Snow!

I woke up this morning and looked out the window thinking I could go for a walk today or something, so I looked out the window to see what the weather was like and the ground was pretty covered with SNOW. First snowfall that I've seen this season. I'm just glad it decided to snow today instead of when I was actually going somewhere. I doubt it'll last very long. I've heard it'll start to warm up again soon. :)

P.S I'm writing this on my iPod, which I still fond incredibly cool. I think that makes 2 posts done on my iPod. Technology sure is awesome.

POOF!

Boredom strikes again!

Seriously?

First of all, Happy B-Day mom! You don't look a day over 40! Kind of sucks having your birthday on Black Friday this year huh? I bet last year was so much better because it was on Thanksgiving. We went to the movies today and we got to see TWO movies and go out to eat at Cozumel's...if only I could've eaten the popcorn, then it would have been perfect. I think she had fun and that's what counts :) We saw Tangled and Burlesque.

I've heard some pretty sad things involving the Cranberry Walmart. Apparently some people had to be escorted out of the building because they were fighting over toy hamsters. I mean, it's pretty sad when you have to be escorted out of a Walmart. I also heard somebody got tazed! Oh I wish I had been there to see it! I couldn't stop laughing when mom told me about it. Good news is I have a new camcorder yay! I'm going to be testing it out after Christmas so I might have some random videos popping up on here :)

Did you know wildebeests are nothing like muskoxen? I have no idea why I keep switching the names of those two species *stares thoughtfully at the muskox on my calendar*

I really don't know...

...Because in all honesty...I can't sleep...and thus this was born. At least I had fun coloring the girl. I'm tired and it's 12:06 in the morning on Black Friday. I guess some people are already standing out in the cold huh? So glad I'm not doing that this year even if I get to miss out on a nice breakfast at four in the morning. It's supposed to snow today, too. Hmm.
Have a nice Black Friday if you're going out, if you're not then have fun sleeping in, I know I will :)

Pardon the Turkey

Today's Thanksgiving, which means I have today and next couple days off of school, yay! But that means I'll have to spend a few hours with my family + Josephine...oh well a good stuffing will be worth it to hear grandpa Ion complain about everything, maybe I can sell a few wreaths or something too. I think Simon will be there too and he might bring the X-Box so we won't have to listen to boring stuff all the time. If he doesn't bring it then I'll just watch TV or read a book till the Rents are ready to leave...can you tell I'm anti-social?

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

This is a love story.

This is a love story. But it’s not an ordinary love story. There are no power hungry stepmothers out to make their son’s lives miserable by keeping them away from women their entire lives. There are no fairy godmothers swooping in at the last minute to provide the lowly maiden with a new dress and glass slippers for the ball. In fact, there are no grand balls in this love story either. No swooping music at the climax with a kiss on the shore at midnight.

This is a love story. But it’s not about two souls destined to fall in love. It’s not about arranged marriages between royals. It is not about gallant men thrust into danger to save their women. It’s not about happily ever after. In fact, it would be a stretch to consider this a story about everlasting love in the face of all adversity.

This is a love story.


Not mine, I just love this opening! This is from 52 Sunflowers for Ivan Braginsky. It's about a foreign immigrant family trying to get by in the US (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and they own a flower shop. The love part is a gradual thing between the flower shop owner (Ivan) and a cadet (Amelia). I love this story because, for one thing it's set in Colorado Springs, CO, where I used to live a good portion of my life so I can really relate to the setting, and because it's not just about the growing possibility of love between two people...and it was written by someone who used to be a cadet, which helps with the accuracy.

I feel so accomplished!

Why do you ask? Well, I'll tell you!
I finished Anna Karenina...woot! It only took me forever because I kept getting distracted and what not. I actually enjoyed it, even though I had my doubts at first. I'm actually starting to think I enjoy almost every book I read...except Twilight *shudder*

I don't really know who I sympathized most with in the book, since Tolstoy kind of made me feel bad for all of them. I probably felt the most sympathy for Seryozha (Anna's son) because the poor kid had no idea what was going on and no felt like explaining to him and he was often forgotten...poor kid. I have to say that I didn't expect Anna's death even though she was threatening suicide and everything. I kind of paralleled her threats with a child threatening to run away from their parents just to make them feel bad for them seemingly not caring about you. Anna really did regret throwing herself under the train though, that much I know. It was just like the time she thought about taking the whole bottle of morphine or opium, I can't really remember which. She got really scared of the idea of death, which made me think she wasn't going to kill herself...but I was wrong.

I must say that Levin's whole realization at the end of the book kind of irritated me, whether that was because I was tired when I read it and didn't have much patience, or something else. Being an atheist myself, I can think of plenty of things to live for in life and not flounder at the idea of right and wrong without turning to a god of some sort. But I guess Levin's not like me and since Tolstoy was a christian (or something like a christian, anyway) I figured that Levin would have some kind of conversion. His personal struggle to find something to live for was long, but I did enjoy the end result. Particularly at how Levin didn't feel much different that how he had felt before, it felt to me like Tolstoy was saying religion doesn't change who you are, you have to make an effort to change yourself. And of course, Levin's age old question of whether those who believe in a different religion go to hell, even if they're good people. Levin's internal conflict was like an ever changing picture, morphing into different shapes and colors throughout the book, making me so glad that I didn't read the abridged version (which cut out most of Levin's thoughts and feelings).

Let's see, probably my favorite scene in the book was when Levin was freaking out about Kitty going into labor. He represented the stereotyped nervous first time father absolutely perfectly and it made me laugh. Of course the doctor's and Kitty's complete calmness was funny and contrasted Levin's so greatly it was perfect. I have plenty of favorite scenes but that one was just amazing.

Would I recommend this book? I would say that I wouldn't recommend it to most of the people in my English class, so if you like major action packed, exciting, non-sluggish plot, non-human nature focused/slice of life then this book probably isn't for you. But i guess I could always be wrong. If that's the case, then check Anna Karenina out, just don't be intimidated by the 900+ pages and probably small print.
:)

Just a little out of it

Oh my gosh, what day is it? I haven't been thinking straight for the past few days and I have no idea why. I've been sleeping in the afternoon almost constantly, eating one huge meal a day and then not touching food for the rest of the day, and I'm forgetting things that I did just two minutes ago. But you wanna know the good part? I feel great! I think I've been nice to everyone the last few days and nothing seems to really bring me down. Although, people haven't been so nice to me...but I guess it's alright since I've been a jerk for a while. Of course, calling me a Nazi in a room filled with WWII vets was kind of low, Jordan. I seriously should have stood up and shouted that you had sex with your boyfriend and you were pregnant. But that's not true so I didn't. Because I'm a nice person. Yeah. Lately Lauren's been showing her Kleptomaniac side more and more, along with Emily. Very troubling when my stuff suddenly goes missing, guys. Very troubling. You should get yourselves checked out.

Best Pretty Pretty Princess moment ever:
"What does the black ring mean again?"

"Uhhhmm...oh yeah! Ahahah, sucks to be you! It means that if you don't get rid of it and still have it at the end of the game you can't win even if you have your full set! In your face! You might as well give up now..."

"I will be the prettiest princess!"

"Quit it you two. Hey, gimme the crown Sam."

"What? No way! No way, you cheated! That's the only way- hey!"

"I'm a Pretty Princess!"

"Oh c'mon! I was so frikin' close!"

"Not so fast. Don't think I'll let you leave here with that title. I will be the prettiest princess or no one else will! Death to the false princess!"

"You're just jealous 'cause you had the black ring!"

*start to wrestle for the crown. Crown falls to the side, where it is snatched up*

"Ah ha! Victory is mine!"

"Oh no you don't!"

*gets tackled*

"Hey think fast!" *throws the crown* "Run, dude, run! Once you hide the crown somewhere you and I could both be pretty princesses and create a pretty princess empire that'll rule the world with an iron fist!"

"The crown is mine!"

*door opens* "What is all this noise abou-" *silence as everyone freezes* "What the- No. I really don't want to know." *closes door*

*Fight continues as though it was never interrupted*

Sing a sad song just to turn it around~

Thursday was just a terrible day ( the reason I'm posting this today is because I have been without the glorious Internet for a while...it just adds to the suckiness that was Thursday). Let me list it for ya:

The day started out with a f**ked up dream about the entire Junior class having to compete in a race and the only one allowed to live was the one who won. The race layout was kind of like the board game Life and some people had cars and motorcycles (Hannah and TayB, for example) while others had bikes or push scooters. Others didn't have anything (me and tons of other people). The other classes in the school were spectators behind this huge rope fence and they all had popcorn. I woke up before the end, so i couldn't see what happened, though I'm curious now. Still not the worst dream I've ever had.

Thursday was the Blood Drive at the school and I was going to be donating for the first time because I finally remembered my permission form. I was so excited and nervous because I didn't think I would have enough iron. Turns out I did have enough iron and i thought everything would go smoothly from there. Of course not. It seems that i have really small veins...small enough that five nurses couldn't really find them in either of my arms. I wasted two periods of school laying on my back with people surrounding me and wiggling a needle around in my arm like a toggle switch. I was laughing because I thought it was just perfect *sarcasm* In the end they didn't want to take any chances with my veins and told me that it might help if I gorge myself on water a week before the Blood Drive. If that doesn't work, then I'm going to ask them to take it out of my hand, because damnit! I want to give blood!

I had a headache the rest of the day and my arm hurt every now and then, and I had a Trig Test later in the day (several people skipped the test to give blood that period but I hate making up tests so I tried to donate in the morning). I only missed two on the test (yay) and then it was off to French and then Choir where I would get dismissed at 2 o'clock for an orthodontist appointment. Nesta was getting irritated at always being interrupted during choir for dismissals and announcements and he was going off on this rant when I was called for dismissal. Poor Nesta, no one thinks his class is important.

At the orthodontist I was poked in the eye and neck by the same wire someone was trying to tie into my teeth. We went to the Book Nook to order Watership Down that my dad forgot to find the author of, and then went to KFC for a fast dinner because it was a bad day for everyone. I was taking a nap on the couch to try and relieve my headache when at 8:30 mom came home with news that she hit a deer and the new car had been dented and the radiator (and something else) was broken. So we've been having to use Simon's car because mom's is still getting fixed and won't be repaired for another two weeks. And then at 11 at night I discovered that the water in the sink wouldn't shut off. Turned out the handle needed to be tightened, but that didn't stop us from being completely frustrated over the whole thing, seeing as our house keeps falling apart, especially when it come to water related items.

Sigh...I also found out I have passive-aggressive tendencies and need another way to release my anger instead of attacking someone verbally, or bottling everything up to never see the light of day. Excellent day, wouldn't you say? It couldn't been worse, I guess.

The Dream

She breathed hard and fast, running through the endless dark woods closing in on her from every side. Her hands clasped her torn and frayed dress frantically. Her eyes were wide and fearful, sweeping back and forth as she ran, looking around for anything that might be coming after her.

She didn’t seem to know that eyes were watching her from everywhere. From above, from below, from the sides, from inside. Her bare feet made soft patting noises against the light dirt path as she ran for her life. Those white trees passed by in blurs against the black background making up the sky, almost turning her whole world completely white.

She ran and ran and ran, but no matter how fast she ran she didn’t seem to go anywhere. The poor thing seemed to be getting tired. She wished that she could stop, but her legs wouldn’t obey the command. Soft whispers floated to her ears: Stay with me Alice…are we not friends?

Her hands moved to her head as she covered her ears and screamed. “Stay away from me! Leave me alone!” She closed her eyes and willed it all away. “No! No! NO!” she cried, crystal tears streaming down her face, her breath came in choking sobs, and finally her legs had to stop moving. She collapsed mid-stride and fell against a gnarled white tree. Red leaves fell around her from the impact of her body. She looked up as if dazed, her tears almost forgotten. The blood red leaves fell against the black sky as if they were in water. Her mouth opened in wonder and one small sob escaped.

Alice…don’t leave me…

She looked down at her hands, lying flat and splayed out on the silvery-black dirt. Unconsciously, they clenched, making the dirt clump under her fingernails.

Alice…

Slowly they unclenched, revealing bright red spots. In a second the two spots transformed into bright red roses with bottle green stems and sharp thorns. She stared in wonder at the new plants before she felt something slide down her face. Reaching up with one of her dirty hands, she gently touched the spots under her eyes.

Her hands came back red. She screamed and choked as more red flew from her mouth. Using the trees to pull herself up, she began to run again, holding her hands to her mouth as she cried bloody tears. She did not go far before she was forced to stop again, this time because she was coughing red. Falling to her knees in the middle of the silver and black path, she hugged her middle and wished with all her might that she would wake up and everything would be normal.

Alice?

She looked up at the sound and saw a familiar bone white figure of a young boy standing in front of her. That same bright red scarf was wrapped around its neck. It had black holes were its eyes would have been and a black crescent-moon smile as a mouth. It stood not far from her, smiling down at her on the ground. She backed away on her hands and knees.

“Get away from me!” she croaked, backing away until her back was against a pale tree. “Leave me alone!” That smile did not falter. It stepped forward slowly with a slight skip in its step. That long white coat ruffled in the non-existent breeze and the moonlight hair flipped back and forth.

The bloody tears had come back in force against her cheeks. “Please,” she whispered to the creature. “Please, I just want to go home.”

The creature halted not one foot away from her, that smile frozen on its face. She thought it felt somehow different, and her heart beat faster than before. So painfully fast. One hand went to her chest again. Her breathing accelerated until her chest was moving three times for every second.

Home?

She nodded, finding it difficult with the sudden pains in her chest. Her body was starting to go numb.

Why? Why? Isn’t it fun here? Aren’t we friends? Aren’t we all friends? Aren’t I your friend?

The voice had gotten louder with every question, and by the end it was screaming in her ears. She closed her eyes and huddled into the tree. She began to whimper to the dark air, “Please Mommy…Daddy…please…” Her tears had stopped, but not because she was no longer sad, no, more like she couldn’t produce any more.

The corners of the creature’s smile slowly turned down into a frown. The white fingers clenched into fists. The black holes bored into her, but she could no longer feel them. She could no longer feel anything; she would no longer feel anything.

The white creature turned away as her body paled and began to transform into a small white tree with blood red budding leaves. On this tree a single mirror hung from a branch, and a silky red ribbon was tied around the trunk.

A single black tear dropped from one of the creature’s eyes, as it fingered the scarf around its neck. It turned back to look up at the sky through the other white tree branches. The white crescent moon gleamed clearly through the black sky. The creature’s mouth turned up and imitated the shape.

Alice…

----------------------------------------------------------------
Still not the worst dream I've ever had...
...Yeah...don't even ask me what this is, because I really can't tell you much. What I can say is that this was supposed to be a Prologue type thing for something much bigger. I might still do that, but I haven't been able to get on my computer very often recently and that's how I usually write things...unless I really have nothing else to do.
I wrote this a while ago and found it while I was cleaning out my computer. I think my writing has gotten better since then, so if it seems mediocre (more than usual, I guess) that's why. I used to have a character sheet for this thing's later chapters but it was in my old notebook from last year, so I'll have to dig that out to refresh my memory if I actually continue this monster. That is if I didn't throw it away by mistake...

10-30-10

Saturday was awesome! I went to Washington D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear) and had an absolute blast. Sure waking up at 3 a.m. and then functioning fully for about 24 hours was a bit of a pain, and of course the crowded Metro thanks to all the other Rally goers. Oh, and we didn't have direction to the way back home and didn't actually get home until Sunday morning. I loved it! The signs were amazing and hilarious and the people that we met were nice and funny. I was sad that we couldn't really hear or see much of the rally itself, but we recorded it at home so it was alright. From what I saw there were only two negative groups there: the Japan is a black hole of child abduction and the guy saying we should deport every single illegal immigrant in the U.S. Yeah, those people weren't fun at all, but people were mostly laughing at them anyway (especially when the guy dressed as an alien from outer space walked over to the illegal immigrant deporter and held up a sign saying: "I'm the only alien you should be afraid of!") Twas so fun, I don't even know.

After the Rally we figured the Metro would be packed with people and we would have to wait in line forever, so we went sight-seeing. We saw the Washington Monument, the Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. I was disappointed that we didn't see more in the area, but our feet were killing us and it was getting late. I took pictures, which I'll probably post later. One actually has me in it, though I really didn't want to be.

Needless to say, I woke late on Sunday and didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of the day. I wish I could've gone to see Rockey Horror Picture Show with some friends, but that's okay. I have Rally experience now! Woot! I can't wait to go back to D.C. next year for Senior trip! I'll actually know some (little parts) of the city and the Metro won't scare me. Awesome :)