Past Random Wierdness Entries

December 5, 2003
5:50 p.m., EST

Yay! I'm back! I didn't leave this poor site all alone for, like, a month! Mostly I'm writing cuz my mom keeps nagging me about getting my Christmas list up here, so I decided to put it up here. Here 'tis, in no actual order:

1. Eeyore sweatshirts. Nice, large ones with pockets on the front. Or just big, pocketed sweatshirts. I like them cuz it's like a non-stop snuggle! ^_~
2. Eeyore pajamas. Or just pajamas in general. Preferably with all components present. ::coughDaddycough::
3. Eeyore t-shirts. I only have, like, two. No, wait... three. Which isn't enough.
4. CDs. I'm not too sure which ones exactly I want, so a gift certificate would be great! (hint hint)
5. Smallville seasons on DVD!!! ^___^ Yay!!!
6. Some Like It Hot on DVD. That would just be cool.
7. Books. Like, Redwall books, or books by Tamora Pierce. Or a book certificate thingy.
8. Jeans. Really, I need jeans, but I'll be more likely to get them (maybe) if I put them on the list.
9. I know I'm not getting this, but I want a car for just me to drive. It doesn't have to be new, or very nice, it just has to run. Hopefully with AC and heat, and a radio, too, but I'd just be happy to have a mode of transportation. ANY mode of transportation.

November 28, 2003
9:06 p.m., EST

I feel like such a bad person! Oh, my poor, neglected web site! I haven't done a thing in ages! I would have written this on Wednesday cuz I didn't have school, but I was sick with a really, really, really, really, REALLY bad cold. I was sick Tuesday of last week, and then I got better, but I had to play at a really late football game Friday and march in a parade in unseasonably warm weather on Saturday, which caused me to be sick again. I felt kinda sick Monday, and sick Tuesday, and really sick Wednesday, when I went to the doctor. They did tests and I didn't have strep or mono (which was very good), just an URI (upper respiratory infection, aka cold). So I have to take antibiotics so I don't get a sinus infection and this really icky cough syrup for my terrible cough. On Thursday, I still didn't feel quite well, and I debated with myself over how much cough syrup to take before my family went to dinner (we do a potluck-style thing with some other families). If I took two teaspoons, I'd conk out. If I took one, it wouldn't work as well. I ended up only taking one, because it's rude to fall asleep in the middle of a meal. We did leave early, though, which I appreciated. Anyway, I feel much better today! ^_^ Except for this stupid cough. Grrrr. And I still have the sniffles. But my icky cough syrup did inspire a poem! It's in the "by me" section. And I don't feel like capitalizing that, so I won't. Ha! Today's word is: fatuous-adj-silly or foolish. (Don't ask where that came from, it just appeared. My fingers have a mind of their own. O.O') Oh! And I know where it comes from. Fatuus is Latin for stupid. So I could say, the invasion of Iraq was a fatuous act, which I believe is true. It was also rather arrogant on our part, but I won't start ranting now. Exciting news! My team is going to the finals!! That is, my school football team is in the final round of our division tournament, and we've never gotten this far before. It's pretty cool. And now I've run out of things to say.

October 9, 2003
7:50 p.m., EDT

Wow. I didn't realize how incredibly long it's been since I did one of these. Anyway, today I'm going to rant. Why? Because it was that kind of day. So, first, this morning, I had fixed a cup of water to drink on the way to band practice. It had a lid on it, but I dropped it trying to open the door when my ride arrived, so water spilled everywhere. (I also said a rather Uncharacteristic Word beginning with "s." Fortunately, no one heard.) After that, things went okay until the afternoon, around 5:30. I was supposed to be a meeting at 5:30, which my dad was supposed to take my sister and me to. However, at 5:25, my mom called to say that she couldn't reach my dad on his cell, meaning he was probably still at the office, oblivious to the time, and my sister and I should probably walk. (Luckily, the Wendy's where we were meeting was only about a mile away.) When we were almost done getting ready, my mom called again to say that, yes, my dad didn't realize the time and we should start walking and he'd pick us up on the way. Okay. I'm not too happy at this point, but I figure things can get better. I'm trying to get my key out of the zippered pocket on my band jacket to lock the door, but the zipper's stuck, which causes me to once again say the Uncharacteristic Word, only right in front of my sister. It was good that she had her key handy, otherwise I might have said something even worse. Finally the door is locked and we're on our way. About a block from the house, we see that Tess has escaped from the yard. Three possibilities could lead to this, none of which are good: 1) the fence is broken AGAIN, 2) her collar isn't working (this is the one it turned out to be), or 3) she just thought, "oh, to heck with it" and leaped over after us, completely disregarding the shock. Good thing: our neighbors caught her and were able to get her back to us safely. By this time I'm pretty steamed. I was, however, able to keep a hold on my wish to say yet another Uncharacteristic Word. After this, things got better until a little bit ago. My dad asked me if I'd wash a pot, and I said, "I suppose." For some reason, this irritated him. He informed me that he's told me before (but I don't remember it!) not to say that, and to say "Yes" or "No" instead. He starts lecturing me before realizing (Allelluia!) that he needs to go pick up my sister's prescription. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Today has NOT been too great a day for Katherine, especially if you take into account her unusually high number of Uncharacteristic Words said out loud. Normally I am able to refrain and express myself more intelligently. It means a lot more when I cuss than one might think. Things have to be REALLY bad for me to use Uncharacteristic Words, and I'm usually a bit stressed to begin with. ::Deep breath:: Well, now that I've got that out of my system, I feel much better. I'm still a bit peeved at my father (because it really is his fault I was late to my meeting and the dog got out; at least, the way I see things it is), but that should fade pretty quickly. Probably by tomorrow. Anyway, I'm on fall break now (niiiiice), and just got back from a trip to Buffalo on Tuesday. It was a pretty cool trip. I got to harvest grapes! Well, I didn't actually harvest them, I just rode in a harvester for a little bit, but that was cool enough. It had lights and buttons and stuff. Pretty high-tech. It was cool. And I learned how to make petitza! (Not sure if that's spelled with a z, but it looks cool that way.) With help from my grandmother, my sister and I made 7, that's SEVEN petitzas. Yay!! They're really good, too. I got to eat lots of baklava, as well. If you've never had petitza or baklava ::shakes head piti-ingly:: you are a deprived child (even if you're not a child).

August 24, 2003
5:16 p.m., EDT

I was going to do one of these before, I swear! But the thing kept not opening when I tried to get on to edit!!! Grrrr.... You know what's really sad? The fact that I didn't know about the Patriot Act (grrr...) until this past week. That thing is unconstitutional!! It allows police etc. to search your home w/out a definite thing to look for and not even tell you!! And they can detain you without a real reason, even if your a citizen!! It's just wrong!! Another thing that's wrong is this... "Marriage Amendment." If people want to marry someone they love, let them!! Who cares whether their opposite sexes? And then there's the whole Iraq thing. I thought the war was over! How come people are still dying?! And WHERE are these "weapons of mass destruction" they're supposed to have had all over?!?! I'm REEEAAALLY glad next year's an election year. Let's hope Bush doesn't come back. That would seriously be bad. Anyway, now that I'm done ranting about Bush and some of his more idiotic tendencies/ideas/etc., we can go on to more pleasant things! Like... how I'm one of the few people in my Alg. II class who isn't failing, which is actually kinda bad, but... I'm not failing!! Yay!! In fact, I have an A!! And today, I finished a 2 and 1/2 page paper for English with not very much planning at all. Not sure how good it is, but... I finished!!

August 7, 2003
9:24 p.m., EDT

I decided I should write one of these, but I don't remember why now, because I just had a 20 minute phone call with one of my friends who recently moved to Oklahoma. I was going to mention something about how discursive (covering a wide variety of topics) these are, and there was something else... But I forgot. I'll probably remember tomorrow, but then forget again before I can get it up here.

July 14, 2003
5:41 p.m., EDT

Hi! I'm back from an overnight trip to the mountains. It was pretty fun. But I didn't like the driving. It was tough. Mostly because I've never driven in mountains before. Plus, on the way, some idiot in a pick-up nearly sideswiped us, but it wasn't my fault. I was doing things right. Anyway, I'm really happy because I got all the classes I wanted for next year!! Every single one of the classes I'm in was one of my top choices. So, in no particular order, here they are: Hon. Algebra II, Civics & Economics, Band II, Hon. English II, Latin I, Hon. Chemistry, Hon. Anatomy & Physiology, and Medical Science I. Yay!!! All the classes I wanted!! And THREE sciences!!!!! :-D I like science! I like math, too, but I don't think you use it as much as science if you're a vet. Yay!!! I won't be stuck in sucky electives (not going to name anything ::cough::music appreciation::cough::)!!! Unfortunately, I'll have a sizable workload, so I probably won't be able to do as much on here as I'd like to. ::sigh:: Oh, well. It's a small price to pay for the classes I want. Plus, I only have 1 week before band camp (which is blessedly sister-free (not that I don't love my sis, it's just... more relaxing if I'm alone) because she's at camp (again)). So I have to practice my music this week, get acclimated to heat, etc, which will be easier alone. (I don't like practicing with other people around to hear me. Don't ask me why, I just don't.) I'm being shoved off the comp. now so my dad can check his e-mail, so that's it. (Well, I'm kinda going willingly cuz I didn't get much sleep. Hotel beds are really not that great, and my dad snores REALLY loud. The fact that his pager went off in the middle of the night didn't help either. ::glares:: I did have about a half hour nap on the way back, but that doesn't make up for what I lost last night. Plus, I had a really weird, unrestful dream. I was driving my mom's car and the brakes kept not working. Plus, every time something went right, 8 other things went wrong. My sis was there, too, being really annoying. And these weird people kept coming near the car. I finally got fed up, gave a guy the finger and told him to ---- off (not that he would hear 'cause he was outside the car) and my sis started telling me off for cussing.)

July 11, 2003
10:56 p.m., EDT

Sorry for not doing one of these in a while. I was going to do one for the 4th of July, but my dad broke the comp. (Actually, a memory chip failed or something, and he TRIED to fix it and ended up breaking it further.) But now it's fixed, so it's all good. I'm not sure why I write these so late. Maybe I just think better at night... Anyway, I've been trying to write a summary for OotP, but it's really hard 'cuz so much happens!! But that's good. It means the book is really long. Which is a good thing. It has to hold me over to the next one. Anyway, because I couldn't say it then, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! (Even if it IS a bit late.)

June 27, 2003
9:23 p.m., EDT

I got back from science camp today. It was pretty fun. We did lots of cool science things, like growing bacteria and extracting DNA from onions and spit. We tried adding new genes to the bacteria to make them antibiotic resistant and able to digest galactose (a type of sugar), but the company that provided the materials didn't get any plasmids in the little vial they were supposed to be in, so it didn't work. Extracting DNA from cells is actually pretty easy. Basically, you take soap with a little salt, add cells and mix them together, then add ethanol and the DNA forms stringy white thread-like things. You don't get much, but it's there. We also did gel electrophoresis (<- fancy name for DNA fingerprinting). You have this clear gel with little wells at one end for the DNA, you put the DNA in the wells, send electricity through the gel to make the DNA move across (you need a "buffer solution" for that), add some stain, let it sit, rinse, and voila! DNA fingerprint! We used the gels to solve a "crime." Not sure if the DNA was human, but it doesn't really matter because any DNA will work. It's a little more complicated and exact than that, but that's the basic procedure. Also, liquid nitrogen is really cool. (In more ways than one! ^_~) Anyway, since it boils at a really low temperature (-90° C or something), it evaporates almost immediatly if you pour it on the floor, but it creates lots of fog. It's very fun! And if it's poured in a beaker it starts bubbling and creating fog and looks all mad scientist-y. (I don't care if that's not a word. It is now.) We saw a physics demonstration, and the guy had a Van der Graaf (not sure if I spelled that right) generator (one of those things that makes your hair stand on end if you touch it). It also makes your head feel tingly because all this hair is being pushed away from you. But it was fun. Even though I had to wake up too early (7 am! >.<) and eat cafeteria food (X-b). Now I am really tired. Good night.

June 21, 2003
7:51 p.m., EDT

I know I said yesterday I'd be taking a break, but seeing as I've already finished book 5 (one sitting! 12 hrs and 40 min! From about 12:40 am to 1:20 pm!), I figured I'd write something here because there's nothing else to do. I did go to a book party. It was pretty fun. Mostly, it just helped pass the time until the book went on sale. My friend Emily dressed as Draco (yes, she is a girl). She recently cut her hair really short though, (neglecting to tell me, of course, so I practically went into shock when I saw it) so she looked pretty good. She got robbed in the costume contest by this little girl though. Why do people always give stuff to little kids cuz they're cute?! It's just wrong! I mean, I have nothing against little kids, but when you have a crowd standing behind you yelling "Malfoy!" and "Draco!" so you'll pick the person dressed like that, and you don't, you gotta wonder... It's like that with Girl Scout cookies, too. Brownies (1st-3rd graders - the youngest group allowed to sell) always seem to sell more than older girls. Unless the older girls live in a highly populated area with no other Girl Scouts in it. Unfortunately, I have a sister and neighbor, both younger than me, with whom I have to compete. A girl in my troop said someone actually told her when she was selling that they were going to wait for a Brownie to buy cookies. Hello? What are they gonna use the money for?! It's older girls who go on trips and such!! Like to Toronto... ::grumbles about trip being canceled because of lack of funding:: Brownie troops use the money to go to plays or have parties or whatnot. Maybe to buy some troop equipment (which is also used more by older girls in camping and such. I mean, come on, who in their right mind would take a bunch of 1st-3rd graders into the woods for a full weekend and expect to come back wholly sane?). (I'm trying desperately to stay off the topic of the 5th book, as I know it hasn't been out that long, and I don't want to spoil things for anybody.) That rant made me really tired, and since I've had less than 5 hours of sleep in the past 36 or so hours, I think I'll quit here. Especially since I didn't sleep until after I finished the book.

June 15, 2003
6:34 p.m., EDT

Happy Father's Day to all the dads! Well, I was going to type a bit about how I'm excited about the 5th Harry Potter book coming out (5 days!!!! ^______^) and that I got the new Train CD (yay!!!! ^__^), but it's thundering outside, so I really should get off.

June 13, 2003
5:07 p.m., EDT

Oooohhhhh.... Friday the 13th! I didn't even realize it until I asked my sister what today's date was. I don't particularly keep track when I'm not in school. I knew it was Friday, but that's about it. I would have done something to my site earlier, except the editor thingy was being stubborn and refusing to open. Grrrrrr. Okay. I just realized I haven't told of my adventures at Busch Gardens!! It was rather drizzly all day, but that just meant the lines were really short. We (the people in my group) rode Alpengeist (I'm not sure whether the ride names should be italicized or something, so I'll just make them italics anyway) twice, and all the other big coasters (Apollo's Chariot, Big Bad Wolf, and Loch Ness Monster) once (I think). We also went on Escape from Pompeii, despite the fact that it was somewhat chilly and rainy. However, most of us didn't feel like getting soaked, so we wore our jackets and ponchos. Three of my friends went on Roman Rapids and got absolutely soaked, but that was what they wanted to happen. Anyway, later, some of us went on a log flume ride (not wearing jackets) and the two of us (me and one of my friends) who really didn't want to get wet were soaked. It wasn't funny. (Well, it was, but it wasn't.) It rained really hard a couple times in the late afternoon. At one point, we were in an arcade, and I won a little hippo beanie (like a Beanie Baby, but not the real thing) in a crane game with my awesome skills. (Just kidding. I think it was mostly luck that I got it.) So, even though it was kind of wet all day, it was still pretty fun. And my room is (miraculously) still clean! I'm proud of that, and the fact that yesterday I finished a really, really, REALLY hard 1000-piece puzzle. (With help from family members.) I can't think of anything else to write!! My life is so boring. ::sigh:: Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Everyday, it's the same. Get up late (well, that's pretty nice), do chores ( X-b ick), play games on the comp or do a puzzle or other random time-filling things. Very relaxing, but rather monotonous. I'll have to think of something interesting to do.

June 4, 2003
6:29 p.m., EDT

Yay! School's out!! Which unfortunately means I must clean my room. But that's okay. I've been working on it for the past three days, and it's cleaner now than it's been in... um... well, a really long time. I still have to vacuum and ::shudder:: clean my closet. That's really scary. Gotta finish by Friday, though, cuz otherwise I won't be able to go to Busch Gardens with my youth group. I would have updated during the day, but I can't go on the computer during the day until my room's clean. My dad took the keyboard away Monday and Tuesday, but I'm proud because he left it today, and I resisted. I did not get on until after he got home (and saw the amazing improvement in my room!). I did watch about half of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but only while I had breakfast and lunch and such. Last night my softball game was very unfunny. We only had 6 players anyway, but as soon as the coach shook hands with the ump to "officially" forfeit, it started raining. If it had started raining, like, 30 seconds earlier, the game could have been a rainout instead of a forfeit, and we'd actually get to play against the team. Ha ha! My room's clean! My room's clean! My room's clean! Yay!! ^_^ Okay, maybe I'm a little too excited about my room being clean, but you'd be excited too if having a clean room meant you'd get computer access during the day and be able to go to an amusement park.

May 24, 2003
3:41 p.m., EDT

Just finished what has to have been the busiest week of my life. I've had a huge geometry project since the end of April. Originally, it was due the 12th, but my teacher gave us an extension to the 19th, and then to yesterday. Then, on Thursday, she told us we could turn it in Friday (yesterday) and get extra credit if we did the two-page paper portion, or we could turn it in Monday, but the paper would be mandatory. I chose to turn it in yesterday with the paper to 1) get it over and done with, and 2) I'll probably need all the extra points I can get. That thing was hard! Extremely difficult!! Majorly stressful!!! I ended up staying up till 1 am Friday morning because the stupid printer kept messing up. ::grumbles:: Also, my music appreciation teacher (who I think is insane), gave the class a project on Tuesday that was due Thursday. Add in the fact that the last couple weeks of school always seem to take forever, and I am one very exhausted girl. I had fun last night, though. As an end-of-the-year thing (since we didn't raise enough $$ to go to Toronto), my girl scout troop went to see Holes. It was pretty good. From what I remember, very true to the book. It probably helps that Louis Sachar wrote both book and screenplay. Afterwards, we went to Goodberry's (an (I think local) ice cream place). 'Twas very nice. And fun. Especially since I didn't have this big project to worry about anymore. Relaxation is a good thing. And, surprisingly, I don't have a softball game this weekend. Last Saturday was a good one, though. I had to go in as relief pitcher. That was the first fastpitch game I pitched in! The first time, I struck out one person, and caught flies off two others. The next inning, I struck out three people!! The odd thing is, I don't pitch that fast. Maybe my slowness threw off the other team. ::shrugs:: The point is, I did really well for my first time. Then, on Monday, I pitched again, and a girl hit a home run off one of my pitches. When people can do that, you know it's a good pitch. It's impossible (nearly) to get a home run off a bad pitch, because you can't hit it the right way at the right time. We still lost, though. v_v I also found out I got a 97 on my practice EOC (end-of-course) in English, which is pretty good. Only 5 more days of school!!! Yay!!!!! ^_^ I'm so tired of getting up at 5 am every morning. Bleah. Anyway, the rest of my family is watching Jonah, so I think I will, too.

May 4, 2003
4:05 p.m., EDT

My dad broke his arm. This is crazy. Kids are supposed to break things, not parents! I mean, the only thing I've ever broken is my pinky, in 5th grade (don't ask). Apparantly, he was running after the dog, and tripped. So now he can't do some things. He can still do lots, but things like buckling a seatbelt, doing the dishes, tying his shoes, etc. are difficult. But his sling is great for storing stuff!! You can put keys, cell phones, papers, pens, and all sorts of things in there!! Last night, I went to see my school's production of The Sound of Music. It was pretty good. And the pit orchestra was wearing funny hats!!! My mom says they're called Tyrolean hats, but they were Peter Pan type hats, with feathers, even!! ^_~ Funny!

April 30, 2003
8:07 p.m., EDT

I am currently listening to my Five For Fighting CD. It's nice. Some cool songs. But it's hard to type and sing at the same time. Anyway, freaky thing happened Monday. My family went out to dinner, and there was a group of four college-aged (maybe a little older) guys there, and they seriously reminded me of the Marauders. (If you don't know who that is, read HP3.) One guy first caught my attention cause he had longish black hair, but it was dyed a really dark blue at the bottom (well, the color went about 1/2 way up his hair). Anyway, I immediately thought of Sirius when I saw him, just cause Sirius seems like the type of guy to do that sort of thing. The other three guys I couldn't see that well (1: I wasn't going to stare, and 2: it was hard to see from my seat), but when they left, it turned out that two of them had light brown hair, and the third had black hair!! Plus, the way they acted, like, really close, joking and everything, just made me think of the Marauders. But the blue hair was really cool. I want to do that with my hair, or something like that, but I don't want to bleach it. Mmmm. I like apples. Except Red Delicious apples. Honestly. Who named those? Sure, they're red, but where'd the delicious part come from? They're so bland!! And the skin is all bitter, too!! x-b Blech. I like Galas, and Fujis, and Golden Delicious so much better. Almost anything is better than Red Delicious. That's such a deceptive name!! I am happy. My math teacher extended our project due date a week. ^_^ And she didn't give an extension to 3rd period yet!! Ha ha!! >:-D ::laughs evilly at Jennifer:: I just realized (well, not really just, but it helps that I'm listening to some now) that a lot of the music I listen to sounds kind of depressing. I'm really not a dark, depressed type of person, although, I do like black. But I listen to all this depressing sounding music. It's rather odd, really. Like, many of Train's songs, and some Five For Fighting stuff, is kind of melancholy, but it makes me feel kind of relaxed and comfortable. I'm not really sure why. ::crunches yummy NON-Red Delicious apple thoughtfully:: Sometimes I really hate my friends (like this past weekend), but sometimes I really love 'em (but just in a friendly way! like today). This past weekend was Jamboree, which is a big Girl Scout event at the Rockingham speedway every year. Anyway, you can write on the track, and they have rock walls, and archery, and all sorts of fun stuff. So, my tentmates decided to torment me b/c of my fear of spiders. First, Emily made this obviously fake spider with foam and paper and stuff, and put it on my sleeping bag. Just in case I couldn't tell it was fake, she included a sign that said, "NOT A REAL SPIDER ->" with an arrow to the spider. My response: (sarcastically) "Hahaha. Very funny." Then, later, I wanted to take a nap cuz I was tired (getting up at 5 in the morning for weeks can do that to a person!), so I went into the tent and saw this suspicious, spider-shaped shadow on top of the tent, but under the rain-fly. It was huge!! It also made me incredibly nervous. I called Emily over, and asked if there was something on top of the tent, and she told me she couldn't really tell cause she wasn't tall enough, but she looked through the tent window to see the shadow. I tried throwing my bear at the THING, but it didn't move very much, which wasn't at all comforting. So then my leader walks by, and I ask her if there's anything on top of the tent, and she reaches up and pulls down this fake spider made of leather and toothpicks, that my other tentmate Jennifer made. Grrrrr. ::glares:: But then today, Jennifer's AC teacher bought them all Bojangles biscuits (::stares dreamily into space:: mmmm...), and Jennifer gave me part of hers (cuz I'm not in her AC, but she knows I luv 'em!!)!! :-D It made me very happy. I feel very tired suddenly. ::yawns:: Ah, but I got Emily back for her part in the fake spider ordeal. On Sunday, I woke up at 4 am cuz I had to pee, and we have to use the buddy system, so I made Emily get up. ::evil grin:: Mwahahahaha!! Anyway, that's about it for now. But sadly, my rec league team lost our second softball game yesterday. :-( Although, we won our first game last Tuesday (week before yesterday), so our record is 1:1. Just felt like sharing that.

April 20, 2003
12:42 p.m., EDT

HAPPY EASTER!!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^____^ Happyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappy!!! You will never guess what i got in my Easter basket. (ok, so maybe you will, but I'm still gonna tell!) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on DVD!!!!!!!! ::jumps around:: YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!! ^_____^ Okay. Deep breathe, Katherine. Calm down. ::breathes deeply:: YAAAAY!!!! ::jumps a little more:: ::deep breath:: Okay. I think I got it out of my system. Sorry. I've been hinting that I wanted it for over a week, and then it was hidden on the bottom of my basket, so I almost didn't see it. Then when I did see it, I started jumping around and being very happy, and I think I scared my dad, and I hadn't even had any candy yet!!! Wow. ::grins:: ^__^ I'm happy. Just thought I'd share my joy. (Not that anyone else cares, but... oh well!! I'm too happy to care if no one else cares!! ^_^) Next time I write, I probably won't be this happy, so you'll be safe. Yay!!! ^_^ Happy Easter!!!!! (p.s.- not sure if I've said this before, but my friend Emily said 5 (or more) !s=insane. Not that I care. I'm excessively happy!! ^_^)

March 31, 2003
9:12 p.m., EST

April Fools' Day is tomorrow. Today, my school played an early April fools' joke. They played a tape over the announcements saying that next year: our school day would be shortened, we'd have no dress code, seniors would get free parking, everyone had off-campus lunch, the graduation project would only be an essay, and one other ludicrous change that definitely would not have come true (I forget what it was, though). Everyone was confused when they saw it because we were all thinking, "Wait, isn't April Fools' tomorrow?" Turns out we were right. Emily E. got kind of upset because it confused her. Poor, poor Emily. ::shakes head sympathetically:: But now I'm kind of mad at her, because at our Girl Scout meeting earlier this evening (hey! meeting and evening kinda rhyme!! um, sorry. I'll go back to what I was saying now.) she kept saying I was undead. I am perfectly alive!! Neither dead nor undead. That leaves 1 option: alive, which I am. See, we all know and agree that Jennifer's boyfriend is undead, but I am still perfectly alive. Never been dead or anything other than alive any day of my life. Well, that almost goes without saying, but my point is I'm not dead, I'm not undead, I'm very much ALIVE. Yep. And I have no idea of any pranks for tomorrow. I would have plenty if I were a teacher. I bet teachers love April 1st! They can fool kids into thinking they have tests, or pop quizzes, or essays, or projects, or tons of homework... The list goes on. One of the best ideas I came up with (with help from Emily at lunch) was to give a kid an extra credit project and have them present on April 1st, then pretend like the rest of the class was supposed to have a project as well. >:-> I am evil. Mwahahahaha. That would be so fun. Except, I'm not a teacher, and I don't plan on being one, so I'll never get to use my idea. :'-( I should give it to someone else to use... Nah. I'll keep the genius to myself. Except that won't work so much since I wrote it here. ::sigh:: This is why I'm no good at playing pranks and stuff. When I come up with a good idea, I have to share it, which ruins the surprise. ::sigh:: Oh well. Such is life.

March 27, 2003
9:16 p.m., EST

Wow. I just spent a week in Orlando with the band, and I am really, really, REALLY tired now. We left last Thursday afternoon (I had to take my 4th period mid-term early) and got to Florida about 2:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Everybody went to bed (again-cuz we all slept a little on the bus) and we had to wake up too early (somewhere around 7, but I don't really remember cuz I was so tired). The chorus(es - show and concert) performed right around lunch time at Valencia College, then the marching performed just before 7 pm at MGM Studios. Then we had to go back to Valencia College so Symphonic Band could perform. I felt really bad for them b/c they were the last group to go at like 10:30, and some of the people had already performed 3 times that day. (Luckily for me, I only played with the marching band.) We stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the hotel, around midnight, and I was kinda upset that they didn't have McFlurries cuz that's what I really wanted, but I got some chocolate cake. Anyway, I was really surprised to see little kids there, even though this Mickey D's supposedly has the biggest Playspace in the world or something, and it's open 24 hours a day, but still... it was midnight for crying out loud! No one in their right mind would take a little kid out to eat at midnight!! People should be asleep at midnight!! I was practically asleep while eating my cake, and these kids were running around hyped up on sugar and grease and caffeine (*caffiene?)!! Oh, before I continue further, I want to apologize for the rambling nature of this entry. I'm tired, and I tend to meander when I talk if I'm tired. Anyway, so then on Saturday we were allowed to sleep in and lounge around or go swimming or whatever until about noon, and at 1 (pm) we went to MGM. I rode Tower of Terror, Star Tours (twice!), saw the Muppet Show, tried out DDR in an arcade (but only the easiest things, and I'm not very good at it), and went to the music festival (the reason we were there in the first place) award ceremony. I yelled a lot, but didn't get hoarse. Emily L, one of my roommates, did though. Guess she doesn't know how to scream properly ;-). The marching band got first in our size class, symphonic band got third in their size class (I blame their position), concert chorus got first for their size class, and the marching band - well, Cliff, really - got an award for best drum major (for those who don't know, the drum major directs the marching band in shows and parades). We all got cool t-shirts, too, but they only had XL's. On Sunday it was rainy and bleah, but we went to Magic Kingdom anyway. My group rode Space Mountian and the Buzz Lightyear ride 3 times each, we rode Big Thunder Railroad once, Emily and Jenna insanely rode Splash Mountain, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, went to the Tiki Tiki Room ("In the Tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room... All the birds sing words and the flowers croon"), we rode the Haunted Mansion ride, and I was forced on Alien Encounter. I did not like that ride (well, it's more of an interactive show thing...). I am never going on it again. It's like the Bug's Life show at Animal Kingdom. I'm never going on that again either. My family forced me last time we went, and I came out nearly crying. Anyway, back to Magic Kingdom. It was miserable and wet, but I ate ice cream anyway. It's kind of fun, eating ice cream in the rain. Oh! We also rode the "Tomorrowland Transit Authority" twice (or was it 3 times?). Also on Sunday, we ate at Planet Hollywood. That was the third and last time I ate any scrambled eggs on this trip, because no one seems to know how to cook them for lots of people and not make them soggy. I think my grandmother knows how, but she unfortunately does not cook for any hotels or restaurants. On Monday we ate at the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom. It was really cool! Then we went to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure, where I got to ride The Hulk, Dr. Doom's Fall of Fear (I'm not sure of the exact name on most of these rides), the Dudley Do-Right water ride (I forget what it's really called), the Jurassic Park water ride, the ice dragon half of Dueling Dragons, the Popeye water ride, and the Spiderman ride. On Tuesday we went to Ron Jon surf shop (I got a sarong! It's blue and very cool.) and then to the beach for about 4 hours. My left shoulder got a little pink, but other than that I didn't get burned, which is good. (I don't really burn that easy, but when I do, it seems to hurt more.) And we saw dolphins! It was so cool. We were just about to leave when we saw them. They looked somewhat far out, but they were leaping a little, and diving, and splashing around. It was so cool! Some people thought they saw a small shark, too, and there seemed to be lots of jellyfish, but no one got seriously hurt, other than being sunburned. I gave Emily a mermaid tail, and then I got one. We went back to the hotel, showered and changed, and then went to Medieval times, which was really awesome. The show was cool, but I was disappointed that we didn't get to cheer for the blue knight because the yellow crown didn't go with my shirt. :-( But it was still really cool. Then on Wednesday, we went to a mall, where I got an Eeyore faceplate for my phone (Aaawww! ^_^) and two Eeyore t-shirts from the Disney store that was there (they were both half off, so it was like 2 for the price of one! Go Katherine. ^_^). Then we went to Epcot, and I bought a bunch of stuff with the money I hadn't spent yet, but I still ended up with about $100 leftover. I got a cool Eeyore pen that flashes when you click it, an Eeyore keychain, an Eeyore necklace, an Eeyore cell-phone case, a t-shirt from the Rainforest Cafe, a little flag from Medieval Times, and a Mickey visor cuz they didn't have Eeyore. ::pouts:: Stupid Mickey. But I had lots of fun, and now I am seriously tired. Sleeping on buses, even charter buses, is difficult and rather uncomfortable, and despite the 2 hour nap I took this afternoon (the buses got back to the school about 9 am cuz we left Orlando about 10 last night) I feel about ready to fall over. It didn't help that I had a softball practice this evening. But I was very happy to have real food and not fast food for dinner. Park food is often barely above fast food - greasy, salty, fatty, etc - as far as taste and quality go, and we ate park food every day. Last night I did have a pork barbecue sandwich, but it tasted like a sloppy joe to me because the put so much sauce on it. As far as I'm concerned, REAL barbecue is made the North Carolina way, and the "barbecue" sauce they sell in stores should be used for ribs, not real barbecue. I can't really think of anything else interesting that happened, though all the automatic toilets and sinks got really annoying after a while. I'm very tired. Bed sounds good. Yeah.

11:16 p.m., EST

I just remembered something funny that happened at MGM. My group was waiting to check in with our chaperone, and they were playing music over the little hidden speakers like they do at the parks, and they started playing Harry Potter music, and we were all like, "Whoa! Why are they playing that? They didn't write that! Didn't even make the movie!" I must have heard Harry Potter music like 3 times that afternoon/evening. And at a Disney park! Very odd. Sorry. I just thought of that a few minutes ago, and had to share.

March 17, 2003
9:14 a.m., EST

Eep! Don't hurt me! I know I said I was gonna write more Friday, but I never got the chance. I won't be able to do anything this week because I need to pack for my band's trip to Florida, and I have lots of work to do as well, but I'll try and do some after I get back Thursday of next week (3/27). I'm sorry! The ACC game yesterday really ticked me off. At the end, Duke fouled State like 5 times, and the refs didn't call it! Stupid refs, didn't call the stupid fouls, made State lose the stupid game. They coulda won if the refs weren't against them! Grrrrr. State would have gotten two shots for each of the fouls, too, because both teams had double bonus. Some of the fouls the refs called against State weren't even fouls, either. Grrrr. But State should still be in the NCAA because they did beat Wake Tech on Saturday, and made it to the finals. Stupid refs. Grrrr.

March 13, 2003
9:14 a.m., EST

Yikes. Another update after forever. I'm getting slack. Bad Katherine! I had a traumatic experience the other day in math. My teacher was handing back tests, and she called me up to her desk. Without showing me what I'd gotten, she whispered, "Do you not do well on multiple-choice tests?" and I was like, "Um..." cuz normally I do pretty well on multiple-choice. I think my face looked like I had just gotten a death sentence. So then my teacher says, "Just kidding!" and hands me the test, on which I got a 98. That was seriously scary. Very, very, very, very, very scary. But I was very releived (*relieved?) when I saw my score. Just thought I'd share my trauma with everyone.

March 7, 2003
9:15 a.m., EST

Wow. I haven't updated in, like, forever. Anyway, I finished reading the highly abridged version of Great Expectations, and it's not so bad when all the extra, unneccessarily detailed stuff is taken out. The part where Miss Havisham catches on fire is especially exciting. And it's a lot like a soap opera - everyone turns out to be related to everyone else. Right in the last 20 or so chapters, there are a ton of moments where dramatic gasps could be inserted, or the *Dun-dun-dun!* you hear in overly-dramatic horror/mystery movies. It's kinda of like, Pip finds Estella's mother - *gasp*. Miss Havisham catches on fire - *Dun-dun-dun!*. Pip figures out Estella's father - *gasp**Dun-dun-dun!*. It's actually kind of funny, and very, extremely soap opera-like. I can only handle Dickens in a highly-abridged format (although thinking about David Copperfield still makes me gag), but it still takes a while for the action to get going. Just thought I'd share that, especially in case Natalie reads this. (See, Natalie? You can forgive me for insulting Dickens now.) Also, for anyone who read this and was offended that I didn't like Dickens. Now you can stop being mad at me.

February 25, 2003
2:00 p.m., EST

Well, I got my interims today, and I got all A's!! Yay!!! I was a little worried about Geometry, but it's okay. I feel happy!! Yay!! Just thought I'd share with anyone who actually bothers to read my page. *Random subject change* Angela somehow came up with the idea that my puppy smuggles drugs. I'm not sure where she got that from, but she is convinced that it is true (which it isn't) and she doesn't want to listen when I tell her it's not true. I think it partly came from the fact that my dog stepped on a piece of my paper when her paws were muddy, and Angela saw it and accused my dog of peeing on the paper. Tess is very well house-broken, thank you very much!! And I was there when she stepped on the paper, so that automatically rules out any other way for the paper to get dirty. And she (Angela) keeps calling Tess a "he" when she talks, but that's how most people refer to dogs unless they know a specific gender (except for Angela). It's odd, really, how people seem to automatically assume that pets are "he"s. Ah! I just remembered. Interims always come on a Tuesday, and Tuesday=Smallville!! Yay!! More happiness!! I think I've gone insane. I just agreed to help a guy with grammer, and I'm not really sure how I passed the grammar test in English. I think it was partly luck. More happiness: My (rec league) basketball team is in 2nd place!! We beat all the other teams at least once, and our finishing record is 10-2 (that's # wins-# losses). The tournament starts Saturday. Joy. But it'll be fun. Last year, our team was undefeated, and we won the championship. We've still done really well this season. And in our last game (which actually wasn't a game cuz the other team didn't have enough players when we started, so we just scrimmaged and kept score. we won.), I made 20% of the 25 points, and one of my shots was a 3-pointer!! It was awesome. *Another random subject change* It really puzzles me that people can fail band. All you have to do is know you're music and be at rehearsals. It's not that hard. If it was, the band here (at my school, that is) probably wouldn't be half as big as it is. We have 160 people in the marching band. I have a headache, but I'm really not sure why. I should probably stop typing.

February 24, 2003
9:20 p.m., EST

Hmmmm. What to say, what to say. Oh! My mom was offended that I blamed her for not buying me the nail polish, when she was paying. Okay. That was scary. My father just placed a "box" (it's got a hole in the middle) that used to have a basketball in it on my head. Strange. On Friday, Angela decided I was a lazy bum. I'm not very clear on why, but she's Angela. I might be getting a Canadian pen pal!! Whoo-hoo!! I think that they should say "y'all." "Y'all" is a great word!! Even though I got teased a little for saying it once when I went to summer camp near Buffalo, NY. The girls up there also said I had an accent, but I think they were the ones with accents.

February 20, 2003
9:16 a.m., EST

I opened this to say something semi-important, but now I've forgotten it. Oh! It was about the ice storm. Hmm. Don't have much time now, so I'll do that later.

3:49 p.m., EST

Well, I promised you info about the ice storm, and here it is. On Sunday (2/16), it started out very cold and rainy. Then, around 4, it started sleeting heavily. By Monday morning, we had 2-3 inches of ice on the ground, even though it looked like snow. But ice is actually the more "normal" winter precip here. Which means it's really easy to slide down hills, even really small ones, and you don't really leave any prints! That's the best part. It's very pretty and looks like snow, but you don't have to worry about ruining it because you can't make any tracks in it! So, anyway, on Monday, I went sliding down a big hill in my neighborhood on one of those plastic-sheet type sleds, but I kept turning around, and twice I scraped my lower back against the curb. It still hurts! :-( Then on Tuesday, I didn't have school again, and everything got all wet and melty. Blech. No good for sliding. Yeah. That's it. It was fun, even though I did get hurt.

February 15, 2003
5:51 p.m., EST

Well. There's supposed to be another ice storm on the way here (to NC). So my mom is making us clean up the house in case the power goes out so we don't trip over stuff, we know where things are, etc. There is also a multitude of clothing being washed. That's my job, but right now I'm also (supposed to be) typing a paper on Leonardo da Vinci. He was a very interesting person. Vegetarian. And he only completed 25 paintings, though he did do hundreds of drawings. The key word there for the paintings is completed. I've found at least 2 that he never actually finished. Sorry if this entry is kind of choppy, but I've got to do at least some work on my paper while typing this. I'll go back to that now.
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Yay! I'm back! To write some more random stuff! My English teacher is really nice. We are reading a (highly) abridged version of Great Expectations for class, and pairs of students are assigned to lead "seminars" on the most recent reading assignment. My friend and I went to ask for help on questions to ask the group we're leading, and our teacher...(15 minute pause while family is in room)... anyway, our teacher had basically written out questions we could use. And Dickens isn't so bad when you take out all the extra stuff. He was a serious fluff writer. Unfortunately, this fluff also included a large number of long, unnecessarily complicated words. Completely off that topic: notice the "15 minute pause" in parentheses above. That is because I should be writing that essay, which I'm not really worried about because I've already passed the minimum of two pages, and I'm maybe half way done, if that. Also, I like cheese. Mostly. Too much is bad, though. That was completely random. I'm not sure where it came from. Probably from the fact that I just had a piece of delicious cheddar cheese. Yum. I'm going to write some more of my paper because I can't really think of anything else to say right now, but I'll think of something later.
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Wow! I finished my paper! This is great! Now all I have to do is make a Powerpoint so I can show some of his paintings! Which I'll have to do on my mom's laptop because we do not (2 minute pause while father is present) have that program on this computer. My sister is busy watching The Andy Griffith Show, which is really funny. (another 2 min. pause while father is present) He actually had a section of highway named for him near his hometown of Mount Airy (my dad thinks), which is in North Carolina. Guess what i get to do the 28th?!?! I'm going to see Some Like it Hot on stage!!! That is like, my favorite-ist movie of all time. It's absolutely hilarious!! And one of the original stars from the movie (which was made in '59), Tony Curtis, is in the show!! Not in the same part, of course, but he's still in it!! Wow. I just realized I got big events happening every month between now and July. Here's what the are:

February:

Going to see the show

March:

My band is going to Florida for a week

April:

(I think) HP2 comes out on DVD. Also, Easter.

May:

School ends (unless they decide to put make-up days there)

June:

My Girl Scout troop's trip to Toronto

July:

2 weeks of summer camp, and HP5 comes out!!!!!

February 13, 2003
9:15 a.m., EST

Wow. It's been, like, forever since I put something up here! I have good news: chapter 5 of the un-fluff is written fully, just not all posted yet. And I've started chapter 6 now. Yay! Anyway, I have to read Great Expectations (::gags::) and I really don't like Dickens. I'm sorry to those of you who do like his work, but I really can't stand it. Luckily, it's an abridged version, so that'll make it at least a little less tedious. This past weekend, I got the coolest nail polish. It changes colors depending on what direction you look at it from. It's really cool. Most of the time, it's purple, but sometimes it's green or pewter gray. It's awesome, and it looks kinda like a Japanese beetle. Very awesome. I wanted to get some chrome (oooh...shiny) but my mom wouldn't let me. ::pouts:: Maybe I'll get some this weekend, or next... hmmm...

9:19 p.m., EST

Wow, look! I'm here again. I know I promised to get ch. 5 up, but, ummm, I didn't. Don't hurt me! ::hides:: I had to write this because I remembered something I was discussing at lunch with Emily (a.k.a. Tropicana). Here it is: school food. I don't know about anyone else's school, but personally, all the schools I have ever attended, in my opinion, have "food substitute" instead of actual food. Today, for instance, one of the entrées (did I spell that right?) was "Turkey Fries." They're kinda like chicken nuggets from McDonald's - they have that processed look - but they're shaped like french fries (sorta). On other days, these are called "Chicken Fries," yet they always taste the same. Personally, I usually stick to eating the fruit (from a can) they include and bumming cookies (or lunchmeat) off Quackers. She usually shares because she's a very nice person. And she doesn't usually eat her sandwiches anyway, so she really doesn't mind that me (and Emily) take her ham, or corned beef (mmmmm...), or salami. I think maybe she lives off clementines (those really, really small oranges) since that's almost all she seems to eat. At least at lunch. Although, sometimes she gives me her cookies, then takes them and eats one... then eats another... but it doesn't matter cuz they were hers first anyway. So.... yeah. That's it. I will sincerely try my best to get chapter 5 up tomorrow.

February 8, 2003
12:43 p.m., EST

Grrrr. My mom can be so aggravating sometimes!!! Last night, my youth group had a babysitting night (for parents)/lock-in (after all the little kids left). I took a pump for my air matress (which I ended up not using), and now the plug is missing. Of course, seeing as I took it, she assumes I lost it. Hello? I didn't use the dang thing! How can I lose a part of something I didn't lose?! So, we looked all over the room my stuff had been in: no plug. Then, when we got home, we checked where the pump is usually put away, and no plug. So my mom starts ranting on about how she knew it had been lost, blah, blah, blah, and I must have lost it, etc, etc, etc. I DIDN'T TOUCH THE PUMP LAST NIGHT!!!!!!! I don't know if someone else used it, or what, but I. DIDN'T. TOUCH. IT. At all. So not only am I tired cuz I didn't get much sleep (who does at a sleepover?), I am being blamed for losing something I never even touched. ::sighs:: Well, it was nice to get that out of my system. Maybe I'm just cranky cuz I'm tired. I think I'll go take a nap. Yeah. That sounds good.

February 6, 2003
6:14 p.m., EST

Yay! I'm so happy, cuz I just wrote a cute little poem!! Yay!! And that means part of my homework's finished! Yay!! But I still got lots more to do. Ugh. There went my happy mood. Blech. I'll try to get chapter 5 of the un-fluffy fluff up this weekend, if I can, but I make no guarantees! (Did I spell that right?) Anyway, I gots to go study for my history test. x-b Ick.

February 5, 2003
7:01 p.m., EST

This is gonna be really short cuz Jeapardy just came on and it's the teen tournament. I have to write a poem for English to help a little kid remember how to set the table, and when I'm done, I'll put it up here, so you can all read it and teach it to any little kids you know! :-) Gots to go watch the fun show! Yell answers to questions!!

February 4, 2003
2:03 p.m., EST

Today made me nervous. We got our first 3rd quarter interims, but it's okay because I have all A's. I doubt my Geometry grade will stay that way though, because I only got an 86 on the first test, which is a low B, even though I got a 100 on my vocab quiz. Although, I did pretty well on the test for a person who missed 2 days of school. Yesterday I got really annoyed. I got off the bus and started walking home, and passed two middle schoolers, an 8th grader and a 6th grader. As I was walking past, the older one, whom I just guessed was in 8th grade, said "Freak." I was like, "Excuse me?? Do you have a problem with me?? Because if you do, please tell me so to my face." I didn't say anything because I was too tired. I had been up since 5 am and had just finished over 6 hours of school. I was not in a mood to pick a fight. Maybe I should have warned her that it's not a good idea to insult people who will be upperclassmen while you are a freshman. (in high-school, that is) Or I could have just called her a brat. That might have worked too. Maybe she just had a problem with Eeyore. I was wearing an Eeyore sweatshirt. It just irks me that someone could be that rude and completely juvenile. Personally, I don't consider myself a freak. I'm not exactly normal, but I'm not a freak either. There are people a lot "freakier" than me at my school. Anyway, I had lots of fun at lunch. My friends challenged me to connect whatever they said to Harry Potter, and I was doing pretty well. One guy got me though by saying something along the lines of, "Nuclear weapons exploding over Iraq." I couldn't find a connection! I mean, some of them were pretty weak, but there was a connection! I guess I could have said something about the Potters' house being destroyed, but it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, or Iraq. And I am completely against going to war. What's a war going to do for us, other than kill us and make Middle Eastern countries hate us more than they already seem to? Besides, Bush has not come up with a single good reason to go to war, at least not in my mind. And I'm all for fighting AIDs and helping poorer countries, but where is the $3 million he wants to use to fight AIDs in Africa going to come from? No one's said that either. When Bush started his term, we had a surplus. Now we have a deficit. And wherever the money went (I don't remember), it didn't go to pay off the national debt. When is that gonna happen? And where is the money for this new "Homeland Security Department" going to come from? I'm sorry to all you Republicans out there, but I really don't like Bush. Okay, I'm done with my political rant. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway.... I called one of my middle school friends Sunday (She's going to England w/ her school drama dept.!!!), and she said she has a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend (there were at least 6) who knows Tom Felton, and apparantly she is going to set it up so I can meet him before the end of this year. And then she's going to make sure we're engaged by the time she graduates from college. ::rolls eyes:: Sorry, Natalie, but I don't think that's gonna happen. She also said if that doesn't work, she's going to set me up with a guy from my middle school whom I made the mistake of saying I liked at one point in 6th grade(?). That was years ago!! I don't like him!! And you're not going to set me up with him, Natalie!! Although, I seem to have a thing for people named Tom. Tom Felton, Tom Wellings (Clark on Smallville), the Tom from middle school... But I like blue eyes, too. Maybe it's just a coincidence that they're all named Tom, cuz (I think) they all have blue eyes as well. Well, I've written a little too much here. I'm very rambly today. Huh. But I gotta get all this energy out somewhere cuz I'll be at school 'til after 7 because I have band practice, and then band meetings, but there will be a break for dinner in there, which is good, cuz I'm hungry. I read in the newspaper earlier that a 15 year old jumped out of his mother's moving car rather than go to school. Course, that's understandable cuz he was still in middle school, but still, I'd rather go to school than go to the hospital. Yep, I have definitely written enough. I should stop and save this before I get too carried away. I should do that now. I think I will.

February 1, 2003
11:22 a.m., EST

Oh my God. The Columbia exploded. Oh my God. Apparantly NASA lost contact at 9 a.m. This is bad. It looks really bad because there was an Israeli on the shuttle, so my suspicion is that Bush will try to pin it on (who else) Iraq. Personally, I don't think it would have been them, but I don't know. This is also bad because they were doing experiments with insect behavior, flower scent, and flame. Something went very, very wrong. God, that's seven people we'll never see again. Yikes.

January 31, 2003
5:13 p.m., EST

Well, today was a very blechy weather day. It was damp, cold, and foggy all day. Isn't that what it's supposed to be like in England? I wouldn't really know, and I'm not saying it's that way all the time, but that seems to be the reputation it has. ::shrugs:: On a complete topic shift: My friend Jennifer is funny. Whenever she hugs her BF, someone says, "Awww!" because it's just so sweet, but she absolutely hates it. Yesterday she kept getting mad at me, even though I only actually said it twice. The rest of the time I just smiled in a way that gave the impression I might be saying, "Awww!" Although, that is what I was thinking. Angela asked if she could make a sign and hold it up, but Jennifer said no. It's really very funny. And even though Jennifer's a pretty meek person, if you do say, "Awww!" she gives you a look. This look basically tells you that you are in deep trouble if you do it again. Hey! My dad just brought in the mail and I got my Five for Fighting CD! Sometimes being a Girl Scout really has its perks. When we sell magazines, one of the possible prizes is a free CD. You have a list to choose from, and sometimes it's not all that great, but they did have the CD I just got on there, and I really wanted it. Plus, you get to go on cool trips. Like this year, my troop is going to Toronto. I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling this spring and summer! In March, my band is going to Florida for a week (Disney World, here we come!). After school gets out in early June is the trip to Toronto with Girl Scouts, and then I'm going to 2 weeks of summer camp (well, they count from Sunday afternoon to Friday a week). The first one I'll be going rock climbing in the mountains, then I get a break on Saturday so I can get HP 5, then on Sunday I'll go to a week of science camp. I think. But I'm not sure if my mom's registered me yet or not. Hmmmm. Oh yeah! Before I forget, thanks to Jennifer for telling her BF to sign my guest book! So now everyone else who hasn't signed can go sign. Yay! Fill my guest book! Also, I am now going to leave this and work on chapter 4 of my fanfic, after I put up a poem I wrote in 7th grade. TTFN!

January 23, 2003
5:18 p.m., EST

Yay! I'm better! Mostly. My nose is still stuffed up and I have this horrendous (did I spell that right?) cough, but other than that, I'm great. I really do feel better. We had a snow day today for about 2 inches of snow, because Southerners are wimps when it comes to snow, and we're off tomorrow too. Not that I'm complaining, but now I've missed a week of school because Monday was MLK, Jr. Day, and I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'll have a lot of make-up work. Ick. x-b I'll catch up. Maybe. Spent most of my day listening to music, relaxing, doing absotively, posolutely nuthin of importance. But I did make dinner! Mmmmm. Chili. Wow. I seriously have nothing to write!! I think I'll just ramble on about random things, and you can probably stop reading this, but on second thought, don't, because I might make an important revelation you wouldn't want to miss!! I hope everyone knows that the 5th Harry Potter book is coming out in June, on the 21st, by now. If you didn't, I have one question for you: Where the heck have you been?! I personally think it's been too long (3 years, I beleive) since book 4 came out, and I'm not really sure I'll be able to survive the next......... wait......... 5 months without it!!!!! At least it's longer than book 4, so it should be worth the wait. I MUST HAVE THAT BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry. Got a bit carried away there. I do that sometimes. Like when Quackers says Tom Felton's an albino. ::glowers:: Grrrrrr. That really bugs me. Anyway, on a lighter note, I had a really fun party this past weekend for my birthday. Quackers, and Tropicana, and Jennifer (who despite her apparant abundance of nicknames still needs another in my opinion), and Lisa (whom I have absolutely no nickname for) all came, and we watched Monty Python sketches and Mr. Deeds (really funny movie), and ate really chocolate-y cake (mmm! :-d), and answered stupid questions from a book like, "If your balogna had a first name, what would it be? What about your other cold cuts?" and got very little sleep, and then ate chocolate chip pancakes in the morning, and.... Oh. Got carried away again. That has got to be the longest sentence I have ever written. Anyway, I have school off tomorrow, so I'll probably work on my fluff-with-a-plot. My f.w.a.p. or fwap because those periods are really annoying to put in between single letters. So it's now my fwap. That's a funny word, fwap. It's kinda like thwock, that's another funny word. And kumquat is a funny word. And the other night I had this really weird dream, and Snape was in it, and then this guy was chasing me with this giant robotic bear. I have some really weird dreams. In 7th grade, I had this dream that.... You know, I really don't think I'll tell that one, because then all my friends are gonna ask me about it, and that could be awkward. Yeah. This thing is really long now. And I thought I didn't have anything to talk about! Guess I'm just good at making meaningless fluff!

January 21, 2003
2:30 p.m., EST

Blah. I feel icky. The worst thing about sick days is that you're too sick to enjoy them. I don't think I could have handled school today, though, so it's probably a good thing that I stayed home, what with my sore throat, stuffy nose, and this annoying cough. x-b I hate being sick. Blech. I am really tired, despite the fact that I did get 8 hours of sleep last night, plus another hour or two this morning. Well, I'm going to continue work on chapter 3 of the fluff now. Go read it when it's done! And sign the guest book, if you haven't.

January 17, 2003
6:19 a.m., EST

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I have my permit!!!!!!!! I can drive!!!!!!!!!!! (even if only with a licensed adult and between 5 am and 9 pm.) Wow. Yesterday was very fun. When I got home from getting my permit (Yay! ^_^ ), I opened my presents. My sister got me Avril Lavigne's CD, and my parents got me one of those heart-shaped Altoid tins (cinnamon!). I opened it to see if it had heart shaped Altoids, and found a little slip of paper. I figured it was like some kind of inspection certificate type thingy that got accidentally left in (you know, "Inspected by number 43" kind of thing), so I took it out and opened it. Turns out, they got me tickets to the Some Like it Hot musical/theatre production thing!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very exciting. Then, after we went to dinner, we went to get a generator cuz the weather-people were saying it was gonna snow, and we'd been planning to get one since the ice storm, and when we came out of the store, it was snowing. Like, real snow. Not just the little dry flakes we usually get here, but big, fat, fluffy flakes. It was really cool, and we got a 2-hour delay today. ;-) I would be asleep, but my alarm goes off at 5, and I didn't know when I woke up, so I went ahead and took my shower and didn't find out till after about the delay. Also, I have received a nickname from my friends. At lunch on Wednesday, Emily decided me and the other Catherine (who spells her name wrong--got that, Catherine?--wrong) needed nicknames so it wouldn't be so confusing, and she (Emily) for some reason just decided to call me "Ha-Ha." I think she was thinking about that song, "They're coming to take me away, Ha-Ha!" by (i think) Napolean. Then, since Catherine likes ducks, Emily wanted to call her "DuckGirl" because then both of us would have names that could be in songs ("Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-Duck-Girl!"--replacing "Batman!"), but Catherine prefered "Quackers," so now that's what she is. Yesterday, Angela and I came up with one for Emily ("Tropicana"), and Emily did one for Angela, who, despite her resistance, is now "Shrubbery." (Like from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Also, Kaylor became "Catty," though I'm not exactly sure how. But now most of my friends have nicknames. Anyway, because it is after 6:30 now and I have not had breakfast, I will stop here.

January 3, 2003
11:56 p.m., EST

My parents were looking at my site (man, I am glad I didn't write anything too embarrassing/horrible), and my mom said she found this page really funny. Also, she thinks that "Meandering" would describe my thoughts much better. Then she told me that I could possibly one day write like Dave Barry does. He is a really funny guy, and all he has to do is sit around and write a short column once a week. Well, actually, he may do it more often than that, but it's only in the main paper here once a week. (And it's a good reason to look forward to Fridays.) Anyway, she seems to think that I could potentially hold a similar job in the future because when you read Dave Barry, he wanders off on tangents a lot, and basically writes about nothing at all. Personally, I would still rather be a vet, but being a humor columnist might be okay. Although, I could just keep writing things here, and not get paid ever, no matter how funny someone thinks I am. Well, just thought I'd share that. I kind of disagree that she finds this funny, but that's her opinion, not mine.

January 1, 2003
4:12 p.m., EST

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STATE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! N.C. State beat Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl, 28 to 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy 2003, everybody!!!!!!!!!!! (Unless maybe you're a Notre Dame fan.) Best (American) football game today!!! Not that I've seen any others, but none of the others had State playing. Yes!!! Go Wolfpack!!!! Okay. I'm done being overly excited about the game. Notre Dame didn't even make a touchdown!!! It was actually kind of pathetic. I'm really happy now, even though I'm still kind of sick. Just had to share my excitement with everybody!! Not that any of you will care, but that's okay. Alright, that's it.

December 31, 2002
1:47 p.m., EST

Happy New Year's Eve, everybody, even though mine isn't. First of all, I don't feel good. I have a sore throat, stuffy nose, and my head feels funny. Also, my little sister is being a pain. My mom took the car to the car wash and gave us some chores to do, so I did half of them, and my sister got mad because I wouldn't help her do the dishes. Hello??? I am sick, and I carried 15 heavy bags downstairs!!!! Dishes are not that hard!!! You take the dish, say, "Oh, look, there's a space right there," and put the dish in the dishwasher. Not hard!!!!!! Now she claims she is mad because I didn't ask her which job she would rather do, and when she asked me to help, I "didn't give a straight answer." Grrrrrrr!!!!!!! It's not like she offered to help!!!!!! Anyway, the real reason I am writing this is because I just wanted to share that yesterday, December 30, I drove on the highway. It was exciting, and really scary. I was driving exactly the speed limit (65 mph), and all these cars were passing me because they were all speeding. In my opinion, 65 is too fast anyway. I still think 30-35 mph is perfect. Well, I really don't feel good - my mom made me eat lasagna, and it's not being very agreeable at the moment - so I'm going to stop typing.

December 27, 2002
7:19 p.m., EST

I drove again today!!!! :-) Also, last night I went shopping. I got: a pair of jeans (which I needed), 3(?) long-sleeve shirts, and a light jacket w/ a hood. Also, I got a cool calendar with pictures of Newfs. I woulda gotten the CoS movie calendar, but it only had one picture with Tom Felton!! :-( Although he was really hot in it, I just couldn't bring myself to buy the calendar when only one month - and the shortest one at that! - had a picture that included him. Three months, sure, I woulda taken it! But just one? Anyway, I wanted to climb the rock wall that is now in the mall closest to my house, where we went shopping, but my mom wouldn't let me. :-( There is also a Dance, Dance Revolution (I'm not sure if I punctuated that right, but who really cares?) game, but if I tried that in public, I would humiliate myself. Not much else to say, except that I don't like traffic lights. They like to turn yellow when I'm about five feet away from the stop line. Mean!!!! Yeah. That's it. I'm tired. Driving is a lot harder than it looks!!! And I still think 30 mph is the perfect speed.

December 26, 2002
2:47 p.m., EST

I just got back from my "Behind the Wheel" training. We did basic stuff: turns, city driving, residential driving, etc. I learned a few important things:

1. Driving is a lot harder than it looks.
2. The gas and brake pedals are very powerful.
3. 30 MPH is a good speed. Everyone should drive 30 mph all the time.

December 25, 2002
9:44 p.m., EST

Merry Christmas!!! That is, if you celebrate it. I had a pretty good day. Got lots of cool pajamas :-), but no CDs. :-( Oh well. Anyway, this will be very short because I have road training for Driver's Ed tomorrow at 10 am. X-b Too early! I would have done this earlier, but my dad was replying to an e-mail. ::glares:: He took like half an hour!!!! I had a really big dinner. My family went to a friend's house and there were bunches of people. After dinner, I was trying to sleep b/c I was tired, and the other girl about my age was also, and people started singing and playing percussion instruments!!!!! They wouldn't even let us take a short nap on the couch!!!!! It's really hard to sleep sitting up!!!!! So that woke me up, and I was unhappy. But I feel better now!! We came home, watched Lilo & Stitch, I cried. (That, sadly, is the only movie I've ever cried at. I've watched Moulin Rouge twice, and didn't cry either time, although I've almost cried every time I watched Black Beauty. I know, really sad.) So that's all I can write now, because it's almost 10 and I need my rest. Oh, and sign my guestbook!!!!!!

December 22, 2002
10:17 p.m., EST

I am really tired. We (my family and I) just finished decorating the tree. We have a lot of ornaments. We were also watching an old version of A Christmas Carol, and at the end Scrooge really does seem like he's off his rocker. Oh! Oh! I found out that my site tied for first place in my category (Psychology & Sociology) in the science fair!!!!!! I am really excited!!!!! Also, I was looking at Jennifer's site and I saw that she wrote I have "flawless HTML." ::blushes:: Thanks, Jennifer, but it's really not that good. Anyway, I haven't done anything for awhile because Thursday and Friday were exams (a midterm and 2 finals). After my test Thurs. I went out for lunch with my friend (Bojangles!!!! ;-d), and on Friday two of my friends and I went to see Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It was pretty good. Really exciting, and I liked the Ents. I'm ashamed to say that I have not read the books. I read The Hobbit, but when I tried to start LotR, I found it too much like David Copperfield. God, I hate that book. I tried reading it in 8th grade. I got halfway through in about 4 months. I read Harry Potter 4 in, like, 2 days. David Copperfield must be the most boring book on the face of the Earth. Charles Dickens should be shot. Except he's dead so it won't really affect him. Why is it that the classics are the long, exceedingly boring books? How can they be "classics" if no one can stand to read them? Anyway, where was I? I was going somewhere with this.... Oh yeah. I remember. Anyway, Legolas (Orlando Bloom) has the same basic phenotype (oooooh!! big science word!) as Tom Felton. I pointed this out to my 2 friends, and they said that he (Orlando) was also an albino. TOM FELTON IS NOT AN ALBINO!!!!!!!!!! Just because his hair is really light blonde (does that have an "e") does not mean he's albino!! I happen to have a friend with the same color hair and I know for a fact that she's not an albino!! I think I have cooled down a bit now. If you haven't already, SIGN MY GUEST BOOK!!!!! (is that one word or two?) If you do not sign it, I will hunt you down, rip off your head, and spit in your neck!!!!!! You have been warned!!!!

December 18, 2002
11:18 a.m., EST

Well, I don't really have much to say today. Nothing exciting happened. I reviewed for a midterm, took a midterm, handed out gifts for my friends, etc., etc. Very extremely boring. I didn't really watch Smallville last night, but it was a rerun, so that's okay. Instead, I went shopping! :-) Got some pajamas. ^_^ Fun pajamas. ^_^ I can't really remember what's on them, but I think they are Pooh. And they're not the kind with pants, but that's okay. I think they're pale yellow w/ Pooh, a spaghetti strap top and shorts. I'll have to wait for summer to wear those, but they're really cute. Wow. Less than a month until my birthday. I'll be --!!!!!! That means I'll be able to get my permit!!!!! Yay!!! ^__^ I'll have to drive with an adult for a year, ( X-b ) but that's okay. Then I'll be able to drive!!!! I would like to get my own semi-new car (a VW bug would be cool), but that's probably not going to happen, so I'll have to live with the old "family" car. It shouldn't be that bad, though. No matter which of our vans I end up driving, they aren't all that old. (One's a '94 and one's a '96.) Except the heater in the '96 doesn't work very well. X-p I won't freeze though. I'm tough. GRRRRR!!!! Cold doesn't scare me, I survived an ice storm! In fact, I handle the cold better than my mom, and she's from Buffalo (NY)!!!! Sure, she hasn't lived there for a while, but I was born in the South, and you would think my blood was thinner than hers. Not so. I just wish NC got more actual snow, not just ice. We tend to get ice a lot. Like every winter or something. The only reason I think this past storm was so bad was because the power company didn't have enough reinforcements ready. The economy and layoffs haven't really helped that situation much either. If you cut people, there won't be as many to spare. So, the power companies all cut jobs. Then, when the extra people were needed, they didn't have them to send, both in NC and from other states. It took over a week for some people to get power. If they'd called for more help, they could have finished much more quickly. I told someone at school I didn't have power Monday (12/9), and they assumed I lived in a rural area. I don't. I live practically in the middle of Cary (a suburb of Raleigh, NC's capital, for those who don't know). Cary is a large suburb. We now (I think) have a higher population than Chapel Hill. "The Triangle" used to consist of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. (Look on a map if you're confused.) Now it's Raleigh, Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. This is getting really long, so I should probably stop here. I'm not sure if I'm done ranting or whatever I was doing up there, so I might put more later. I doubt it though.

6:44 p.m., EST

Wow. I had so much fun. My mom took me over to my church and I practiced driving in the parking lot. It was cool! But kind of scary. Also, I found out that my science project tied for 1st in my category in the science fair!!!! Isn't that awesome? I am really, really happy now. ^___^ :-D ^___^ :-D Okay, that's about it. Had to share the good news.

December 17, 2002
12:36 p.m., EST

My friend Emily had an interesting idea. I was telling her about a fluffy story I was writing (Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione), and she was not paying attention. I finished what I was saying, and she told me what she was thinking about. See, the English language is shrinking, or at least, the average person's vocabulary is. Lots of words that were previously common are now "big" words. Anyway, she said that sometime in the near future, (American) football players will only be able to speak in grunts and band students will take over the world. I think this is plausible, at least in my band. We are very disciplined. If you do something you aren't supposed to (talk, be late, chew gum, move at attention, etc.) you have to do push-ups. X-b This is wonderful for discipline. When people have to do push-ups for not doing the right thing, they correct it really quickly. I should know. I've been there. This organization and discipline would make it easy to take over, especially if football players can only grunt. It would be like someone's dog trying to warn them of an alien invasion:

December 16, 2002
11:05 a.m., EST

Wow. It's been forever since I last wrote on this page. Anyway, I couldn't do anything on the 12th because I had another project to do in this class, and on the 13th I was finishing Biology homework. Then, on Saturday, I had to march in a parade and on Sunday I had to go to church, play in a concert, and do English homework. Right now, I should probably be studying for my Biology test, but I'll do that later. Like after lunch. So, I had an exciting, fun-filled weekend, and now I have exams. One tomorrow, one Wednesday, one Thursday, and two Friday. I also have to go Christmas shopping. It's only 9 days until Christmas and I don't have presents for anybody. Shopping's out for tonight, because my GS troop is having a party, but tomorrow looks okay. Not that I know what to get anyone. If anyone has any gift ideas for anybody on my list, tell me!!!! For those of you who would like to give me a gift, my list so far is:

• CDs: Avril Lavigne, The Corrs, Vanessa Carlton, Harry Potter soundtrack (for Sorceror's Stone. I have CoS.)
• Pajama pants. I love 'em. But you'd do better getting me a gift certifate/card so I can buy 'em myself.
• Eeyore. Almost anything Eeyore will do. I need more Eeyore pajamas. I already have 3 sets, but that is irrelevant.

December 11, 2002
11:38 a.m., EST

Yay!!!! We got power back!!! The ice storm knocked out our power for about 5 days. Not fun. In fact, extremely boring. Our phone was also knocked out. Then the phone company guy fixed it so it worked, even though the connection wasn't perfect. Then the real fixing people came and attempted to put in a proper connection, unfixing our phone in the process. So my dad had to fix it. It now works. Anyway, I was very bored, and spent Monday and yesterday catching up on e-mail. I have committed a great crime. Last night(Tuesday), I missed Smallville. It's terrible! I completely forgot it was Tuesday, so I completely forgot to watch!! I can watch on Sunday, but it won't be the same. ::sighs:: I feel terrible now. I should not put it up when I owe my friends money. It reminds them when they come to see my wonderful website. (I know it's not really wonderful, but let me have my fantasies. Like meeting Tom Felton.) The only reason Emily remembered I owed her was because I wrote it on here. Then she reminded Jennifer from whom I had borrowed $1. I paid them both back though, so it's all good. I am very, very bored. I finished my work and have nothing to do. I can't think of anything else to say for now, so I'll stop here.

December 4, 2002
11:18 a.m., EST

We're expecting an ice storm here (in North Carolina). I hope it starts raining cuz then I might be able to go home. Which would be nice. If it starts raining, the rain will freeze, which is dangerous. Meaning school will close early so buses can get everyone home before the roads get too icy. We get bad ice storms here. Sometimes we get snow, but usually it's only about an inch and then an ice coat is on top of it. Except in the past 3 years, we've had 2 "big" snowfalls. We got like 20 inches!! It was cool. Very cool, because ice is not good for snowballs, snowmen, or snowforts. This snow was. Whoo hoo! I just checked the school system website, and I get out of school an hour early!! YAAAAAAY!! Now I'll check a local news site. Hold on.......
........
They don't have it posted yet, but that's okay. Wow. Wait till all my friends hear!!!! They do not have computer access at this time, but I do. Mwahahahaha!!! I have power!!!! Maybe Emily won't make me pay back the $2 she loaned me when I tell her. . . Nah. Not likely. If you were wondering where I am, I am in one of my classes. All of our work is on the computer, but I've finished everything. So now I have free time, basically. Which is why I'm writing this. I might write more later. For now, I can't think of anything else to say. So I'll stop here. Sorry again if I've scared anybody.

December 3, 2002
11:40 a.m., EST

Angela annoys me sometimes. She claims I have mutated eyes. I object to this. My eyes are hazel, not mutated. My mom's eyes are like this! Also, my friend Emily says I should be able to detect vampires with these eyes. My eyes are not weird!!! Or mutated!!! If they are, it's not my fault!!! Also, I saw the second Harry Potter movie opening weekend. It was much better than number one, but there's still a lot to improve. For example, where is Peeves? Is he going to be in any of the movies? And Dan Radcliffe's eyes are still blue. This is wrong. Harry's eyes should be green. All they need to do is give him contacts. But Draco was good. Yes. Tom Felton. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Sorry. But I hope they don't use a black Lab for Sirius' dog form in the third movie. They should use a Newfoundland. Those are big, shaggy, often black dogs, and in my opinion, absolutely adorable. Of course, I think Fang is adorable too. Whenever I say a dog is cute in front of my friend's brother, he compares me to Hagrid. I object. I would not raise a big, huge, hairy spider. Mostly cuz I don't like spiders. Not at all. That was, in my opinion, the scariest part of the movie. Giant spiders. Ugh. ::shudders:: It also didn't help that I had to sit next to Angela. She kept poking me and talking about spiders crawling on me and eating my guts. And when Draco first appeared (in the bookstore scene) she kept nudging me. It's not my fault he's cute! I have a crush on a cute celebrity! So sue me! My fingers are cold. I need to stop typing. If you finished reading this, good for you! I'm sorry if I've scared anyone off. I honestly don't mean to.