I've decided to state yesterday's late-bus revelation, which is totally unimpressive, and which everybody but me has figured out already, but which made me stop and think.

Having a choice is a sign of wealth.

I mean, really. I can choose what to wear because I've got enough money for a variety of clothes; same with what I buy, the foods I eat--even the friends I have. People desperate for friends don't pick and choose; it's when they have many that they can decide which kind they like.

...There, now that that's over with, I'll get on with studying for stats, or whatever the crap I think I'm doing instead of hanging out on AIM.

-Laurel

Right, in honor of Easter, am here defining the term I made up last week: sugar poisoning, defined as the specific variety of pain you get out of overdosing on tangy, non-chocolate candies like sour jellybeans, Sweetarts, Runts, etc.

::squinches up, mildly nauseated, severely stomach-ached:: Am definitely sugar-poisoned. Gack.

::weak grin::

But anyway, mine was a rather idyllic Easter--helped out with the three- and four-year-olds for church, which was every bit as fun as I'd hoped it'd be; went to service, which was nice--

--enjoyed the wonderful music of Chris Rice, as Run the Earth...Watch the Sky was an Easter present from my parents (yes, I do get a very few Easter presents along with the candy--they're indulgent that way--hope I'm not too spoiled! *g*). Was perfect accompaniment for such a lovely, warm, sunny, breezy day as this, especially since--

--my dad spontaneously decided to see if my aunt and uncle could spare a few hours to let us come see their new house. They could, so we drove down (hour and a half or so each way) and saw it. Is old, circa 1830, and needs some fixing up, but is very pretty, and so different from the "shoebox" they had on the lake.

Read all the way home and until just about half an hour ago. And here I am. I really thought I'd get more out of the day than a few short sentences, but I guess not. Hm.

...Right, so where exactly, while I'm thinking of other questions, is the pit of one's stomach? Right at the bottom or something?

Anyway, yeah, back to school tomorrow. Yech. Good thing I'm gone on Thursday for the choral/band trip.

Happy Easter, everybody!

Nonny, nonny, odle'igh...run the earth and watch the sky...playing hard and waiting for the Day...nonny, nonny, odle'ay...

-Laurel

Right, saw 'Nanda last night, stayed over with Daf, we went to Fredonia this morning to see Calypso--stayed a few hours, watched Coldplay videos, had pizza, met a couple of random friends, went back.

Am ti-i-i-i-ired...::weak grin::...have gotten, what, 15 hours of sleep in the past ruddy three days? Not much more, I'll tell you that.

Definitely ruling out random movie thing with Jayj, assuming I'm even still invited. Homework tomorrow--and sleep. Lo-o-ots of sleep.

-Laurel

Mm, movie thing was fun. Not much to say, though; am tired and am talking to my friends.

-Laurel

::laughs:: Right, and right after I wrote that last entry about maybe getting sleep, I stayed up 'til after five in the morning on AIM.

Anyway, yeah, got a lovely dose of long-sought-after freedom today after SFE: finding that play practice was canceled, Daf, Aneya, Erik, and I walked for half an hour in the 82-degree heat and gusting wind (I love wind!) to the local coffee shop, where Erik got coffee (insane boy got no sleep last night) and the rest of us got fruit-based, caffeine-less stuff like freezes (think dairy-less smoothie; you'll get it), and we hung round and talked (no, did not play checkers or Trivial Pursuit--*g*). Aneya and I went back to Daffy's after that, hung round some more.

We walked the whole way to the coffee shop, and then to Daf's. Without supervision. Four high school friends, walking along the roadside, doing what we'd randomly decided to do. I realize that this isn't a wonder to everybody else, but for me?

Was very cool.

::laughs:: And Friday I get to do it again. And summer? Is gonna be a blast.

'Cause, I don't know, this getting excited about one specific college, thinking that's where I need to be? Never happened for me, so crud, there's no good reason not to do the free-ride thing; it'll get me out of guilt, full-time work this summer, and student loans; will also get me a car and a roommate, 'cause Lily and I'll end up at the same place, same major--which's what we've been planning since middle school.

But will check things over one last time. Of course.

...Anyway, yeah, had a lovely time with the aforementioned SFE crowd, and tomorrow I get to do it again, 'cause Bethie's joining us and we're having another movie thing. ::laughs:: My mom thinks Erik's going to get tired of hanging out with us without any other guys. ...But let's face it: he dealt with Ocean Bowl, where ratio was something like 8:1 (not counting B). Take out the love-smitten sophomores, and there's just us, and we like to think we're a little easier to deal with. *g*

And then there's random final college trip with Lily, and then there's seeing Ananda, and then there's seeing Calypso, and then there's maybe-seeing-Jayj, and then there's Easter, more little-kid watching...

...and then I'm back at school. With precious little homework done, I'm sure, and random insanities all over again. Sheesh.

Anyway, that's that--have had a brill vacation, if not very productive, and it looks to get brill-er still, so yeah.

-Laurel

Mm, am somewhat tired, as I spent nearly six hours watching two- and four-year-olds for service project. But was pretty good.

Am going to Fredonia on Friday for the day (yay!), in lieu of original plans. Should be fun.

Have lots to do next week, 'twixt homework, play practice, SFE, and all, but the idea of any rest at all is looking lovely.

Maybe I'll actually end up on the positive side of the sleep ledger by the end...

-Laurel

Watched The Matrix last night; wasn't bad. I would have to watch it a couple dozen times to really get it--unfortunately, I rarely have the patience to watch anything a dozen times, much less Matrix, so...*g*

Oh, yeah, to clarify: the term *g* is not supposed to be a clown face of any kind. ::laughs a bit:: It means "grin", and usually you'd do it with other markings, but they don't show up here 'cause of HTML.

More later, maybe--got to get dinner.

-Laurel

Oh, and I finally got to see the beginning of 'Nanda's blog, wa-a-a-ay back last year, now that I thought to check the archives again. So I'm linking to this poem of hers, 'cause it's very, very cool. ...Remind me, 'Nanda, to show you the poem in Out of the Dust called--what's it called? I think just "The Piano"--that reminds me of this one.

Amusing moment of the day: watching Ben spaz when I broke it to him that, no, he didn't just get the bit part in Jay Jei's play, he got the male lead. ...Ben's been out all week, and Jayj said he'd talked to him, but apparently Jayj meant something else, 'cause Ben said Jay Jei had never talked to him at all, much less told him he got Jack for the play. Ben was planning on Dave, which's a bit part. ...Mr. C'll lo-o-o-ove hearing that, I'm sure, but it's not Ben's fault if Jayj never called him.

Mm, got just over three-and-a-half hours of sleep last night, 'cause I was up late and then up early, doing stuff for AP English. ...But now it's done, and I don't have any more packets like that to do all year. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

Is finally looking like spring again around here, which is lovely. Even this paleish green grass, which I'd see as so inadequate in summer, makes me absolutely fly after last week's ice storm.

...That's right, it's been a week since the snow day. Mm.

-Laurel

::snorts:: I love how I say when and where I'll be back. It never happens.

Am not going to Fredonia, due to circumstances much beyond everybody's control (not 'Nanda's fault that we sprang this on her yesterday; not our fault that we didn't know about the fiesta-thing until today).

Will get my five hours of PIG after all.

But first...

...my mountain of English work. And the essay. And my stats.

Ah, well--I'll get it all done somehow; I usually do. And tomorrow's plans are Matrix-watching with Daf and Erik, which's a nice enough replacement activity, and does get our mind off of school, which the three of us dearly need to do.

Cheerio.

-Laurel

Hurrah, am going to Fredonia with Daf this weekend! Get to hang out with 'Nanda, and maybe with Calypso, and mess around and be online all the time and watch movies on a computer screen and sleep late!

Was worried a bit about my PIG hours--I've got to get 30, and skipping out this weekend loses me five hours I would've had--but I added everything up tonight, and it turns out my estimate to Mr. Z was wrong--I had two hours more than I thought I did. ...Add that to my two hours tonight, and I've got 22 done, which leaves only eight. Getting two hours and forty-five minutes in a normal week, now that I can't get Wednesday hours, it should take me...

...something like three more weeks. Maybe four.

Which's way better than I expected. Hurrah!

So, yeah, homework's been absolutely insane lately, 'cause it's quarter's end--

--but the next time you hear from me, it'll be from 'Nanda's dorm.

::grins like a maniac::

-Laurel

Yeah, yeah, my archive page looks like crap. But at least it's working. ...'Cept, I think, for the inter-post links. The links on my previous posts to other previous posts don't seem so reliable right now. But the archive weeks themselves are working. I'll fix the page's look later.

-Laurel

Well, cool, I take it back: dermatology-stuff is going way better than expected--turns out the ointment-stuff they've got me on is actually working(!), so yeah, whatever. …They've got my brother on it now. He hates the smell, unlike me--calls the stuff "cream of the crap". ::laughs::

So, yeah, an incredible amount of stuff's happened in the past week, but I've been so busy that I haven't had time to write updates for 'Nanda and Zinni ::apologetic frown:: --so will try to update here.

Had a field trip for SFE on Monday--Erik and Kathy and I went down to one of the city schools (Kathy's mom had to chaperone--B had a parent-teacher thing) and sat through this PowerPoint presentation on soils. We were one of only two schools there, which I guess is good, but the thing was pretty boring. We had a moment of group amusement, though, when the guy said something about the type of soils used by burrowing animals--we're all thinking, **shrews**!

::laughs:: The guy giving the presentation stopped shortly thereafter, directing a mildly-disapproving look at Erik and asking if everything was all right--Erik was laughing about the shrew reference; I couldn't see his face from where I was, so I didn't know he'd gotten the joke and was trying to poke him to tell him; Kathy was watching the both of us and, as I recall, laughing herself--so, yeah, Kathy's mom wasn't all that thrilled (she took her chaperone job pretty seriously), but we didn't mean it or anything.

Anyway, yeah, went to bed early that night, being under massive sleep deprivation from talking online until one on Sunday night *g*--kind of a good thing I did get caught, else it'dve likely been two--which wreaked a fair bit of havoc on my psych notes, but that's another story.

Stayed after Tuesday and Wednesday for play practice. …Yup, got into Mr. C's play competition thing. …The three plays have been picked; now we're acting them out.

…I really wish Mr. C had made it clear that he was going to pick one comedy, one mystery, and one drama--'cause that means that the only mystery and drama submitted were the ones that got chosen. And they're just--I don't know--not that great. …The comedy was the only one with decent competition--I'dve been happy with Aneya's or Jayj's, 'cause both were great. As it happened, Jayj's got picked, and it's the only truly good play in the lot. The mystery is salvagable, too, given a few additions and a little revision--the drama is most likely not, but Mr. C wouldn't even consider cutting it out for something else, so we're doing it.

Feels good to be in a play again, though--not quite the same as Arsenic, but still very cool. It's good to see Ben again, anyway, 'cause I haven't talked to him much since November; it's great to have Daf and Aneya in the plays this time around--and it'dve meant a lot to have Jayj back if not for the fact that we see each other everywhere now anyway. *g* …I only mention that because that was one of my biggest concerns after Arsenic, the idea that I'd lose touch with Jord and Jayj, but study-hall schedulings were kind to us, and I know them even better now than I did then. …'Course, with Jayj, I suppose it helped that we ended up joining each other's after-school clubs, too (I got into newspaper, as Aneya asked me to; he ended up in Leo Club and MasterMinds after hearing from me what we did at them).

Last night was a huge homework night, as I struggled to finish my English-research-project rough draft (rough draught?--*g* to Aneya…) and my stats--stats was to be done ultra-early this morning, but I got up to find that school was closed--all our freezing rain's got everything iced over--so I went back to bed (after getting online for five minutes to spaz at just about everybody I could find). Have been up for not quite two hours now (is 11:40--am typing this from the computer upstairs; will copy it over later). Am currently listening to Coldplay's "Trouble" and considering getting some food.

Yeah, think will do that.

-Laurel