stuff and stuff

As Lent draws ever nearer, I have started thinking about what I want to give up. My parents and I are doing a 'money fast' with church, but that only lasts 21 days. I'm going to give up soda again as well; but in addition to that, I'm also (probably) going to do 40-50 pushups daily (if I can pull it off) and attempt to finish my NaNoWriMo novel. I haven't worked on it in a long time and I kind of want to finish it, because it would look good on college applications. Also, to say I actually wrote a novel.
And also so I can finish it and (maybe) send it to publishers. Maybe. I haven't gotten that far yet. I don't know whether I want to send it to publishers or not, mostly because, as I'm not familiar with the publishing business, I don't want to wind up being like, "YAY! I SOLD A NOVEL!!! Wait... I also just sold my soul/ imagination/ life/ rights/ etc... great... goodbye, life." But more on this when I actually finish the novel/ type it/ edit it/ actually get self-esteem enough to feel like selling it.
Plusses of selling/ publishing: if I sell it before senior year, I will most likely be able to a) get into every college I apply to and b) be able to afford tuition for a semester at NYU.
Minuses: a) multiple rejections, b) transferral of soul ownership.

And that's all for now.

Rangers, reading, and movies

I finished the Ranger's Apprentice: Book Three: the Icebound Land (FINALLY!) last night. I LOVE the ending, and I can't wait to get my hands on book four. However, this morning, instead of working on physics, I decided to put 'Ranger's Apprentice' into Google. And do you know what came up in the little 'support feed' or whatever it is? 'RANGER'S APPRENTICE MOVIE!' AAAHHH!!!
I mean, I'm kind of excited for this, because this is a good series for movies (despite the fact that, as of April, there will be ten books). At the same time, I am kind of scared for the movies, because, unlike with Harry Potter (when the first movie came out) and Lord of the Rings, I've read the first two books of Ranger's Apprentice about five million times, so I'll KNOW if the movie producers kill it in any way. I don't WANT them to kill it in any way, because the first book of Ranger's Apprentice is WONDERFUL, and filmmakers have a penchant for messing movies up majorly.
I seriously will have to get a group together and sue something if I find that they mess it up in any way. Something will get cut out and added in its place; Jenny, George, and Alyss will probably get pulled out and replaced with a trio of completely irrelevant people. The producers will probably give the masses the impression that Will and Horace are the only two wards that year, and the fans of the books will be forced to unite and sue them for supreme deviation.
Which WILL happen.
So please, Filmmakers, if you value your lives, do NOT mess these movies up. Please. For the sake of John Flanagan's son, for whom the books were written.

Wow... last day of the month...

Here I am again, blogging and such. I know that I haven't posted in a while. I have been reading a LOT, and also knitting, writing, and generally avoiding the computer for no evident reason except that I feel like it.

In other news, my mother wants me to drive to tae kwon do on Thursday. By myself. Alone. I have my license and the legal ability to drive on my own, but I don't know if I want to - I still have my doubts as to whether most people on the main road will come out alive if I'm driving on it without my mom to yell at me to slow down and stuff. I mean, I kind of want to drive alone, but at the same time, I think that the mortality age of humans in this area is going to go up by a lot if I do so at night on a crowded road that I have driven a lot. Just putting it out there.

In other news, I saw the Oscars for the first time last night. I didn't see all of it, thanks to these annoying things called 'school' and 'alarm clocks' and 'sleep.' But overall I think it was a really good show - especially because Anne Hathaway was hosting. James Franco, frankly, was kind of blah. I know most girls will say that he doesn't need to be as animated as Anne Hathaway because he's attractive, but come on. Anne Hathaway was kind of all over it, and James Franco was just like, "Yep. Anne's got it covered. I'm just gonna stand here and look pretty and let all the teenage girls at home scream their heads off."

That's all the rambling I have for now.
Bye!

craazy week

As evident by the title, this week has been kind of hectic. The only night that I didn't/ won't have anything to do was Monday. In a way it's kind of nice - it gives me the impression that I have a life.
Sunday was a party for a friend's birthday, Monday was free, Tuesday was Glee, yesterday I had a voice lesson and then went to an opera dress rehearsal with the chorus department (for Madame Butterfly... it was really good), tonight I'm babysitting, and tomorrow and Saturday are still in planning, but on one of those nights, I'm going to hang out with another friend and on the other I'm going to see a school play.
And in the mean time I'm going to do homework, read (a lot) and knit for an IYAG fundraiser, for which I'm immensely psyched. I haven't been bringing my knitting to school a lot, which makes me very sad, but the main reason for the lack of knitting is an increased about of reading.
I read on a different blog that the writer was trying to read 100 books in a year, and, despite the late start, I decided to do it, too. I think there's some sort of parent organization that has some rules and strictures and stuff about the 100 book year (i.e. a certain number has to be nonfiction, etc), but I haven't heard about it, so I'm just going to read like there is no tomorrow and hope that I make it.
And that's what I have today. :D

procrastination

Well, here I am. Procrastinating. That isn't really news; that's true. But still. Here I am.
I don't have school tomorrow; HOWEVER, I still have to wake up when my alarm goes off because I'm going on a college tour at Shenandoah University. It's not THAT far away, and I liked what I heard about it at the college fair in October; however, tomorrow is MONDAY. And it's a HOLIDAY. And I KNOW that is a BRILLIANT time to go on college tours, however much the tourist doesn't want to sacrifice his/ her free day to be there. But that doesn't really matter, does it? I'm probably going to be doing a lot of college tours over spring break, too. But more on that after this tour happens. And after the tours that I will undoubtedly be doing during spring break. But whatever.
The point is, I'm here, when I should be doing homework. And stuff.
In other news, the new youth minister was officially introduced in church today. She's really cool. She's obviously different from the other youth ministers that we've had in the past (due to the fact that she's not a white male), but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. We'll just have to wait and find out. I don't think that it will be a horrid thing, though, because she seems to be cool with organizing and helping run stuff, which is really nice.
And I really hope she's willing to do lock-ins. And also play sardines during said lock-ins. Out of the three lock-ins that I have been to in my time in the youth group, we played Sardines all of once.
It made me very sad.
Well, that one game of Sardines was really fun. But the fact that it was only one game was very depressing.
And now I'm going to do homework.
Probably.
Unless I procrastinate some more.
Which I don't want to do.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLISON!
(it's her birthday today. I know she doesn't read the blog; however, I'm saying it anyway).

bridges and IYAG

Well, here I am again. I DID work on my bridge right when I got home, and then guess what happened? The defective support, whose top cracked two nights ago, decided that it would crack for good. Which majorly sucks. I was kind of expecting it to break, honestly, but it was still really annoying. I'm not TOTALLY back to square one - more like square eleven. Of thirty-two. Or something. I don't know.
Anyway, in other news, today in knitting club I received about ten knitted and crocheted bags to sell for an IYAG fundraiser. YAY!!! (IYAG = inter-faith youth action group = awesomeness) All I have to do is sew them together and then we'll be good. HOORAY!!!
Of course, I still have to make some of my own to sell, but that won't be too hard. I just have to take my knitting everywhere I go. Which isn't that hard, as I do that a lot anyway. I just have to work on stuff now. But that's not hard, as long as I don't have a lot of homework.
Anyhow, moving on with life, I do not have any more news for you today. Have a nice day, and come back tomorrow for a potential literary update! (I have actually no idea whether or not there will be a literary update. But come back anyway to see whether or not there is one).
Bye For Now!

bridges, boredom, and homework

As you probably know, we physics students have to make bridges that hold up five bricks, and our only materials are glue and balsa wood. One of my friends decided she would use Gorilla Glue (which is apparently this really super-strong super glue or something) to work on her bride. Well, if the fact that she can't get it off her skin is any indication, then her bridge will be able to hold the bricks simply because of the kind of glue that she used. She was apparently working on it last night, got the glue all over her hands, and hasn't been able to get it off since.
So, being the helpful friends that we are, three of us decided to try and come up with ideas to get the glue off her hands (here meaning that I Googled it).
In case anyone wants to know, you get Gorilla Glue off your hands by soaking it in warm water mixed with nail polish. Or something like that. There was definitely warm water involved.
Anyway, in other news, my bridge kind of sucks majorly. I'm not kidding. I'm going to have to start finishing the supports right when I get home if I want them to dry in time to get the three pieces glued together and put the midway supports in.
And if this doesn't make sense, then... well... there's a lot of gluing involved. But I'm not using Gorilla Glue (mostly because I've never heard of Gorilla Glue until today), I'm using wood glue. Which is awesome, but if you put gobs and gobs on whatever you're gluing, you're going to have to wait for a few days for it to dry. Which is what I may or may not have done on Saturday...
Anyway, the point is, my project will hopefully not suck and I will hopefully not have to write a five-page essay on classical bridge-building and why my bridge didn't hold up the bricks. If it doesn't hold up the bricks, I'm saying that I didn't do the supports right or something. Come to think of it, I probably didn't do the supports right. But whatever.
Yeah... the end.

NEWS!

I got an email today. Well, I got about twelve emails today, like I do pretty much every day, because colleges want me to go there and give them many thousands of dollars for it. But the email in question was one of the few that I recieved today that had nothing to do with college, money, school, or my current GPA - it was for church. And it was saying that they hired the person who came in a few weeks ago. YAY! She seems really cool, and we haven't had a youth minister since before school started (which kind of sucks). I think she'll be good - not only do we FINALLY have someone to help us organize stuff (because most authoritative places probably won't take teenagers seriously if we called them up to ask them about something), but she's the first youth minister that we've had in a while that's not (a) a white male and (b) named after someone in the Bible (namely, one of the Gospels). And apparently she majored in dancing in college and went to Duke to study Divinity. So yeah. YAY!!!
In other news, there are photos of the musical on Flickr if you want to see them. YAY!!! I didn't take them, but they're cool. And I'm in a few of them. I'm not sure whether that that's a good thing, some of the time... but whatever. That's all for now. BYE!

POETRY!

In Creative Writing, we have been doing a LOT of poetry.  I stink at profound poetry.  I stink at non-profound poetry.  I really cannot do poetry while still retaining 98% of my sanity (unless it is a day when my sanity has already gone on hiatus.  Then stuff SOMETIMES happens).  Anyway, that being said, yesterday was a sanity-fleeing day, and so I wrote some poetry and it turned out okay.  It was supposed to be derived from titles that we were given, so... yeah.  HERE IT IS!

1
This be the verse
where I tell you why I'm here
This be the verse
where I say that I'm here

This be the verse
when I look back and sigh
This be the verse
when I bid you goodbye

2
They flee from me
those quiet memories
they flee
when I look back
I can no longer recall
what's the name of that tall
building in that courtyard
four years ago,
in Tikal?

They flee from me
those long, gentle days
they flee in the quiet
and in their own ways -
I remember Raymond
and Alex, and Lydia too -
but who was that other
friend that we knew?

3.
The summer day
I danced around the
back yard and ran
to swim in the pool -
that was a good day.

The summer day
we hiked up a mountain
we stood on a peak
we ate lunch with Webelos
and then,
once we returned to war,
it rained.
Again.

That summer day
when we wake before dawn
where we test our endurance
and the strength of our legs
where we sing Broadway
as the sun greets the world -
that will be fun.

4
The unknown citizen
is the citizen,
no matter how
the odds are averse,
and his fame long gone -

This citizen,
despite all of this,
will always save the world.

5
There's a certain slant of light
that catches the dust motes just so
the motes become fairies
and they dance to and fro
then their life is snuffed out
a few hours later
when the sun changes its angle
and the sky grows dark.

There's a certain slant of light
that brings the rainbows to the room
they dance with the fairies
and help the flowers bloom
but then the rainbows
go to their beds
as the sun changes its angle
and the night falls asleep.

6
Acquainted with the night
in the hours
pre-dawn
knowing that the
grumbling we make
will be overruled
by the BFFs of the night -
the choking lions -
the Howler Monkeys.

Our friend the night
he bids us adieu
as the monkeys cease
and we climb up a temple
and feel like Jedi
take a photo -

clouds cover the dawn.




SO yeah. HOORAY!

What's New (aside from sleep)

Okay, I'm NOT going to do the whole complain-about-stuff anymore.  At least, I'm going to TRY to not complain a lot anymore.  And if I do, I will try not to put it on here.  And speaking of 'here,' I will TRY and post more.  If I have something to say.  Which is kind of important.  Anyway, on with life.
Novel Update: I have barely worked on it since November, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to wind up finishing it this year.  That doesn't meant that it's not going to get finished; it just means that the finishing process is going to happen veerrrryyy slooowwwlllyyy.  Also, my English teacher has the notebook that I'm working in right now, and she wasn't here today, so I couldn't ask for it back.  I'm not as in the habit of writing every day anymore, and so that's the main reason that the finishing process is going to take such a long time - it has to be FINISHED before I EDIT it, and I don't want to EDIT it if it's not typed up.  Also, now that I haven't written the characters in forever, I'm not as familiar with them as I once was (sad face).  It IS kind of depressing, really...  but more on the that when I actually start working on it again (which will hopefully be soon...)
In the mean time, the issue of "Scholastics" has now presented itself.  And finishing stuff for Scholastics.  And submitting stuff for Scholastics.  AAAAHHH!!!
Also, money.  I know that I'm 'too young to be thinking about that,' but I'm legally allowed to be hired at any place that doesn't involve bartending.  Also, my allowance money is not going to help get me through the Disney trip in March, the Europe trip in July/ August, OR college, so that's kind of important as well.  I was considering doing my own knitting business thing, but there's one issue with that... winter is rapidly making its migration to the Southern Hemisphere, meaning that any chance of making a profit off of scarves from people in the area is a very slim chance indeed.  But that's okay - this means that it's BAG SEASON!  Also, I can now attempt to track down patterns for stuff like bears and other such toys and work on them.
So that's what has been going on right now.
Generally.
Also, Happy Valentine's Day!

annoying days

Well, today has been... interesting. It all started with last night, really, when I spent FOUR HOURS on an AP US essay that is probably going to get a terrible grade. As I spent four hours on said essay and I started at six, and that was the first item of homework that I worked on all weekend, I obviously had to stay up until five to midnight to finish it all and take a shower. Due to the stress of the Elly Essay (we call our teachers by their first names, and the AP US teacher is Elly and she grades really hard. Elly Essays are infamous for their difficulty), between the hours of midnight and 6:45 AM, I obtained all of one hour of sleep and many fleeting dreams of Elly Essays that were late and made me have a horrid GPA.
As such, I didn't actually get out of bed until 7:30, which was the root cause for my nearly being late for an Elly test. For once, I thought I did okay on something Elly-related (Maybe a B? Maybe?), but that wasn't the end of it. THEN I had to go to English/ SAT prep, where we did an essay on learning from failure/ success. So, obviously, by the time I got to precalc, my brain was fried, the sugar rush from this morning's Lucky Charms was wearing off, and I had realized that I had forgotten both my watch and a water bottle (which I had been intending to bring for hydration and potential combatance of brain-fried-ness).
In precalc, I learned that I had gotten a high B on the quiz on Friday, which was a good enough thing, as and 88 is better than normal.
But my brain was fried for the rest of the day. Which really sucked.
At least I brought my knitting!

long Saturday

Well, here I am. Again. Waiting for dinner.

Today was a good day. Mostly because it was more than five degrees above freezing for more than half the day. YAY! (also, my mom and I got Lucky Charms last night, and I had some this morning. It made me very happy).

A large percent of the day was spent watching TV and knitting, but I ALSO went 'running' (really, 89.8% walking, 9.2% jogging, and 1% running), worked on my Balsa Wood Bridge for physics (not going so well... at least I'm realizing NOW how stupid wood glue can be instead of the nigth before it is due), sorted one hundred and ten boxes of girl scout cookies (and put sticky notes on nearly all of them to say which belonged to which person), and filled out some Silver Trefoil forms.

Yes, a pretty productive day. Also, it was SUNNY OUTSIDE! And I wasn't freezing my butt/ face/ thighs/ hands/ limbs/ nose off while outside! And I still got some knitting done! HOORAY!!!

And I also practiced piano a bit, which was fun.

Anyway, I'm going to go do something non-productive now. I've had enough productivity for one day. Goodbye.