Ready for the weekend

Yes I am.

This week has been so incredibly slow and hectic. Two days normally seem like nothing to me, but these seem especially long. Two entire days off: it's my kind of vacation.

Checking off the list

I'm actually beginning to flip out a little bit here.

I usually try to go to bed at nine, as to not be wicked tired the next day. Usually, that isn't a problem, as any homework that I have tends to take ten minutes or so.

Not the case tonight.

So far, I've had:

- German Review, sections 1-7
- Algebra I: increase and decrease percent, problems 1, 3, 4, 5
- Finish English writing prompt (If you suddenly aged 10 years)
- Study for science vocabulary test tomorrow
- Study for Kapitel Drei test in German (again, tomorrow)
- If possible, looking over this duet I wrote for band

I had to miss orchestra rehearsal because I knew that with about three hours out of the house, I wouldn't be able to do everything. I've been working since about 4:45, and I've so far accomplished:

- German review
- Algebra

The vocabulary test shouldn't be that hard, as it's only ten words that are in my notes. However, I'm really going to have to cram the German tonight---a lot of the test is "listening", and the tape that we have to listen to I swear was recorded by Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter. Not that I DISLIKE Tim or Helena, but they can be kind of hard to understand.

Oh, and they usually talk REALLY quickly.

I'm probably not going to be able to practice bassoon tonight, and I still have to put my laundry away. I'll have blogging out of the way, but that's only ONE task on my agenda.

Heck, I don't even have time to put my stuff on Remember the Milk, which is supposed to help you do stuff.

It's about ten minutes until seven. I had high hopes that I would finish my homework before then so that I could watch Edward Scissorhands before bed. That doesn't exactly seem likely, so I'm moving the deadline for the prompt up to eight. Then I can watch SOME of it as I get ready for bed, and look over my science notes as I watch. I'll pause every once in awhile to study my German (and I mainly just need to look over my vocabulary to prepare myself for "Timo Burton", as I call German Tape Speaker), and HOPEFULLY still get to bed by nine.

Hopefully.

Tired

I stayed up rather late last night watching the election. I mean, I'm glad I did (And even more glad with the outcome) but going to bed at 12:30 AM doesn't exactly mix with waking up at 5:45 AM.

Oddly enough, I've been feeling great all day. I wasn't tired, and just did what I needed to do all day.

Until now.

I have Youth Orchestra tomorrow, and I haven't exactly practiced my music much. I also have a German test on Friday, and a pretty big review that I need to do for it. I planned to bassoon tonight, and then tomorrow do all my homework and studying.

I think I've changed my plan. I believe that tonight I'm going to enter some of my music into Finale and check how it's supposed to sound. I mostly have tempo problems, and that's just with one song.

As for my German? I'll have some time tomorrow. I probably won't bring it to school, as it isn't due for another day, but I'll have time after school, in the car, after rehearsal, etc.

Goodnight.

Things I ought to be doing

- Studying my German vocab
- Studying my English vocab
- Going to bed soon

Rather, I am:

- Watching the election (Things are still tense, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Obama!)
- Talking to dad via mom's webcam
- Checking on my Adium, hoping that Maya or someone else will sign on
- Wondering what's gonna happen next in Lés Miserables (I'm on page 188 today---started at 46 this morning. Best. Book. Ever.)
- Blogging

Hopefully, I'll be able to concentrate sooner or later and get the Der-Die-Das thing under control and remember the difference between "Delusion" and "Reluctantly" (I do know them...but I need to check them out anyway)

Catching up on Google

Every so often, I scan around the blog and notice fads where I've posted tons of pictures or random content about random things. Examples include Kynt Cothron, Billy Martin, Orlando Bloom, and Missing Triplets. Then, finding these things, I search them in Google and see how far up I am in hits. I've been the first Kynt Cothron image hit (and still am on the front page) before, and many other things.

Search "Guten Aben", though, and I'm your second hit. I'm on the bottom of the front page. I'm the fourth for "MTP news".

You know what I'm the first hit for?

"ilikehats.blogspot.com"

Never would have thought that, would you?

NaBloPoMo: Day Two

I think I just had to most teenager-ish day ever.

I woke up at about nine, and spent about an hour and a half online, catching up on boards, emails, Photoshop, YouTube, etc. Once summoned away from the laptop at about eleven, I showered, put on my glorious green corduroy pants (And I mean REALLY green!), and walked the dog.

I was feeling lazy after eating so much junk for the past few days, so I decided to walk Ginger around the soccer field rather than just up to the school and back. Upon returning home, we "helped" my mom hook up the sprinkler for the grass. My friend Sarah was walking HER dog, so we talked a bit outside.

Once she put the dog (Cooper) back in the house, we remained outside with Ginger, as it was a rather warm day. We eventually decided to go inside, in which activities varied from eating Halloween candy, singing/playing "Be Our Guest" on the piano, and discussing our views on Christmas and what we might get for people.

Once she went home, I cleaned my room---but didn't vacuum---and walked the dog around the soccer field yet again. After the walk (and dinner), I went upstairs and practiced bassoon. I even used GarageBand and recorded some of it.

Now, I am blogging. I'm about to do the little bit of homework that I have, and I'll probably go to sleep by around nine tonight. All things considered, that's not half bad!

So that was my day. Boring? Yes. Blogworthy? Not exactly, but for our purposes, yes.

A whole new world...

...of YouTube musicians:

Forgetting the obvious

Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking.

I'm here in bed, coding furiously at a page that will simply not look like, and wondering what to blog. Oh, sure, we did go out and canvas in New Albany, but you can easily catch up on that on my mom's blog.

Then it hit me.

It's the first of November.

It's NaBloPoMo.

DUH!

Although the Internet probably won't explode this month if it hasn't already from everyone posting for an entire year, it'll still be fun. I just sent my blog in for the blogroll, and doesn't my button look just dashing?

Happy Halloween!

Happy day to all on my favorite holiday!

I was Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas:



And Mike was Joe the Plumber:



Katie-Perchick (She was Perchick from Fiddler on the Roof for Halloween) is sleeping over tonight, and we're currently watching---what else?---Nightmare Before Christmas. Then, if the sugar from the candy holds up, we'll watch Edward Scissorhands. As we fall asleep, it'll be Fiddler on the Roof.

"What a wonderful combination of movies," says Katie.

Halloween '08 was a success. I have to admit that I'm gonna kind of miss the buildup. I absolutely loved ABC Family's "13 Days of Halloween", where they claimed that it was a variety of Halloween movies, let's face it---aside from The Adams Family, it was just a big Tim Burton marathon, and you know how I love me some Tim.

It was absolutely GREAT this year, but as they say in "Poor Jack":

"And I just can't wait until next Halloween!"

PS- Katie says, "And we're gonna watch The Great Pumpkin next year!!!"

A day in the sick ward

I was home again today, mostly as a recovery day. I feel much better, and I believe tomorrow (being Friday) is a great day to go back to school.

I spent most of the day lounging in bed with Ginger. We (meaning me) performed several non-demanding tasks, including:

- Editing my Flickr page/deleting old "photos" that are part of the older MTP site design. (If any of you are going through the archives and see a picture missing, please tell me which post it is!)
- IMing Quinn
- Attempting to edit PDFs
- Listening to "Dark Waltz" over and over again for no reason
- Watching Memoirs of a Geisha on YouTube---and having to go to TWO channels, as one cut it off at part seven or nine. It was a high odd number.

Sick, but not sick enough

I don't exactly like being sick, per say, but I have to admit that on the right day, it does feel really good. I'm kind of in the middle.

Like, today, I felt horrible. After a day in bed, I've kind of gotten better. But right now, I feel insanely tired, my stomach feels gross, my back hurts, and I just feel gross.

I suppose it's kind of a two-way deal. Tomorrow, I'll probably be well enough and sick enough to either suck it up and schlep through the school day or have a recovery day. However, if I do decide to schlep, then calling home for the recovery day is kind of out of the question, as that's the nature of recovery days. You either take then full or don't take them at all.

So now I'm trying to figure something out. I'm not sure if I want to be sick tomorrow or not---like I said, I hate being sick. But going to school after one day of sick leave is kind of tiring, since you're not entirely fine. On the other hand, I don't want to be seen at the Kid Skipping School. By doing that, though, I also don't want to have to go half-rested.

Now I have contemplation.

Wasted (Day)

Maybe not technically "wasted", but I did spend my entire afternoon IMing people. I kind of feel like I should cut myself some slack, though---I haven't talked to my IM people in forever. It's been nice being able to actually work on MTP, my roleplaying site, and figuring out if random MTP ideas are good or not (A couple of them, yes, some more, no)

Tomorrow I'm going to have piano, Musical Theatre, and probably homework. It was nice to have today as a little mini-cation, though.

Having a case of the "Hmm"s

I'm brainstorming random ideas that probably suck for MTP. Visitor rates went down again, so I figured that if we all started adding content like rapid fire, they might rise up a little. I'm deciding to actually film the little movie that I've been planning, just on my Mac's webcam. After all, I can just edit what would NEED to be edited in iMovie.

So far, I've got a few guides in the process of idealizing, but I need to get to bed soon. I have to present a German project tomorrow, and I'm kind of nervous. I have it pretty much down-pat, but...still. I wrote a lot of the content today, being the procrastinator that I am.

Hmm...maybe a downloads section or something would be good.

Multitasking

Right now, I am thinking about, doing, or helping with several things right now, to include:

-Blogging
-Cleaning my room
-Bassooning
-Updating a roleplay
-Sewing my dress for my Halloween costume (Actually, my MOM is sewing...but I'm passing her the right sheets of felt to sew)
-How I'm going to finish my German project due Tuesday
-Spirit week next week and
-If I'm going to be busted for wearing school pants and a non-school shirt for Dress UP day

Expecting foolish fun

My friend JoAnna (From Beauty and the Beast) is spending the night tonight! Sure, we're probably not gonna stay up all night...but there might be random outbursts of stupid laughter from time to time. (JoAnna says, "Actually, we promise it.")

Waiting to fall asleep

I'm listening to "A New Argentina" right now, and just waiting to get tired enough to turn the computer off. So far, it might be a few more minutes...

Or a few more videos.

I just hope it's soon; we kind of have to wake up kind of early tomorrow.

Meet Molly!

This video brightened my day:



"What a cute dog."

Big thanks to Katie!

My friend Katie just posted on her blog a very nice post about Missing Triplets. Visitors are beginning to come back, and we've even had a visitor from Malaysia! That makes two foreign countries that have visited MTP.

I follow Katie's blog almost daily, and I totally love it.

As I promised her, in return for her awesome post, I'm providing a link to her blog in this post, and it's also in my sidebar.

Visit Adventures of an Unschooled Girl!

Thanks again, Katie!

Lost and found

As many of you know, I've carried my hat everywhere. Like, NYC, Syracuse, Florida, you name it, and its been there. It's a rather special hat.

I've also taken it to school several times. Granted, I can only wear it on the bus on either side of the day, but I've always done it for some reason. Once I enter the building, I take it off, put it on my jacket pocket (which is in my locker) and don't worry about it for the rest of the day.

Today, though, apparently the hat either slipped out of the pocket or someone broke into my locker, because apparently the hat wasn't there. I didn't realize this until fifth period, when I found it.

Someone put it in another kid's locker, who took it out and tossed it on the floor in confusion. I examined it, and once I saw the velvet ribbon and "Trixie" tag, I knew it was mine. Sure, he apologized for tossing it on the floor, but I think it's almost good that he did: otherwise, I'd have lost my Special Hat.

Talk about a stroke of luck! I'm still not carrying my hat to school anymore.

Cookies!

My new favorite video, staring Bea/Quinn:

Why am I so freaking tired?

I've done nothing active all day. I swear. I've walked the dog, I've cleaned my room, I sorted some catalogs (And read a Pottery Barn Teens one; one can only dream, looking at the huge rooms with fancy furniture), and something rather strange.

I took all of my stuffed animals out of the net and tossed them onto the floor. I then sorted them into separate piles and categories, such as Anteaters, Hello Kitty, Neopets, Diddl Maus, etc.

Once they were all in their neat little piles, I waited a few minutes and admired them. Then, in no order at all, I tossed them all back into the animal nets, keeping the pillows on the bed (I have a lot of little pillows that were up in the net).

Good night.

Requesting advice

How does one lure people to their site?

Cause Missing Triplets has not had any visitors at all for three days straight.

I've entered it to search engines, the URL is in everything I can possibly put it in, and I tell people about it all the time. Still, nobody's visited!

Therefore, I am asking you, as my dear readers, if you know of any secrets or articles to get more page hits. This no-visitors-for-three-days is really starting to put a lull on my weekend, and it'd be nice if things could go back up.

Or if you don't have advice, maybe click on the link I provided and wait a few seconds so that it appears like I've had visitors. Cheap? Probably. Easy? Sure thing. (I'm just kidding, by the way)

My latest obsession

Nightmare Revisted! (Sally's Song, at the very least)



We got "Boo'd" tonight, and our goodie bag was filled with a nice variety of assorted Halloween stuff. I put most of it back in the bag...but snagged this for the nail polish right off the bat; mostly for the nail polish, but I might retake my Marilyn Manson shot sometime when I'm bored.

What does Sally look like?

Mom, that's the best answer I could find.

Favorite Book #2

The World of Henry Orient.

My mom's been bugging me to read it for years, and last year she actually went out and bought it. I read the first few chapters, thought it was wicked-boring, and tossed it aside.

This year, though, I needed a book for a report due Friday, so I reluctantly picked it up. I finally finished it, and here's the report:

The World of Henry Orient was written by Nora Johnson and takes place in 1950's New York City. The two main characters are Marian Gilbert and Val Boyd, two thirteen-year-old eighth grade girls. Marian's parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother ("Wimpole," as Val calls her) and Boothy, her mom's friend. Her life is plain and boring, unlike Val's. Marian spends her mornings surviving Norton School and her afternoons eating butterscotch sundaes at a local drugstore. Val, on the other hand, has rich parents whom she rarely sees, and she lives in a boarding house with an artistic couple, the Hamblers. She mysteriously leaves Norton every day before school is let out to see her Dr. Braintree, her psychiatrist. She's also very fond of playing the piano.

Despite their differences, Val and Marian become best friends. Trouble arises though when they go to see a concert by pianist Henry Orient at Carnegie Hall with Ms. Gilbert and Boothy. Val finds herself obsessed by Mr. Orient, and, not able to keep her crush secret, finds out as much as she can about him with Marian. They learn where he goes after concerts and in his free time, what is his favorite place to go for fruit cups, and much more. As they find these facts and put them in a "Bible," problems with Val's mental health and within their friendship become bumps along the path, but nothing prepares them for Val's mother's complete disapproval of Val's obsession and "the Bible".

The climax begins when Val and Marian decide that Val has to meet Henry Orient in person to free herself of her guilt and obsession and to get her life back under control. They go through New York City at night alone, going to Henry's favorite places, his concert, and eventually, to his apartment building.

One of the themes of this book was that not all problems are black and white but are often a shade of gray. Val is often confused, troubled, and occasionally depressed throughout the book. Marian gets annoyed at Val's moodiness but has to try to keep a level head to help her friend. She doesn't know if she totally understands Val and her problems.

Although the plot took awhile to get off the ground, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I didn't especially find the first few chapters very invigorating, but after they went to the first concert, things became really interesting. I thought that I was really able to connect with Marian, though, which I really liked. I know what it's like to want to help one of your friends, but whenever you try, they find a way to be difficult. My favorite part of the book was when Val and Marian drew Val on cardboard, cut it out, and burned it, therefore "burning away Val's demons." One of my friends and I did something similar once, so I was able to relate.

I would recommend this book to any teenage girl who's confused about her school life, friends, herself, and where she fits in. The way that Nora Johnson wrote Val and Marian makes them so lifelike and realistic, and you can quickly see yourself as either one of them and your best friend as the other. In that way, it was almost like a nonfiction memoir. Although it doesn't exactly give any answers to problems that many girls have, it puts those problems into just enough words to fill thirteen chapters.

Just like I promised

It's the Karen and Alicebelle Show!

Home Again!

We rolled into the back alleyway at just about 6:45 tonight, and we're all just unpacking and readjusting. I'm also uploading a video of Karen and I---probably what I'll wind up blogging tomorrow. Tomorrow is right back to school (5:45 AM---ew) and the beginning of the second quarter. Christmas Break doesn't seem too far away!

Road Trip!

In about thirty minutes, we'll all be in the car on the way to Alabama and, eventually, Kentucky. Fall Break has been nice, but I'm actually kind of excited about starting the second quarter (And being that much closer to the end of the first semester). I still have to read The World of Henry Orient in the car for a book report due Friday---I want to write it in the car---but I think that in the 16 total driving hours that we have, I'll be able to squeeze in a movie or so and work on my new script just a smidge.

Look out, Fort Knox---we're coming back.

Florida---Saturday

It's our last day! We're watching Into The Woods, and I'm trying to find out who played Little Red Riding Hood, as well as how old she is.

It's been a nice break, but I'm ready to go home.

LOL of the day

UCF

Long day. UCF was hot.

Got two new sheet music books. One's for bassoon/trombone.

Have seven minutes until midnight.

Florida---Wednsday

Today we continued Mike's Let's-Look-For-Colleges trip by visiting UF. After some serious parking issues (The tour guide actually suggested not bringing a car if you go to UF), we were all kind of in a bad mood about it.

However, the tour and college proved to be really nice! I know they mainly ran over the good points, probably skimming over the negatives, but they seemed to be pretty well-rounded. I think I'll be giving it some consideration when it's time for me to start looking at colleges.

Directed by me

My latest YouTube video:

MTP News

For those of you who followed Rodents on the Roof, you may have noticed that I haven't posted in forever. If you're a pessimist, you might have decided that it was dead, and the rodents would never be heard of again.

Well, in my ongoing attempt to add as much content to MTP as possible, I took a good look at the Rodents skits---skits being the key word. They were short, yet rather funny, probably good for younger readers who either

A) Had short attention spans or
B) Didn't want to/weren't allowed to read Quinn's flirt sessions with Robert Pattinson

I spent most of the afternoon today editing seven of the eight posts (I skipped the one with Ginger, but might add it sooner or later). Now, when you go to my skits' page, you can see each of them, proudly proclaiming their *NEW* status.

I also began adding the art section. I'm asking around on IM for pieces to put on the site (Rather than sending out a huge mass email---when people come onto Yahoo! or AIM, I ask them for submissions). Right now, I have five pieces of mine that I rather like. Quinn's getting a self-portrait in soon, which is going to be cool.

On other note: Mike got his driver's license today!

Go Dogs, Go!

Today was the Dog Party at Hal and Desiree's house. We brought Ginger to hang out with their dogs Willow (Golden Retriever) and Panda (King Charles Cavalier Spaniel), and she had so much fun! Panda is actually Ginger's size, so they seemed to enjoy each other's company as they ran around the pool in endless circles.

Ginger seemed to get anxious whenever Mike and I got into the water. She'd start barking like there's no tomorrow, and would stop when we swam over to the side to pet her. Eventually, we thought she wanted to come in, so I held her and slipped her into the pool. She stayed in for a few seconds, then scrambled to the pavement.

However, that apparently wasn't good enough for her. A few minutes later, after even more ear-piercing barking, she sprang right off of her short legs into the pool. I wish we could have filmed it---it was epic.

Tomorrow, I might be seeing Karen for the first time in about six months. If I don't then, it'll be Tuesday. Either way, we're having lunch with Grandma Grace and Dave tomorrow, and we're all excited!

Film Fest 08

Today was our Movie Day.

We began with my DVD production of Beauty and the Beast, which took us until about mid-morning-to-noon. Minutes later, it was followed by War Games. I wasn't such a huge fan of the very beginning, but by the end, I was pretty close to going to some hacking site and learning how to do more with my Mac than PowerPoint presentations.

Right now, we're watching The Breakfast Club special features (We already watched the movie). I liked it a lot more than I thought I would---watch me add Judd Nelson to my List of Obsessions, right next to the Pink and Black Attack.

Tomorrow we're headed to Hal and Desiree's house for a Dog Party with the non-injured Ginger. We're all excited!

Posting from Florida!

We made it to good old FL! We had Bellini's for dinner (Their manicotti is heavenly), and we're ready for a nice week of food, visiting, and watching the Presidential Debate.

Stay tuned!

We're off!

It's about 5:45 AM right now, and I'm just about to get ready for school, as always.

However, Mike and I are being picked up at around noon to go home and prep for the drive down to Alabama!

Hopefully I'll have a better post tomorrow, filled with nice little travel stories. As for now, see you Friday, Florida Peeps!

One Midnight Gone!

"Slotted spoons don't hold much soup."

Tomorrow we'll be in Alabama! Once THAT Midnight has passed, then we'll be on our way to Florida. It's coming up really soon, people!

Oh, and I promised Karen that I'd post a picture of her and ask all you good readers: which celebrity should she be for Celebrity Day for her school's Spirit Week/Homecoming?



(That's her with Nat from "HeartBeat Boys")

"The Amazon Truck is a-comin' down the street..."

On Sunday, I ordered some stuff from Amazon for the trip down to Florida (TWO days until the trek starts!). Although it was supposed to come tomorrow, seems like I got lucky.

Here's what I got:



For those of you who can't see the titles---and I don't blame you, as it was hard to position them all when I only have means up taking pictures through my computer's internal camera---it's Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, The Prince of Egypt, and Nightwish's CD Once.

I'm really happy to have these for the long drive, and even happier knowing that said long drive is only two days away!

Three Days

Three days exactly until we head down to Alabama, four until we tow down to Florida!

Guinea pig squeaks!

Weekendend

It's the end of the weekend!

I have to admit it, though---it's been a REALLY GOOD weekend. I got Misisng Triplets up, was able to webcam-chat with Quinn, edited some skits, got some clothes for our trip down to Florida (Five days!), and was able to see all of my Youth Theatre friends this afternoon.

I'm actually not dreading school this week. It ends on Thursday, and actually, I'm being picked up at about noon on Thursday so that we can roll into Alabama at around dinner time.

All I really have to do is a German oral presentation tomorrow. Then it's mostly going to be a lot of in-class work, like every day. I'm not entirely sure if we're doing a SECOND oral presentation in German (I think there's some Family Tree we have to do, but I'm not entirely sure).

Florida peeps---can't wait to see you!

Missing Triplets Productions

Remember that website I told you about last winter? Well, it's finally up. It's actually BEEN up for awhile (I bought the domain at the very beginning of September), and Maya, Quinn, Karen, and I have worked our fingers to the bone finishing it up this month.

It's a really big deal for all of us, but I think I have a little more sentimental attachment to the site (And yes, I know we all love it dearly). I did edit it over the series of a year, though, taking it through many layouts, trying to host images temporarily on Flickr (They're still there, I think---I should probably take them off sooner or later).

Anyway, if you're interested in the link (Which you should be), it's Missingtriplets.com. I think it turned out really well, and we're adding stuff all the time. After all, we're gonna keep writing skits, as well as adding original videos, art, stories, and more.

Well, it's no longer a secret. I've just let the cat out of the bag to my immediate world; now go tell all the people in YOUR immediate world to tell THEIR people, etc.

You're probably going to be hearing a bit about the site now that it's public. Hope you like Barney and Phantom!

Coming Soon!

I am, at least.

Fall break is only six days away! Florida peeps, looking forward to seeing you. I'm bringing the bassoon!

97

That's how many days until the end of the year, and, more importantly, Blog365.

All that aside---as I can have an emotional post when we get to, say, fifty (Only 47 away!) or even NaBloPoMo. I'm about to work on a paper for English on the Mayans; yes, English class. About the Mayans. Don't ask. It's a rather short report, as the only requirements were to have five paragraphs. Sometimes you need a break from trying to be an "overachiever".

This reminded me of my Youth Theatre times, for obvious reasons:

My Big Backyard

I was absent from school again today, mostly as a recovery day from Monday and Tuesday as well as not whipping out my go-bang-stay-awake energy before the funeral today.

However, I was upstairs in bed---probably watching Nightmare Before Christmas---and my mom yelled for me to come downstairs, get the dog hooked up to her leash, and come to the front. Curious (though mostly confused in the dazed sort of way), I did, and saw she was out with her camera.

Apparently, there was a fox on the opposite side of the street. The pictures she put on her blog are kind of blurry and remind me a bit of the pictures of "Bigfoot" and the video of La Chupacabra (Yes, I know I didn't post quotation marks around La Chupacabra). Still, it's pretty cool.

Oh, and she also got a picture of George.

Playing the piano

I ought to get sick more often.

Apparently, when I'm sick, I'm more creative. I created The Website's current layout when I was sick about a month ago, and today I was absent again. Therefore, I used AccessColor to make sure there was difference enough between my colors and stylesheet, then validated the code for EACH PAGE. Maybe that's just busywork, but hey---I learned the DOCTYPE was important. (I also figured out a better navigational system).

Odder yet was when I sat down at the piano this evening. I messed with a couple of songs I knew---"On My Own", "Beauty and the Beast", etc. However, then I actually started improvising. It might have sounded a bit better, but I've tried improv on piano before, and it didn't turn out well. This time, it actually wasn't half bad. I used some of the rhythm things that I've been thinking about over the week, but aside from that, I figured out whether to hit Bb of F quick enough to keep a little natural pace.

Kind of impressed with how it went, I tried piecing together a few songs I've enjoyed recently; "Children Will Listen" and "No One Is Alone" from Into the Woods, "Jack's Lament", "Sally's Song", "This Is Halloween", and "Making Christmas" from Nightmare Before Christmas, and "Ice Dance" from Edward Scissorhands.

Some went better than others. I've figured at least part of the melody for "No One Is Alone", "Children Will Listen", "Sally's Song", "Jack's Lament", and "Making Christmas". Sure, I found the first eight notes for "Ice Dance", but I don't really consider that "figuring out the melody".

I'm kind of surprised that I actually got to some of the possible bass clef lines for "Sally's Song", "Making Christmas", and "No One Is Alone". I have the definite first four bass clef notes for "Sally's Song", and the rest is mostly just "This sounds nice, even though it probably isn't what the real line is".

I can't figure out an Andrew Lloyd Webber piece or Evanescene song to save my life, even though I have sheet music. (Yes, I know that these guys are awesome and stuff, but other people just write more complicated stuff that make the orchestra beg for mercy.) However, I'm figuring out all of these Danny Elfman and SONDHEIM pieces by ear.

Is that weird?

Mom was right

I'm sick, and you're getting an LOLcat.

Blog365: Day 264

I suppose my mom's blog revealed the only news of the day, depressing as it is.

Other than that, all I can say is that I attempted to validate the website, edited one or two more things to put up, and listened to/watched a "Tibby and Bailey" video put to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. Tomorrow I'll wake up at 5:45, and thus will start Week Eight of the first quarter.

Last Midnight Homecoming

Not technically, though.

For the past three years now, I've spent Homecoming night alone at home. I actually kind of like it; nice a quiet, house all to myself, free to eat a little ice cream...

Tonight's activities consist of web design, looking for free versions of "Ice Dance" sheet music, and listening to said arrangements. Nothing terribly exciting, but a nice way to end my homecoming alone streak, cause I'm gonna be a freshmen next year! (Oh my gosh, I'm gonna be a freshmen next year)

My Place in the Sun

You know how a couple years back, my mom did this rapid Google search to see where her top hit was? I just found mine. In image search, of all places.

Many of you probably have caught on to the fact that I'm more or less obsessed with Kynt Cothron. In my attempt to make the world realize how awesome he is, I've been sending pictures around (Much to some of my friend's moans and groans) with cries of "Isn't he GREAT?"

Tonight I had to recruit Karen, so I googled Kynt Cothron in image search. After finding the picture I wanted, I noticed something odd; my blog logo was the last result on the first page.

Noticing I was on to something, I continued by searching Kynt Cothron hat, which bumped it up to the third result on the first page. Excited, I made the final search on Kynt Cothron hats and presto: I was the first hit!

It doesn't prove much besides that I've posted Kynt's name over and over again, but hey---it gave me a day's worth of post AND a feeling of accomplishment, no matter how useless said accomplishment is.

Something Finished

Maybe my day overall wasn't that much better than the last two (I think I'm getting kind of sick---I'm sore all over and freakishly tired), but there were a couple things that were actually pretty nice.

- Youth Orchestra. Playing bassoon for an hour and forty five minutes? Awesomeness!

- I finished this group project thing I had for social studies! I don't have a picture of the back (Which actually looks rather nice---the Democratic Donkey is walking down the 'Road to a better America' with good things about Obama in the crowd), but here's the front:



Personally, I wanted to do some major photoshopping for the back with said Donkey on said road: I would have loved to put Obama's face as the sun, like this:



And then, in no particular order, I'd put the faces of Palin, Bush, Cheney, and McCain in these little critters, possibly RIDING the Donkey to a Better America:



Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Nothing to Report

My idea that I would have stuff to post today was a blow. I'd rather not go into why my day was on the lower side of things, but yet again, I don't want to treat you all to another LOLcat.

Therefore, I'm just going to say that piano was fine, I didn't have any homework today, and I didn't faily my German vocabulary test. That's about it.

Feeling Blue

So here's an LOLcat to count for today's post:




I'd normally write more, but my idea for a post got...called off, so to speak. Hopefully, better content tomorrow.

This post was brought to you by procrastination

Yes, even with my beloved Remember the Milk, today I became the victim of procrastination. I could have spent my non-homework day studying my German or Science vocabulary, bassooning, practicing piano (Even though I did get about 10 minutes of practice on the ancient little keyboard in my room), or various other activities. Rather, I just edited my iTunes library by adding album cover art and grouping things together.

I feel like a failure.

Tomorrow WILL be my do-stuff day, much like Sunday was. I'll piano, bassoon in all four books/folders (Band, Youth orchestra, Disney Classics, and Weisenborn for bassoon lessons), practice my German vocabulary (I'll have my Science quiz tomorrow and won't have to worry about vocabulary for that class), and maybe even vacuum my room if I feel that good. Perhaps, if I have time, I'll also work on the website (Ever since it really got off the ground and with a little reminding from Maya, I've been trying not to say "my site"), send out some mail that I need to send, and finish off the day with a little DDR.

I guess I'm not alone, though. Looks like Mike had a fairly lazy day to kick off Homecoming Week:

Don't forget the milk!

I just joined Remember The Milk, and so far I totally love it! I've noticed myself just doing stuff so that I can cross it off---it's really fun, even if it is just click-press C-click.

I like it a lot more than plain written to-do's, as you can set up separate lists of to-do's that you have. For example, I have Personal, Music, and School right now. You can set due dates for all of them, as well as setting up priorities. They are then displayed by name, due date, or priority.

If, by any chance, you don't Complete a task by the due date you set for it, it is set as Overdue and is kept up, probably at the top of your list or in red or something. Even still, if you even forget to check THAT, you can set up a way for it to remind you. Right now, it's set to my AIM, so when I sign on to iChat with a missed task, a message will pop up reminding me to get OFF iChat and go do that task!

I haven't messed around with it very much, but I think I'm really going to like it! If you're looking for a to-do-er, I'd really suggest that.

On a more school-y topic, I have a book report tomorrow. I had to make a prop for my presentation, and I spent today and yesterday here and there finishing it. Anyone want to guess which book I'm doing?

Aubrey (Punkmoney)!

(If you are not Aubrey, then this post probably has no relevance to you. Still, just need to post this out)

Hey Aubrey (Not roleplay Aubrey---blog Aubrey)

I noticed that you set your blog to private, and I'd love to be able to still read it! I'd usually email you, but since I don't have your email, that makes things a little hard...

Just in case you still read my homey little blog, I just thought this might be the best way to both get a post out of the way AND tell you that I'm still a fan of your blog. Please gain me entrance!

-Alicebelle

Posting Actual Content

Okay, so I might have kind of cheated the past week, having every post contain a video, a picture of Kynt Cothron, or information on Kynt and Vxysin. Today, though, it'll be a REAL post.

I've been working off and on on The Website, mostly waiting for a couple people to turn in a few things. I'm also messing around with a few HTML, CSS, and HTACCESS codes. Total gibberish, I know, but it's pretty cool! I think I've gotten one to half-work, actually. I need a couple test pages to see if it really will work out. It's a really useful little gadget, and if I can figure it out, that would make my day. Then I'll set up a Sitemeter, make a couple PDF's, and if all things go according to plan, it'll all be finished by either the end of September or beginning of October.

There's also a few DreamHost gadgets that I need to ask my site people about, too. They have this package that lets you download a bunch of different widgets and gizmos (Polls, forums, e-stores, etc.), but it'd probably be best to ask everyone before I go downloading something I know hardly anything about and possibly corrupt the site.

I also have a book report that I have to do over the weekend. In my dreams and fantasies, I'm going to make a video of me practicing for it, as well as capturing the script I did awhile ago. Of course, I usually procrastinate on these things, so the possibility of making two videos in the same weekend is kind of a distant daydream.

I'm also going to be bassooning and piano-ing a fair bit. I have a lesson either tomorrow or Sunday, and I have to be ready for that. (Just found out---it's tomorrow morning. Haven't looked at bassoon book all week. Gulp. So much for "getting ready".)

All right, so that's five paragraphs, no pictures or videos. That looks pretty good for an uneventful day!

Just so you know

I'm watching the 12th season of Amazing Race. The Travel Channel, for whatever reason, is showing reruns of it. It really aired in 2007, but they decided to replay it.

I just thought I'd inform you so you don't all think I'm losing my mind. I do realize its an old season.

Oh, and even though I know the outcome, this little button still made me happy:

"Leave Vxysin alone!!!"

I just watched the second episode of Amazing Race tonight, and as expected---there was a fair but of jabbing at Kynt and Vxysin (The team I'm pulling for).

Considering I had nothing else to post, I decided that I'd throw a slightly Chris-Crocker style message. My idea?

"Leave Kynt and Vxysin alone!"

Of course, I'm being pretty sarcastic here, as you can probably (read: hopefully) tell. I probably would be doing this for, say, TK and Rachel if I supported them and kept a keen eye to see when TK was on. However, I don't.

Tonight, there was something in Holland where one member of your team had to vault over some bog...thing. Kynt, obviously not a very physical person ("I'm actually kind of prissy"), finished it on his second try. Even then, there was a mutter of "Let's see if Pinky can do it".

You'd probably get a better post if I could think of anything, but I can't. I have a science test tomorrow, and that's about it. As for now, don't go dissing my two favorite "gothic Energizer Bunnies"!

Anime!

Okay, I usually hate Anime. The only ones I've EVER liked at any point in time were Pokemon, Hamtaro, and Digimon. YuGiOh, Fruits Basket, and any of those other ones are just plain out of my mindset.

However, I admit for wanting to see some Anime films.

Spirited Away



Princess Mononoke



And Howl's Moving Castle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hbntEofuT0

(Embedding didn't work for that trailer)

Sore Feet

If I had a theme song right now, this would be it:



Character shoes do not agree with my feet---which mind you, already go in. I suck at walking in high heels, and dancing in them isn't any easier.

Ow.

The Weekend that Never Was

The weekend is REALLY over? I personally think we should have at LEAST another three day-break. Four days was great...but three would also be nice.

I spent even MORE time today on the website that my friends and I are making (;-) to Maya), and things seem to be looking good! We're hoping (Or at least I am---I'm going to assume positive intent here) to launch it by the end of next weekend, at latest. Of course, if I can never get a 404 error to work, that may be extended...

I have a science quiz tomorrow which I actually haven't studied for. It's ten vocabulary words, though. I really don't think it's going to be that hard if I study for it during BAT.

I have nothing exciting to report, though. I cleaned my room a couple hours ago; something I've been meaning to do for weeks. Here it is, all nice and pretty:

Lab Rat

I feel like a rat. Literally.

I'm going to be up fairly late tonight, working on my website. I learned how to do popup windows, which I'm actually not using...but it's a nice thing to know. I guess I just got inspired to finish it up before the end of the month. The way things are looking right now, I might finish it by the end of the weekend.

Once I do wind up finishing it, you can rest assure that I'll provide a link and a post for your enjoyment. However, until then, you're just going to have to wait some more.

New Kids on the Rock

Yes, it's a lame post. But I just thought I'd share one of my favorite videos here:




Find more videos like this on Hollywood East TV

Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons...

I joined the E-Town Youth Orchestra today on---what else?---bassoon! We're currently working on some songs for our Christmas concert, and the queue looks really impressive. We have a Dvorak piece, something called "Jupiter", and even the Star Wars theme lined up! We've only started the Dvorak piece, and so far, it has some pretty mean bassoon solos!

We're adding a couple cellos and a tuba next week, but this time it was just me and a cello for bass. Apparently, they haven't seen a bassoon in the orchestra for awhile, because quite a few people said something along the lines of either "So great to have you" or "Oh my gosh, we have a bassoon".

I think it's going to be a challenge, but pretty fun! I need to work on about six notes in my range, (Two of which I can hit but can't remember the fingerings for) work out some rhythm things, and then I'll be more or less set. The music we're playing sounds REALLY nice, and it's great to be playing with a piano and---even better---strings.

In other bassoon-y news, I'm switching instruments. Yes, I'm going to stop oboe in school and completely dedicate myself to bassoon. I'm really excited about making that my main instrument---it's been my dream since fifth grade!

Raining on My Parade

Every other day, I cross over from the Middle School to the High School for German. So far, it's been going pretty well. I know I'm going to have to bring a REALLY BIG sweater for when winter comes around, but that's cool---I have said really big sweater.
What I'm NOT prepared for is rain. It poured for the first time today, and lets just say the crossing was NOT fun. My friend Katie and I decided to go the "covered way". It was covered---for about ten feet. Then it was just as wet, with the bonus of walking on either soggy grass or through a huge puddle. Ick.

Besides that, the only thing going on with me is that I'm watching reruns of Season 12 Amazing Race. I meant to watch it last year to watch the goth couple from Louisville---Kynt and Vxysin---but it fell off my radar. For some reason, they're re-showing it, so I'm taking that as my opportunity to see how they do.\

For those who don't know of them, here they are:

Guten Aben!

Not entirely sure if I spelled that right. Anyway, I have a German test tomorrow. I think I'm going to do pretty well---just have to look over a few things. I know the vocabulary, so that shouldn't be an issue. I know the verb endings ("e" or ich, "st" for du, "t" for sie, so on and so forth), and I know a lot of the phrases. I think that the main thing I'm doing is just making sure that I'm not going to mess up on where to use Sie and where to use Du. Of course, then there's spelling...

Then I have a social studies test on Thursday. I'm not sure if I have anything Friday---hopefully not. Two tests in a row might not be as bad as three in the same day like last week, but it's still not very fun!

Postponed

Yes, I told you I'd have a video up today. However, I wasn't able to film today---my mom was really busy helping my brother with a project due tomorrow, and it was my dad's last day.

I'm going to try and film throughout the week when time permits, and when it's up, I'll definitely post it. Sorry for the delay!

Not An Editor

I finished that 70+ page document last night! Starting out at 15,000 words and 103 pages, I've taken out duplicates, extra words, and all sorts of junk that was looked over before to 11,000 words and 78 pages. Personally, I'm rather proud of me.

I'm now spending more time editing my scripts. I finished one today that I'm shooting tomorrow with my mom's help (She said she'd hold the camera/monopod. I'm hoping we have a mini-tripod somewhere, though). I have a few more rough drafts going, some of which will probably never be finished. I'm adapting a lot of ideas that I would make skits into movies now---I'm getting a lot of ideas, and its really fun! It's going to be harder when I have videos that require more than one person---like this untitled one that I've been working on for a couple months, but haven't gotten very far in it. I'm working on lyrics to one of the songs.

So check my YouTube channel sometime in the next few days---I should have a new video posted. I really like how the script goes, and I think it's going to be really fun and simple to shoot.

Editor-in-Chief

My room remains uncleaned, bassoon mostly untouched---I got some practice in tonight, piano Exercise Three unplayed, and Watership Down unread (Do I HAVE to finish it?). What do you suppose I've been doing, then?

Editing every freaking document I have.

I'm dead serious. I reformatted my unpublished website YET again, and I keep making little alterations to it, forcing me to spend ten minutes making those changes on all four main pages. I have to go through a lot of edited documents and emails that will later become the content on the site and edit them. The one that I'm working on right now, actually, racks in at 82 pages and 12,196 words. It started out 102 pages and about 15,000 words. Just shows you how much I've been working on it this weekend.

I've also been working on a few movie scripts recently, hoping to later film them and add them to my YouTube channel (In my ongoing attempt to be the next Ryan Murphy, Neil Cicierega, or Max Pacheco). Of course, those need to be edited as well, so I'm adding those to the pile.

In case you're curious, this is what I look like when I'm editing. Yup, bad lighting, hat, and all:



Hopefully, soon you'll see some of my progress when my website goes up or when I finally post a video.

Feeling Artistic

I'd post a picture if I could, but a link's the best I could do:

My ArtPad Picture

Boring post, but you can see the steps I took to make it on the link.

Bad Mood

Quinn moved. I found this poem online, and I think it's rather nice. It'll be my content for the day.

Blast from the Past

Peace out, man.

Halfway Through

I love four day weeks.

I like them even more when there's a 4-day weekend, leading up to another 4 day week.

It makes nearly two weeks go by so quickly. It might just be me, but personally, I like it when things (Such as school) go quickly. It makes everything in the grand scheme of things go by faster: things like the first quarter, and occasionally the entire school year.

Funny thing is, tomorrow is actually midterms, I think. Either this week or next week; I'm not entirely sure. I'm pretty sure it's this week, which would make me very happy. After all, when midterms come, that's marking the halfway point of the quarter (Hint the work "mid"). That means that no matter how long or short that half way, you only have to go it again and then poof: fall break.

I'm pretty much enjoying this year, but the idea of fall break coming IS rather nice.

LOL of the Day

FRED Throwdown

Many YouTube viewers know that FRED is "a 6-year-old with anger management issues" who has his own webshow. Recently, he posted this video, challenging all of his viewers ot imitate a certain movement:



Naturally, I had to do it. With me being me though, I didn't just make a 12-second long clip. No, I spent an hour making 56 seconds of footage:



I'm rather proud of how it turned out. I meant to add Bulgarian, Russian, and Polish to the mix, but I was beat after memorizing three foreign sentences, and decoding the Cyrillic that iGoogle would have given me for Russian and Bulgarian did NOT sound like my idea of fun.

By the way: visit my new YouTube Channel!

Super Sweet Thirteen

Today I'm officially a teenager. I'm mostly happy because now I'm not going to face endless "Oh my gosh you're STILL twelve?" at school. Of course, brownies at night are also nice...

My friend Katie and I are having a musicals-on-DVD sleepover. Right now, the queue is just West Side Story, but that might change sooner or later. We might also just decide that staying up until one AM is plenty late: it's hard to tell sometimes.

In the Big Apple

Big Apple Store, that is. I'm here, getting a DVD burned because for some reason, moving a file from Mac to Mac is NOT as intuitive as promised. We can move from PC to Mac, Mac to PC, forwards, backwards, sideways, diagonally...

...but not Mac to Mac.

Normally, I would take a picture of myself blogging from the Apple Store (Taken on my Apple computer), but I'm not sure what type of security issues they have here, and having your Mac confiscated by the Genius Bar wouldn't really be much of a grand old time.

So I'm coding that super-secret website right about now. I've changed the layout AGAIN, but I think I'm going to be able to open it soon. I'm just about starving, and Apple Minutes are longer than Earth Minutes (Or PC Minutes or even Linux Minutes, probably). The time remaining has been "7 minutes" for about 20 minutes, and I'm close to hurling the stupid iMac across the room. Of course, that wouldn't make it finish any quicker, so that probably isn't a good idea.

Guilty Pleasure

I'm pretty well known by my friends as a pretty hard Patti LuPone-basher. I've listened mainly to her Mrs. Lovett and Fantine, and by that, I was NOT impressed. However, I've discovered Evita, and, well...



...I'm hooked. (Sorry about any previous bashing, Patti. No hard feelings)

About the LOLRAT

No, I didn't make it, and no, it's no from the LOLCATS site. It's its own kind, from Vermin-Realm. It's the most amazing little blog ever! I haven't had much time to take a really good look at it, but hello: it has to do with rats.

LOL...

...Rats:

Blog365: Day 230

A couple of YouTube videos are the content for today. One for total randomness; Redneck Art (Check it out, Papa Boyd!):



And one that Maya sent, that describes how we're taking the fact that one of our friends is moving in a little less than two weeks, and I'm not entirely sure when I'm gonna see her again: (Gotta love the oboe)

Sick

My apologies for the lame post title, but I've lost track of which day of Blog365 I'm on, and have no sassier ideas.

I'm turning off my alarm clock tonight and "sleeping in"---as in probably waking up at 7 or so, because I don't sleep well when I'm sick. Then, I'll probably spend the day sewing, studying for my science test, and coding my website. If I feel any better, I might also clean my room, as it is in desperate need of picking up.

But here's a song I found the other day. It makes me happy---it's practically my theme song now!

"But remember, it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

I finally finished what is now my favorite book ever: To Kill A Mockingbird. My mom read the first chapter out to my brother out when I in 3rd grade. I thought it was boring---"It started with some kid breaking his arm and ended with entering some haunted house. What the heck?"

Well, that broken arm (Jem, when he was nearly thirteen, badly at the elbow, to be exact) and haunted house (Mr. Aurthur "Boo" Radley) all make sense. They all tie together to create, what I think to be, the greatest book EVER.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, actually. I figured I would just be reading it to please my mom and brother, who both love it.

Rather, though, I picked it up and couldn't stop. Everything about it was interesting: Miss Maudie's fire, Calpurnia taking Scout and Jem to church, Dill in general, the trial...(Oh, yes, the TIRAL!)

I have the movie at the top of the NetFlix queue. Mike apparently hated it ("That was supposed to be in NOVEMBER, not AUGUST! Why did they make it August???"), but I'm curious about what it's like. And who knows? Maybe I'll actually like it.

Feeling like Ick

As you can see, I'm not feeling so hot. I started feeling bad this morning, and it got progressively worse as the day went on. By the end of the school day, though, I was feeling like total crap.

Therefore, I'm going to be spending the weekend low-key: practicing oboe, bassoon, and piano, cleaning my room, and studying for a couple tests I have Monday. Oh, and sleeping. No way am I waking up at 5:45 tomorrow.

Week Two Ends

Tomorrow is the end of the second week of school. It's been a lot quicker than the first week, which gives me hope that this year won't be as dreadfully long as last year.

Then again, the years are getting quicker, too, so I wonder if everything is just gaining speed. 1st/2nd and 3rd periods take forever, but once I get to 4th period, the day flies. 6th period is nearly non-existent! Then my after-school time is so limited...

That's it: everything's getting faster. Everything except the time it takes to get to summer, that is.

Best of Both Worlds

(Note: I am NOT a Miley Cyrus fan now. In fact, this has nothing to do with her song. * Just thought I should let you all know that.)

I finally installed Mac Office 2008! So far, I totally love it---I have the new versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage, Project Gallery, and Microsoft Messenger. I've only clicked around on a few of them, but so far, I absolutely love it!

I was actually planning on just going all-Mac and getting iWorks. However, I wasn't amazed with the trial that I downloaded, and didn't think that buying three so-so programs that I didn't even fully know how to work would be a good idea against four programs that I DO know how to use.

So finally my little "office" is totally complete. I have all my files, my printer/scanner, and now I can actually write stuff and make presentations, spreadsheets, and all sorta of cool stuff.

"So I've got the best of both worlds..."

(*Well, maybe a little.)

No More Olympics

I'm just about done with staying up until eleven. I mean, the Olympics are cool and all...but I have to get up at 5:45 to catch the bus at seven. Staying up until nearly midnight is NOT my idea of fun.

I really wish they didn't run so freakishly late. I mean, if they ran them until, say, ten, I'd be fine. But midnight or later? On a school night? I draw the line there.

Rather, I think I'll be spending my nights either reading To Kill A Mockingbird (AMAZING) or practicing oboe.

Or sleeping. Sleeping is good.

Week Two Begins

The second week of school started! Everyone says that time is flying, but personally, I think it's going insanely slow. Most of my friends are still on Summer Break, and I'm kind of jealous that they're all having sleepovers while I'm inside studying Algebra...

At least I haven't had a lot of homework recently. I mean, I have to study German every night, but my book is really small, and it doesn't take long to just review my vocabulary words. We've started having quizzes and tests already, though---I actually need to look over my science vocabulary words for the quiz tomorrow.

Otherwise, life has been more or less uneventful. My mom's recyclable bottle were taken away by the garbage truck today, but I didn't witness that, so I have no personal account. I suppose it'll be more or less like that tomorrow, except I'm going to be cranking out piano exercises like nobody's business. Wednesday is my first piano lesson of the school year, and I want to make sure I'm ready.

Dawn has broken

I finally finished the fourth and final book in the Twilight series---Breaking Dawn! It was absolutely AMAZING, but I'm actually kind of sad. Like, even more so than I was at the end of Deathly Hallows. I have no earthly idea---the movie is coming out in December, and the OFFICIAL GUIDE is coming out December 30th. Harry Potter only has two movies left, was a longer series...

Maybe I just became more attached to the characters. No matter how much I obsess(ed) about Viktor, Jacob Black is officially cooler. He's also cooler than Edward Cullen, but that's a different matter. (No hate mail, please!)

It's 10 PM, about an hour later than I'd usually go to bed, but I have no regrets. Mrs. Milam, if you're reading this, good news! I'll be able to lend the book to you by the end of the day tomorrow.

This just made my day...

Accomplished

Well, it's 20 minutes before the posting deadline, and I don't have much to post.

I've spent all evening working on a DVD about my visit to Syracuse, and it's finally done! I'm trying to think of a way to send it to Maya for now without having to burn a disk. I want her to see it as soon as possible!

Finally Friday

Tomorrow will be, at least. I just got finished with my German homework (Flashcards and studying 0 through 20 in German), and I'm about to put everything away and go to bed. I'm getting kind of sick, but I hope I'll be able to last until the weekend to feel like crap...

Happy Birthday, Maya!

Today is Maya's 13th birthday! (And actually, the 1st was Quinn's birthday, so Happy BELATED birthday to Quinn!) I actually DO have a recent picture of all three of us from my recent visit to Syracuse. Behold!



And now, for those of you who by any chance don't know Maya's here's a quick glance at her likes...

Pointe Shoes (!!!)



Javert



Phantom



Cyrillic Letters (Spelling Russian words, of course!)



...and DISlikes...

Raoul



Raoul



Raoul



Happy Birthday, Maya! Eat some cake, write some skits, or whatever you feel like doing. (But if all else fails, DO eat cake. Cake is good)

Blog365: Day 217

Today was...well, kind of on the boring side of things. Really, this is all that happened:

• I woke up at 5:45 for school
  
• School was rather uneventful
  
• I didn't have homework
  
• I went to the school's open house
  
• I practiced oboe
  
• And bassoon
  

And now I will

• Finish my IMs
  
• Help Karen resolve some Movie Maker problem
  
• Brush my teeth and
  
• Go to bed
  

Top Dogs

My school's mascot is the bulldog. Naturally, since the eighth graders are the oldest in the school, they're called (At least by the staff) the "top dogs".

Well, this year is MY year to be top dog. The first day was today, and I'm pleased to say it went really well! I think this year is going to be a LOT smoother than last year, considering a both know people and know some of the semi-harsh realities of middle school life.

Considering this is the last year of middle school, here's a timeline of the annual back-to-school pictures, from 6th to 8th.

Sixth:



Seventh:



And finally, eighth:



Although I say this every year, I think I mean it this time: it's going to be a great year!

"My world's on fire, how about yours..."

Literally---it's BOILING down here! (And for those who know the rest of the lyrics, no, that is notdo become bored.) Apparently, the AC dying is just the way to end Summer of '08.
the way I like it. And I
I think we're all going to wind up doing homework in the basement once school starts tomorrow, as it's just insane upstairs. The basement has a tendency to never get hot, for better or for worse. It just stays the same cool temperature year round. (Actually, it gets wicked cold in Winter, but in the beginning of August, you don't think about that)

My last day of summer is going to be rather boring, surprisingly enough. It mostly consisted of getting stuff ready for tomorrow, including but not limited to:

• Cleaning my room
  
• Painting my nails (Mostly so I don't bite them)
  
• Figuring out what I'm even going to wear tomorrow
  
• Practicing my piano and bassoon exercises, as well as touching up my mad oboe skillz
  
• Clearing out my binder and filling it with the normal back-to-school stuff: pencils, pens, highlighter, etc.
  
• (Hopefully) getting to bed by 9 or earlier
  

I've got about eight hours to do it all---that SHOULD be enough. And if it's not? Well, I guess that's where prioritizing kicks in.

Mamma Mia!

James, Raven, and I went to see Mamma Mia! at the movies today. I hadn't gone to see a movie in theatre since...hmm. Most recent one I can think of is Sweeney Todd, but I may be wrong.

It was actually really cute! Some parts were a little...weird (like the chorus that follows the cast around), but I was kind of expecting that. Overall, I liked it, but have been ABBA'd out for awhile.

Then again, I might buy the soundtrack...

Internet Blockout

I'm more or less on an internet blackout---Breaking Dawn is coming out in less than 90 minutes!

Not much else to post---I got my eyebrows waxed today, and they look really nice! Picture to come.