Stuff, Stuff, and Yet More Stuff!

Doesn't that just sound so exciting? Er... yeah. Got the part I auditioned for in "Dorothy!", so I'm quite pleased. I would've gone for the larger one if I thought I had the time, but, as it were... I still think that producing this sucker is going to be a hoot. The people are all nuts, but nice, and seem agreeable. It's gonna be a blast.

Went to taekwondo class this afternoon, and got my yellow belt, yeye! It's a startling contrast to the white I've gotten used to. But yeah, just all around good stuff there.

School's going fine. I managed to get a 95 on my Government test, which I'm pleased about. (I mean, hey, this is a senior course...) I'm getting along just fine in my other subjects, though I'm going to really have to stick it to the Spanish because I keep missing questions on my quizzes... Gr. Not cool.

Current Mood: Tired/Hungry/Congested

Random Useless Fact of the Day: I think my parents are planning to chuck me and my belongings into the basement apartment as soon as Phil moves out and use my room as an office. Cool. A bedroom that's bigger then 9'x10'. But we'll what actually happens... Might not at all.

And Half the Results are In

Well, the "Dorothy!" auditions this morning went pretty well, in my opinion. I tried for two parts (one major, one minor) and I'll see on Tuesday who gets what role. So a little suspense for me this weekend. We'll see how it really went.

My other big event today was my belt test in taekwondo. Results?

...

...

...

I PASSED!! *squeesqueesquee!!!* (Insert your own happy dance here) I successfully didn't screw up my form, kept most of my balance in my kicks, remembered the Tenets, and (this is a big development) broke boards. Yes, I, one of the THE most unathletic people on the face of this earth, broke boards. So yeah, my right hand is a little tender, but no biggie. I get the sparkly (well, maybe not sparkly, but still...) new yellow belt on Tuesday, I think. So now I'm kinda glad that's over.

School's going well. House is still standing. Pixel now believes that she is a giraffe and keeps trying to eat the leaves off of this one tree we have in the house. I keep attempting to discourage this. Pixel (in effect) gives me the finger and keeps chewing on the leaves.

Current Mood: Accomplished

Random Useless Fact of the Day: The Tenets of Martial Arts are: Courtesy, Integrety, Perseverence, Self-control, and Indomitable Spirit.

Just So People Know...

I took people's advice and switched the "anyone can comment me" option off, since the comments are starting to look a tad like a billboard. It's like, "Dude... I can't afford a Corvette, nor am I old enough to drive. I'm not legally able to get a paying job. I don't want an X-box, since my mother is sort of against video gaming systems and I wouldn't play it anyway." So yeah. You anonymous folks are either going to have to get an account or talk to me in person. (Sorry Sarah...)

Anyway... Bible Bowl started up again Sunday. The grand total of team members at this point? Eh... Somewhere around 20. Five teams. Now, let's see how many kids decide to back off before the first Round Robin, since that's when the dropouts really start leaving in droves. I mean, hey, I appreciate y'all coming, but this game is a lot of work. If you're in a bazillion other things or just don't like studying, this isn't your game, so don't take it lightly, plzkthxbai.

Still waiting for Saturday. "Dorothy!" auditions in the morning and my belt test in the afternoon, yay!

Current Mood: Impatient

Random Useless Fact of the Day: My government professor rocks. Why? He's funny! Just this morning he was all, "Well, I don't have to fear the policeman if I'm following traffic laws, but if I'm doing 60 in a 30 zone, running over children and small dogs, I just might have something to worry about, don't you think?" Things don't get much better than a darkly sarcastic teacher.

And the Drought Breaks

And all God's people said? "Amen!"

Yeah, we finally got some decent weather around here, mainly thunderstorms that give a lot of rain and a good light show. Let's see how long it lasts; hopefully for at least a few days because it's getting really freakin' hot again.

Had another taekwando lesson this afternoon. Today it was mostly practicing forms, kicks and high jumps. The high jumps? Suck. I like doing 'em, but I just can't jump that high. Stupid Irish genes... Meh. I still had to do my form blindfolded. Got dizzy and screwed up my directions. And I was almost done, too.

So I was in Waldenbooks at the mall today, and saw a display with a book that I've read and enjoyed (Cornelia Funke's Inkheart). One of the paperbacks I saw had a sticker on it that said, "Soon to be a major motion picture!" Me? I'm all "WHY DOESN'T HOLLYWOOD LEAVE MY BOOKS ALONE AND THINK UP ACTUAL MOVIES FOR A CHANGE?! IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?!" No, I didn't actually yell that in the middle of the store, but I was thinking it. I mean, pfft, some on. Stop riffing offa books. I realize that this may seem like a large money-generating thing and that some directors actually do a good job of representing literature, I'm majorly of the opinion (read: fact) that movies =/= the actual quality of the book. Yes, there are a few very rare exceptions (*coughEllaEnchantedcough*), but the book-into-movie thing's starting to get really annoying. Blah. But anyway... Got a couple of new books, yay.

Current Mood: Slightly sleepy

Random Useless fact of the Day: Got the recommendation to test for my yellow belt, w00t!

Please Excuse My Big Red Nose

It always goes red -always- when I cry. And yeah, I've been doing plenty of that these past few days. Yes, Grandma went to see Jesus on Friday, her funeral was Monday, and her burial, yesterday. So yeah, the weekend ended up being one big red nose after another, combined with quite a few headaches. But seriously? I'm kind of relieved now, because she had Alzheimer's for, what, eight years? My family's mostly doing fine, although my grandpa (obviously) is taking it extremely hard. Why not; the two were married 54 years. So do me a favor and pray for him. I'll say no more about it. Just wanted to give you folks an update on what was going on...

But the upside about funerals? Funeral dinners. Especially the ones at Uncle Joe's house. The guy may look surly, but man can he and his wife cook! We're talking about five different types of brownies and fried chicken, here. I'm talking a big freakin' dinner. When you grow up in an Irish clan like mine, you get fed and fed well. Food=love, love=food. You are loved, you are fed. If you're not sure an Irish person hates you or not, just ask yourself whether or not you've had food or drinks offered to you. If yes, then you're pretty well off, at least for now. If not, excuse yourself politely and don't call back.

But yeah. School started last week and I've got four different pages of algebra homework.

Current Mood: Awake

Random Useless Fact of the Day: Taekwando isn't all kicking. For instance, I now know a techique that will have someone unconscious in ten seconds or less. (Go ahead, Tyler. Bring. It. On.)

...

Got a phone call this afternoon. My mom's just gone off to the nursing home where my grandmother is... Grandma's blood pressure is way too high and her heart is racing, and they can't seem to get her BP down.

So I guess this is it.

I guess I always thought she'd die in her sleep...

...




...




*sniffle*

Current Mood: Waiting

Relief at Last

A lot of you know about the heat around here. Mostly? It sucked. But then, last night, it rained. And the people celebrated. It didn't feel like being fried when I walked outside this morning.

And all God's people said? Amen!

Well, last night was certainly a kicker when it came to the ol' schedule. The first half of the day was pretty much nothing, except for the average laundry day. But then came 5:45 in the evening, when it was time to head over to voice lessons, where songs I'll be singing for a wedding next month were practiced and generally hit pretty hard. At seven: dinner. Pork kabobs, yum. 7:35, changing into my uniform and heading over to my tae-kwan-do lesson, in which I think I strained a nerve in my right foot since the side of it's a little sensitive. No matter. 9:15: Shower really quick, since there was a quite a bit of lightning and I'm a little paranoid about getting electrocuted. So yeah, busy times.

But tomorrow through Sunday, that's what's going to be a real pain. Why? Well, let's just say that getting up at five in the morning really isn't my kind of thing (especially when it's cool outside and the blankets are nice and warm). Then it's an hour's drive across the river to do a dog show to earn money for the Bible Bowl team. Staffing it this time has been really interesting, since CIY and every single band camp in the state has decided that this week would be a great time to do their events. (And I don't even get the point of band camp. You'd think one could practice marching formations and songs during the regular school year.) So we don't get as much as we could've, but it's better than nothing. But whatever, not my problem.

Current Mood: Passive

Random Useless Fact of the Day: My genetics really don't allow for much hip flexability, which makes executing inside/outside/axe kicks kind of difficult. Which sucks.

Be Vewwy Vewwy Quiet

...Because my baby cousin is sleeping and if you wake him up and make him start yowling again I will hurt you. Seriously. I found one thing Ibuprofen does not fix headaches from... But yeah, my two youngest cousins are spending the day at my house, since my aunt, uncle, and other cousin are at a golf tournament. Why they voluntarily are working outside when it's like a bajillion degrees is beyond me.

On a better note, I finally started up karate classes. Results? It is freakin' awesome. So what if the tops of my feet hurt after a bunch of roundhouse kicks? I can deal. I have really good feeling about this class, I really do. The uniform's a lot heavier than one would think...

It is really really hot around here. It's too hot to go swimming, almost. I think now would be a great time to sightseeing in Alaska. Or perhaps Siberia. Or maybe somewhere down south, like the Shetland islands, maybe New Zealand, or perhaps Antarctica.

On the drama front, I managed to swing the lead in a certain sketch that I think we're performing for the teen worship service at church. My part? A troubled teenage girl with a deadbeat father and a cheating crackhead boyfriend! (Believe me, if any boyfriend of mine decided to do either one of those, he wouldn't be living.)

Current Mood: Hot and Tired

Random Useless Fact of the Day: Ninjas were actually quite ineffective as assassins. Not to say they haven't tried, though; one general nearly got his head blown off with a cannon but the ninjas firing it missed.

After the Book

Yes, I have successfully finished reading the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series. My thoughts? It's probably the best of the books so far, in my opinion. The fifth book was just a little, I don't know, unsatisfying. Yeah, that's it. The sixth was a lot more action-packed. It had more funny moments than the last book. Most of all (and this doesn't happen very often, mind you; I didn't shed any tears when Sirius Black bit it), it made me cry. Yes, I admit it, I cried during the funeral of... Ha! You thought I was going to say who dies, didn't you? Don't worry, I'm merciful and won't reveal that particular fact, since I'm aware that a lot of people don't stay up until 1:30 in the morning to finish a book. (Yeah... I felt the effects of no sleep today. Oops.) And who was the Half-blood Prince? The result neither surprised nor shocked me, but it did kinda raise my eyebrows. And then there were the romance parts. Boy howdy, that was funny. For those that would moan and cry about any little fact they haven't heard about until the read the book, close your eyes now, because I'm about to reveal something! The name "Won-won" (*snerk*) had me laughing. That was just plain hilarious. I mean, geez. Talk about your unfortunate nicknames.

In all? Very good book. I'll probably start re-reading it soon.

Oh yeah. And another thing: I love my mother. Why, you ask? Well, aside from the obvious reasons, Mom had the foresight to buy two copies of the book. See, my sister's reading speed is much higher than mine, and she tends to steal the book before I really get into it. She gets done fast, yes, but I'd rather read it straight through without someone else snitching it. It's the principle of the thing, you know? So yeah, in order to prevent a fistfight from brewing, Mom got two copies to pacify both Amy and me. And good times ensued.

Started hi-lighting my Bible Bowl text today. Got the first seven chapters done, and boy are my pages colorful now! :D Plus, a friend of the family found a buzzer board hidden in the back of his closet, and asked my mom if our team could use it. Heck yes! That saves the team $425! The thing may be ancient, but it's a buzzer and we needed another one badly. Why? Three teams this year. That means we need at least two buzzer boards. Which means that costs more money, which is tight because my church is in a cash crunch and the budget was small in the first place. So, great stroke of luck there.

Current Mood: Passive

Random Useless Fact of the Day: The results from my little poll question last entry are in. Pwn is prounounced "pown", at least in the minds of many people. Thanks for the help in improving my knowledge of the outside world; I don't get it very often and so I'm doomed wander around looking like a moron.

Saturday

And here it comes, that momentous occasion that millions around the world are waiting anxiously for... What is this moment, you ask?

The release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Yessir, Mom's preordered my copy, and for the duration of the weekend I'll be quite busy waiting for the mail to get here (kinda feel sorry for those poor postal workers...), and actually reading the book. Don't expect me to answer the phone if it rings, don't expect me to talk, don't expect me to be very responsive to any outside stimuli aside from the book. Just warning you...

Since Bible Bowl has ended, I have been taking full advantage of my (belated) sumemr vacation. Just this morning I didn't summon up the energy to drag my lazy carcass out of bed until 9:15. This may not sound like a lot compared to other teenagers, but it's the best I can do with my internal clock, okay?! A lot of reading's been getting done; I managed to read a couple of books in the span of a day. My iPod now has a couple new albums on its little hard drive (Both by Mannheim Steamroller, ha), sticking my song total up to 784.

Bad thing about iTunes: Whilst I was updating my iPod, the computer recognized the disk I was attempting to upload, but iTunes didn't. And of course, version 4.9 was out! This meant that I couldn't do squat until iTunes was updated. Darn those turds at Apple! But hey. Everything is working merrily now so I'm not going to complain.

Current Mood: Hungry

Random Useless Fact of the Day: I am still attempting to figure out if 'pwn' is pronounced 'pawn' or 'pown'. Any opinions?

I'm Ba-aa-ck...

Finally, the Bible Bowl National Tourney is over and done with for this year. The trip was long, excruciatingly mind-boggling, and really really fun. For instance: We made Steven, one of my teammates with a sort of afro, cut his hair. This scared the crap out of his mom upon our return. We (the entire team) swam a lot in the hotel pool and hot tub. Card games ran amok, and I discovered that I'm pretty good at "Spoons". (NO, there is nothing weird about this game, for those of you that don't know. The object is to grab something like a piece of candy or a drink coaster off of the table before everyone else does.) We played against teams that were actually of our own caliber during the Round Robin, resulting in a victorious five games. Rawkin'. We broke a hundred points against a team that I expected to show us absolutely no mercy whatsoever. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 this morning. (Yes, I do mean this morning.) The team has decided that I am either going to marry Joel or Ethan, two of the boys. I am neither confirming nor denying this; I'll figure that out later. Like, in ten years.

The organization in the hotel should've been a lot better. We weren't able to get into our rooms until, like, seven on Sunday night because they screwed up our reservations, resulting in utter chaos. In one room, the boys had their refrigerator stolen, with their food and stuff inside. Sucked to be them. They hotel also charged for use of the exercise machines, which was outrageous. Not to mention that every day for just about every meal we had to walk no less than six blocks to get to food. So yeah, we're hoping for better accomodations next year. I'm sure there will be; Mom's put in for suites in Louisville next year. w00t!

And as for the actual competition... We didn't do so well. We had a 5-6 record in the Round Robin, so we were put up against teams that were a lot stronger than ourselves. Ah, well. We didn't care much; losing just meant that we had more free time to go swimming, watch movies and play cards. So yeah.

The team also experienced a Random Act of Kindness. This one lady from the Pampered Chef convention walks up to us as we're playing cards (yet again) and asks us if we wanted an entire pizza that her group didn't want. Now, keep in mind that this was Chicago deep dish pizza. You don't find that stuff often around here, I don't think. So of course my team leaped at the oppertunity to score free food, and, thanking the lady profusely, we all gnawed happily on pizza. (But so you know, I still prefer St. Louis-style-provelone-and-ketchup-on-a-cracker pizza.)

So yeah, my week was quite interesting. I had a blast, and I'm really glad to be home.

Current Mood: Tired

Random Useless Fact of the Day: Also got new music and art supplies! w00t!!

Dude, This is Awesome...

Sauron in space!!!

If a buncha Nazgul show up, I am not here. I don't know anything about a mysterious ring. *insert innocent whistle here*

The Weekend Shall be... Filled.

Lesse... I should really be studying the next couple of chapters of Luke, but I wanted to poke my head in and say 'hi'... I've got piano on Saturday. Leaving church for Chicago on Sunday, so don't expect anything outta me until next weekend, unless I can bribe my dad to let me use his laptop (and only if the hotel rooms get some decent broadband). So the bus ride'll last around five hours, four if Dad drives fast, and then at four that afternoon is the Top Brain Test. Ick.

For those of you in the audience that don't know what the Top Brain is, allow me to explain. During the Round Robins, it's 150 fill-in-the-blank questions in a half an hour. Tensions are high. During the National Tourney, it's 400 fill-in-the-blank-using-a-Scantron questions during the course of two hours. And they usually hold it in large conference rooms during Nationals, so there isn't a proper desk to work things out on. This usually results in your neck and legs aching really bad afterwards. Sucky. This year I'm planning to sit on the floor. But the big secret? Do what you know, and guess on the ones you don't know later. Easy, in theory.

And then we'll be play various games until the Double Elimination, in which my team must play, as my mom put it last year, "for blood". But when you lose twice, the rest of your day is free, free, FREE!!!

Sent my school stuff back yesterday, w00t!

So yeah. I'm off.

Current Mood: Daunted

Random Useless Fact of the Day:
I do feel for Holmes-
Tom Cruise is such a retard.
Someone, shut him up!!

Obviously, I don't suffer idiots very well.

So What's New?

Nuthin' much. Currently my days are spent studying Bible Bowl and doing lots of laundry, one of the most unpleasant chores in my house, short of cleaning out the fridge. But mostly, it's Bible Bowl 24/7 in preparation for Nationals in Chicago. So yeah, that's going to be no vacation for me and my team.

Excuse me for a moment; I think Pixel's tearing something else up.

...

Idiot dog loves eating cellophane.

...

I guess I'd better get back to work. Blah.

Current Mood: Thirsty

Random Useless Fact of the Day: People seem to be foregetting the basics of American law, as the Ten Commandments have been banned from various courtrooms...

Idiots.

Haiku

Some are just confused
The world is full of retards
Head, meet Mister Desk.

Thank you.


In case you couldn't tell, the bigger retards tend to annoy me. Pfft.

Even though they're kinda fun to laugh at.

At Last

"I'M FRRREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!" remains my rallying cry at the moment. I am running away from the junior high bandwagon screaming. I'm not looking back. Oh, yeah, got good grades on my finals.

I'm officially on summer vacation. At freaking last.

Current Mood: Like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders, AKA liberated

Random Useless Fact of the Day: Bad news? My throat has bugged out once again. I peeked down there using my mirror and it's all red. Dang. Back to Mom's famous tea remedy.

Vebis Part II

Yeah.... Haven't had a whole lot of time to write stuff. So now I suppose I'll entertain the masses with more Stories from Vacation Bible School. Fifth grade boys? Are legally and in all senses insane. I don't know how the junior worship people handle them all.

But the really funny story was this: I was describing what it would be like to spend the night in a stable, and I asked what happens when one rolls in the grass. I got a few good answers, but this one blew everybody in the room away-- "Umm... Well... You might get animal potty on you." Everybody had to prevent themselves from CRACKING UP LAUGHING. All I did (aside from failing miserably at keeping a straight face), was say "Well, yeah, that might also happen, but that's not what I'm looking for."

Hence, a great story from VBS.

Finals are coming up soon, THANK YOU LAWD. Algebra tomorrow, history if I'm lucky. If not, history will come on Tuesday. And then I shall be free to sleep until nine thirty in the morning, depending on how bad Beans has to go outside.

So yeah. Story of my life.

Current Mood: Tired

Random Useless Fact of the Day: The best place to read is on the toilet. I'm not sure why, but it is.

VBS

Well, it's that time of year again. Yes, that's right, vacation Bible school has begun at church. And what did I go and do? I signed up to do one of those story room thingies. So I'm stuck preaching about Jesus being born in a barn. Not too bad, since I got the same room as one of my friends and an intern that is as crazy as the rest of us. Plus our room looks awesome. I worked the staple gun, which is was pretty much the highlight of the decorating process. I've also been learning about the kids in various grade levels:

3-4 Years Old: We only had one kid cry, and that was because he wanted his mother. Poor guy. But they behaved pretty well, albeit with a couple of interruptions.

First Graders: They know too much for their own good. For example: "Is this a play?" "This used to be a classroom!" "Why did the shepherds knock on that door?!" They have two volume settings: Loud and louder.

Third Graders: Pretty well behaved, pretty quiet when asked to be.

Fifth and Sixth Grade Girls: Fun. They kept the rest of us entertained, listened pretty well, asked just enough questions, responded when asked stuff.

So yeah. It's shaping up to be a pretty interesting week, and it's only Tuesday.

The Humane Society was crazy yesterday. It was Critter Camp, meaning that there were small children running around and making the place even busier than normal. Hilton the lab/chow was very happy to see me. He showed this by offering his butt for me to scratch, and by sitting in his little wading pool, then trotting over to me, shaking himself off, and then sitting in my lap. I love that dog. Marigold the Jack Russel was also jumping for joy when I visited her, although she jumps most of the time. She also leaped in and out of the pool and my lap, licking me in the face with her stinky dog breath. This job rocks.

Had to do a political analysis for history today. I had to find the staces of both political parties on various topics, and then decide if they were corectly labeled as "liberal" and "conservative". My brain is now liquefied.

Current Mood: Mah brain iz teh liquefied.

Random Useless Fact of the Day: Remind me not to sleep with my arms all sprawled out under my pillow. That will jsut result in severe acheage.

Break It Fix It Then Upgrade It... Technologic!

Yes, it is the Title That Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Entry Whatsoever!! Bwahaha!

Okay, the maniacal phase has passed for now.

I just felt like typing something. So why not? I'm blogging. I'm blogging about blogging. I am still blogging.

Wow! I think I just felt some personal growth!

Current Mood: With a Headache

Random Useless Fact of the Day: --->(Disclaimer: A lot of this blog entry was inspired by a recent "Dilbert" cartoon in which the Pointy-haired Boss started a journal, wrote about writing, and was sure he'd felt personal growth. I just thought it was funny. Don't sue. Plzkthxbai.)

Algebra: The Haiku

Dang it, algebra.
Once again I have screwed up.
Crap!! Wrong radicand!!


Thank you.