Ashley's blog-thing.

I'm doing the survey-like thing that Ashley did on her blog. I don't know if this counts as a blog or not, but oh well. It's extra-credit anyway. Here's the link, if anyone cares:
http://mct421.deviantart.com/art/Question-Meme-Generator-69266481

1. Do you love Sheila?
Of course!!

2. What was your first impression of Ashley?
I really don't remember. Up until 9th grade, she was "Synthia's friend", as far as I was concerned.

3. Have you ever been in Burt's house?
Yep.

4. What would you do if you hadn't met Evan?
*over dramatic* I would dieee!!! Unless, of course, I still had Evan 2.0.

5. Is Marissa (from my church) your best friend?
No. Probably not even my best friend at church. She's still awesome though.

6. Can Marissa (Tong) be bad influence?
Depends. On who? me? I'm already fairly corrupted.

7. How would Isaac insult Evan? In an Isaac-y way. Call him some word that Isaac made up on the spot. Confuse him.

8. Who would win in a duel, Maria or Burt? And what kind of duel would they pick, anyway?
Umm.. I have no idea what kind of duel they would pick. And so I don't know who would win. (yes, that was a total cop-out. ;P)

9. Does Eliysha have any pets? Yeah, she's got a cat. His name is Butch ^-^

10. Josh just got vaporized in a freak accident. Now what?
"Tyler, I don't believe you. Josh is RIGHT THERE. You really think I'm going to fall for that?"

I was reading Kati's blog just now, and I think I'm gonna go to Camp Campbell next year. I do love kids. and nature, especially the redwoods. and the people at school don't really know how... enthusiatic I can be... How easily I can put aside my self-conciousness, when it's for the kids. Anyway, it sounds like a lot of fun, I just want someone to come with me.
Anybody??
*silence*
I'm going to ask Sheila. She'd love it too, and it's for community service, so her mom ought to have no problem with it.

Scout

Yesterday, I realized something interesting about my little sister, Rachel. We were messing around, doing that's what she said-type jokes, and half of hers didn't make sense. I realized that she's like Scout. She uses these words, these jokes, but doesn't understand them. It was weird, because I wasn't quite like that. we both grew up VERY sheltered (private, Christian elementary school. Very overprotective parents. I've still only seen two or three R-rated movies.) but we dealt with the "real" world differently. I laughed when other people did, but I didn't know why, exactly, I was laughing. I sort of figured out my own definitons to stuff, and I'm still not sure if all of them are entirely correct, even now. Anyway, I don't know why I just said all this. I thought it was worth saying, at the time. Now I'm not so sure, but I need more blogs this week, so I think I'll post it anyway.

Bored.

I'm bored. And rather hyper.
Anyway, I don't know what to talk about so I'm just going to analyze Twilight (the movie). If you haven't read the book, then you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. Oh well.
Well, I FINALLY saw it on Sat. It was pretty good, but the book was SO much better. My main problem with the movie was how fast it all happened. In the movie, they fall in love so abruptly. It's like "We shouldn't be friends" [2 weeks go by, without any interaction] "I love you!" It makes Edward look really creepy, and Bella (plus all the fangirls) really naive. they are supposed to fall in love quickly, but they do talk to each other, for a week or so, before the meadow scene.
Ah, the meadow scene... That the movie completely screwed up! In the meadow, their conversation is supposed to go like this: "angst" "Bella's likely demise" "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..." Instead, it goes like this: "angst" "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..." And the "cheerful topic of [her] impending demise" was important! From that, it makes sense for Edward to say that he could never stand to see her dead, that he couldn't stand to be the one that killed her BECAUSE he loves her. which leads into the whole lion and lamb fun-ness. Which is just adorable. In the movie, they sort of skim over it, as if the only reason it's there is because the fangirls want it, not because it needs to, you know, make SENSE. And then the try to spilt the meadow in two parts, so the first half isn't even in the gorgeous meadow!
Also, they cut out one of my favorite scenes! It's not a very common favorite, not many people know it well, but I still looooove it. It is just before the baseball scene. Edward and Bella are at the end of the road, and they are going to have to run the rest of the way, and Bella is terrified of running, because last time, she got motion sick, and thought she was going to hit a tree. So she is outright refusing to go. What I love is what he does next. He "tampers with her memory". Which he does by just kissing her... and she totally loses her train of thought, and all her resistance. It's adorable.
Those were my main grievances with the movie version. I COULD go on for hours, but that's all I'm going to say for now.

Talking

Completely random question, I was messing around on my facebook, and I realized that, when I'm home alone (or at least when no one else can hear me) I talk to my computer. Like, not to the computer itself, but to people, like through the computer. For instance, I just got a message from my friend, and I replied out loud. And then typed up what I wanted to say. It was weird. Does anyone else do that? Or am I just the crazy girl, sitting at her computer, talking to herself?

Chemistry today.

Today, chemistry was just disappointing. I'm more calmed down now, but still.

What happened was an eerie repeat of what happened with Danielle. Minus the... victory, the sense of unity of all of us. Evan went up and asked about his notebook, because he didn't get points on the assignment that he did. The teacher went off on him, yelling about how he didn't show his work (it was multiple choice.), how he just interrupted her and she had all these other students asking for help (He waited like 10 minutes at her desk, until she was done with the other students there), and just went on and on. She was already mad about our class talking while she was talking, and stuff like that, but she just took it all out on Evan. So he objected. He wasn't really arguing until she started yelling. And the problem with our teacher is that she does not know how to admit that she's wrong, and she gets up on this superiority complex. She yells and loses her temper almost immediately and then gets irrational. She yells about stuff that is only vaguely related, and contradicts herself. Then, she sent Evan to the office, and I got really mad. However, I'm not so much mad at her right now, as I am at the rest of the class, one person in particular.
After Evan left, I raised my hand, and started to defend him, but I can feel that the class doesn't care. The general emotion in the room isn't one or tension, of anger like when Danielle got sent out. Oh no, of course not. Because Evan isn't popular, so he doesn't get the same loyalty, evidently. The class's general feeling was one of like mild interest and annoyance from a few people. Especially one, also a popular person, who I hear whisper "Just stop arguing with her." I got so mad at that. Not only when I defend my friend, do I get no support, but others in the class get ANNOYED with me??!!! But when Danielle was sent out, this person argued. Except Evan isn't super-popular, because he actually has opinions, and voices them. So he gets no support.
Now maybe whoever is reading this is about to respond with something along the lines of "I would have stood up for him, I cared, I would have backed you up." But, you "would have" isn't the same as you DID. And then, you just let this popular person CONTROL you. You heard that as a general feeling, the class didn't care about Evan (which is just wrong. They should care every bit as much as they did with Danielle.) and were afraid to go against the class. No one was afraid of Ms. Miller, we've beaten her before. But we are afraid of what the others think if we stand up for a fellow classmate.
I thought we were better than that. I thought we would stand up for each other. I thought you guys cared. But it seems I'm just an over-optimist. You don't care, not unless it's someone popular. You don't care, unless the popular kids do too.
What if it had been me? Would anyone (aside from my friends, naturally) have cared? You say you would have, but would have "cared" in silence? Or would you stand up for me? Would you at least back up someone who did?
It doesn't look like it. I don't have that confidence in us anymore. I thought we could be more united, at least when someone was wronged. It seems, I am the one who's wrong.

Thanksgiving

Am I the only one that thinks this long weekend has been really long? I've had so much stuff happening, it seems like Thanksgiving was a long time ago. Hmm.... Well, anyway, onto the post

So, on Thanksgiving we had 22 people over. And I was related to everyone except 5 of them. And of those 5, one is basically family, and the other four are our church's pastor and his family. 17 isn't that many people to be related to, but it was all insane relations like, one guy, was my second cousin once removed, and this other guy was my grandpa's cousin, and his wife was there, and her mother (I don't know what she is to me. my aunt like three times -thrice?- removed?)

And I was pretty annoyed with the whole thing, because I like eavesdropping, but I'm now old enough to not be able to do whatever I want, but not old enough to go with the adults. In other words, I am a built-in babysitter. Normally, I wouldn't mind this much, but just refreeing for the 6 little boys who want to play wii, all at once, when we only have 2 controllers isn't fun. I actually ended up just reading Twilight and only straightening out their fights occasionally.

Oh well, there were a couple things that made up for it. For one, the food! If you know me, you know how I love food... So I enjoy the whole eat-as-much-as-you-want aspect of it. And, plus, there were a couple comments from the adults that made me smile. (and a very, very nice lack of bert and ernie related jokes/comments/general obnoxiousness from ). So, basically, Thanksgiving was ok, despite all my complaining. The rest of my weekend was better though.

Lookie lookie lookie!!!! --->

I got PacMan on my blog!  I was trying to figure out how to put music, and I found PacMan!! I am very excited about this.  I don't know why.  Well, that's all I had to say.  I think I'm going to go play it now. See ya!

Wanna bet?

So, I was thinking about how my mom's phrase is "Wanna bet?" and if you say that, it means that she knows she is right and you better backtrack if you don't want to be proved wrong.  Immediately.  And I realized that there is a part in To Kill a Mockingbird that is kind of like this, where Scout is talking about Atticus.  Here's the part I'm talking about:

" 'Do you really think so?'

This was Atticus's dangerous question.  'Do you really want to move there, Scout?'  Bam, bam, bam, and the checkerboard was swept clear of my men.  'Do you really think that, son? Then read this.'  Jem would struggle the rest of the evening through the speeches of Henry W. Grady."

I thought it was an interesting parallel, how my mom, and Scout's dad, have these phrases that make you stop, and rethink.  I just found it...weird that these two things from completely different parts of my life kind of came together.  That happens sometimes, to me.  I like it actually, I like making those connections.

My Nana cut her own hair O.o (This is really just a continuation of the other post. It just happened after I posted that one.)

.....and Nana just turned to me and started talking about her hair.  she goes "I don't care if Gayle (my mom) and Papa are mad at me for cutting my hair, I feel better."  Here's the thing though: they weren't really mad at her, they were a bit frustrated because she did this without thinking, and is going to regret it.  They don't have to be mad, because she will be mad at herself.  I think she might be regretting it a little already, because they way she said it was like she was trying to convince herself, and to attempt to show me that she really doesn't care, despite the fact that she keeps touching the back of her head, and playing with that long bit.  Like, she's over covering it up.

Now Mom came out after taking a shower and said she "felt so clean".  Here's the conversation:

Nana (defensive): "That's how I feel after cutting my hair."

Mom (amused): "But I don't have any bald spots after taking a shower."

Nana: "I don't think I really have a bald spot."

Mom: "Wanna bet?" (That is my mom's phrase. If she says that, you better rethink what you just said.  Because you're wrong.)

Nana: ...

Mom: "Here I can show you."

-Mom shows her-

Nana: "Oh... I'm going to go take a nap."

My Nana cut her own hair O.o

Oh jeeze.  I was trying to think of what I should write, and my Nana(my mom's mom.  I call my dad's mom Grandma), who is staying with us until Thanksgiving, walks in and asks if she looks any different.  I didn't really notice anything, but I lie and say yeah, and what does she say? "I cut my hair."  She didn't do TOO bad of a job, I'll give you that, but last night my Papa(grandpa) and mom BOTH told her that my mom wasn't going to take her to get a haircut because she didn't need one.  Evidently, she thought she did.  And now she "feels so much better."  She is so much like a little kid sometimes.  She has almost no control over her emotions, and when she gets an idea into her head (like cutting her hair) she won't let it go, unless she forgets (which she does a lot too, luckily for us).  Although she is getting much better.  She used to not have that filter, the one that tells you not to say certain things out loud, because of how it might make other people feel.  That is coming back, bit by bit, but I don't think it will ever be completely back.  

Oh, never mind about what I said about her hair not being that bad.  My mom just found a bald spot on the back of her head.  And now Nana says she doesn't care, but I bet by tonight, she will.  And she's saying that she will cut it more, because there is one part that is really long, right next to her bald spot.  I hope my mom will just even out the back for her, before she tries to do it herself.

Halloween Edit

Here you go Marissa..

I take back what I said earlier, Halloween was actually really fun.  I didn't get too much candy, but that's okay.  I like the act of being able to ask random people for candy and have them actually give it to me.  It never gets old.  

Halloween

I don't know why, but halloween is just kind of suckish this year.  I'm not getting excited about it like usual...  I'm not even going to dress up and go trick or treating, because I couldn't think of anything to be.  And usually I have at least 5 different ideas.  They just all seem stupid this year.  (Ok, they're stupid every other year too.  I tend to like quirky costumes.)  It's the first time I've ever been apathetic about halloween.  I guess its gonna be my boring holiday this year.  Last year, sadly enough, it was my birthday.  No one ever remembers my birthday, because it's randomly in the middle of July.  It's kind of depressing.  What was I talking about again?  Oh yeah, halloween.  I still don't really know what I'm doing.  I have some tenative plans, but my mom won't let me do anything unless she has more information.  So I sort of have a feeling it's not going to end up working. :(

I don't know why I'm in such a bad mood.  I'm just randomly disliking everything right now.  And I've been very very emotional lately.  That probably is what this is coming from.  Why am I still talking?  I have nothing left to say.  Goodbye.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

No, those Z's aren't me sleeping.  I am lamenting the terrible fate of my Z key.  It fell off.  I have the key, but it isn't attached to my keyboard.   I have this depressing hole in the middle of all my keys.  :( 

Does anyone know a better way to fix this than superglue?  I'm reluctant to use super glue in case it messes up something... And that would suck.

Another exciting Sunday.....

Well, today was fairly boring again.  Well, actually, earlier tonight, I was playing with this little boy.. His name is Zander (His full name's Alexander, but Zander is his nickname. Along with handsome.)  He is about 9 months old, and really really cute.  He was bouncing up and down, and doing that thing that babies do when they get tired.  He'd kind of nestle against me, and then remember that he didn't want to sleep, and startle himself awake.  He ended up falling asleep on my lap though.  It was adorable!

Also, I was messing with this other little boy earlier this afternoon... He was pretty cute, I believe his name was Jake.  He was 5 (at least that's what he told me.)  I was playing with him, and my little sister, Rachel, was messing w/ his little sister.  We actually end up doing that a lot.  Rach will gravitate toward the cute, bubbly little kid, and I find myself paying way more attention to her (or his) older, often ignored sibling.  Who adores me, because I give them personal attention, not just the leftovers.  I always feel bad for the older kid.  Probably because I was like that.  

On that cheery note, good night everybody! (Even though I'm planning on staying awake for awhile.... whatever.)

Ashley-

Ashley, you're awesome.  I love that you always comment on everyone's blog, with no fear of being seen as a stalker.  

Also, everybody else, I was just kind of wondering.  I've heard from a couple people that they are like this too.  Like, I read everyone's blogs, but I rarely comment.  And yet, I want other people to comment on mine.  I think we should just comment more because everyone likes to get comments (correct me if I'm wrong).  I think we like the recognition.  So, yeah, comment everybody! :)

Prop. 8

Well, I just got back from my youth group.  We had a really interesting discussion about prop. 8.  And just homosexuality in general.  It was a good discussion, the kind you can only have in groups like ours.  We all have a couple common beliefs, and we respect each other.  So we could disagree, and not yell at each other, and not cut each other off (too much).  It was tense, but not in a bad way, necessarily. 

I suppose I should start from the beginning.  Before we officially started, (Um.. Lets just use initials, because I know that some of the people I'm going to talk about don't really want this stuff on the Internet.) So, H, asked our youth director how she was going to vote on prop. 8.  She very nicely evaded the question by giving a generic "I don't know" and moving on to the devotion.  And here is a quote from the devotion that really spoke to me, at least.

"In this verse, God is basically saying through the apostle Paul, 'Hey, why don't we stop judging each other.  Instead, let's do all that we can to get along... regardless of our differences!' "

I put a box around that and then wrote next to it "aka: vote no on prop. 8" and passed it to the people by me.  They said I should bring it up, so I did, and then felt really stupid for awhile 'cause I had nothing else to say about it really.  I just noticed a similarity.  But then H went off.  You see, he's bi, and also has very strong opinions about everything.  So he gets really into discussions like this.  Also, all of us (meaning, all of us on the side of the room that agreed that homosexuality isn't a sin) know he's bi, but our youth director and another girl, A, don't know.  And they were the main people on the other side.

Basically, there was much argument, and a lot of H and A going at it.  (They don't get along anyway.)  Also, sometimes our youth director, or one of us would chime in as well.  I was kind of a translator, whenever H didn't quite complete his thoughts, or they didn't make sense to anyone else, I would rephrase them.

Now, the rest of this is just me.  After this discussion, I just ended up confused.  I still believe the government shouldn't say who people can marry, but I don't know what's right, like from a Christian perspective.  If God is love, then why is it a sin to love someone of the same sex? Is it a sin?

I pretty much reached the conclusion that God is schizophrenic.  And I don't really know if I'm joking or not.  There are so many different views of him.  Is he merciful and loving? Or is he condemning and just?  Because those two don't mesh very well.  At least, not where this issue is concerned.  At least, not to me.  

Does anyone know?  Does anyone even know what I'm talking about, or am I just the crazy one?  Comment please!

Meh

Once again, Please don't read this.  I sound profoundly stupid.  And I say nothing interesting.  If you would like me to say something interesting, talk to me when I'm more awake.  Bleh.  I wish I could sleep.

I can't sleep.  I still don't have anything interesting to say (at least that I'm willing to let the whole class see), but I decided to blog anyway.  Well, today, I had church... I sang (my church has choir for the high-schoolers), so I had to get up at 6:30.  That was no fun, especially since I had been up until midnight the night before. (You better not apologize, I knew I was gonna have to get up.) And then the high school led Sunday School.  Which started off terribly, we weren't coordinated at all, but it worked out.  I played duck duck goose with some of the littler kids.  That was fun, except I sucked majorly because I had a skirt on, 'cause I had sung.  So the kids, of course, constantly picked me.  Then I went home with my friends Eliysha and Marissa(different Marissa, this one goes to Leigh), hung out at Eliysha's house for awhile, went to this one lady's house.  She's one of the older people in the church, but not obnoxious and close-minded like most of the old ladies, so I like her.  Plus, she lets us (the youth group) come hang out in her back yard sometimes, and she has an amazing backyard.  She's got a pizza oven and this really pretty garden, and a fountain, and a cage with like 20 or 30 little birds and her backyard is also bigger than my entire house.  Basically, if I could, I would totally steal her backyard.  After being at her house, then I came home.  Did my other pointless blog post.  Took a nap.  Read the chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird.  Went on facebook, talked to some people.  And now I'm just doing this pointless blog post.  Sooner or later, I should have something to write about.  I have stuff now, but it would be weird to be like gushing about my personal life on my blog.  I just do that to my friends.  So, yeah, that's it.  Please ignore everything I said. I sound stupid when I'm bored and have nothing better to do.

Don't read this. No, honestly, it's just a waste of your time.

Why on earth did you click on this? I told you not to read it.  Although, as long as your here, I might as well continue my random, wandering thoughts. 

Freddie is my pet turtle. Actually, he's a Russian tortoise.  And really, he's a girl, but we thought he was a boy when we got him, and we're just in the habit of calling him a he, so to us, he's a boy.  Poor gender confused turtle.  Anyway, I'm just sitting here, watching him try and climb up the glass of his tank, and it's not working.  It's rather pitiful, and I keep saving him from falling over, but then he just goes back to the exact same spot.  He's not the brightest turtle.  I feel bad for him though.  I feel like there ought to be some profound, deep connection I could make to my life, but it's just purposely evading me.  So I have really nothing to say, I was kind of hoping it would come to me while I was writing, but it just seems to be slipping further and further away.  

I apologize for the crappiness of this post.  I'll try to make up for it later.

Hot Seat

Today, I discovered how much I really hate the hot seat.  Even though I didn't get picked, I spent the whole time stressing out that I'd get picked, and get a word I didn't know.  I kept having this mental image of me getting one of the words I don't know, and everyone just looking at me, staring at me.  Or worse, getting a word I knew, and forgetting it, because everyone was staring.  I'm getting better than I used to be, but I am still really shy.  I'm fine talking to one or two people, even people I've never met before, but being tested in front of the whole class is just scary.  

Not to mention studying.  I studied until 11 last night, probably clinching the fail of my math test in the process.  And then I didn't even get picked.  It was annoying, but I don't know whether being picked would have been worse.

Family Fun Festival

Last night, I had a really good time at my old elementary school, St. Timothy's. (It's a very small Lutheran school, and my mom is the principal, so almost everyone knows me, either because I went there, or because my sister did, or because of my mom now.)  We had the Family Fun Festival.  This used to be the highlight of my year when I still went there, and now it's just fun to mess with the kids.  It's on the field, and there is are a couple things that go on.  There are carnival-type games, and you can win prizes, and a raffle, where you can win a bunch of different things that were donated to the school, and, the best part, there is also an inflatable slide (you know what I mean? The slides that are made out of the same stuff as jumpy houses?), an obstacle course (also an inflatable thing), and usually a jumpy house, but there wasn't one this year.  

For most of the night, me and one of my friends from elementary school, Jennifer, were helping with the obstacle course.  She'd help the kids climb up to the slide part, and I stood on the other side, to make sure the kids kept going through.  One of the highlights of my night was helping this one ADORABLE kid, Josh.  He had the most awesome imagination!  Unlike most of the kids, he talked to us the whole time.  He had to get up "laser mountain" (the slide) and go through the "laser tunnels" (tunnels right after the slide) and then go through the lasers themselves (some bars the kids climbed through), all without having the lasers turn on!  It was all very exciting!  ;) 

After the raffle, most of the kids left, and it was mostly me and my little sister, Rachel, my old best friend from elementary school, Jonathan, and his friend, Kenny, hanging out, and we all messing around on the slide.  It was so fun!  We'd pull each other down, try and run up it, slide down and try to hit each other, all that good stuff.  It was just a really good night, and I also had a good day at school and stuff (A few of you will get that).  I'm also pretty excited because I'm going to get to see Sheila today, and I haven't seen her in 4 months.

The Host

A quote that kept running through my head today:

"So, when he touched me, it was deeper and slower than the wildfire, like the flow of molten lava far beneath the surface of the earth.  Too deep to feel the heat of it, but it moved inexorably, changing the very foundations of the world with its advance." (The Host, page 575)

Make of that what you will, I don't have much analysis for it (without giving away some main parts of the book, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might still read it), I just couldn't stop thinking about it today, so I decided to put it on my blog.

Family Traditions

Well, my family has traditions, but if I told you, I'd have to kill you. No, just kidding, but that's kind of an inside joke with my family...  Every year, over the summer, we have a family reunion thing.  It's not really a family reunion, because most of us aren't related, but we might as well be.  It's a longish story, but, basically, my mom grew up with these people, it is three families that lived together in Taiwan.  We are all basically family.  Now there are three generations of us, and we have so many crazy traditions at our retreats, which we call Chevanurch (I'm not sure where that name came from.).  Some of them are volleyball with water balloons, playing hearts (and the loser gets Lou), making , and singing our song, which has like 200 verses. And I'm not exaggrating.  Every year, at least 1, but usually about 3 verses are added to the song.  It's cheesy, I suppose, but that's how we remember what has happened before.  I have a verse about me.  When I was 5, I lost my first tooth at Chevanurch, and someone wrote a verse about it.  I forget how it goes though.  One of my other favorite traditions is playing hearts.  Every time, on the Sat. night, we play hearts until like 2 in the morning.  One year, maybe even before I was born, Lou was created.  Lou is a sytrofoam cup, full of sourball pits.  It's pretty nasty-looking.  Anyway, Lou is the trophy for when we play hearts, and is given to the loser.  I have never won Lou, a fact I am very proud of.  That might have something to do with the fact that I've only played once, but regardless, I haven't lost so far.  My mom has won Lou twice, and my dad... Well, my dad avoids Chevanurch.  It's all my mom's side of the family, and it's just weird for him, I think.  It's weird for everyone who isn't born into it, but for those of us who are, it's just fun.

I lost the game.

Alex made me.  I wanted to spread the love.  This post really had no point except to annoy you.  You're welcome.

Rain

I love the rain!  Right now, I'm sitting outside (on the deck, so my laptop doesn't get rained on.) just watching the rain.  Watching isn't really the right word, though, because I'm not just using my eyes.  I'm smelling the rain, hearing the raindrops over my head, and, if it weren't for my laptop, I'd be out in the rain, getting wet, playing in the puddles.  I don't know what it is, but something about water just relaxes me, calms me down, and turns me back into a little kid, at the same time.  I get this feeling when I am by the ocean, a river, a creek, any body of water (not pools though.  They don't count, they're man-made.).  I don't know why, but I just love to be around water.

Is anyone else like this, or am I just the weird one ?

Good News! I found help for Chemistry! (and Pre-Calc)

This is for all the Honors Chem (and anyone else who has Ms. Miller, really.) students.  Since she doesn't explain stuff well, and I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think the book does either, here is a link for a chemistry study guide:

http://www.sparknotes.com/chemistry/

I haven't looked at it yet, but sparknotes is usually pretty good.  I was on looking for a better translation of Antigone (I didn't find one, sadly) but I decided to search for chemistry help, because I need it, and this showed up!  I hope this helps you, if you are having trouble too.

P.S. Precalc (or any other math) kids:

http://www.sparknotes.com/math/

You just have to scroll down a bit, and then there is a section on precalculus.

My So-Called Life

Today, in the episode of My So-Called Life, Angela had a touching moment with her mom.  I had a lump in my throat, because I wish I had that kind of relationship with my mom.  It's not like Angela said in, I believe the first episode, that she can't look at her mom "without wanting to stab her." (How's that for an embedded quote? :] )  I love my mom, I just don't go to her for anything.  I can't even really talk to her about my life, because she always makes me feel like.. I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like I'm not getting her opinion, I'm getting her opinion watered-down, re-worded to fit what she thinks I need.  It annoys me.  Actually, a lot of little things about her annoy me, but that's a whole new post.

I like my dad much better, I can talk to him about stuff.  My dad will just listen to what I have to say, and offer his opinion.  My dad and I have good discussions bout politics, religion, etc.  Also, we have the same sense of humor, so we joke around a lot.  However, I still don't really go to him.  It would just be weird to talk to my dad about whatever my issues might be at any given time, because, most of the time, it involves boys.

If I had something big happen to me, like Angela did, I would go to my best friend.  She definitely understands me way better than my family.  That's kind of sad, that I trust someone I've only about a year better than my own family.  But life is weird like that sometimes.

Ismene

I think Ismene is a good complement to her sister.  While Antigone seems to have inherited Oedipus'  willingness to act, and his passion, Ismene seems more cautious.  In the story so far, she looks like she is just very submissive and people could walk all over her.  However, I think she is merely more thoughtful, and more likely to think of the consequences of her (or her sister's) actions.  To me, this quote sums it up very well:

"Antigone! Dear sister! Think how hated out father was when he died. How full of shame! ... Then she, who bore the double name of mother and wife, took her own life with a rope.  Then our poor brothers perished in the one day, each of them killing the other with his own hand.  And so, now we two are left alone.  Think what awful end we can expect if we go against Creon's law! ... To act beyond your ability is mindless folly."

She is trying to dissuade Antigone from doing this by telling her what will happen if she is caught. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and only made Antigone mad.

Predicitions

I just wanted to say this here, so that if I'm right, I can say I told you so.

Right now, I'm sitting in my history class, bored out of my mind. (Marissa is asleep)  I've been thinking about Chemistry, and what I think it's going to be like today.  I think the teacher is going to pretend that nothing happened, and go about teaching as usual. (If anything she does can be called usual.)  But, she will have a secret, or maybe like Ms. Dawkins, a not-so-secret hate of us for the rest of the year.  She will also have realized our strengths and probably be not quite scared, but wary of us.  If we work this right, we might have her eating out of our hand for the rest of the year.  

Or, she might go senile, like she does, and completely forget.

Strange Class Today

Well, in case there is someone who hasn't heard yet, today, in honors chemistry, there was a little disagreement (read: a huge fight).  Our teacher just started in on Danielle T at the beginning of the period, and Danielle was polite, but not backing down and being submissive like the teacher wanted, so she called the adminstration to get Danielle sent out.  That's where everyone got really upset.  The admin person came, and Matt went too (It only took about 10 seconds of arguing before the teacher sent him too.).

By the time they left, we were all very mad.  Katelyn was the one who went after her most, although quite a few people did over the period.  Yup, we argued with that teacher the whole period.  Evidently, Danielle and Annie were "laughing uproariously" and that was "unacceptable for a laboratory situation".  Just a thought, but perhaps all this could have been avoided if the teacher's butt wasn't showing?  

Well, I think our teacher learned something today.  In that class, because we don't like the teacher, we really have a bond.  If you unite us with a common enemy, we will take them down.   We are all smart, and will turn someone's words against them.  by the end of class, the teacher just wanted to know what we wanted from her, she had given up.  That was a pretty funny moment, as Evan pointed out afterwards.  It was kind of a "Wait, what do we want? Umm... Apologize! Yeah, that sounds good!"  So, we pretty much only made her promise to apologize to Danielle, and tomorrow we will see if she did.

After class, we all met outside, and we were going to go, as a class, and complain.  However, we came across Danielle as we were walking to the office, and then lost all our rebelliousness (new word!) because we saw she was fine.  So our little mob dispersed and nothing very big ended up happening.  

I'm very curious as to what the rest of the year will be like though.

Stupid "Witnesses"

Well, I wasn't going to write about anything today, but Marissa's blog today (here is a link, if you haven't read it: http://ohnoitsmarissa.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-am-spanish-inquistion-whom-john-did.html )  struck a nerve with me, and I didn't want to rant in her comments, so I'm writing a post about it.

This is mainly for whoever who reads my blog that is Christian...not to say that you can't read it otherwise.

OK, so I'm assuming you've read the post now.  Why do people do that??! Why do they wave pamphlets and Bibles in random strangers faces and think they are "changing lives"??!!  The only thing they do is make non-Christians angry.  Which is a little counter-productive, seeing as they want the people they talk to to be converted, not.. turned off to Christianity!  Are they blind?  How do they not see what they do?!

*sigh* OK, I'm done ranting now.  I just really hate it when people like that do these things... I suppose you could say it's a pet peeve.

That reminds me of a quote I read somewhere, by St. Francis of somewhere or other (googled it.. it's St. Francis of Assisi):

"Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words."

 I really like that quote because it pretty much describes what I try to do.  In order to be a witness, you don't have to confront people about their faith, that will only make them mad, and will cause them to resent Christianity as a whole.  I think some people need to learn that if they love first, and try to be an example, they will do more than forcing the Bible down people's throats....

But that's just my opinion.. What are your thoughts?

....

Well, today was exciting.  Exactly nothing happened.  I feel like I should write something, but, honestly, I have nothing to say.  

Quite the eloquent blog, isn't it?

The first of probably many Twilight-related blog posts (Twiposts?, twiblogs?)

Today, I was rereading Breaking Dawn, for about the 4th time.  BD is the fourth book in the Twilight saga, which I am totally obsessed with.  See? I only made it a day blogging without mentioning it. By the way, if you haven't yet, you should definitely read Twilight! It's amazing!  

Anyways, I came across this quote I really love.  Fair warning, though, it's like a paragraph long:

"It was a strange feeling - not surprising, I supposed, since everything felt strange now - this being a natural at something.  As a human, I'd never been best at anything.  I was okay at dealing with Renee, but lots of people probably could have done better; Phil seemed to be holding his own.  I was a good student, but never the top of the class.  Obviously, I could be counted out of anything athletic.  Not artistic, or musical, no particular talents to brag of.  Nobody ever gave away a trophy for reading books.  After eighteen years of mediocrity, I was pretty used to being average.  I realized now that I'd long ago given up any aspirations of shining at anything.  I just did the best with what I had, never quite fitting into my world."

This quote really fits me, but to me, it isn't depressing.  I get hope, actually, i get the feeling that, sometime, I will get my world that I fit into, that finally makes sense.  However, I showed it to one of my other friends, and he said that it was depressing, because that wouldn't happen to us, it's fiction.  i guess that is just the difference between optimists and pessimists, but i was just wondering, what is your reaction to it?  Do you think that quote is depressing? Do you even relate to it at all? 

Liking It

Well, earlier, I sort of liked the idea of blogging, but I didn't like that everyone would be reading my thoughts.  Now, however, reading everybody else's blogs, I am really liking this, and I want people to read mine more(although, I forgot to put my blog on the list yesterday. Oops.).

My First Blog

So, this is my first blog. I'm not sure what I am going to write about, but something will come to me.

To start out, I'll write about My So-Called Life.  I really like it so far, because it is relevant to me.  Today, when Angela's parents were yelling at her, and the little sister got snapped at, and then faded into the background was me.  In my family, my little sister, Rachel, doesn't get along with my dad at all, so they yell at each other a lot.  I have figured out that if I say anything, I get yelled at too, so I just disappear until it's over.  Then, like the little sister, I talk to my sister.  I try and get her less angry, and my mom does the same with my dad.  Their fighting is just so stupid sometimes, I've wanted to just whack them over the head w/ something, until they see sense.  Unfortunately, I can't do that, so I just let Rachel vent to me.  

Anyway, Mr. Thompson is talking about customizing my blog now, so I want to listen to that.