizzills. ;D Talking of Colins, this one's going to whinge if I don't plug him.]
Except! Remember those sexy pins I was talking about yesterday? Well, Allison went to the bowl thing at 4:30 and she got SIX pins. ;-; Allison is a silly goose, let me tell you. Today she said, "If Harry Potter was punk, you would be his girlfriend." I guess 'cause I was wearing my Slytherin shirt and my sexy hemp necklace with the guitar pick that Stasia made for me. Although I am not punk at all. I am not any stereotype, actually. Milessa said I'm "unique." :D Which is absolutely true, I think.
Arr, I got within three hundred words of tonight's goal [11,006] and now my father's making me go to bed. But don't worry, maybe I'll get up an hour early tomorrow morning to write those three hundred words. Maybe.
Also, I haven't been in German class since Thursday. I'm starting to forget all that I've learned! Or not, but still. Four days is a long time.
Oh, jeez. It was 6:29. I was at my computer, chatting with all my homeslices, when ickle Nora comes into the room.
Nora: Your friend's at the door.
Me: *stunned bewilderment* *mind whirls, "Friend? Door? What?"* *looks at clock* AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT!!!!1111one *puts on glasses, coat, rushes to the door* HI! SORRY! MUM, I NEED A CANNED GOOD!
Mater: *goes and gets some beans*
Me: THANKS. BYE. GOTTA RUN. *exits the house, dives into Marisa's car* ONWARD!*
* This has been a dramatization of tonight's events. Dialogue is not, perhaps, word for word.
So that was the Empty Bowl Benefit. I got a nifty little blue bowl, had me some mighty spicy soup with iced tea and pumpkin pie for desert, and all was well with the world. I also got these incredibly cute cards with rabbits and llamas and fish on them from Heifer International. There were these kickass pins, but I wasn't sure if you were supposed to take them, but when I realised you were allowed, they were all gone. Le sigh. And Mr Ferro [one of the art teachers from our school] was there and he is the most adorable man ever. <333 He is so cute. And not even in like, "Oh, I'm sexually attracted to you; plz have my babiez!!!11" way, but in like, "OMG, YOU'RE SO CUTE!! SQUEEEEE!" and you automatically start smiling when you see him. Oh, and there was definitely a Merry look-alike there. Marisa can attest to it. He LOOKED like him!
We had a chemistry test today, despite my prophetic dream in which we spent the whole period doing something else, so we didn't have to take the test. But anyway, in real life I turned in my paper and was sitting there at my desk [which is in the front . . . hey, I just realised something. I sit in the front row of a good deal of my classes. Chemistry, English, and I was just moved front and center in world civ. I mean, not because I was being particularly bad or anything, but because everyone changed seats for the new marking period.] and Mr Palmer was grading the first two multiple choice pages of the tests because he likes to grade things speedily and he looked up at me and gave me this look like, "o.O" and he was all, "You've gotten none wrong so far."
He might have said "one wrong," though, I'm not sure. 'cause when I was handing in my paper, I looked at his answer key, and I was pretty certain one of my questions didn't match. But maybe not. Either way, he didn't have to be all surprised about it. I'M AN INTELLIGENT PERSON! I 0WNX0R CHEMISTRY!
Oh, and this girl in my English class totally cut her hair short like me. She had dreads before. ^^ SHORT HAIR REVOLUTION!!!11one
Everyone should bestow their attention upon Yan because he is extremely capable and even, I daresay, proficient at using the United States postal system. :D Also, his handwriting is a lot nicer than Brinzy's.
Ahh, football. Apparently it's good for something, after all.
The homecoming football game was rained out on Saturday and rescheduled today for 1:30, so we got out of school at 12:44. Wizz00t! :D
Oh, and I figured it out. If I write 3250 words a day from now until Nov. 30, I'll have 50,000 words. So I think I can do that. Maybe.
NaNoWriMo word count: 7756. I don't think I'm ever going to finish this stupid novel. ><
NaNoWriMo word count: 6067. Which is pathetic, because I ought to be past the half-way mark [25,000] by now, but whatev. I'm not giving up till November 31 [i.e., never]. So I'll tell the tale of Homelessness Awareness Night to warm up, and then go off to bang out 22,266 words of novel.
In school Friday Milessa told me she'd pick me up around 4:30 [my mum couldn't drive me because she was off seeing Harry Potter without me], so I had assumed that we were supposed to be at the school at 5. I was sitting in the living room, waiting to be picked up, reading an extremely outdated and poorly researched and sexist library book about body language, and the clock read 4:50. I was worried she had forgotten me or had gotten lost [even though we live on the same street xP] or hated me and wasn't going to ever pick me up or whatever and that I would miss the bus [H.A.N. was happening at Upper Darby High School, so we were supposed to go to our high school, and then a bus was taking us from there]. Eventually she arrived and I learned that we weren't supposed to be there till 5:30. So we arrived approximately a half hour early, which was a bit boring.
However, since we were the first ones there, we did get to be the first ones on the bus and had our pick of seats [the back, of course, is where all the cool kids sit]. The bus ride to Upper Darby was long [we had to stop at two other high schools to pick up their kids], but wasn't too boring. Milessa and I talked about all sorts of fun things, like travelling and accents and our future careers [mainly her future career 'cause I have no idea] and number and names of our future children [again, it was she who had already decided how many children she was going to have and what their names would be].
When we arrived at Upper Darby, we had to wait in line and have our bags checked [I only had my sleeping bag, so I didn't have to be searched for prohibited food or electronics] and I got the impression that there were a lot more people than there actually were. All in all, I think there were about 50 - 60 students and maybe 10 or so adults. After we passed through 'security,' we had to sign a thing saying we agreed to follow all the rules and whatnot, and then we got nametags and were sent to put our stuff down in a gym.
After we tossed our stuff against one of the walls of the gym, we went into another gym which had bleachers and sat there. The woman from Building With Books talked to us, went over the ground rules, and blah, and then we were separated into three groups for an icebreaker activity. Sadly, Milessa was not in my group, but fear not, I survived. In our groups, we stood in a circle and went around and said our name, our school, our grade, and what a home meant to us. After everyone had said their bit, we formed two concentric circles so that each person was facing a partner and then we asked each other questions. My partner was one of the few boys there and was black, as were the majority of the people not from Abington. So I was like, "What's your favourite food?" ['cause that's what we were supposed to ask.] He said he didn't have one, but if he really had to pick it would be lasagna. Then he asked me and I said ice cream. He asked me what my favourite flavour is and I said cookies 'n' cream. He agreed that that was a good flavour.
Then we moved on to the next person. I think the question was: "Who would win in a fight, J.Lo or Janet?" My partner said Janet and I assented because I'm not good at predicting the outcome of physical fights that most likely will never happen.
We moved to the next person and the question was "What person, dead or alive, would you want to have dinner with?" I really hate these questions. A lot. I mean, maybe if I had a couple months to consider it, I could pick, but not in the blink of an eye. So my partner said some music group that I'd never heard of and I said my friends because I would be uncomfortable and awkward and shy around people I've never met before.
Then we went back to the bleachers and someone who works at a shelter spoke to us, and then a representative from Project H.O.M.E. talked to us and showed us a movie, then a formerly homeless person talked to us and gave us fliers to her art show, and then we were separated into groups again. My group decorated paper bags and then filled them with toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, deodorant, combs, washcloths, and other toiletries. When we finished that, we moved to the next station, where a sleeping bag was being made. First we anchored one layer of material to another and then we sewed around the edges to hold the three layers together, which was actually rather enjoyable. I totally 0wn3d 7h47 sl33ping b4g. I was like Betsy fricking Ross, baby. :D
Then we moved onto the next station, where we were to write letters to Senators Arlen Specter or Rick Santorum, Mayor John Street, or City Council President Anna C. Verna. But before we did that, we played this game where everyone stands in a circle. The first person does an action for three beats while chanting "I wannabe likeyou." Then when he finishes, the next person does that action, while he does a new action. And it goes around like that in the circle. For example:
Everyone: I wannabe likeyou, I wannabe likeyou, I wannabe likeyou, I wannabe likeyou, I wannabe likeyou [words divided into the three beats]
Person 1: claps hands, gets jiggy, spins around, hops forward, puts hands in the air
Person 2: watches P1, claps hands, gets jiggy, spins around, hops forward
Person 3: watches P2, watches P2, claps hands, gets jiggy, spins around
Person 4: watches P3, watches P3, watches P3, claps hands, gets jiggy
So there's a ripple effect and it's q. fun if everyone does it properly. But then we had to go sit at a table and write letters. Mine was crap, but they're hoping the sheer number of letters will motivate the people to act.
Once we finished, we returned to the main gym with the bleachers and sat down. I was reunited with Milessa and we watched people play basketball and some black girls cornrow [I like to verb words. ;D] some white girls' hair. I grumbled that homeless people didn't play basketball or braid each others' hair, but then homeless people don't have warm beds in suburbia to return to either, so we weren't replicating the authentic homeless experience exactly.
After that, we broke up into our groups again and reflected. There were a couple questions we went around and answered, and then, finally, it was time for bed. I was extremely tired [and had been since around 9:00 xP] and the time was 1:00-ish, I think. So the girls went to their designated sleeping area and the 10 or so boys went to their designated sleeping area, and I rolled out my sleeping bag and fell a to the sleep, despite the noisy preppy girls from my school giggling and being generally obnoxious.
We got about six hours of sleep, I think. I woke up around 5:30 and went to the bathroom and when I was coming back the door wouldn't open so I was v. scared that I had locked myself out of the gym, but then I noticed the sign next to the door that said "Janitor" and went a bit further down the hallway to the right set of doors. I fell asleep again, but it seemed like I was woken up five minutes later, even though it was like 7:00. The people in charge told us there was a basketball game at 8:00 in the very gym that we were sleeping in, so we had to get our stuff and clear out. Milessa and I carried our stuff into the cafeteria and sat at one of the tables, ogling the tangerines and coffeecake and orange and apple juice. Then one of the adults recruited us to put the "I Care" bags into larger trash bags for easier portability and while we were doing this everyone else went into the cafeteria and got to get their food, so we were a little sad that we weren't first in line.
And Upper Darby has slurpee machines in their cafeteria! What's up with that?!
After we finished eating our breakfast, we answered some debriefing questions. When we got to suggestions for future Homeless Awareness Nights, some girl from my school said she thought that we should be allowed food because we would be more productive that way. Apparently some people can't survive without food for a night. And another girl thought since we were doing good stuff we should get a reward! Like, hello? We're volunteering. Our reward is that we're helping the community, blah blah blah. If you want rewards, then get a paid job. Honestly, people are so dumb.
Then we gathered our stuff and went outside to wait for the bus. It was cold and raining and the bus was late, but I was just glad that we were going home. The trip back was much quicker than the trip there had been because only our school was on the bus. I had told my parents to pick me up at 10:15 because that's what the sheet had said, but around 9:15 Ms Farrington said we would be back at the school in ten minutes. So I used someone's cellphone to call home, but I got the answering machine and left a message saying that I needed to be picked up at 9:30.
Around 9:30 the bus arrives at the school and everyone gets off. It's cold and rainy still, and we huddle under a narrow roof that doesn't q. stop the rain from landing on us. Eventually everyone gets picked up and it's just me. Around 9:45 I walk over to where there's a bigger roof thingy and put my sleeping bag down on the dry bit of sidewalk and sit crosslegged on top of it. My butt was probably the warmest part of me for the next half hour. And let me tell you, that morning, waiting to be picked up, I felt 10 x more homeless than I had last night. It was not fun.
At exactly 10:15, my dad pulls up. I complain to him about waiting in the bitter cold for forty-five minutes and turn the heat way up in the car. We got to Manhattan Bagel and I eat an onion bagel on the way home. At home, I walk into the living room and my mater is all, "I missed you!" and I just stand there, glaring at her, while my dad plays the answering machine message.
"Oops," she says, but 'Oops' just doesn't cut it. No, I wasn't mad at all, actually, because I am just a forgiving person by nature and I cuddled next to her on the couch, trying to steal her body heat while Nora watched Sailor Moon.
And that was that.
Around 3:40 my mater and I arrived at our local movie theatre for the 4:00 showing of HP and the CoS, but it was s to the izz old out. We bought tickets for the next time [4:50] and walked next door to the Coffee Beanery and had hot chocolate [me], tea [the mater], and a cheese danish [both.] Also, I spotted a soggy dollar on the ground, so I picked it up and that made me feel special. Finding money is always nice. :D
So, le film de Harry Potter. [Major spoilers ahead. You were warned.] I didn't like when Vernon fell out of the window and Harry was all, "Smile! I delight in other people's injuries!" And when he stabbed the diary with the fang. Repeatedly. With much gusto. They're turning my poor, sweet Harry into an extremely violent boy. ;-;
The Burrow setting was great. Loved the pigs, loved the clock, loved the chairs, loved the fireplace. <3 Arthur Weasley is hardly thin, but he did the part pretty nicely, I thought. It took me a while to recognise Percy! He was looking q. cute in that scene.
Lucius Malfoy was excellent with his silly little snake scepter. I was a little surprised with his "Avada" I don't think he would go so far as to attempt to kill Harry in the middle of Hogwarts. But I guess when people lose their tempers . . .
Kenneth Branagh was AMAZING. Seriously, he was a spectacular Lockhart. And with q. a fashion sense. ;D His dueling outfit was love. <3 At the end, after all the credits [me mum and me sat there to the very bitter end because Sibling #1 said they had a tribute to Richard Harris or an extra scene or some such nonsense] there was a short little thing where it showed a shop in Diagon Alley, possibly Flourish & Blotts, and there was a poster for "Who Am I?" with Lockhart in a straightjacket looking dazed. :D Memory-loss!Lockhart was perhaps even better than Pompous!Lockhart.
And then of course there was the Snape-Lockhart interaction. Rickman had far too few scenes, but the ones he did have were of course excellent. I missed the part in the book where Lockhart does this dramatic bow with flourishes of his hands and Snape just barely inclines his head. In the movie they both simply bow to each other, which was incredibly boring. But Snape is lovely anyway. Esp. when he picks up Draco during the duel and pushes him back toward Harry. And one part that made me smile was the Snape-McGonagall tag team action where they tell Lockhart he should be the one to go save Ginny because he said he knows where the Chamber is.
Dumbledore was weak [I hate to speak ill of the dead, but it's true xP], although towards the end he smiled a bit, when telling Harry and Ron that they got awards and when telling the school that exams were cancelled, and that was good.
Crabbe and Goyle are super. :D They were brilliant as Harry and Ron. And towards the end, when Crabbe stood up to clap and Malfoy pulled him down . . . that was great.
And now enough of the actors and on to other things. I esp. loved the details of the movie. All the moving Lockhart pictures, the bottle of Skele-gro, the statues. Ooh, and talking of statues: I adored the entrance to Dumbledore's office! With the griffin and the spiral staircase . . . that r0x0red.
The animatronics, on the other hand, SUCKED. Totally and completely sux0red hardcore. I hated Fawkes [old Fawkes was just terrible, reborn Fawkes was slightly better], I hated the basilisk [it belonged in a Godzilla movie xP], I hated Hermione's cat face, and the close-ups on Aragog were totally unnecessary. They should have just used CG.
The spider scene was incredibly scary, but I still can't fathom why they changed "Forbidden Forest" to "Dark Forest." I mean, what the crap? Oh, and the audience loved Ron's reaction to the spiders. Harry is talking to Aragog and the entire theatre audience starts cracking up because Ron is looking up at the spiders and is just totally scared out of his pants. :D Ron is so lovely. Other parts that made me literally gasp were when that scary hand grabbed Harry's in Borgin and Burkes, when Harry was laying in the sand and the bludger came hurtling at him, and when the basilisk shot up out of the water when Harry was kneeling by Ginny.
Oh, and the Whomping Willow! I totally imagined it as a willow tree, not a freaky fake tree with like hands and stuff. That was just weird and pjooey.
Parseltongue was totally kickass. It sounded kind of like Hebrew, with the "ch"ing, but then of course there was all the hissing, which I don't think happens often in Hebrew. Then again, I know no Hebrew, so I'm not one to talk.
Nitpicks. A basilisk is basically an overgrown snake, right? Snakes do not rely on their hearing so much as their sense of smell, right? Why wasn't he sticking out his tongue like a normal snake? And why on earth did Harry pick up the sword by the blade with his bare hands? I mean, HELLO? If it's sharp enough to pierce the basilisk's jaw, you'd think it would hurt his hands. And if all the students are wearing earmuffs that block out the piercing shriek of the mandrakes, how on earth can the hear Professor Sprout's instructions? There were other things that I noticed while watching the movie, but I've forgotten them now. When I see it the second time [which I'm sure I will >D], I'll remember.
Oh, and I really enjoyed the flashback scene. Young!Hagrid was extremely poorly done, but Tom Riddle was yum. =9 Oh, and Moaning Myrtle was pretty good. I loved her voice. :D
I think that's all. I'll blog about last night's affair tomorrow 'cause I am plumb exhausted. xP
In approx. one hour Milessa is picking me up because it's *drum roll* . . . Homelessness Awareness Night!
And Harry Potter and the CoS comes out today, but I won't get to see it because of this pjoo-for-pjoo thing tonight. Le sigh. My life is so difficult. ;)
Finished my 75 notecards and chem lab [even though I left my lab book in my lockerPatty Greenfield is my hero. <3].
I was thinking, it would be really cool if there was a medium with which to record and exchange thoughts. There are symbols to express the sounds we make to communicate and with cameras we can record visuals as well as sounds. Words can, to an extent, express thoughts, but you lose something in the translation. It would be fun to be able to record what's going on in your brain and share it with other people, so you could see how other people think. I would be really interested in that.
For example, I was reading about Japanese poetry for my research paper, then I was reading KT's poetry, and then I was petting Malvolio and thinking, and then I was thinking about writing poetry, and more specifically writing poetry about what it's like to be human to be discovered at a later date by some alien race, but then I decided writing poetry was too difficult and recording thoughts would be a lot simpler. Theoretically, of course. In practice, I bet writing poetry is easier than figuring out how to record thoughts. xP
But then, of course, that starts to lead to controlling the way other people think and spying on people by reading their minds, and that's not cool.
I need to do like forty notecards tonight. Blah. Research papers are the bane of my existence.
In other news, we're reading Othello in English. :D Everyone is all whingey and "I haaaaaate Shakespeare!" but I am like: xD! I want to read a part, though, but I was too lazy to raise my hand when he was giving parts. Hopefully we will switch soon and then I shall raise my hand. :D <reading Shakespeare3
Homeless Awareness Night tomorrow. ^^ We're making "I Care" kits and sewing sleeping bags, apparently, so that should be rather interesting. Especially as I've never sewn anything in my life. Well, almost never. I think I made a horrible dress for a doll once. But that doesn't count because it was the most pathetic thing ever.
And I've decided, against my better judgement, that I will attend the pep rally tomorrow. It's only an hour long, after all.
Yay, domain is back up. :D
OMT, Yan, today in chemistry another teacher was in our class while we were doing our lab, and all the teachers at my school wear photo IDs, and this guy's thing said: Mr. Ryan Williams. I nearly laughed out loud, but then I thought people might think I'm strange. Which I am, of course, but I like to keep that under wraps.
And oh, man, I'm definitely quitting Key Club A to the SAP. Not really, but their pledge is such crap. We got a little booklet at the meeting today: The Key Club International Member Handbook 2002-03. And on the first page, it has the pledge, the motto, the mission statement, and the objects. I'm down with the motto [Caring - Our Way of Life], the mission statement [An international student-led organization providing its members with opportunities to perform service, build character, and develop leadership.], and most of the objects [to develop initiative and leadership, to provide experience in living and working together, blah, blah, blah], but listen to this pledge.
"I pledge on my honor to uphold the objects of Key Club International; to build my home, school, and community; to serve my nation and God and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions."
It's like, EXCUSE ME? You should have told me this before I joined. I never said I would "serve my nation and God and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions." Bah, humbug.
Ha, watched first half of extended version of LoTR despite other obligations. Highlights: Pippin singing at the Green Dragon and Aragorn singing in elvish. :D They are my two favourite characters and totally amazing x 8. <3
Random, completely unconnected thoughts starting . . . now!
Argh. Stupid server being down. >< If it doesn't get back up soon, I shall llora y llora por veintidós dias.
Mr Kummer was listening to the Strokes today. I was like, SQUEE!
Pep rally is Friday, but I CAN'T GO as also on Friday is Homeless awareness night where I sleep over at a mock-shelter. Blah. Not that I am exceptionally big on school spirit, but each class does skits, and I would have liked to see them. =( Le sigh.
Today is the day the special LoTR DVD comes out, but I can't watch it because I'm so busy and I've got homework and my NaNoWriMo novel and my term paper and everything. ;-;
You become writer by writing. It is a yoga. -R.K. Narayan, novelist (1906-2001)
My maternal figure forced me to do Tai Chi with her for half an hour after school. It was crazy stuff. :D The different positions are called like "Carry a tiger up a mountain" and "Wave hands like clouds." It's fun, but surprisingly difficult.
Brinzy snail-mailed me Office XP on a CD and it arrived today! :D
Man, I am like the ditziest person ever. Or if not, then just extremely forgetful. Last Thursday [I have gym Tuesdays and Thursdays] I left my bag of gym clothes in Ms Schillingsburg's room after school ['cause that's where the Building With Books meeting was]. I remembered that I had forgotten it as I was walking across the field to the junior high for tutoring and I wasn't about to turn around and go all the way back to get it. I told myself I'd get it the next day because my world civ. room is right next to Ms Schillingsburg's. But then the next day my world civ. class met in the library to work on our term papers, so I didn't have a chance. Then, this morning I tell Ms Farrington [my world civ. teacher]: "I left my gym clothes in Ms Schillingsburg's room on Tuesday." She told me I could go get them now, so I went in there and sure enough, there they were on the ledge by the windows.
Fast forward to after school. I get all the books I need for homework and my coat and remember my bag of gym clothes. I need to take them home to wash them 'cause I've got gym tomorrow. But they aren't in my locker. So I am like DIZZAMN. Then Marisa comes up to me and is like, "I forgot to ask Mr Kummer if there's an ACLU meeting today, but I can't go anyway."
Me: Okay. There probably isn't, 'cause there's a yearbook meeting today in the same room, and that happened last week and the meeting was cancelled last week.
Marisa: Yeah, and it wasn't on the announcements this morning.
M: Yeah. Okay, see you.
M: Bye.
I debated for a few minutes about whether to go in search of my gym clothes and miss the bus or just catch the bus and forget about my stupid gym clothes. In the end, the first alternative won because I had gym tomorrow and I wasn't about to wear smelly, dirty gym clothes. I'm about to go upstairs to my math class, which I have seventh period, but then I remember I had lunch today, so I would have put my gym clothes in my locker by seventh period. Instead I go to my chemistry class [fifth period] and no gym clothes there. I go to my art class [fourth period] and no gym clothes there. Third period I had Latin and my locker is on the way to that room, so I stop at my locker just to make sure I didn't accidentally overlook them. I didn't.
While I'm at my locker, the ACLU crowd passes me and the president [Let's call him . . . "Kevin"] tells me we're meeting in one of the cafeterias, A or B, he's not sure yet. I'm like, okay, and then I go to room 155, which is filled with yearbook-type people. Mr Kummer is all, "You're meeting in the cafs today."
M: I know, but . . . did I leave my gym clothes in here?
K: Yeah, I put them on the chair under my desk.
M: *goes, pulls out a chair*
K: The other one.
M: *giggles nervously at own stupidity and pulls out other chair* Ahh.
K: Yeah, they were stinking up my room the whole day. People kept asking what that horrible smell was.
M: *grin* Thanks. xP
And then, since I was informed of the ACLU meeting, I mosied on over to cafeteria A, where my ACLU dawgs were at. Kevin was all, "Is your little friend coming today?" And I was all, "No, she can't make it." So you were sorely missed, Marisa. ;D
The meeting was quite enjoyable, as usual, and there is a surprising number of Harry Potter fans in the ACLU club. Today I wore my Slytherin shirt [mostly because I didn't have any other clean shirts xP] and everyone was like, "Oh, I'm Hufflepuff." And then we were talking about the harrypotter.com website and the movie and book five, but don't worry, only briefly, and then we moved on to the real meaty ACLU issues, such as standardized tests and Iraq and the federal government and welfare and the media and Bowling for Columbine and our field trip to Justice Talking.
It's funny how the simple act of wearing a shirt can make you learn things about people that you didn't know before. Earlier today Jen Brotman was all, "Oooh, Slytherin! My mom's making me a green and grey scarf ['cause they don't have silver yarn.]" and Shannon Haley told me I was "bad" and that when she went to the hp.com site she got sorted into Gryffindor. I was like, "Oho, you silly."
And talking of the ACLU, last night I dreamt I was smoking pot. But I blame The Simpsons for having that episode in which Homer took medicinal marijuana last night and my dad for always accusing me of doing drugs at my friends' houses. xP
We need 75 notecards for our world civ. term paper by Friday. I hate it when they walk you through papers like this, but I suppose it's really people like me that they do this for 'cause I procrastinate to the mizzax. So I've got it all planned out: I do twenty cards tonight, twenty Tuesday, twenty Wednesday, and then fifteen Friday. It should be easy-peasy.
I had something else to say about atheism, but I've forgotten it now. Ah, well. Can't have been that important. Oh! I remember. The one thing that's not cool about not believing in heaven or any sort of afterlife is the idea that I'll never be able to meet dead people or watch the future of humanity unfold. 'cause I'm an insanely curious person and I think it would be amazing to talk to people from the past, from any time period. And I definitely regret x 100 that I won't be able to see what the world will be like in two hundred years, or two thousand years. It's just not fair, dude. And talking of atheism, here are some fun quotes.
Oh, and I was extremely bored in chemistry today, so I figured out my name in atomic numbers of elements: 19 85 1 68 53 10 6 2 10 39. See, that's potassium, astatine, helium, erbium, iodine, neon, carbon, helium, neon, and yttrium, or: K At H Er I Ne C He Ne Y. [Yeah, I'm a dork. Shut up. xP]
And I realise this was pretty long and rambling [though not so much as yesterday's], but if you don't want to read, you don't have to. =P
Finished the pjooey Ethan Frome questions at last. I really don't enjoy dissecting books like that. It takes a lot away from my enjoyment of the book, y'know. Tone and symbolism and everything are great stuff and add to the overall quality of the book, but I can appreciate them without having to answer questions about them. So a great big thumbs down to that. However, Lodey hinted that these one hundred and thirty-one questions would count as the test, so on the bright side we don't have to take an Ethan Frome test. ^^
Talking of books, Friday night I stayed up till nearly one o'clock reading The Third Witch, which was good stuff. ^__^ Shakespeare [and by Shakespeare of course I mean de Vere] is so much fun. Especially when rewritten from a womyn's point of view. =)
And still on the track of books [and Shakespeare, to an extent], I would like to read Reviving Ophelia. Shirley had a copy of it with her last night, and I was flipping through it and was q. intrigued.
Last night [before I went to Krysta's] I was online and Will Bruce IMed me. With little preamble ["hi kate." "Howdy."] he said:
will IS happy 01 (5:17:18 PM): so, do you hate christians?
I was completely baffled.
a l m e DASTAR (5:17:24 PM): o.O No.
will IS happy 01 (5:17:45 PM): oh.
will IS happy 01 (5:17:51 PM): i didn't get that thang on ur profile
Ahh, now I understand. In my profile is a quote I found on religioustolerance.org whilst researching abortion for ACLU. [We're making a bulletin board, and one quarter is going to be dedicated to controversial topics, and I volunteered to get some stuff on abortion.]
"In 2001, about 76% of North Americans considered themselves Christian (A drop of almost 10 percentage points since 1991). An examination of biblical passages on the status of a fetus and abortion may thus be of interest to most of the public."
I put it in my profile merely 'cause I found it interesting. I didn't realise the percentage was so high and I was intrigued that the number has dropped so much in the past ten years. I explained this to young William and then:
will IS happy 01 (5:24:47 PM): what is your religious preference anyway
a l m e DASTAR (5:24:54 PM): None.
will IS happy 01 (5:25:03 PM): yea?
will IS happy 01 (5:25:04 PM): why's that
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:09 PM): Well.
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:29 PM): Because none of the current religions align with my system of beliefs.
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:44 PM): Or if one does, I haven't found it.
will IS happy 01 (5:25:54 PM): what's your system of beliefs
will IS happy 01 (5:25:59 PM): at least the strongest ones
a l m e DASTAR (5:26:41 PM): The biggest thing is that I don't believe in a god or divine figure. This pretty much cancels out the majority of religions I know.
will IS happy 01 (5:26:57 PM): see, i could def. never say that
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:11 PM): I know. =) That's why you're a Christian and I'm not.
will IS happy 01 (5:27:25 PM): well, atheism is belief in no god
will IS happy 01 (5:27:34 PM): haha
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:35 PM): Yes, but I don't consider it a religion.
will IS happy 01 (5:27:43 PM): good pt
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:50 PM): So I am atheist, yes.
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:59 PM): But there's no church of atheism or anything. :P
will IS happy 01 (5:28:07 PM): haha yes there is
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:10 PM): Is there reallY?
will IS happy 01 (5:28:12 PM): we call it the trocadero
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:14 PM): xD
will IS happy 01 (5:28:17 PM): i gotta go
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:19 PM): Ciao.
will IS happy 01 (5:28:22 PM): lata
will IS happy 01 (5:28:32 PM): :P
will IS happy 01 signed off at 5:28:39 PM.
I hate having to defend or explain myself. Especially regarding atheism. It's like, Why do you not believe in the tooth fairy? Why do you not believe in Santa Claus? Yeah, well, that's why I don't believe in a god.
Immediately after he signed off, I got off and went to wait in the living room for Krysta to pick me up, I was thinking about what he said [I tend to dwell on things] and this popped into my head:
I look to science for explanations;
I look inward for ethics;
I look to my family for unconditional love;
I look to my friends for a sense of belonging;
I do not fear death.
What else does religion have to offer?
I thought that was mighty clever of me and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. ^^; I don't know why you have religion, but I can't think of anything else that I need that a religion could provide for me.
And then Krysta arrived and off I went. ^^ It was really, really fun last night. We ate fondue and nutella and made s'mores and did karaoke and jumped on the trampoline. I haven't been on a trampoline in ages, but oh, are those things fun. And really liberating and tension-breaking too. First it was just Shirley, Krysta, and I, and I don't know Shirley that well, and when I first got there Shirley and Krysta were singing Christian songs out of some book of Christian songs and I felt a bit left out because a] I can't sing for shizznit and b] if I could sing, I most likely wouldn't be singing worship songs. So I flipped through Shirley's copy of Reviving Ophelia, but then we went out on the trampoline and within, I dunno, thirty seconds we were all laughing hysterically. About things that, upon reflection, were probably not even that funny. But that's the magic of trampolines. :D
So that was fun and karaoke was fun [even though, as I said, I can't sing] and s'mores are always fun. We were outside toasting marshmallows with real sticks over a real fire when Krysta turned to me and the topic of my atheism came up again. [By this time a girl named Ruth from Krysta's church had arrived, so it was me, Krysta, Ruth, and Shirley, and Shirley and Krysta were singing songs again and Ruth was correcting them when they got the lyrics wrong, so that's probably how the subject came up.]
K: You don't go to church, do you?
M: Nope.
K: Are you anti-church?
M: No. xP I just don't go.
K: [half-joking] Are you an atheist?
M: Actually, I am. :P
K: Why?
M: Well, why not?
K: Well, I believe in God 'cause I'll go to hell if I don't. [That's basically what she said; I think I might have gotten the wording wrong.]
M: See, that's the thing. I don't believe in god, so I don't believe in hell either. :P
And then Krysta appealed to Shirley for help.
M: *sarcastic* What, so she can convert me? ;P
K: No, I just don't know what to say . . . Shirley's good at preaching.
And then Krysta and Shirley started talking about one time when S. told K. to look at people through the eyes of Jesus and I went over to get another marshmallow and the topic didn't come up again.
I dunno. Religion and friends aren't a very good mix unless you have the same religion as your friends, in which case it provides j'all with a common bond.
Oh! Today is Sunday, isn't it? Well, let's see.
Colin [Look, I'm going in alphabetical order! A(llison), B(rinser), C(olin)!]
I love talking to Colin because he always makes me feel like I'm the cleverest, specialest person around. He is chicken soup for my self-esteem. <3 And you might think, with all my bragging about grades and such that I have a very healthy self esteem, but if you think that you would be wrong. I have feelings of self-doubt and sometimes even self-hatred just as much as the next person. :P So, anyway, back to Colin. He is funny and sexy and smart and you just want to cuddle him because sometimes he gets into these moods like Malcolm had in that Malcolm in the Middle episode where they go to the zoo and Malcolm and Dewey get trapped in the tiger pen. Also, we have many things in common [we both live in Pennsylvania, we both enjoy His Dark Materials, &c.] and that's always fun. So, yeah, that's Colin. He's a sweetie and a half.
And since we're discussing atheism today [well, mostly me, but then, isn't that the way of things? I'm the one who does all the talking around here. ;D], I'll share a little story about how I found atheism. I'm not sure when it was. I guess sometime between sixth and eighth grade. Well, I think I need to start earlier. First of all, my parents did not raise me religious. I went to church on Christmas and Easter, but that was mostly for my grandmother's and aunts' and uncle's sake. As I got older, I was forced to attend church less and less. Then, around seventh grade, I think, I got really interested in wicca [to my shame, fluffbunny wicca] and started researching the different branches online. I liked wicca's feminism and the basic rede ["An ye harm none, do what ye will"], but I could never committed 'cause I couldn't make myself believe in a god [or even a goddess]. And I think at that point I realized that I was, like it or no, atheist.
Okay, this morning I wake up sometime between 6 and 7, look at my clock, roll over and go back to sleep. Sometime between 7 and 8, repeat. Sometime between 8 and 9, repeat. I finally get up c. 9:36, jump into the shower, and get dressed. I have time to eat breakfast and then I run to the door and there's Rachel. So we hop in her car and ride to St. Peter's Episcopal Church. [The lady coordinating it called me and Rachel last night to give us the details, but since Allie only signed up yesterday, she didn't call her, so Allison thought it was at Glenside Weldon and had a hella hard time finding the place, but don't worry, she showed up. ^^] When we arrive, we are under the impression that we are going to work at the ticket booth. Not so. We're sent into the basement to do arts and/or crafts. I have to punch holes in these paper plate tambourines, which is really hard and pjooey. But then the womyn doing the arts 'n' crafts learned that I had done face painting before, so then I was recruited for face painting. That was all right, but the face paints were really crap and hard to use.
Then at around 12:30 Rachel had to leave, and so did I 'cause my parents have fled the country and I didn't have any transportation home.
Now I'm home and Krysta's [this is apparently the correct spelling of her name now, even though she's spelled it Krista since seventh grade when I first met her. xP] having a birthday party type thing tonight and I don't know how I'm going to get there and I have no gift for her and blah!
NaNoWriMo word count: 5278. Days left: 22.
Well, I've more than doubled my word count since last time, but I'm still more than 8000 words behind schedule. Argh. On the bright side, the plot is beginning to pick up speed.
Tomorrow morning I'm volunteering for a Music Fest or some such crizzap. Rachel, Allie, and I are working at the ticket booth, woohoo.
Friday at last. Hallelujah!
How to self-actualize.
"A. Pay attention to the world around you. Can you close your eyes and describe the campus?
B. Make risky choices. Try to expand your world, learn from failures.
C. Trust yourself more. Similar to Roger's organismic trusting.
D. When in doubt, tell the truth. This will simplify your life.
E. Recognize the need for discipline. Get the requirements of life out of the way quickly.
F. Cultivate peak experiences (non-chemical variety). Best way to do this is to pay attention of the world and your feelings.
G. Give up your highly-valued pathologies. Experiencing a lot of pain is not sensitivity - it is dumb. Get rid of psychological garbage."
"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." -Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997)
I really enjoy that second quote.
HA! So it definitely took me all of last night to answer the questions on the introduction and chapters one through four [excluding the hour I spent on the computer when I got home and the hour in which I watched The Simpsons] and there was no possible way I could do chapters five through ten AND my art project tonight, and I was really sad and stressed out, but THEN. . .
Mr Lodewick's mercy droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, and he made them due Monday. <3 x sideways 8.
So now I've really got to go do my stupid art project. Toodlepip!
Here are some things I don't enjoy: art projects which we have to work on at home and Ethan Frome.
By Friday, I have to complete my stupid still life of plushie Luna [from BSSM], the evil Queen from Snow White statuette, my walk[wo]man, and action figure Rosie from A Bug's Life. I am not good at motivating myself to do art at home. ><
And I have to read the entire book of Ethan Frome [stupid Edith Wharton] and answer a gazillion questions [and by a gazillion, I of course mean one hundred and thirty-one, some of which have multiple parts] by Friday as well. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
Fortunately, I don't have to do a chem lab writeup this week because our lab will take two weeks. [And by two weeks, I mean two days, but Wednesday is our lab day, so.]
As soon as I start NaNoWriMo, my teachers decide I should be given lots of work. xP Pjooheads.
Ooh, but I did get a 97 on my math test. :D
School is so dreary.
Well, I finished my powerpoint presentation for German at last, and I didn't even have to use XP. See, my computer is crap and Win98, but so is my brother's computer and he has Powerpoint, so I just made him sign on AIM, and then send it that way. [It was too big to e-mail it.]
It is quite darling, I think. We had to make all these sentences like "When I was a kid, I could. . . " and "When I was a kid, I liked. . ." and I accompanied the sentences with baby pictures. :D
I really and truly love photographs. I was looking through all our old photos in search of sentence-appropriate ones, and it just brings up so many lovely memories. :D I think I'm going to stick them up around my room now. Maybe I'll even scan some for your viewing pleasure. >D
Also, apparently I'm one of this girl's dailies. So that makes me feel honoured, even though she is a good-for-nothing Wiccan. ;D And Maddy has a new [to me] layout, which is lovely as usual. And I sent this girl a letter of complaint about her clique. Would you like to read it? Of course you would.
Okay. I found your clique, and I have a few comments about it. First, though, I would like to say that this isn't a flame. I'm not trolling; I'm not trying to make you mad. I'm politely disagreeing.
And before I even start, I'd like to say that yes, I'm a girl. I do like the colour pink, but hell, pink's just a colour. I wear dresses sometimes, but mostly I wear jeans. I don't think that says anything about me. I rarely wear nail polish, not because it "bugs me," but because I'm too lazy. And I never wear make-up. And I like Björk. ;P
Now, on to why I have a problem with the clique.
I think you're just reinforcing the stereotype that girls a) like pink, b) wear dresses and makeup, and c) are generally prissy and unathletic. Yeah, it's cool that you like big dogs that drool and don't have a problem with burping, but aren't you a girl? So how can not thinking burping's rude and that big, slobbery dogs aren't monsters be anti-girlie?
And "4] you'd rather hang with the guys than the girls (and not to get down and dirty)" really kills me. Not all girls are squeamish just as not all guys are jocks. I'd rather hang out with my friends [guys and girls alike] than stereotype one sex and only make friends with members of that sex. And implying that "girlie girls" only want to hang out with guys for sex borders on ridiculous.
Anyway, I just think your clique is kind of misdirected. If I were you [which I'm certainly not, so please don't interpret this as me telling you what to do] I would change the goal of my clique to redefine "girlie" rather than continue the "girlie-girl" stereotype. As in, "Girlie is: to play football," "Girlie is: to listen to Björk," "Girlie is: to snowboard," "Girlie is: to webdesign," "Girlie is: to wear whatever I want," "Girlie is: to laugh at dirty jokes," etc.
What I'm getting at is that "girlie" is whatever girls do or are. Some girls are self-centered preps whose lives revolve around makeup and clothes and boys, but should we let that minority define us as a gender?
And if you think that's the shittiest idea you've ever heard and I'm talking out of my ass, then that's okay. But I would at least suggest changing the name of your clique from anti-girlie to anti . . . well, I don't know. Anti-make up or anti-stereotype or anti-pink or anti-nail polish or anti- whatever it is you have a problem with.
On the other hand, you could decide I'm full of crap and ignore me entirely. It's completely your choice. I'm just writing because I don't think an anti-girlie girl can really exist.
Nevermind about Office XP. I did download it from KAZAA, but I'm too scared to do anything with it, lest it totally ruin my computer forever. So Brinzy is kindly sending me a CD of it. =) He's such a nice young lad.
And I hope everyone over the age of 18 and a citizen of the United States voted today. >| Or else.
Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if one downloaded Office XP 2002 Professional from KAZAA?
I'd just like everyone reading this to know how much I love my AUNT JANE. She is my mother's younger sister and her name is Jane Elizabeth, therefore making her my AUNT JANE. She is nice because she lends me Halloween costumes and buys me books from the library and does all sorts of nice things, which she deserves credit for.
And then there is my AUNT JACKIE, my mother's other younger sister, whose full name is actually Jacqueline. She isn't in my cast list, but that's not because my love for her is any less, but rather because I haven't had anything nasty to say about her in my blog, and therefore haven't needed to explain her identity in my cast list.
NaNoWriMo word count: 2505. Days left: 26.
Which is definitely behind schedule, but that's okay. I'm starting to get a feel for this, so hopefully it'll come easier in the near future. =)
Also, I'm proud of myself, because I haven't been going back and reading what I've written. I mean, I'll read maybe the last paragraph or so, to keep the story slightly continuous, but I'm not going back and editing and changing and fixing. 'cause this month is all about building, not tearing down. =)
Bugger and blast. The ACLU meeting was cancelled today, so that's a definite thumbs down. And when I called my mum, I remembered she had a doctor appointment scheduled for three o'clock today, so she couldn't pick me up. I had to stay after school and watch the silly play rehearsal, so KT could drive me home. And by KT, I of course mean Katie's pater.
On the bright side, tomorrow is ELECTION DAY! :D No school, w00t.
Today in world civ. we discussed politics [sort of] and we took a survey to find out if we were liberal or conservative. Not surprisingly, I answered liberal to twenty-three questions and conservative [to my utter shame ;D] to two. One was about affirmative action, so pah. Also in world civ. we got our tests from last fricking Tuesday back. 91/95 on mine, go team. And I got perfect on the first page [multiple choice and fill in the blank], but lost the four points on the short answer and essay. Essay, schmessay, that's what I say.
=) I learned how to say "her own" in Latin today: sua. So all I need to know is "eyes" now. ;D "Ihre Augen" is German. Well, that's "her eyes." Don't know how to say "own." xP
OH, MY FOOT! We totally watched the ending of The Crucible and it was totally the saddest movie I've ever seen. [I apologiseI'm doing the exaggeration thing again.] But really, I was definitely tearing up and I had that burning feeling in your throat when you're making an effort not to cry and it was so awful. And stupid Abigail Williams. And dear, dear John Proctor. And sweet old Rebecca Nurse. And those fools Danforth & co. And that bitch Mary Warren. Talk about peer pressure, tchah. Man, that was one of the more powerful movies I've seen in a while.
Un, a few things which I noticed today that bothered me. "Let the faithful rejoice in triumph / let them be joyful on their beds / Let the praises of God be in their throat / and a two-edged sword in their hand / To wreak vengeance on the nations / and punishment on the peoples / To bind their kings in chains / and their nobles with links of iron / To inflict on them the judgement decreed / this is glory for all his faithful people. Hallelujah!" That strikes me as obnoxiously self-righteous. Maybe I just feel left out becuase I'm not one of "the faithful," but still. What happened to blessed are the peacemakers? Isn't that awfully hypocritical? Then again, I admit that I myself am hypocritical, so perhaps that's just a human thing. [I'm such a devil's advocate. >< I think . . . , but on the other hand. . . ^^;] One thing I enjoyed today [about the only thing xP] was "Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?"
Deux, I finished Memoirs of a Geisha today. The ending was kind of weak, I thought. Everything worked out too perfectly; it was unrealistic. But other than that, it was an amazing book. <Japan3
Trois, there's a gratuitous boob shot on cam, if you like that sort of thing. ;D It's my Yeah Yeah Yeahs shirt, but my poor quality cam didn't do it justice. There's supposed to be two bunnies on it. ^^;
Quatre, Butterfingers R0X0R, Britney. You lose.
Cinq, Paint Shop Pro is being an arse, so I can't have a new layout up for a while. Yes, I have Photoshop, but I'm not familiar with that enough to use it to make a decent layout. ><
Six, I think last Sunday I said I would say something nice about someone every Sunday, so, here goes.
Brinzy
I heart Brinser because he always finds time to talk to me, even though I am a lowly high school student and he is old and in college. ;D I appreciate that he talks to me like I'm an intelligent human being, I enjoy our philosophical [however rare] discussions, and I love to hear his opinions on things because he always seems so rational and logical and non-affected by petty human emotions. He is v. grounded, I would say, but at the same time v. fun. So, yeah. That's Brinzy. =)
Yesterday morning I got up, wrote some crap for NaNoWriMo, then was forced to walk around the neighborhood in the bitter, bitter cold distributing political pamphlets reminding everyone to vote, then got home and began to read Memoirs of a Geisha, which I am absorbed in entirely and enjoying immensely [each word of that clause excluding "which" began with a vowel xD], then around 6:00, 6:30 Stasia Ork called and was like. . .
S: I'll pick you up around seven, mmkay?
M: Huh?!
S: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs in concert. . . tonight. . .
M: AHHHHH, that's tonight?!
S: Yes. . .
M: Okay, well, um. See you at seven, then.
S: Okay.
Fortunately I had already taken a shower today or I would never have been ready in time. Actually, I probably would've been because Stasia didn't arrive until 7:30ish, but still.
We arrive at the Trocadero at around 8:00. The doors actually opened at seven, but it would have just been the DJ for an hour, so I didn't mind missing that. We got there right before the first set and had just enough time to get our tickets, buy Stashy a t-shirt, go in, sit down on the edge of the main pit in front of the stage, and stand up almost immediately after we sit down.
Before I talk about the bands, let me introduce the Trocadero atmosphere. First of all, it was no Unlimited Sunshine at the Mann Centre. Much smaller, much more indoors, much scenier, if that's a word. On the whole, it felt more like a club than a concert. The fact that there were no chairs contributed to this. Also, the crowd was a little more hardcore than Unlimited Sunshine. Everyone was wearing Bohemian/punk rock style clothing, and then there was me with my black peacoat and turtleneck sweater [it was cold!] feeling disgustingly preppy and out-of-place. Of course, I did have the short hair and thick glasses going for me.
ARGH, I HAVE TO GO TO CHURCH NOW FOR MY COUSIN'S CHRISTENING. I'LL FINISH THIS AFTERWARDS.
[5:02 PM] As I was saying, the Trocadero crowd was. . . older is the right word, I think. But it was a lot of fun, anyway. Quite soon after Stasia and I arrived, the first band came on stage. The Trocadero site is updated to the minute, it appears, because they already took down the information about Saturday night's show, so I can't get the band's name from there. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs site seems like it hasn't been updated in ages. I'm pretty certain their name began with the word "Rave" and I remember them saying they have an album coming out this month. Maybe. But they were kind of blah, anyway. A girl and two guys with guitars and a guy on drumsthe girl and one of the guys sang, if you could call it that, while the other guy with the guitar jumped around on stage. All their songs sounded pretty much the same. And the audience didn't help either. They just sort of stood there like zombies the entire time. Stasia and I tried to liven it up with "WOOOOOO!"s, but it didn't work very well. The girl guitarist/singer sort of half-laughed, half-smiled when I went "Woooooo!" one time, though, so that was cool.
There was a little break between sets, so Stasia and I explored the Troc a bit; however, there wasn't much to explore, so we quickly returned to the main pit area in front of the stage and sat down while waiting for the next band. This was The Gossip, who were a fat girl with short dark hair on vocals, a guy with glasses and hair that fell in his eyes on guitar, and a girl with short frizzy brown hair and glasses on drums. They were amazing. Really. The moment the music began, the singer, let's call her "Beth," started dancing like crazy. She was hardcore. And then the people in the crowd were kind of reluctant to start dancing [not me, of course], so she was like, "Y'all gotta dance! Here, let me help you get rid of your inhibitions. . ." and she zipped down her jeans and stepped out of them, and was wearing just a white t-shirt, black underwear, and socks for the rest of their songs. So she was really fun. She used the word "fucking" a lot, too, but I suppose that can't be helped.
At one point she came down into the audience and was like two feet away from me, so I felt famous. ^.~ And at another point she dedicated a song to all the "fat queers," and then said "Queers representin'!" and everyone cheered, except for me and Stasia and maybe two other people, so I felt a little bit left out then. Damn my heterosexuality. And at yet another point she was all, "I wouldn't change my body for anything in the world." I was q. proud & envious of her self-actualization. Yeah, so I definitely give The Gossip a thumbs up. If you ever get a chance to see them, you should.
Oh, tee. In line for the bathroom between The Gossip and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Stasia and I overheard these three women talking about how hot Beth is and how she made their hearts go pitter-patter. That amused me. ^__^ I am such an eavesdropper. ^^;
And then there was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Karen O on vocals, Brian Chase on drums, and Nick Zinner on guitar. Karen O was mad cool. She definitely got all into the songs and was leaping about the stage and drinking beer and being crazy. She used the word "omniscient" and that earned her my respect, because of course if people use big words that means they're very intelligent. ;D
There were these crazy kids to the left of me and Stasia who were bouncing into each other during the fast parts of certain songs, and while I can bounce into other people with the best of them, on my other side were these boring people who didn't dance and gave you the impression that if you bumped into them, you would pay dearly. Or maybe I'm exaggerating, but I rather enjoy swaying towards the dramatic, as Elly might say. Anyway, that was really fun. Despite the boring people behind me and to my right, I bounced and quasi-moshed and got my groove on, etc. :D
When the band got up and went offstage, everyone started stomping loudly [including myself ^^;] 'cause there always has to be an encore. So after a while, they come back on stage and Karen is all, "Well, we were halfway down the block in our limousine when we heard y'all stomping, so we decided to come back and play a few more songs." And everyone found that amusing because they did nothing of the sort and were planning to come back on stage anyway. So they mulled over what songs to play and a guy to the left of me was all, "Mystery Girl!" And I was like yeah!
When Stasia invited me to go to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert, you see, I went online and downloaded all of their songs, and my favourite, or if not my very favourite, then at least one of my favourites, is "Mystery Girl." So Karen [or maybe it was Nick] was like, "Okay, who wants 'Mystery Girl'?" And everyone raised their hand, so they played it and it was hardcore. :D And then they played another song and then they went offstage for good, and I rushed to the merch stand to buy myself a sexy t-shirt. xD
So that was last night. And then this morning Leo got baptized, which was dreadfully boring, and I'm so glad I'm not forced to go to church weekly. But I managed to sit through it for my cousin's sake, and afterwards there was food, so. ^__^ Oh, and when Laura saw my Yeah Yeah Yeahs shirt, she was all, "Hey, I had a ticket to that."
Me: Really?
Her: Yeah.
And then she told me she and Tom [her special friend] went to the Sleater-Kinney concert that Stasia and I had tried to get tickets to! I told her as much, and she was like, "Aww, you should have come with me and Tom, it was really great, &c."
Silly old Laura. ^__^
NaNoWriMo word count: 1199. Days left: 29, counting today.
I have the merest tracings of a plot and a few underdeveloped characters, but it's quantity not quality that we're going for, right? I've been forcing myself just to write anything that came into my head. I have a major perfectionist complex, you see. If it's not perfect, it's not worth doing. So this should be good for me, I think.
I was taking notes in chemistry today and I started thinking about. . .
What if our society collapsed? Kind of along the lines of the Roman Empire, and then with the Dark Age-type period with much ignorance & superstition following it. So what if in the future people were trying to rebuild it and they found a high school student's backpack with notes on science and history and math and crizzap and that's all the information they had of today's modern knowledge and stuff?
And then I was going to use that for NaNoWriMo, but it was too complicated and I'm too lazy to create a future society.
Happy All Saints' Day! Or November first, for the non-Christian/Catholic. Best of luck to all my fellow NaNoWriMo participants. :D
Last night was fun, of course. ^__^ I went with Maggie and Lauren the goths, Stasia the butterfly [her makeup took like an hourshe had these elaborate antennae and all this other crizzapso she was late to pick me up and I was worried she had forgotten, &c.], Rachel the lifeguard, and Miriam the fairy. At the last moment, I decided I was going to be Lady Macbeth, so I put some fake blood on my hands. :D That was fun. When I told one lady who I was, she started saying "Is this a dagger I see before me?" =) These two other ladies thought I was Harry Potter. -_- I guess it was the glasses and the short dark hair and the cloak, but man. Harry Potter doesn't wear a gown. Or have bloody hands. >< So I corrected them.
The candy's the best part, though. :D I've got Butterfingers, Snickers, Reeses Cups, M&Ms, Peanut Chews [apparently the people who own Peanut Chews live in Maggie's disgustingly rich neighborhood, so they gave us two king size bars ^^], Hershey's, KitKat, Starbursts, et cetera. Yay for <British slang>sweets</British slang>!
I missed the bus this morning. >< My mum came into my room at seven o'clock and was like, "Are you staying home from school?"
Me: AHHHHHHH! NO! What time is it?!
So then I had to get ready for school super fast. But don't worry, I got there on time. And I missed second period for a peer mediation meeting thingy. We had doughnuts. =9 Boston Creme is god. And that was the highlight of today. Except I got a 97 on my chemistry test! And that's not even with extra credit. xDDD La vie est bonne!