Snow Cancellation Delay

Today, we had a two-hour delay before school. I was hoping for a cancellation, but figured that a delay would be good enough. I woke up 90 minutes later than usual, wasn't in any rush to get ready, and even waited for the bus when it was light outside!

Off topic: I finally found a good audition song:



Any guesses?

Burning Ring of Fire

For the past few weeks, I've been reading Firestarter by Stephen King. I was mildly disappointed that it was mainly a weird, freaky sob-story instead of the sleep-with-the-covers-up-to-your-chin thriller my mom says is in Carrie and Salem's Lot. However, it was a nice introduction into Stephen King.

However, I'm sort of burnt out on difficult reading, so I'm planning on reading something a bit "fluffier", like Meg Cabot or Chris Crutcher. "Fluffy" meaning semi-easy to understand, not entirely depressing, and text that is a little bigger.

I can't wait to read Night Shift when I get back into Stephen King. I need some quicker-paced stories to deal with my unpatient-ness. Hmm...anyone have any other reading suggestions?

On Time

Considering today was a short day, I got out of school about an hour early. I had a fair bit of homework, and it takes a lot of effort to pull me into homework mode after being in school for so long.

Tonight, I actually finished my homework before dinner. That's right: after dinner, I didn't have to head back to my desk to try and cram out 20 cornell notes or finish some worksheet on the solar system. It was all DONE.

I'm probably going to be in bed rather early, even though tonight is a lunar eclipse. After all that work, I don't want to give it all up by staying up to say, "Yup, that's the moon".

Tomorrow, I'm going to do everything in my power to finish all my homework before I get home. There's a book I need and want to finish by tomorrow, and I want to fit in some serious reading time. I think I can manage it...its easier to convince myself to read than to do cornell notes. Much easier.

I feel all special now. Maybe I can keep up like this. Next goal---stop cramming for tests!

"Drama Club"

Today would usually be drama (Which I love---even though I didn't go to State, all the better for doing random improvs, my dear). However, considering everyone thought it was Monday or had a Spanish test to take, I was the only one who showed up. I was slightly annoyed that the people who made State weren't there, but I know people have lives...

Considering I didn't have a solo and improv is short for "improv duo", there wasn't anything I could do. I had an entire hour to myself---at school.

I used it as a sort of study hall. It was nice to do my homework, and this afternoon, I didn't have any. I came into the car at 3:38 with my social studies book, but didn't have any work to do with it.

I know I'll have a lot of homework tomorrow, but today...it was really nice to be able to kick back and relax on a TUESDAY. Only 3 more days, and it's the weekend. 3 days. Just three days...just keep go-ing, just keep go-ing, just keep go-ing, go-ing, go-ing, go-ing...

(Mainly)Never Forget, Never Forgive

Well, ignore the "never forgive" part. That's there because Sondheim put it there. Have to follow the lyrics.

Well, anyway, my totally awesome Great Aunt Suzie (AKA Photoshop Goddess) took the pictures my mom took yesterday and put them into a slideshow using some of the music from the show. Here's the finished product:



I can't believe she took 11 images and stretched them over 1 minutes and 50 seconds. It's such a cool slideshow!

Thank you, Aunt Suzie!

Swing Your Razor Wide

Today was Sweeney, and it was totally AWESOME! The cast was superb, and their singing was incredible. "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" and "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" were probably my two favorite parts. However, I liked it all. Johanna was incredible, and I never thought somebody would beat Jane Wisener. I also think that Judy Kaye and David Hess put up a good competition with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. Both pairs were really different, but really good.

Probably the best part of the day was waiting at the stage door. The weather was really nice, so we weren't standing out in the rain or cold. Out of the 10 cast members, we only missed three: Mr. Fogg, Judge Turpin, and Beggar Woman.

I wore my Lovett Pies apron and brought my plastic cleaver from Halloween for autographs, and it's pretty much filled up. I got pictures with everyone who gave autographs, and it was amazing. Here are the pictures from the day:

Benjamin Eakeley (The Beadle)


David Hess (Sweeney Todd)


Edmund Bagnell (Toby---I was totally thrilled when taking this picture. Toby is probably my favorite character ever!!!)


Edwin Cahill (Anthony, I think)


Judy Kaye (Mrs. Lovett)


Judy signing my cleaver


Katrina Yaukey (Pirelli)


Lauren Molina (Johanna)


The finished product: a signed butchery tool!


Waiting in the lobby


At the end of Little Priest, I was pretty close to creating a Rocky Horror experience. I was just about to get up and begin belting, "We'll serve ANYONE, meaning ANYONE, and to ANYONE, AT AAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" when I realized I wasn't watching the performance DVD with Maya. I managed to constrain myself, but the urge was so huge!

I can hardly wait to see the movie when it comes out on DVD. Then my Sweeney Todd experience will be finished. However, I don't think anything will measure up to this.

And yes, today I gave a nod to Sweeney Todd. (THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET!)

We're seeing Sweeney on Sunday...

Ever since August, I've been an avid Sweeney Todd fan. I was Mrs. Lovett for Halloween, convinced Matthew to go as Sweeney, read the movie book well over a dozen times, and have watched as many movies clips as possible on YouTube. However, I haven't had a chance to really see it yet. I've seen the DVD recording with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury, but it isn't the same. Close, but not the same.

However, for Christmas, as a family gift, my mom bought 4 tickets to go see the demon barber himself on stage. I've been waiting for this for a few months, and I can't believe it's actually time.

One of the Broadway Bootcamp instructor's friend is actually playing Anthony. We got directions to the stage door, so we're probably going to haunt around there after the show to try and score autographs. Maya got pictures and autographs with some of the Phantom cast members, so I'm hoping to be able to get some Sweeney memorobilia.

However, autographs or not, I'm ready to really Attend the Tale!

Broken Hearts Parade Shoes

These are my awesome new shoes I wore yesterday:

Valentine's Day

So today was Valentine's Day.

Ever since 6th grade (When it wasn't required to bring a valentine for everybody in the class), I've pieced together what Valentine's Day is like in the "real world". As quoted from Mean Girls, "It was living proof that the more people who are afraid of you, the more flowers you get."

My day was actually rather nice. I got a "Rodents through the Ages" Shutterfly book from my parents, a little thing of Hershey's kisses from my friend Katie, and a few little critters the chrus was selling as Valentine's grams. Maya coordinated with my mom and got me a little pink monkey (His name is Alfred Jamie, after Jamie Campbell Bower), and a pink pig named Herbert from my friend (Not boyfriend!) Matthew.

I think I'm going to try and be more in-the-spirit next year. I know it sucks walking down the hall empty-handed while Miss Popularity trudges to her locker, overflowing with flowers, chocolates, cards, balloons, and teddy bears. Even though I was "spared" the embarassment this year, I know some of my other friends weren't. I just need to get over the stress it brings.

I wore my new broken-hearts shoes to school. I don't have a picture yet, but I'll post one later. I also wore all black, as a sort of joke. We're not allowed to wear pink or red at my school, so I decided to go a bit, ahem, contrasted.

Next year, I'm totally going to remember to spread the love (And chocolate). But this year...well, I survived. That ought to count for something.

Ice, No Delay

After yesterday's snow day, we were left with a ton of ice. It isn't causing any cancellations, so you can imagine the joy walking the dog is.

Getting to the band room is also a daring task. I was running late, so I was "speed-walking". I thought it was safe because of the roof, but there was a hudden patch of ice that I had missed. You don't have to have a Harvard degree to figure out what happened. I ened up on the ground, my stuff everywhere, and possibly-broken tailbone.

It's just plain cold outside, and it isn't the fun kind of ice you can skate on. You can slide on it enough to make you fall, but then it cracks and breaks. Fun, fun.

However, it's a 4-day weekend coming up. I just need to survive Valentine's Day and I'll be good. Still, does my butt ever hurt...

Snow Delay Day!

Today was supposed to be a 2-hour snow delay, but around 4 or 6 this morning, it turned into a cancellation of school. It was truly icky outside, but I slept in an hour later and did glorious nothingness. I played piano (Johanna, to be exact), did some online stuff, and "sledded". Most of the snow had turned to ice, so it was just muddy and gross.

Still, today was a perfect day for a snow day. No homework, no due dates...just staying-in-pajamas-until-noon. My kind of day.

Burnt Out

I am totally tired.

I didn't get to bed until 11 last night, to waking up at 6 to my alarm clock blasting wasn't what you would call ideal. My room is a complete mess, and my homework isn't done.

I just spent about an hour outside with Katie. It was really fun, but cold and tiring. We walked all over creation to find a decent sledding hill, and I came home about 15 minutes ago. Still: homework not done, room not clean.

I have to re-write my entire Personal Narrative for English, as well as doing this surfboard thing. I have to do some project about sentences, and originally, everybody was supposed to make part of a wall mural. Well, about halfway through, right as my group was finishing our piece, it was decided that the gray wall looked boring, and wouldn't we love to make a tropical theme? Sure, it sounds interesting, but my group had to pretty much tear our wall up so we could each make a surfboard. I'm doing "Punk-tuation", and my design isn't even done. Considering I was being stupid, I picked black paper out, without realizing that I can't decorate it. While my other teammates are decorating their boards with flowers, stripes, dots, and flames, I'm over here gluing question marks to a black piece of paper cut like an orange slice.

I also have cornell notes in 2 classes, a practice test I need to take, a 9-paragraph practice test I need to write, 9 words I have to define, a 5-page report, and a surfboard on my hands. It's not all due tomorrow but then again, I have no clue when everything's due.

I would have had time in the lab to work on my surfboard and narrative, but my drama coach pulled me out of 6th period for the past 2 weeks to work on my 5-minute skit. I loved watching all the other performances and performing mine every day, but it came with strings attached: I'm waaaaaay behind.

Lets forget about school for awhile. Let's talk about something else, like theatre. Broadway at Iroquois recently posted its summer season along with audition notices. Imagine my delight to see that teens can audition for CATS, one of the musicals they're doing. Imagine my frustration when I saw that I'm 8 months too young to audition. I COULD be able to audition for Willy Wonka and strut my inner Oompa Loompa, but really...

CATS has been one of my favorite musicals for forever. This is probably the first and only time I'm going to be able to audition for it without waiting until I'm 20, when it might not still be playing, and audition in proffesional theatre. Although competition at BAI is big, I know that there is a bigger chance of being told, "Eh, get lost, sucker" in the big leauges.

If I offened anyone with this, sorry. I'm incredibly frustrated right now, and need to seriously vent off some steam. I don't feel much better, but feel slightly satasfied that I was able to post this and ended up pretty much screaming it.

Nine paragraphs. Probably my longest post ever. (Or close to, although this makes paragraph 10.)

Stupidspacebar is back!

Well, my computer is finally working again. I'm really happy that my brother isn't constantly asking me to get off, and it's really comfy up in my room.

Nothing else happened today, but now you know where I'm posting from again.

Drama Regionals

I had Drama Regionals today. I didn't make State, so I'm not really going into detail about the day. (I really wanted to make it to State---I worked my butt off on my duo act).

One funny of the day, though, was a judge that will remain nameless. One of my said she seemed sort of mean and didn't appear to like her very much, so for the rest of the day, I refered to her as "Judge Turpin".

Here's a picture my mom took of me and my duo partner, Katie (Along with my friend, Jayden, popping in for the heck of it):

Real post tomorrow

See title.

Blog365: Day 38 (I think)

Today had actually been rather nice. I have no homework, my science test seemed to go well, and I've recently added a rather suspenceful character to my roleplay. I think he's going to really add on to the plot, as he totally contrasts Hahnee.

However, I'm still writing this on a time limit. Not to complain, but once my brother gets home, I'm not going be be able to get on at all until tomorrow. It's probably best that I'm not spending all my time on the computer, but I really want to work on my website. It's coming along really well, and I want to perfect it.

Nothing exciting happened today, and nothing will happen. If it does, then I'll probably blog it tomorrow, as that will be boring, too.

Missing the Stupidspacebar

Last night, there was this big storm. Smart me left the laptop plug in the wall, and woke up this morning to find that the laptop had pretty much fried.

Now everbody's back to sharing one computer. I've never really thought about it, but things seem to go easier when we're not really under a time constraint. Mike is usually on his laptop, Mom's doing work/homework/email on the desktop, and I'm either walking the dog or on the old laptop that I moved upstairs.

I sort of feel guilty for complaining about the spcaebar, but probably shouldn't. It was a very annoying problem, but I'd rather have to spend 5 seconds using the spacebar than have "5 minutes left".

Imissmyspacebar.

Stupidspacebar

Recently, I moved the downstairs laptop up to my room and have *forgotten* to put it back down. So far, nobody really cares: mom doesn't use it, dad uses his, and Mike's cool with it as long as he gets to read the Features section in the newspaper first.

I guess the only one who cares is me. I love being able to check my email, message boards, blog, and the dog while in my room (The kitchen, where it used to be, is FREEZING in the winter). However, the spacebar is busted, and you have to hit it RIGHT in the center, or you typing will looklikethis.

For random posts and stuff, it's ok. But Maya and I do some major skittling, and during that time, typos are not OK. It takes away from the funniness or drama, and sort of ruins the line. Seriously. Which would you say looks better?

"Ah, miss...you're so good at untying knots...*realizes what she really intends* SHE'S UNTYING THE KNOT!!!"

"Ah,miss...you'resogoodatuntyingknots...*realizeswhatshereallyintends*SHE'SUNTYINGTHEKNOT!!!"

Pick one? Me, too.

I'm trying to find a keyboard I can use, but have had no luck. Hopefully, I'll be able to find one, or most of my posts willenduplikethis.

Sick

I was home sick today. My throat hurt like nobody's business, and I felt overall icky. However, I'm going back tomorrow, and will be taking 2 tests and going to drama. It's the last drama meeting until Regionals (Saturday), and I'm really excited. Katie and I have worked our piece to death, and we've really improved it. However, we need to find the author. If you know who wrote "a Banquuet of Friendship" starring Lola and Freida, please tell me!

I'm making this post short, as I have to do my homework. (A worksheet plus studying for those two tests.) I'm going to my brother's swimming practice in E'town tomorrow, so chances are, I'll get my homework done early and I'll be able to go to bed by 9. Hmm....that sounds nice.

Happy Birthday!

My mom's birthday was today, and it really wasn't that eventful. We had cake/ice cream (Ice cream cake) and I ate a few cupcakes. I had a sleepover to celebrate the friend Katie's 14th birthday (I had to miss her party), and we accidently baked too many cupcakes.

As far as I know, my mom hasn't uploaded any of her pictures yet. If she had, my post would be longer, but there isn't much else to say. Katie and I stayed up until about 2:30 last night, played Super Smash Brothers, drawing, chattering, and messing around on the computer.

Short, sweet and to the post: Happy Birthday, Mom!

What's that Playing on the Radio?

Usually, I don't know what's playing on the radio. It's usually a lot of rap/Soulja Boy stuff that I don't listen to, so I usually just ignore it and tune into my iPod.

However, today, my dad was listening to the radio, and I decided to join in. Imagine my surprise when I was hearing song after song that I recognized it!

Some of the songs heard today:

-Another one Bites the Dust
-If It Makes You Happy
-Play that Funky Music
-Since You've Benn Gone
-Eye of the Tiger

I feel all musical-rounded now.

Blog365: Day 32

Today was Regionals.

I've been freaking out about them for awhile, and was exeptionally nervous today. Mike said it was basically just a huge swim meet with a fancy name, and considering I've been in zillions of swim meets, I calmed down a bit. However, waiting for my event (19---at pretty much the VERY END!) was rather agnonizing.

My heat was right after my friend Taylor's, so we walked down to the pool together. We were both in 100 backstroke, and I was both excited and nervous. Really nervous, actually.

I've been working on my backstroke start for the past week or so, and I think it's paid off. I got past the flags before taking my first stroke, and my bet that it would take me 6 strokes to get to the wall to flip turn was right. I didn't smash into a wall once.

The race itself, as Mike said, was actually really simple. Swimmers get in the water, place your feet, take your mark, BEEEEEEEP! Then in 90 seconds, it's all over.

Speaking of 90 seconds, I lowered my time by 10 seconds from 1:40 down to 1:30! Also, against 7 other backstroke people in my heat, I somehow got first. Overall, I was 43 out of 57, but who reads that stuff anyway?

Swim season is now officially over. I'm really looking forward to next year, and plan to make backstroke my staple stroke and work on breakstroke or butterfly.

Next Saturday: Drama Regionals! I'm sleeping over at my friend Katie's house, and she's also in drama. We're probably going to go over the script a few times, but we have to get up at 5 AM, at least, so we'll also probably try and get to bed semi-early.

Eagles on three: One, two, three, EAGLES!

End of the End (D)

Think about the title. What is at the end of the end?

In my case, it's January, the first month of Blog365, and swim season! I can't believe that the year is going by so quickly. (Hopefully, it'll continue that way)

Swim season seemed to have gone on for so long, though it only started in November. Despite aching for days due to zillions of flutter kicks, push ups, sit up, and sprints, I think it's been worth it. For one, I think I'm a bit more flexible (Stretching every day has its benefits) and for two, considering I joined at the beginning of the year, I didn't have enough time to sit around at home and moan about school.

It's so weird. Swimming has always been so routine, and I had gotten used to it. I remember back in December, wondering if it would ever end. Heck, I used to be counting down the days until it ended. Even though I'm going to have a lot more free time, I'm almost a bit upset that it's ending. I really like swimming laps, and my dive has gotten a lot better. I've even gone away from freestyle and now swim backstroke---I'm swimming 100 yards of it at Regionals tomorrow!

On the note of Blog365, I think that I've really gotten back into the swing of things since NaBloPoMo. I think I had 5 posts in December, at most, and that's probably because I didn't need to. Even though nobody's going to kill me if I don't follow through with Blog365, I feel an obligation to it. Sort of this guilt if I forget a day.

On on the third end: I just hope the rest of the year goes by just as quickly, so then we can get to spring break, then summer break, then fall, then winter, and it will all turn out quite pleasent.

I'm really looking forward to April. Not that thing is happening (as far as I know), but then my Good Charlotte calendar has a big picture of Billy on it. Then again, so does May, June, and November. We all have our things to look forward to.

Running off Schedule

I've usually found myself going to bed at 9:30 or later. With Regionals coming up, I've been trying to get to bed at 9 or eariler, yet my efforts go in vain.

Today I decided to try and change that. On a piece of scratch paper, in my favorite purple marker, I made myself an afternoon schedule:

AFTER SCHOOL

In this order...
-Hang up towels
-Rise bathing suit
-Dry off
-Walk dog
-Get snack
-Homework
a. Map
b. Discussion Question
c. Math Questions
d. Science pack
-Practice oboe
-Clean up
-Go to bed

In bed by: 9:00 PM
Up by: 6:00 AM

I thought that writing it down would help me go by it, but I still stayed on the computer until 6 or so. However, I did pretty well...ish.

I scratched off everything until "clean up". I'm still working on that, and as I'm writing this, I'm clearly not in bed. Because I'm writing this at around 9:15, I also failed at getting in bed by 9.

However, I did make SOME progress. I got my homework finished before homeroom, remembered to hang up my towel. I actually practiced oboe today, and for a solid 30 minutes. Yet, I STILL can't seem to get in bed at 9!

Tomorrow I'll probably try again. I'm just about to make a new to-do list. Hopefully, it'll actually work.

Rants and Raves

I'm feeling frustrated, so I'm going to rant.

First off- my homework isn't done. We just had a power outage, and only recently have the lights come back on. So much for my hope of going to bed at a semi-decent hour. (The lights just flickered again, actually.)

Second- I'm trying to work on this project for social studies that's due in 2 weeks, and I've found NOTHING. I'm doing a photo album on Thai celebrities. I need at least 10 pictures, and so far, this is what I've found:

-A monk
-A prince
-A king
-A whole lot of strippers (Most of which are wearing bikinis or nothing)

Truth to be told, I've probably found over 20 of those, but I can't imagine getting a very good grade with that, ahem, content. I also have to write a "What I learned" page, and that wouldn't go very well. Most of the people in my group are thriving with tons of pictures (Mainly the one doing animals---Thailand's specialty apparently is having weird animals)

Third- I've recently noticed that a lot of people say "Be yourself to make friends and you'll really fit in." Although it would be great if that worked, it doesn't always. Sometimes "Being yourself" means not watching Disney Channel, not thinking Zac Efron is hot, and thinking tattoos are cool. In that situation, "being yourself", unless you go to Jack Black's School of Rock, doesn't really equal "fitting in just fine". I haven't had many problems recently, but it still bugs me (As you could explain me with the last three definitions).

I've been reading too much American Girl "Susy was an average kid" stuff.

Hmm. 7:50. Homework still not done.

Drat.

God, It's Good!

I've been searching EVERYWHERE for sheet music to Sweeney Todd, and finally, my mom found it! A few days ago, we were in Lousiville, and she offered to look for the music while I was at Bootcamp. In the car, she gave the the book. It was pretty small, and didn't have the song I needed (Pirelli's Miracle Elixir) but it's pretty darn good.

It has Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Johanna, Pretty Women, Wait, By The Sea, and Not While I'm Around. Although I usually use my sheet music for my oboe, I've noticed that due to Sondheim's large note range, my oboe can't hit notes too high or too low. Therefore, I play pretty much every song on flute (Which I'm finally getting---I've been teaching myself since December)

I'm still trying to find a longer version with Pirelli, Green Finch & Linnet Bird, Worst Pies In London, and Kiss Me/Ah, Miss. However, for right now, I'm rather happy.

Bits and Pieces

Even though it hasn't been a very eventful day, I'm trying to train myself to make my posts longer than "Today was boring. Here's a Youtube video".

First off- I finally got my logo up! I've been jealous of my mom with her permanent logo, so I spent some time on it and prettied up the page. I think it looks pretty nice. As usual, I give credit for my little South Park person to South Park Studio

Second thing worth noting- I've decided to officially begin making certain skits into books. Some skits are, in Maya's opinion along with my own, too good for just one version. You could say we're going overboard with The Colonial Skits, though: we have the skit, and we're planning on editing it again, putting it in book form, making it a play, movie (I think), and even an original musical! I found this really nifty program called Finale Notepad, and we're probably going to use that to make the music. It has all the notes and rests from whole to 32nd, ties, slurs, pretty much any instrument you can image, all major and minor keys, a lyrics tool, and best of all, it's a free download!

Third thing worth noting- The mystery website I hinted on in November is nearly done! It's gone through about 5 or 6 re-modeling sessions, and I only recently found the perfect layout. It looks pretty professional (OK, so some of the images are low-quality if you really inspect them---it makes the page load faster), and it's been a lot of fun making. However, I can't wait to get it up and posted!

There was a fourth thing worth noting, but I haven't fully decided if it's worth noting. Chances are, I'll post it in a few days.

Hm. I've done pretty well for a boring day.

Do I Dream Again?

Today was the first day of my third season of Broadway Bootcamp. This time, we're doing a huge, gigantic, enormous Andrew Lloyd Webber fest. The little kids are doing CATS, Starlight Express, and Joesph and the Magical Technicolor Dreamcoat. I'm part of the older group, and we're focusing on - get this - Phantom of the Opera.

We're only doing 4 songs, but I think we're pretty well-rounded: Angel of Music, Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade, and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again. We're actually using masks for Masquerade, so I'm imagining that will be a lot of fun.

I wore my Prima Donna shirt for the first day, and am planning on wearing my mom's old Bolshoi Ballet sweatshirt next week. Every season, there seems to be a prima donna who snags the most and longest solos, and it hasn't bugged me for the last two seasons (Sure---"Where Is Love" was a bit dull and "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" were only solos, but they looked rather nice in the end), but this season, I'm trying to be noticed. This is the first time we've done shows that I not only like, but obsess about. Getting a solo in the open rehearsal would be awesome. I'm actually deciding to sing loud enough to be somewhat heard in voice class this time, too.

I have no idea what the younger kids are singing, but I can't wait to see the final product. Anything Andrew Lloyd Webber is awesome, and Cats sounds adorable with younger kids singing it.

It's going to be a great season!

I wish I could have worn THIS to the first rehearsal:

Oh, Mr. Todd!

I'm so happy, I could, eat you up I really could...

I finally found the video for By The Sea, one of the main reasons I want to see Sweeney Todd. It's low-quality, but hilarious!



Toby building a sandcastle....classic!

We find the defendant...

Guilty!

As I said in my post "To think that I saw it on Mulberry Street", my literature class is doing "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street". Today, we did a mock trial to see if Charlie should go to jail for the death of Pete van Horn. I played Prosecuting Attorney, and last night, my dad gave me some (OK, a lot) of tips and pointers for my case. I walked in the room today with new notes and my mom's black jacket to look all professional.

It was a rather close trial, but the late night paid off! I won the case, because, as the jury put it, "It could have been the President for all I care".

All that Law and Order paid off!

Blog365: Day 23

Although I'm a major-huge-colossal fan of Good Charlotte, there are some songs that I don't like, The Truth for instance.

However, Karen sent me a really cute Youtube video, and I watched it because of her promise of Billy pictures. I was impressed:



(I like Grumpy Billy, Billy playing DS, and Benji and Joel Bear Hug best.)

DancesRoleplays with Wolves

I recently joined a roleplay site about wolves. Maya convinced me to join, so I whipped up a random wolf based on one of my skit characters and hopped in. Here's my wolf:



Name- Hahnee (Means "Beggar" in some Native American language)
"Wolf" age- 17
Coat- Tan with silvery-brown markings on face, back, and chest. Sort of dirty/ragged. Sort of on the skinny side, too, but not in an unhealthy sort of way.
Eye color- Dark brown
Personality- Skittish, loyal and friendly if you know him well, nervous or untrusting if you don’t. Recently out of puppyhood, but not just out. An Anthony-from-Sweeney-Todd type character.

Faboo.

"All About Maya"

I'm talking to Maya as I write this, and she's telling me to talk about her. This is what she wants to say:

"I like musicals. I like musicals. I like musicals. I like musicals. And POINTE SHOES! The end."

There's Maya for ya.

Walking on Thin Ice

Not that I'm in trouble or anything...

Behind and across the street from my house is this little woodsy area with a stream/creek thing. In the summer, it isn't incredibly fun because there's ticks everywhere, and it's sort of muggy.

In the winter, however, it freezes over, and is great fun to slide around on. The trick, though, is that not all of it freezes over, and part of it is slush, really cold water, or paper-thin ice.

Today I walked Ginger down there, and for awhile, everything was all fun and games. Then we walked a bit farther, and it turned into slush. It was getting really cold, so we started sliding back home.

Let's just say I found out that my boots aren't waterproof.

Swim Week

No, not swim MEET. Swim WEEK. We had 2 meets this week, and now I don't have any more until regionals.

My mom took video of today's meet, but hasn't uploaded it yet. However, here's the footage of my 50-yard freestyle on Thursday:



I'm shaking my head in shame at my form. Maybe it's because I was totally neck-to-neck with that other girl for the entire race, but I wasn't really paying attention to technique.

Apparently I'm swimming 100 backstroke at regionals. My backstroke has been declining, so I'm, in a way, freaking out. I'm cool with 50 back, but 100....ugh.

I'm an American Girl!

Between ages eight to eleven, I was a loyal reader of the magazine American Girl. Recently, I say that I've outgrown it, but usually can't stop myself from buying the magazine or checking the website.

The site has 2 sections that I read: "Help from You" and "You Said It!". Every week, a topic or question is entered, and the most interesting, helpful, or wholesome are selected. If I find the topic interesting, I enter something, not really expecting to be selected.

This week's You Said It! was "Amazing Adventures". Naturally, I posted a few lines about my time in Germany, posted the required information (First name, age, and state), sent it in, and forgot about it.

Wouldn't you imagine my surprise when I saw THIS on my screen:

I lived in Germany for two years, and during that time I traveled to more than 15 different countries, including Russia, Italy, and Austria. It was an incredible adventure.
-Annabelle, age 12, Kentucky

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I got posted! The topic changes every Friday, so I'll be on all week. I've never been published before, so I was seriously freaking out.

I think I'm going to take a screenshot...savor the moment. Hmmm...

Tired and going to bed

See above title. I'll do a real post tomorrow.

Good night.

Lazy Wednsday

Today was totally laid back, and I completely loved it. The school library finally had "Firestarter" by Stephen King checked in, and I'm about 50 pages into it. My mom went to the public library and checked me out a few other books, too: a book on Les Miserables, Phantom, and the script to Fiddler on the Roof. The Les Mis and Phantom books also have scripts in the back of them, too!

I didn't have much homework, so I'm planning to do it during homeroom, lunch, and recess tomorrow. I want to curl up in bed with my books tonight.

I coded some more of my site today, and transferred several pages to the new layout. It still remains a work in progress, though, so I won't be posting any more hints! (A few nights ago, I also "save for web"'ed all my images, made them smaller, and decreased quality so it would look the same, but work on more browsers and load faster. Everybody wins!)

Tomorrow I'll probably have more homework, and I also have a swim meet. I'll probably get to bed late and wake up tired and achy.

But today...today was good.

To think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

In literature, we're looking at the script for "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street". Tomorrow, we're doing a trial to see if Charlie was trying to act all heroic like or if he meant to murder Pete Van Horn.

For those of you who don't know the Twilight Zone series, here's the collection of videos making up the episode:

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:


Personally, I like the Lego version better:

Fanthom Phrenzy

I actually got to see Phantom last night! It was incredible, and it just made me even more excited about seeing Sweeney in February.

The cast was amazing, and although some scenes were stronger in the movie (Chandelier crash, for example), "Notes", "Hannibal", and "Final Scene" were all to die for. They were incredibly well done, and I was on Cloud Nine the entire time.

After the performance, I got this really nifty Prima Donna shirt. I'm wearing it right now:

Who Rocks the Blocks?

Knox rocks the blocks!

Yesterday was the 6th Annual Rock the Block swim meet. I was only in 2 events (50 free and 50 back), but I think I did pretty well on them! I increased my time by 1 second on my 50 free (from 37 to 38), but I lost 10 seconds on my 50 back (from 52 to 42). Someow, I won both events.

I also learned something: XYG, as in, "Examine Your Goggles!" On both events, my goggles broke. Seriously.

Maybe broken goggles help you win? Hmmm...

EDITED TO ADD- (5 minutes later) I just found out that Joel Madden is officially a daddy!

"Harlow Winter Kate Madden was born Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz."

Non weekend

I'm blogging about my non-existent weekend tomorrow. I woke up at 6 all week, today I got to wake up at 6:40 today for a swim meet, and I get to wake up at 6:30 to babysit. Then for another week, it's back to waking up at 6.

Wah! (I want my weekend back---I also have homework!)

Swimming stuffs

Yesterday, we had stormy weather, so during swimming practice, we swam for about 40 minutes rather than our usual hour and a half. To pass the time, we had several things going on:

1st: Stretch & duck walk/lunge around the pool several times (I'm really sore)
2nd: Do homework or more duck walking
3rd: Wrote our swimming goals down

Oddly enough, my goal was to "Get back to where I was at the beginning of the season." My time for my first meet was the first time I ever got last, but it was also my best time. I'm currently at 37 seconds for a 50 meter freestyle, and I want to get back down to 34 seconds by regionals.

Some people want to go away from their beginning times. I think I'm about the only one who wants to go back there.

Blog365: Day 10

I have absolutely nothing to post. So enjoy Sacha Baron Cohen's version of The Contest:

Blue Suede Shoes

Well, actually black, white, and hot pink leather shoes with a bit of suede, but I got new shoes today. My boots are insanely small, and I don't want to have to continuously borrow my mom's shoes.

However, today my mom and I went to Pac-Sun and found a really nice pair that are comfy and cute. And they fit.

Nothing else happend today, and normally I wouldn't blog, but I have a Blog365 obligation, so I can't just ignore today.

Blog365: Day 8

I had another swim meet tonight. I cut 4 seconds from my 50 meter freestyle time (From a terrible 41 to a so-so 37), and my relay team is getting better.

Besides that, nothing really happend. School was school-like, and I wish we could stay on square roots longer in math (I'm actually pretty good with square roots).

End of post.

*Insert Witty Title Here*

Today was the first day back in school. I'm trying to start out fresh with an empty binder and open mind (and to occasionally pay attention in math---I sit in the veeeeeeeery back row, so it's easy to get lost).

It's recently occurred to me that for 13 years, between 5 and 18, kindergarten through 12th grade, kids don't really get "time off". The longest time you'll ever have away from school is 2 months, and then your homework level just keeps getting higher.

Yes, I'm probably just negative because the end of break means:

a. Waking up at 6
b. Having no free time AT ALL
c. Homework
d. Paying attention for 8 hours straight.

No, my homework isn't completely done. But I'll finish it at recess. I'm going to bed.

Happy Epiphany Day!

According to Maya, today is Epiphany Day, so what better way to celebrate than to listen to Epiphany?

Attend the Tale (Again)

After creating that trailer, I've been in a huge Sweeney Todd craze. Mainly because I'm not allowed to see the movie.

However, I remembered the Phantom characters I made awhile ago, so I got bored, and went back to South Park Studios and whipped up this little beauty:



I admit that I photoshopped the Beadle's hair to fit the top hat, and I also did up Johanna's dress to make it a dress and not a belly shirt and a skirt. I still give all credit for the pieces to the creator of the site.

For left to right: Beggar Woman, Sweeney, Mrs. Lovett, Toby, Pirelli, Judge Turpin, Beadle Bamford, Anthony, and Johanna

(I didn't find out until I flattened the image that the "flower" on Mrs. Lovett's shirt is actually a marijuana plant. Oops!)

Bassoon-ery

Today I actually decided to get serious with the bassoon. My mom printed out a really good fingering chart, so I sat down with the monstrosity of an instrument and played for about 20 minutes. However, I played hard. I had never really gotten any further than the first two pages on my method book before, but I tossed the book aside and pulled out my trusty Lion King sheet music. I tried "Can You feel The Love Tonight", but soon deemed it rather difficult. I chose "be Prepared" instead.

Now, after a good long session of straight bassooning, I think I've actually accomplished something. I can play about half of the entire song, and I can play about a quarter of it fluently. Tomorrow I'm planning on forcing myself to spend an hour on that song and just plain nail it.

Next stop- "Music of the Night"
Final destination- "March of the Heffalumps"

Anthony! (Todd, Todd) Anthony?

The only thing worth posting at all today are a few pictures I scanned and edited for Maya a couple days ago. I was obsessing about Jamie Campbell Bower over the phone with her for the past week, and I got a really good book about the Sweeney Todd movie with lots of Jamie-Anthony pictures. She wanted a few, so I scanned them and sent them to soon hear her squeal with delight. Have a nice squeal yourself:

Attend the Tale

The Sweeney Todd Movie Site has recently become one of my favorite sites. It used to have nearly all the music on it, it had a cool design, and the ecards are adorable. (How about a snack with heart?) Recently, they added another feature: the trailer-maker.

Maya told me about it, and I decided to mess around with it for awhile. After about an hour, I came up with this:



Personally, I think it's pretty good.

I can hardly believe I'm doing this

My mom convinced me to join Blog365. As in posting every day besides February 29 (We get a day off because of Leap Year.)

My New Years resolutions were actually pretty average before Insane blogging got on the list. It mainly consisted of finishing my website, writing a really good skit, learning Flash and Java while improving my HTML and CSS, working on and primping the websites that I made when I was 7, attempting to get a good grade in math, staying same, etc.

But now I have to blog. Daily. I find it really hard to find something to post weekly without mentioning something about school drama. I am looking forward to seeing my blog post-level to rise above double-digits, though.

"Let's post until the Internet explodes."

Santa Klaus

Because of that site I'm making, I've recently been searching for a lot of pictures. Most recently, I've been looking for pictures of the Baudelaires from A Series of Unfortunate Events. In my attempt, I stumbled upon a really coll art site: Page One Page Two

I've had a lot of fun clicking around, and here are my favorite pieces: (I'm jealous of the mad skillz of the people who made these)


Luna Lovegood

Klaus Baudelaire (Actually the picture that brought me to the site)

All Three Baudelaires

Snape on Valentine's Day

Harry and Cho

"Little Kiddie Snape in Bad Weather"

Viktor (My personal favorite---the artist said she hoped he didn't look too much like Santa)

Click around the site---it's really cool!

Random Silliness

I've noticed myself watching videos and reading a lot of about Nicole Richie recently. Normally, I wouldn't, but I've been interested ever since she started dating Joel Madden. Ever since they started dating, I've been really surprised how much she's accomplished and straighted up.

I've also been flipping through my blog archive. I came across one post in which I posted four mini-skits, two by me and two by Karen. As I was reading one of mine, I was surprised to see one of my posts:

Joel- Well, I don't know....I'm already engaged to someone who has been in jail several times, done drugs and made me dye my hair like Cruela deVil....*sobs* MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR!!!!


While I do still have the same opinion on his old haircut, I was shocked to see how different my opinion on Nicole has changed over the course of 3 months. Really.

So, Nicole, if you read this blog (which I highly doubt), take no thought in that comment. Skittlers...they think they can do EVERYTHING...

NaBloPoMo Aftermath

After 30 straight days of blogging, posting daily has become a sort of habit. Really. It's almost 8PM the second day after NaBlo, and I should be doing one of the following:

-Reading my literature book
-Working on my Geography map
-Reading "A Christmas Carol" so I can land a good role when my literature class performs it
-Showering
-Cleaning my room

What AM I doing? Blogging! I have absolutely nothing to blog, yet I have this insane urge to post something. This is going to become ridiculous, as I'm going to be feeling guilty for not blogging on days that are incredibly busy. (Such as swim meet days)

I suppose I just don't want to fall back into my post-every-three weeks mode again. Now that I've begun blogging, I really enjoy getting comments and just writing random stuff. So I suppose I'm becoming post-protective and not letting a day slip without me posting.

Now, when I go away for the weekend in like, two weeks, THAT will be interesting. Chances are, I'll have to bring a pen and a notebook so I can write my daily entry and then copy it into my blog. Desperate much?

Memories of Germany

Probably the main way I start liking bands is when I hear them after I've forgotten them for about three years. I listened to "Bring Me To Life" when I was 8, and now I'm a huge Evanescene fan. I've been listening to "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous" since I was five, and that got me to star liking Good Charlotte (Recognizing "Predictable" sealed the deal, though).

Well, today, I was prowling roleplaying boards online until I came to one entitled "Band Roleplay". I wasn't going to join, but I like reading other people's roleplays. My ears nearly perked up when I saw one person arguing with another person about being a member of Oomph. I remembered them from Germany, and I remember this one song of theirs being on MTV a lot. I didn't remember the name, but I remembered part of the song had "liebe" in it, so I figured to search Youtube for "Oomph- liebe"

I just found it. The music video is just as I remember it.

If you want to watch it, here you go:

Hug Your Blog Daily

That's what my mom asked me when it became around nine: "Did you hug your blog today? Better be hugging it."

Posting everyday actually wasn't as major a pain as I thought it would be. At first, I thought I was crazy for signing up for NaBloPoMo, considering that prior to November, the most number of posts in a month was five. Chances of me blogging every day seemed slim.

Yet, I remind myself that once I publish this, I'm done: no more constant blogging, no freak-out, quick, last-minute posts, no more daily blog hugging.

I think I'm going to miss it.

So I think I might try and continue it. I mean, not daily or anything, but periodically post something interesting, cool, weird, etc.

Then again, I've gotten slightly bored with what's going on with me. I think that, actually, I'll give Rodents on the Roof another chance and post another edition of Rodent Report

Hey, I just published this. NaBloPoMo 2007 is officially OVER.

4D Dream: Sight, Sound, Smell, and Touch

I had the absolute weirdest dream last night.

It wasn't weird as in the fantasy pokemon legend dream I had a couple nights ago (Don't ask), but weird as in so realistic yet so impossible.

Most of the dream is kind of fuzzy now, but I do remember the main part: I was the exact age I am now (12) and my mom was letting me get a tattoo. Scratch that---TWO tattoos, both right next to each other on my upper right arm.

Let's get one thing straight. I think tattoos are pretty cool. I think it's stupid to just walk in, find a design you like, and paint it on, only to hate it five days later. But still, some people can pull them off really well. (Billy Martin, for example)

The part that made it so weird was the fact that my mom would NEVER in a million years sit next to me as I got all tattooed and even encourage me to keep going ("Come on---just two more inches and you'll be done!"). I mean, I've told her about the fantasy my friend Karen and I share about getting our hair dyed black and some other neon color when we're 18 and 19, but in my dream, I WAS STILL 12!

Scary thing is, I felt the needle. It hurt. A lot.

Quadruple Reed

You know how a couple weeks ago, I was moaning about how my oboe stopped working?

Well, I sent it in for repairs. It had a pad missing. It was replaced on the spot. Before the repairman left, he decided to drop off the oboe that my mom decided to rent because we thought that my regular oboe might be in the shop for a few weeks.

So now I'm stuck with not one, not zero, but TWO oboes! It's kind of strange, considering on Tuesday I was oboeless and today I'm...oboeful. It's kind of like growing two inches overnight.

I have the second oboe for about a month, unless we decide to keep renting it and eventually keep it. During that time, I plan to take advantage of my two oboes and keep one at home and one at school. Might as well make use of it.

However, I'm still contemplating which oboe to use for the concert based on difficulty and sound quality. Some girls may obsess about which pair of shoes to wear to the mall. Me? I don't have time for silly things like that! I'm busy debating which reed to use.

A Typical Day

I've noticed that sometimes I might say "Sometime around 4th period..." or something like that if I'm referring to 4th period at school. It just hit me that none of my readers really know what 4th period is for me! So as a boring but informative post, I'm posting a normal day in the life.

6 AM- My brother wakes me up by turning on the lights, filling my room with blinding light. If I feel energetic (Which I usually don't), I'll get dressed. If I feel lazy, I'll eat breakfast in my pajamas---the closest thing I can get to Breakfast in Bed.

7:30ish AM- I'm in homeroom usually reading, writing in my agenda, finishing my homework, or doing absolutely nothing. Good enough for me.

1st period- Geography. It's my favorite and best subject, and I really like my teacher. (He's cool!) We're usually reading the next section, discussing the previous section, taking a 12-question quiz, or working on our group projects (My group is doing Russia.)

2n period- Band. I really like my 1st-4th period classes, so I'll just say that and be done with all the "I like this class because..." stuff. I play oboe, but am considered a flute because there's only four flutes and only one oboe. I'm also the only double reed. Woo hoo!

3rd period- Literature. We usually do hands-on stuff with the stories from out textbooks, such as trials, skits, vocabulary games, etc. We just started reading circles, so we're taking a break from our regular textbooks and reading actual books with our groups. MY group is doing "Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry".

4th period- Science. It's also lunch and recess, so it's kind of a short period. Still, it's interesting and I understand a lot of the concepts I started on in 5th grade a whole lot better, such as chemical reactions.

5th period- Math. We tend to spend two days on a section: one to do problems from the textbook and one to do word problems. It makes it easier to know what to expect.

6th period- Language Arts. We're currently doing a lot of Power Point things, which is kind of hard because I know absolutely nothing about Power Point. I'm alright with Word, but all the snazzy stuff some people can do in PP? I can't understand I a bit of it.

7th period- PE. Currently, we're focusing on Flag Football, and we've done Frisbee, soccer, and basketball. I've heard that about once or twice each quarter, we play DanceDance Revolution, but so far there's been no word of it. I hope we get to do it, as I'm pretty good at it.

After school- Swimming, piano and beta Club, drama, bassoon, or just plain hanging out. I'll get cracking on my homework at around 7.

10 PM- Lights out!

Hopefully, tonight will be earlier...

Scales and Arpeggios

I started piano lessons today.

I also started Beta Club, but I had been waiting for piano lessons more or less since I started to teach myself piano. I'm all right at it, but not amazing. Hopefully it'll help me figure out bass clef a bit more and help me on the bassoon (Which is also going well---I know four notes and can play "Mary Had A Little Lamb")

My teacher is really cool and is letting me kind of pick up where I left off. I'm a lot more fluent with treble clef now, so that'll help me out a fair bit.

I know it'll take a while, but I have some sheet music in my piano bench that is slowly collecting dust. I'm hoping that in a few months I'll be able to dust it off and actually play it full way through without spending five hours decoding it.

5 More Days!

I can't believe that I've made it to the final 6 days of NaBloPoMo. I nearly slipped up on day 2 (Day 2! How pathetic is that?!) but managed to post something (As you saw).

I made my new logo this morning. I got bored with just having me be in the picture, so I made a green guy to be an elf, shrunk him, and scattered a few on the picture. I think it looks a lot nicer. I also really like my off-white background: it makes things so much easier to read and it just makes the screen look cheerier if that is even possible.

Hey, go me! I posted before 9 this morning, and now I only have 5 more posts until I'm DONE!

It's kind of strange having 25 posts in November and having one in October. In second place for month with most posts is June, with five. Huh.

In Need of a New Look

Well, now that Thanksgiving's over, I've decided to change my blog up a bit. I'm still choosing which theme to go with, so if the new layout isn't up soon, it means I'm still arguing with myself. However, I am planning on making the background white and giving myself a Wintery theme.

Once again, my logo is courtesy of South Park Studios.

Sneak Peak

I'm currently making a website. I'm not using any fancy text editor to do the dirty work for me (such as Dreamweaver, Freewebs, or Yahoo), but just plain old Notepad. A lot of people would say that that sounds hard, but it's easier and better in the long run. For example, as long as I pay the server fee, my site won't have ads, I won't have to put anything about "I'd like to thank (blank) for coding my site", and, most importantly, I can make my site look just the way I want it to. (And, of course, I can brag about my mad coding skillz.)

I can't give too much information on it (after all, what's life worth without little surprises?) but I can tell you that it has pictures of Phantom and Christine.

Yup, you guessed right: it has something to do with Phantom of the Opera. It's not a fan site, though...keep guessing! Guess! Guess! Guess!

The Post About Thanksgiving

Considering my Thanksgiving was rather low-key and uneventful, how about you see two viewpoints of Thanksgiving in Masquerade World*?

Maya's Skit
(Everyone is in a hustle. Thanksgiving day)

Raoul-(on floor doing 3 piece jigsaw puzzle) Why doesn't the turkey head fit on the pumpkin?!!!

Phantom-Okay, if we add some potatoes, and bread, and cheese, and--(diingdong) That must be the babysitters! (Annabelle, Quinn, and Maya walk in)

Maya-Sheeesh! It's chilly out!

Barney-Oh the weather outside is frightful,

Raoul-But Raoul is so delightful

Both-And Since we've no place to go,
Paint our toes, paint our toes, paint our toes!

Phantom-Break your nose, break your nose, break your nose!

Both-KEEEEEEEEEN!

Meg-Huhhh...I knew it'd never work out that they married each other, barbie, and ken....

Phantom-Uhhhhh...(covers up) want to help with some place mats, Maya, Quinn, Annabelle?

All-nodnodd

Barney-Want to help with the place mat making?

Raoul-Or maybe cookie baking!

Both-And Since we've no place to go...
Watch us pose, watch us pose watch us pose!

Phantom-Stomp on your toes, stomp on your toes stomp on your toes!!!!!

Both-BAARRRRBIIIIIEEEE!

Christine-Uggh, I hate them!

Charlotte-(very cute and shyly, still in Christine's stomach)
I just love my family, (loud)
AND HATE RAOUL DE CHANGY!
(quiet)
And Since we've no place to be,
Hug Daddy, Hug Daddy, Hug Daddy.

Crowd-AWWWWW!

Raoul-HHHMPH!

(M, Q, and A are babysitting Raoul/Charlotte)

Quinn-(listening to music on her ipod. blurts out little bits occasionally. Annabelle is frustrated. Maya is pacing) And when you look at me.............................you and...............LOOOOOVE YOUUUU!

Annabelle-WHAT THE....(she was apparently sleeping)

Maya-Quinn, I know that you are obsessed with Leonardo Dicaprio, but...turn the music down a bit, and maybe don't think of him so much, especially when--

Quinn(sings louder)- LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!

Maya-Annabelle is--aww, forget it...

Annabelle-Replace Leo with Viktor, will ya???!!!

Raoul-Now, if I put the Turkey head ON the Turkey butt...(working on the jigsaw.)

All 3-RAOUL!!!!!!!!!!!

My Skit

(Christine and Phantom's House- 274th floor, the Kitchen)

Christine- My oh my! You girls DID buy a lot of food for the feast! Just how many people are coming?

Annabelle- Um, 16 or so?

Christine- *sigh* Well, at least we're almost done, as we only have fifteen more minutes until people start arriving. So help me get this giant pumpkin pie in the oven!

All three- (Maya, Annabelle and Quinn) OK!

(Fifteen minutes are up, and Christine, Annabelle, and Maya are setting the table)
Christine- Oh, dear, Maya, can you grab Raoul's booster seat? It in the pantry.

Maya- Surely! *goes and looks for it* Uh, it's not there.

Christine- It must be! Quinn, have you seen Raoul's booster seat? Quinn?

Maya- Oh, dear-

Quinn- (standing on booster seat, holding a megaphone) IT'S 2:00! THOSE LAZY GUESTS ARE 23 SECOND LATE!!!!!! HOW DARE THEY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Maya- Quinn, calm yourself! The guests will arrive shortly.

Quinn- But I don't wanna wait- WOAH!

(The door opens. In comes Meg and Madame Giry. The door opens so suddenly it knocks Quinn off.)

Quinn- Pretty stars!

Christine- Oh dear! Quinn, are you all right?

Quinn- Ugh.....

Annabelle- *pours cold water over Quinn*

Quinn- COLD!!!!!!

(Everyone has sat down to dinner. Phantom is at one head of the table, Christine at the other. Raoul isn't in his booster seat. Besides those three, there are Meg, Madame Giry, Annabelle, Quinn, Maya, Harry, Viktor, and several others)

Phantom- Before we begin, how about we all say what we are thankful for! I'll begin: I'm thankful that Christine dumped Raoul and married me.

Christine- I'm thankful that Maya, Annabelle, and Quinn helped me cook dinner.

Annabelle- I'm thankful that Phantom is letting me do a special "musical performance" with a few others...he he....

Phantom- I never said that!

Quinn- I'm thankful that we invited Vikky!

Viktor- I'm thankful that I'm not sitting next to her. *points to Quinn* or her *points to Annabelle*

A&Q- What?

Maya- I'm thankful that we survived so many other things from our previous skits and adventures!

Meg- I'm thankful that people adore me. I can't help it that I'm popular.

Madame Giry- I'm thankful that people invented swingsets.

Violet- Ding dong, Olaf is dead, Count Olaf is dead!

Klaus- Ditto.

Sunny- Gskljri! (Ditto ditto)

Random Durmstrang guy- I'm thankful that-

Phantom- Hey, we never invited you!

Durmstrang guy- Can I stay? Puh-LEASE?

Phantom- Whatevs.

Durmstrang guy- Yahoo!

Phantom- Raoul, your turn.

Raoul- I don't want to.

Phantom- Raoul, you're being difficult.

Raoul- I'm not thankful for nothing!

Phantom- You're thankful that I'm not strangling you this very moment!

Raoul- No, not thankful for that, either.

Durmstrang- Barney?

Raoul- Nope!

Christine- barbies and bratz?

Raoul- No!

Annabelle- That rock and roll is here to stay?

Phantom- Annabelle, not now.

Raoul- No no no!!!!!!

Quinn- I give up! What about candyland?

Raoul- I can't go to candyland, so, no.

Annabelle- That you have a passion for fashion?

Phantom- Cookies?

Durmstrang guy- Me?

Raoul- What he said!

Dumrstrang- HA! *laughs at phantom* he likes me better than you!

Phantom- your loss.

Narrator- And then the feast went well and uneventful besides an escaping frog, Raoul dancing to "Let's get in started" on the table, Bob, Barbera, and Steve almost being part of dinner and Annabelle suggesting that they all play 7 minutes in heaven.

*"Masquerade World" is the world in which all skits take place in. No matter whether its Egypt, Colonial America, a Good Charlotte concert, or whatever, it's always somewhere in Masquerade World. Most skits, such as this one, are in the capital, Masqeradia. That's what Maya told me, at least.

Clean (Fake) House

Even though there is nothing exciting happening around here, it is my obligation for the month of November to post every day. Therefore, I must post about my day with cleaning-mania.

My grandparents are coming for Thanksgiving, and normally, my mom tries to clean up the house a bit when we have guests. However, it seemed that today was extremely hard and long. That's probably due to the fact that my dad is out of town, and he is the main cleaner-upper. My mom is probably second, then me, then my brother. Trust me, I'm great at keeping my room clean. all the real "cleaning" I have to do is vacuuming. The rest is picking up and restoring the room to its original state. (To put it short, I'm more of an organizer than a cleaner.)

We weren't organizing today. We were cleaning.

I offered to help out with the bathrooms, but I must admit, I'm awful when it comes to cleaning products. "Glass Wipes" and "Surface Wipes" are both just "Wipes" to me, so smart me decided the clean the mirror with a surface wipe and dry it with Kleenex. Ugh.

I did also have to pick up my room, which for as long as it took, I was actually glad that I had the slightest clue what to do. I also love just watching the mess get smaller and smaller until it looks perfect! (For some reason, I prefer to clean my room when it's really messy rather than when it's just slightly messy. It motivates me more.)

On other topics, my friend Maya has probably granted me the "Weirdest Talent" award in the Awards Ceremony in her head. She found out the other day that I could fluently read, write, and translate "chatspeak". Would you like a sample of my mad skillz?

lyk, lol!!!! t4@t 1$ lyk s0 w31rd! 1 6@n @6tu11y typ3 ths p01nt13$$ $tu7! 1m 1337!

Translation- Like, laughing out loud!!!! That is like so weird! I can actually type this pointless stuff! I'm elite!

$tup1d, p01nt1335 t@13nt, 3h?

(Stupid, pointless talent, eh?)

Rock and Awe

I attended my first (sort of) concert today.

I'm saying "sort of" because:

1. It took place during 6th and 7th period
2. It was part of the school day
3. Nearly all the lyrics were rewritten to some DARE moral (Not a bad thing)

It was a bunch of police officers in "The Street Fleet". I couldn't help but thinking "Fleet Street", but still, it was pretty cool.

I went kind of insane---shaking my hair back and forth, clapping my hands wildly, squealing, and standing up. A lot of people in front of me were surprised that I wasn't always the neat as a pin, straight-A goody two-shoes. I think a fair bit of perspective was changed today!

Urg! Ugh! Blech!

My oboe seemed to of died on me this morning! Realize that there are 2 levels of freaking out for this situation: there's the age-old "Crud, my oboe isn't working anymore, so let's try and find another one." and "Oh em gee! My oboe isn't working, and that one major Christmas concert is in 22 days!"

Hopefully, the oboe will decide to work again, but worst case scenario? I have three options:

1. Not turn up at the concert and get a bad grade (Not freakin' likely)
2. Learn the parts on the flute and play with the flutes (Not too bad)
3. Learn the parts on the bassoon (I currently know 3 notes)

Then again, the music consists of mainly 6 of seven notes. I have experience with double reeeds....hmmm...

This may become an obsession...

...bassoon videos! These are a few of my favorites:

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?



Hedwig's Theme



Super Mario

Halfway Done

Today marks the end of the second full week of NaBloPoMo! I can hardly believe that I'm actually committed to it and haven't slipped up yet. I have made a few late-night posts, but have still gotten them all turned in on time. To celebrate, here's the video of me totally PWNING my swim meet today:

Lost and Found

Good Morning Revival is probably my favorite CD ever.

Which was why I was completely flipping out when I couldn't find it!

I was trying to draw Joel Madden (He ended up looking like Van Gough) when my brother came into my room, glanced at the paper I was copying from, and made some statement about how he should upload GMR on his iPod. I just kind of muttered, "Sure," and finished my drawing.

When cleaning my room the other day, though, the CD and its case were both GONE! I had no idea what could of happened to them, so I soon gave up hunt and decided it would come up one day.

This evening, though, it did come up! My brother had his talent show, and he played Canon on electric guitar. He had a CD accompanist, and after the show, he handed it to me, and I glanced at what it was in. Faintly, behind the CD, I could see "Go Mor R".

I demanded WHAT the heck he was doing with my Cd's, and he just told me to chill. I'm cool with him using my stuff, but it would of been nice to know about.

Now I have the case back. I have five dollars that mike is currently ripping the CD on his iPod and will turn up after he has to borrow space on the disk for his recording.

Swim, Forrest, Swim!

I had my second swim meet tonight, and I left with a lot of a better mood for the season.

For one, I had cut my time by about three seconds. With last night's cut of 10 seconds, I'm really doing good!

But for another, I think I got second or third place. Out of six, three of them who supposedly breathe water or something. My legs were killing me about halfway through my last 25 meters, but I remembered that that was what put me in 6th last time, sucked it up, and sprinted.

Now, I'm really pumped for Saturday's meet! (But then I'll enjoy a non-swimming weekend)

Not Sure What To Call This

My friend Karen and I skittled this afternoon. Karen doesn't skittle a whole lot, but she's really good! It's also nice to have a break from romantic drama in the historical skits Maya and I write.

Here's a snippet from "When GC Attacks":

Deano- *hangs out in the back with Paul* This is so stupid....yet so amusing...

Paul- Totally.

Deano-I got 5 bucks on Joel. What about you?

Paul- Oooh, I'm voting Billy. He's a tough little guy...

Deano- He's taller than you!

Paul- Don't rub it in!

Deano-But look how skinny he is! Joel's got huge arms and Billy's got, like, spaghetti noodle arms!

Confused? Be so. This has a really weird plotline.

And no, Billy, we don't really think you have spaghetti noodle arms. Neither does Deano.

For Maya

"Everybody deep down in their heart likes pointe shoes."

That's what Maya says, at least. She's as obsessed with pointe shoes as I am with Billy Martin. I don't know much about their dynamics, so here is a little chart:



It supposedly has layers of glue, paper mache, and burlap. I don't know. Ask Maya. (Ehem, comments.)

Good night!

*SniffleSniffle*

Over the past few months, my friend Maya and I have been writing a skit entitled "The Colonial Skit". Soon enough, it got so long, it turned into a full-length play, with two complete acts! Still, whenever we wanted to work on it, we still asked "Wanna skittle?" rather than "Wanna continue writing the play?".

Last night, a huge event in skittling history occurred.

The Colonial Skit was finished.

We have written another historical skit-play, "The Egypt Skit", but it has never been officially published, edited, or put into one email. Therefore, the Colonial Skit has broken several skittling records including:

• Longest Skit (1852 words long)
• First Historical Skit
• First Skit to Include a written, book-form epilogue

We're considering making the skit into a musical (Just putting some music to it when it fits the mood) and, more importantly, a book. We're really excited about all the possibilities that the skit has, and we can't wait to do them!

Then again, Maya and I can't believe that it IS actually over. We kind of miss working on it. Hmmm....sequels, anyone?

Spread the holiday joy...

...but don't get TOO wrapped up in it:

Don't Interupt me Long

I'm in a really good, intense skittling moment. Want to join it?

Juliet-My sampler is of a snowflake.

Beatrice-Mine is of a grape, see?(holds up a very realistic sampler of a grape)

Joseph-I don't have a sampler.

Scarlett- *is actually working on her sampler because she just figured out how to change colors* I'm not sure what mine is...there's truth yet no logic. (Her sampler is a circle with flowers, animals, and swirling colours)

Juliet-It looks like....wow, it's...so abstract and unique!

Meagan-Hmmph. I don't like abstract things. They should have order, like me.

Scarlett- Thank you, Juliet. I felt like doing something out of the ordinary, rather than a flower garden.
*glances at Juliet's sampler* My, what a lovely snowflake! I strongly considered doing a snowflake...so delicate...and after all, no two snowflakes are quite alike.

From the Colonial Skit.

Bits and Pieces

Not much time to post, so here's a little picture I made the other day using the South Park Studio.



From left to right: Carlotta, Meg, Raoul, Christine, Phantom, Madame Giry, Firmin, and Buquet. Click to see a full-size picture.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

Well, according to Yahoo! weather, it'll be partly cloudy, but that's not the point.

I'm still sorta sick, but I'm really, really, REALLY excited about tomorrow. Yes, even though I will have 4 or 5 tests in school. A day full of tests for me is actually kind of nice, because it keeps the day rolling and by the end of the day, all the tests will be DONE! (A very encouraging thought)

But the main part I'm excited about is the afternoon. Right after school gets out, I'm going to have my very first bassoon lesson! For those who don't know what a bassoon is, it is an eight-foot long red instrument in which some of the Winnie the Pooh music is played on. It looks like this:



I've been dreaming to play bassoon since the fifth grade, and now is finally my chance! I've been playing the oboe in middle school band, and I can only get a sound out of a double reed. I tried flute and I tried saxophone. Both were incredibly hard for me. When I tried the double reed with the oboe, it was perfect. Double reeds rock!

After my bassoon intro, I'm going to rush over to my old school to audition for a drama/academic team my math teacher last year is running. It's called Odyssey of the Mind, and basically, you're given a problem that you solve by writing an original skit, making props and costumes, and performing it. I hope I make it!

Once my day is over, however, I'm spending the night at one of my best friend's house! We're planning on playing our instruments (She plays the flute, so we can play the same music. it's really fun!), making bracelets, eating leftover Halloween candy, playing Playstation, just hanging out, and watching Criminal Minds. We've been planning this for about a week, and I can't wait!

Hey, that's my first full-length blogger post EVER! Hoorah!

I'm Sick

I was home sick today because my throat hurts really bad. I have a headache, and I've spent most of the day cuddled up in bed watching Law and Order and reading, which is not incredibly blog-worthy. But there's my post. Goodbye.

My Boring Day

First real post in awhile. Hoozah!

My friend Katherine left today, so I was late for school because I wanted to say goodbye to her at 9 this morning. However, my dad made pancakes for breakfast, we got to sleep in, and all was good.

Because I was absent yesterday, I ended up with a bunch of homework, most of which I'm still working on. My list is:

• 6 literature questions
• Several vocabulary words to define and my thoughts about a biography on Elanor Roosevelt
• A section in geography to read
• A few notes about Russia
• A PE current event summary
• Studying 2 PE vocabulary words (Actually, memorizing word-for-word)
• A concept map, 8 vocabulary questions, 10 multiple choice, and 6 free-answer questions for science
• A double-sided science sheet

Currently, I've scratched 3 items off the list. Only 5 more to go *whootwhoot* The bad part is, I'm really tired....ugh.

Hopefully you've caught on to my titles

Well, actually, today is the last day I'll have to put close to nothing in my blog post. To make this NaBloPoMo worthy, I'll post everything I did this morning:

-I played DS for about an hour (Nintendogs, Wild World, Harvest Moon, Zoo Tycoon, and WarioWare to be exact)
-I woke up at around 6:30
-I ate three mini packs of peanut M&Ms
-I also ate about two Reese's.

My mom told me to blog about my interesting life. Doesn't sound to interesting, does it?

See past two posts for title

It's either 10 or 11 (stupid Day light savings time), and I don't have much to post. Here's my day:

• I had pnacakes for breakfast
• I watched Playhouse Disney for about 3 hours
• I walked the dog
• I played waaaay to much GameCube
• I ate me some chocolate

There, NaBloPoMo, there's your stupid post. I'm going to bed.

Short and To The Point

Hey, peoples!

I can't make this very long (nor will my posts be long for the next few days) because my friend Katherine came over for the weekend. We're watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and will probably watch many more movies as well as making time for knitting, reading, and just hanging out. I'll still do my NaBloPoMo, but they won't be long or interesting for a couple days.

In other news- I'm seeing my invisible* friend Maya this December! I told her and her friend Quinn today over the phone, and she completely FLIPPED out. We're so excited and are planning a sleepover with Quinn, a late-night-take-shifts costume-making night, and performing skits. We can hardly wait!

*I consider Maya my invisible friend because we've never seen each other, and the only reason we know each other is because Maya' mom is on the same message board as my mom. We're nearly twins and have only known each other for a few years!

Runnin' Short on Time

Woah, if tHIS is the NabloPoMo pressure, I don't know if I like it. However, I decided that you guys can enjoy stuff I enjoy. So watch the music video to my favorite song.



Faboo.

(I just LOOOVE when Joel grabs the rose and it turns black. Soooo dramamtic)

Good night!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fort Knox

It's priest,
Have a little priest.
Is it really good?
Sir, it's too good, at least.

For the last few months, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been my favorite musical. Old-time readers of my mom's blog will know that when I like a musical, I usually dress up as a character for Halloween. When I was 10, it was Rumpleteazer from CATS, and this year, I decided to be Mrs. Lovett, Todd's pie-making partner in crime. I didn't have anyone to go out with, though, so I asked my friend Matthew if her was interested in trick-or-treating with me. he declined until I found out he didn't have a costume. I told my mom, and after about 10 minutes of brainstorming, came up with a couple ideas:

• Black-eyed P (Yes, P, not pea)
• Game show contestant (OK, that was Matthew's idea)
• Ultra Ordinary Boy

And finally, our last suggestion was for him to wear black pants and a white shirt, allow us to get some ribbon for suspenders and a fake razor, and be a five-minute throw together Sweeney Todd. He loved the idea, and a few days later, got this as a product:


We also got in the spirit to dress up my dog, Ginger. Chicken pot pie, anyone?