A high-adrenaline rant that seriously overuses the term "in theory". Warning: May sound ridiculous in about a week.
...You ever get one of those little ideas that comes up gradually? You know, it starts as just the tiniest germ of an unlikely idea, tickling in the back of your brain, and you keep shoving it back and shoving it back, thinking, that's great, but it'd never work...
...And then, at some point, often late at night and in the dark, you finally give it the attention it deserves and realize not only that it could, plausibly, happen...but that you want it to really happen, want desperately for it to happen?
Such is the idea that's got me up right now, that got me out of bed, here at one in the morning, because it perked me up so much. ...And, believe me, on painkilling medicine that makes the taker drowsy, this isn't an easy thing to do.
...I think it must have started--like several insanities this year have started--with Jayj. In study hall about a week ago, or a little more, we'd got to talking about Scrooge on the Run, this play his Performing Arts I class was doing, and I'd shown a lot of interest in it, and in his stories about the class in general. He'd asked me if I was going to be in Performing Arts II, which starts at the half-year mark. I'd said no, that I wasn't in PA-I, and he'd kind of shrugged that off, like so what? I explained that even though in theory I had the time--the fallout of Piano/Keyboard had left me with a block free on Performing Arts days--I had psych where he had the class. He seemed a little disappointed, and so was I, but what could I do? My study hall scheduling just hadn't been kind.
But the idea was tempting, and it kept rattling around in the back of my brain ("like a BB in a tuna fish can", to quote Dave Barry), and I kept pushing it back.
Until tonight. Tonight, laying in the dark, attempting to go to sleep before my medicine caught up with me and made me queasy, as it sometimes does, I went over again in my mind about the play, and the knowledge that pretty soon there's going to be another play, and how I want to be in it, but between running Leo Club and doing competitions for SFE and, now, the newspaper club, it's not looking as good as it might. But I kept thinking about the play, and how it saved my year, and how much it'd given me--Jord and Tharin and Jayj included--and I realized that I wanted to act. Not for a living, no, no. Nothing like that. But that's been a big part of my senior year so far--and it's been something I've enjoyed doing in the past, for the most part. It's something I like a lot, and it's something that many of my friends do, and something that a couple of other friends want to. I don't want it to be a one-shot deal. And I'm getting impatient for the other play. And I want to see my play friends again. They do improv in the class, and I want to, too. They do plays, and stage stuff, and writing, and I want to, too. ...And what's more, I've wanted to since the play began.
And tonight, there in the dark, the thought in the back of my head finally got the attention it deserved.
I know, I know very well what Jayj says sometimes about PA-I. ...I also know that, despite that, he sticks with it because it's fully worth putting up with Mr. C, putting up with lack of stable curriculum, putting up with stupid scripts, putting up with everything. There aren't a ton of things we see fully eye-to-eye on, but I see why Jayj sticks with it...and I watched Scrooge on the Run, even after hearing the horror stories, and wished I'd been a part of it.
I want, and want very, very much, to be in PA-II. And it is possible...I'm just not sure how likely.
But it's still five weeks 'til the class starts. Enough time for me to hatch a plan. Enough time for me to pull off something good.
...I realize how much of a drip I sound, going at this like a military operation. But there're a lot of complications here. If I want in--and, oh, do I ever want in--I'm going to have to plan and execute this in fine detail.
Here's the second-biggest and at least the most immediate problem, the one I have to tackle before I tackle everything else. ...I have to get Mr. C to let me in. I think Jayj is wrong--I think PA-I is a prerequisite for PA-II. Which is not to say that I can't get around that--all I'd need is Mr. C's permission, a simple signature on a schedule paper. Having been one of the more reliable cast members of his play (which is not to brag, but I missed probably the least rehearsals and was the first to learn my lines), this shouldn't be too hard. In theory.
The problem? Mr. C scares me. ...And that's sort of disconcerting to write, but he does. I don't know what frightens me about the idea of coming up to him and going, hey, can you help me jump through a bunch of hoops so I can take your class?, but something really does. He's kind of not-very-easygoing, kind of severe, and I'm not sure how he'd take to this idea. Ideally, what I would need to do here is to have him invite me. If I can make him think it was his idea, then he'd be willing to talk Ms. Pacatte through the second complication, which involves her.
...This is where Jayj comes in. The first Friday we get back from school, I've got study hall with him, and I'm going to let him know what I'm thinking. He and Ben and Tharin are my play friends, and I think that if I do it right, I can get them to talk Mr. C into inviting me to take PA-II without him knowing I put them up to it. ...'Cause Jayj already wants me in, and if I explain this to Tharin--who is the senior class president and the very embodiment of you've got an in through me--she'll immediately get fired up about it and help me out, too. (Seriously. It is Tharin all over to be like that.) And Ben'll follow along if they need somebody else. In any case, between the three of them, Mr. C hopefully figures out that I want in and gets it in his head to help me out.
...If I'm lucky enough to get this far (and I'm thinking that I will--if push really does come to shove, I'll screw up enough courage to talk Mr. C into it myself), here comes the next problem, the biggest problem. Where PA-II is...is where I have AP psych. The beginnings of a solution are here: there's a psych class during my whole third-block study hall. Were I to scrap the study hall, I could, in theory, switch into that AP psych class, leaving fourth block free for PA-II.
This is where it gets tricky. I've spent half a year in her fourth-block AP psych class, and easygoing or not, I'm not sure how kindly Mrs. P's going to take to my wanting to switch to an entirely different block simply because I've gotten it into my head to take a random drama class. ...Besides that, third-block AP psych is pretty crowded, way more so than my fourth-block class. There may simply be too many people. Two people from my block have dropped the course...but have any from third block?
What I'll have going for me, if I make it this far, are two things. First, Mr. C and Mrs. P seem to get along pretty well. If Mr. C wants me in--which is to say, if Jayj and Tharin have helped me out a little--he'll take a few steps to try to get me in (this is yet another benefit of having the English department like me, I'm hoping). Secondly--well, it may be good or it may actually be bad, but I'm the top-ranked student in her fourth block class, average-wise. Whether this makes her trust my responsibility, or whether this makes her want to keep me there because there aren't as many kids in fourth block who do well as in third block, I don't know.
...But, like with Mr. C, I think I can get pretty far if I just talk to her. 'Cause, I mean, this is much more a hassle for me than for her. All she has to do is run one more copy for her third-block class. I've got to rearrange my entire schedule: without study hall time, I'll have to get all my AP psych notes done at home, in addition to other homework. I won't have that time to study on test days--other work at home. And it's going to lose me yet another forty minutes of study hall time down the road because switching into that AP psych class will switch my AP English seminar time to during-English-class, when everyone else has advisement. ...If I explain this to her, hopefully she'll see that there's something about PA-II that's making me willing to drive myself half-mad with work, and she'll cut me some much-needed slack.
With the schedule problems resolved (that is, with the further permission of Ms. S, my counselor--who'll probably shake her head in mock dismay at my giving up my free block, as though I were far too serious for a high school senior), the next people to tackle will be...
...My parents. 'Cause they have to give their permission to this crazy scheme.
Actually, this shouldn't be so hard. My dad already feels bad for making me take AP stats because it cut me out of Piano/Keyboard (well, technically, so did AP English, but no one was making me take that--that's the course I'dve given anything else up for), so when I tell him I want to take this course as a sort of Piano/Keyboard replacement, and explain to him all I'm willing to do for it, I think he'll think me a bit insane, too, but I think he'll give me his permission. ...It'll help when I tell him how wretchedly crowded my study halls are. ...And besides, didn't he say once that he wished there was something else I could've taken in its place? And in a very uncharacteristic decision, Dad said I could slack off a bit after the year's midpoint because the grades barely count anymore. Easy peasy.
As for my mom, the only thing I have to worry about is her coming to the conclusion that I'm driving myself nuts with homework just to have a class with a couple of friends. Which is half true, but I wouldn't do all this for digital imaging, not even for ASL, not for anything but this. She'll come around, especially after my dad does.
Which leaves one last hurdle: Mrs. W, my AP English teacher. But she should be the easiest of all. Conversation will go on without me in her Block 3B seminar group: we've got enough brains in that room to fill a laboratory. And it's the simplest of switches for her: cross me off that chart, pencil me onto the other one. Seminar groups are so flexible, and so relatively new, that it should really be all the same to her. ...Besides, I've never skipped a seminar (as several people have), and Bethie teases me constantly that I can do no wrong in Mrs. W's eyes anyway (and Bethie's not even in AP English!).
So, to review: I lose a block of precious study hall time, setting myself up for an insane amount of homework--plus homework for PA-II, which will be due on the same days as AP psych work. I'll still have 40 minutes of advisement on Day 2, and 40 minutes of study hall on days 1 and 3, but I'll lose my only time to talk to Jordan.
...Unless, of course, I can get him to come with me. Two will be a better argument for Mr. C's help than one, and he's got the same whole block of study hall to kill--he never does anything in it. He's got gym fourth block, but there isn't an easier class to switch. Heck, he could switch into third block gym--there has to still be one; I had it last year. ...Before my study hall with Jayj, I've got one the day before with Jord. Will definitely talk to him about this.
Anyway, if all goes well, I lose a huge chunk of free time, and thereby half of the little sanity I have left, but here's what I gain: A class I really like. AP psych with friends in it--Jen and Bunny--and I don't have any real friends in the one I'm in now. Play friends every alternate day, for 80 minutes, instead of every fourth day for 40 minutes. Drama experience. Another English course, which will please my parents. A payback for all the hassle that's come with the principal not splitting my English class (which would have gotten me Piano/Keyboard, but would have cut me out of all possibility of this). A way to get out of a series of truly wretched study halls. A better chance at an even better role in Mr. C's next play (you'll notice a good chunk of the biggest ones went to his PA-I kids). Other plays to be in in the meantime. A class to write for. Another class to actually look forward to ('cause I don't have many). Improv. Learning how to act, which is something I want.
...That's worth a little--okay, a lot of--extra work, right?
-Laurel
12.29.2002
12.28.2002
You know, I meant to put up a big thing on my teeth coming out, and then I got all tired from the medication and didn't do anything, and I'm still not doing anything just now, 'cause I've got an essay to work on (in theory, but I've been up for two and a half hours and haven't touched it). So later, maybe.
-Laurel
-Laurel
12.25.2002
...Hey, it's my blog's first Christmas! *g*
Got a new computer this year! Am not on it--internet's not hooked up on it--it's mostly for college. The Windows XP program asked me to name it, though, which I thought was great, so I called it Dinny, after the mole from Brian Jacques's Mossflower. ...This isn't just because I'm reading Mattimeo; I've been wanting something named Dinny for a while now, 'cause I just think it's a really cool name, and Dinny's a happy, cool mole with a fun way of talking. ...Anyway, it fits: moles are hard, steady workers, right?
Tomorrow's my oral surgery to get my wisdom teeth out (merry day-after-Christmas to me...), so I've had my last meat for a while--meant to eat crunchy things, I know, but the only time I did was this morning, when I had a candy cane.
Gack, only 13 hours 'til the surgery, and I'll be sleeping for eight of them! No!
...Am not allowed to eat before it, so I may wake myself up around 1 or 2 in the morning just to have some cereal, so I don't starve too severely. Last time I had to do a dental-work-fast, I remember being incredibly hungry, almost to the point of keeling over, and I realize that they say nothing after six hours before because that's how long it takes for one's stomach to completely empty, and I'll be hungry in any case, but I don't care.
Lalala, think I'll stop here. Merry Christmas to all once more!
-Laurel
Got a new computer this year! Am not on it--internet's not hooked up on it--it's mostly for college. The Windows XP program asked me to name it, though, which I thought was great, so I called it Dinny, after the mole from Brian Jacques's Mossflower. ...This isn't just because I'm reading Mattimeo; I've been wanting something named Dinny for a while now, 'cause I just think it's a really cool name, and Dinny's a happy, cool mole with a fun way of talking. ...Anyway, it fits: moles are hard, steady workers, right?
Tomorrow's my oral surgery to get my wisdom teeth out (merry day-after-Christmas to me...), so I've had my last meat for a while--meant to eat crunchy things, I know, but the only time I did was this morning, when I had a candy cane.
Gack, only 13 hours 'til the surgery, and I'll be sleeping for eight of them! No!
...Am not allowed to eat before it, so I may wake myself up around 1 or 2 in the morning just to have some cereal, so I don't starve too severely. Last time I had to do a dental-work-fast, I remember being incredibly hungry, almost to the point of keeling over, and I realize that they say nothing after six hours before because that's how long it takes for one's stomach to completely empty, and I'll be hungry in any case, but I don't care.
Lalala, think I'll stop here. Merry Christmas to all once more!
-Laurel
12.24.2002
Lala...was going to type up a nice big Christmas-Eve thing, but wrote it in my journal instead 'cause my brother got busy down here trying out the computer game I got him for Christmas (we exchange our two gifts on Christmas Eve, just 'cause my brother can't wait 'til Christmas morning to get something).
So instead I'll just put up the lyrics to a Christmas song I've forgotten to listen to this year, but will tonight.
"Welcome to Our World", Chris Rice
Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You’ve been promised, we’ve been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child
Hope that You don’t mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven’s silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world
...Merry Christmas, Ananda and Daf and Zinni, Lily and Bethie and Aneya, Melly and Bunny, Jord and Jayj, Bryan and Aubrey, Matt (D.) and Erik, Erica and Christy, the other hooligans, everyone else from the play, Angie, John Dutton (though we haven't met), Samweli and Mugisha and Sunil (be safe, our children).
-Laurel[/Ledge/Lesser-Villain [Laurel]/Peaches]
So instead I'll just put up the lyrics to a Christmas song I've forgotten to listen to this year, but will tonight.
"Welcome to Our World", Chris Rice
Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You’ve been promised, we’ve been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child
Hope that You don’t mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven’s silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world
Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world
...Merry Christmas, Ananda and Daf and Zinni, Lily and Bethie and Aneya, Melly and Bunny, Jord and Jayj, Bryan and Aubrey, Matt (D.) and Erik, Erica and Christy, the other hooligans, everyone else from the play, Angie, John Dutton (though we haven't met), Samweli and Mugisha and Sunil (be safe, our children).
-Laurel[/Ledge/Lesser-Villain [Laurel]/Peaches]
12.22.2002
Yeah, okay, I'm hoping that this is the link to my recent breakdown of Two Towers, but I get this feeling like it's Daf's instead. Right. Somebody had some problems with the Topaz Meanderings template.
Anyway, movie was brill, seeing my friends was brill, and I get to see them again tomorrow.
Get my wisdom teeth out on the 26th, which promises to be an interesting experience, to say the least: everyone has told me that it's going to hurt, which I'm not sure I appreciate (your breakdown was the kindest, Daf, and I thank you, even if you went easy on me), but Melly and Bunny are coming over that afternoon with their Christmas presents to me, and I just get to hope I don't feel too much like carp when they come. It shouldn't be too bad so long as I don't get open-root or something, which I understand is what we go to such lengths to avoid.
So I guess I should be eating all the crunchy foods I can for the next few days, on the theory that I'm about to subside into soup, milkshakes, and Cream of Wheat. I plan to watch a heck of a lot of M*A*S*H, not to mention my two Cyrano de Bergerac movies for AP English (well, one is Roxanne, so that should be fun)...and I should probably read some Great Expectations and do some AP psych, but we'll see whether that happens 'til about the 31st. I'm guessing not.
Hopefully we can get another play-cast party going this break, but clearing all our schedules on short notice really isn't something we're good at, so I'm gonna file that one under not-ruddy-likely as well.
Recently joined the newspaper club, which means that I get to screw round on Friday afternoons with a bunch of fellow English nerds and argue with Jayj on a regular basis. ...Both sound like fun to me. *g*
...You would think that if any group of students could salvage our incredibly-mediocre school newsletter, we could, but we'll see. We can all write, but we're not incredibly motivated.
I should do a big thing on one of the extracurricular clubs--maybe the robotics team or something. Hm. ...Will resist the temptation to spotlight one of my own clubs; that's tacky.
Am definitely doing some more Quenya stuff--the upstairs computer, which had all the files on it, burnt out long ago, but I managed to salvage all my writing files and most of the Quenya--by sheer grace of God, I'm thinking (it hadn't turned on in a week, it turned on once more for me, I got the files on disks, it never turned back on again--could be a coincidence, but it could be all the please-don't-let-me-lose-four-years-of-work). Will look those over tonight, as I definitely am getting impatient, and wish to proceed to sentences, rather than kindergarten-style phrases: "a king and a queen", "one horse and two ships", etc.
Hm, think I've rambled on quite long enough. Will update my side-columns, then get some Quenya going.
-Laurel
Anyway, movie was brill, seeing my friends was brill, and I get to see them again tomorrow.
Get my wisdom teeth out on the 26th, which promises to be an interesting experience, to say the least: everyone has told me that it's going to hurt, which I'm not sure I appreciate (your breakdown was the kindest, Daf, and I thank you, even if you went easy on me), but Melly and Bunny are coming over that afternoon with their Christmas presents to me, and I just get to hope I don't feel too much like carp when they come. It shouldn't be too bad so long as I don't get open-root or something, which I understand is what we go to such lengths to avoid.
So I guess I should be eating all the crunchy foods I can for the next few days, on the theory that I'm about to subside into soup, milkshakes, and Cream of Wheat. I plan to watch a heck of a lot of M*A*S*H, not to mention my two Cyrano de Bergerac movies for AP English (well, one is Roxanne, so that should be fun)...and I should probably read some Great Expectations and do some AP psych, but we'll see whether that happens 'til about the 31st. I'm guessing not.
Hopefully we can get another play-cast party going this break, but clearing all our schedules on short notice really isn't something we're good at, so I'm gonna file that one under not-ruddy-likely as well.
Recently joined the newspaper club, which means that I get to screw round on Friday afternoons with a bunch of fellow English nerds and argue with Jayj on a regular basis. ...Both sound like fun to me. *g*
...You would think that if any group of students could salvage our incredibly-mediocre school newsletter, we could, but we'll see. We can all write, but we're not incredibly motivated.
I should do a big thing on one of the extracurricular clubs--maybe the robotics team or something. Hm. ...Will resist the temptation to spotlight one of my own clubs; that's tacky.
Am definitely doing some more Quenya stuff--the upstairs computer, which had all the files on it, burnt out long ago, but I managed to salvage all my writing files and most of the Quenya--by sheer grace of God, I'm thinking (it hadn't turned on in a week, it turned on once more for me, I got the files on disks, it never turned back on again--could be a coincidence, but it could be all the please-don't-let-me-lose-four-years-of-work). Will look those over tonight, as I definitely am getting impatient, and wish to proceed to sentences, rather than kindergarten-style phrases: "a king and a queen", "one horse and two ships", etc.
Hm, think I've rambled on quite long enough. Will update my side-columns, then get some Quenya going.
-Laurel
12.16.2002
It was the best of days...it was the worst of days.
Well, not quite that fire-and-ice, but my day's been interesting. My bus rides were nice--now that there're a decent number of batteries in the house, I felt justified in stealing a couple for my Discman, and spent parts of today listening to Newsboys, which was very nice.
Stats was icky--had a nasty test, got back some sub-standard homework. Seriously, to get an A in that class, with the test grades I get, I need the vast majority of my homeworks to be full credit, and I'd lost something like eight points between the ones I got back (out of about forty total--could be better, could be worse).
Oh, well. I've got five weeks to get my grade up. Choir was quartet exam, which went well enough. I don't know why I was so much quieter than usual--I was trying--but at least my voice was clear enough, and my notes (as far as I know) correct enough, and Megan and Katelyn said they could hear me from where they were, partly across the room, so maybe I sang louder than I expected. I mean, I'm with three (or at least two) loud people, so...
In study hall, lunch, and a little bit of Spanish (in my own defense, I'd finished all the Spanish classwork), I did King Lear questions--got them done well enough, I suppose--and handed them in fourth block during English.
Leo Club was great fun. We screwed round, as usual, got some food, signed up for some activities, etc. Will get the sponsor-kid checks soon and actually send them out on time this month (how's that for a major change?). Taught Jay Jei how to use the club blog. He stuck round with Daf and me (apparently we're "good conversation"...*g*), gave me a copy of this leet (|ee7?) tutorial that he made with this friend of his and plans to spread, via e-mail, all over America by next year (yeah, good luck, Jayj...::laughs::), told me to read and know it--so apparently I, half against my will, am finally succumbing to leet-ness. ...Felt rather proud of myself when I managed to decipher every last word of the "sample conversation" they'd stuck at the end as a test-yourself kind of thing...no, no! Must not succumb to the grammatical dark side!
...But this's leet--it's different...right?
Slogged through a page and a half of psych, a chapter of Wuthering Heights, fell asleep for a while (of course!), then came down here...
...and got slapped with three pieces of bad news in, like, fifteen minutes. Two of Lily's friends got robbed at gunpoint at school(!), a friend of mine's dad is really sick and getting worse, and (on a lesser note) Five Iron Frenzy is breaking up (they're the ones who sing the brilliant songs "Oh, Canada", "A Flowery Song", and "Where the Zero Meets Fifteen", among others).
...Sheesh, FIF breaking up. Bryan must be devastated. Certainly Tim and Josh will be. Anyway...
...yeah, definitely interesting around here. A-a-a-a-a-and, once again, somebody's Ocean Bowl studying didn't get done. Lalalalalala.
Wuthering Heights due on Friday, and I'm still on the first page of questions and only halfway through the book. Praying for a snow day, hoping against hope...it is falling pretty thickly out there...
Must leave now. Cheerio.
-Laurel
Well, not quite that fire-and-ice, but my day's been interesting. My bus rides were nice--now that there're a decent number of batteries in the house, I felt justified in stealing a couple for my Discman, and spent parts of today listening to Newsboys, which was very nice.
Stats was icky--had a nasty test, got back some sub-standard homework. Seriously, to get an A in that class, with the test grades I get, I need the vast majority of my homeworks to be full credit, and I'd lost something like eight points between the ones I got back (out of about forty total--could be better, could be worse).
Oh, well. I've got five weeks to get my grade up. Choir was quartet exam, which went well enough. I don't know why I was so much quieter than usual--I was trying--but at least my voice was clear enough, and my notes (as far as I know) correct enough, and Megan and Katelyn said they could hear me from where they were, partly across the room, so maybe I sang louder than I expected. I mean, I'm with three (or at least two) loud people, so...
In study hall, lunch, and a little bit of Spanish (in my own defense, I'd finished all the Spanish classwork), I did King Lear questions--got them done well enough, I suppose--and handed them in fourth block during English.
Leo Club was great fun. We screwed round, as usual, got some food, signed up for some activities, etc. Will get the sponsor-kid checks soon and actually send them out on time this month (how's that for a major change?). Taught Jay Jei how to use the club blog. He stuck round with Daf and me (apparently we're "good conversation"...*g*), gave me a copy of this leet (|ee7?) tutorial that he made with this friend of his and plans to spread, via e-mail, all over America by next year (yeah, good luck, Jayj...::laughs::), told me to read and know it--so apparently I, half against my will, am finally succumbing to leet-ness. ...Felt rather proud of myself when I managed to decipher every last word of the "sample conversation" they'd stuck at the end as a test-yourself kind of thing...no, no! Must not succumb to the grammatical dark side!
...But this's leet--it's different...right?
Slogged through a page and a half of psych, a chapter of Wuthering Heights, fell asleep for a while (of course!), then came down here...
...and got slapped with three pieces of bad news in, like, fifteen minutes. Two of Lily's friends got robbed at gunpoint at school(!), a friend of mine's dad is really sick and getting worse, and (on a lesser note) Five Iron Frenzy is breaking up (they're the ones who sing the brilliant songs "Oh, Canada", "A Flowery Song", and "Where the Zero Meets Fifteen", among others).
...Sheesh, FIF breaking up. Bryan must be devastated. Certainly Tim and Josh will be. Anyway...
...yeah, definitely interesting around here. A-a-a-a-a-and, once again, somebody's Ocean Bowl studying didn't get done. Lalalalalala.
Wuthering Heights due on Friday, and I'm still on the first page of questions and only halfway through the book. Praying for a snow day, hoping against hope...it is falling pretty thickly out there...
Must leave now. Cheerio.
-Laurel
12.13.2002
Had a nice little day--sold kazoos for Leo Club. Well, for a camp around here that helps children with cancer, not exactly for Leo Club. But it was nice. Hung round with Bethie, Melly, and Bunny, among others, and got roundly scolded by Bethie for not telling her before about my writing "Heckling the Waves", the song from the choral/band picnic. They tried to get me to sing it, but I was not about to do so in the middle of the mall, in the middle of a fundraiser.
Lalala. Got all my college part ones out, must still submit part two for each of them. Wonder when I'll find time to do that.
Tomorrow I go down to my Aunt Joanne's for Christmas on my mom's side of the family (we always have it a week or two early with them)--will definitely be doing some King Lear all day for English. Have decided that this AP English mega-crunch time is Mrs. W getting even with us for all our "unteachable moments", as she calls them (look, when 34 kids get crammed into one 25-person classroom, it gets loud, but it's not entirely our fault).
Am dismayed because the past two times I've run long distances, I've ended up really short of breath for about half an hour after. There're a few possibilities here. It could be that I've got a slight chest cold, 'cause these two times were within two days of each other, and I have been having some throat-crud working in the chest area. ...That's what I'm hoping, 'cause that would mean it'll go away on its own. It could be that I'm sort of out of shape, which, considering how I've been eating, isn't so far off. ...That wouldn't be so bad, 'cause it's (relatively) easily fixable. Or it could be that I'm developing asthma, which is what my hypochondriac brain has been screaming at me (when it isn't worrying about how my heart rate just randomly jumps to, like, 1000 bpm--all right, exaggeration--when we play certain things in gym and just stays there long after I've stopped moving altogether). ...I don't think that's it, but we'll see.
...My brother is playing "Props" with two cardboard tubes left over from wrapping paper rolls. I am being "stabbed" as I type.
Will go now.
-Laurel
Lalala. Got all my college part ones out, must still submit part two for each of them. Wonder when I'll find time to do that.
Tomorrow I go down to my Aunt Joanne's for Christmas on my mom's side of the family (we always have it a week or two early with them)--will definitely be doing some King Lear all day for English. Have decided that this AP English mega-crunch time is Mrs. W getting even with us for all our "unteachable moments", as she calls them (look, when 34 kids get crammed into one 25-person classroom, it gets loud, but it's not entirely our fault).
Am dismayed because the past two times I've run long distances, I've ended up really short of breath for about half an hour after. There're a few possibilities here. It could be that I've got a slight chest cold, 'cause these two times were within two days of each other, and I have been having some throat-crud working in the chest area. ...That's what I'm hoping, 'cause that would mean it'll go away on its own. It could be that I'm sort of out of shape, which, considering how I've been eating, isn't so far off. ...That wouldn't be so bad, 'cause it's (relatively) easily fixable. Or it could be that I'm developing asthma, which is what my hypochondriac brain has been screaming at me (when it isn't worrying about how my heart rate just randomly jumps to, like, 1000 bpm--all right, exaggeration--when we play certain things in gym and just stays there long after I've stopped moving altogether). ...I don't think that's it, but we'll see.
...My brother is playing "Props" with two cardboard tubes left over from wrapping paper rolls. I am being "stabbed" as I type.
Will go now.
-Laurel
12.09.2002
Right, should be going over stuff for SFE, but there's something a little bigger going on here at the moment.
...In psych we just did this big death-and-dying project. We went over Kubler-Ross stages of terminal illness and death, then learned about making wishes known, planning one's own funeral, etc. We wrote our own obituaries, compared them with ones in the newspapers, and had to be eulogized by a friend or family member. (Ananda wrote mine, and it was so sweet and kind and wonderful--seriously, 'Nanda, you said you couldn't write it right, but I wouldn't have it any other way--you wrote it like you write everything to me: conversationally, familiarly, honestly. That's how Bono writes, that's how C.S. Lewis writes--and that's how you write best. That's not something to change, seriously.)
And the project was a little on the creepy side, but it made me realize--for the dozenth time since the cast party--how much everyone in my life means to me, and they mean so much...
Ananda, with her U2 and perpetual mp3-playing/downloading and college-life news; and a familiar, oddly-comforting string of questions, rebellions, and complaints...as honest, articulate, and protective as ever...we've rubbed off so much on each other, 'Nanda, and broadened each others' tastes--but there's more to it than that, stuff I can't explain just yet, and that I'm not sure I want to have so exact as an understanding about, but more of a sense...
Daf, with gerbil-ness, Adam-ness, and the tangle of half-finished stories (so like my own files!) that's been growing and changing since I met her, even back to fifth grade, with silliness and an easy-coming giggle; so much more peaceful, so much less a melodramatic spaz than I am...you only nod when we tell you things, but we find out later just how well you understood. You know how Ananda says I changed her writing? Well, you changed mine. That story I wrote in creative writing that Ms. Mohring said didn't even sound like me? That was me trying partly to write like you. It may not have sounded like you in the end, but it was partially you all the same. ...And there's so many other things about you we've always valued--I've always valued--but I guess they're easier known than described.
Zinni, who doesn't listen to the same music, nor write in the same way, but whose music and writing we wouldn't have any other way, either. You gave us so much more than a place to congregate--you listened, offered help, and so often knew just what would make us happy. You made the simplest things the best things--a tree to climb, a joke marathon on a long bus ride home, a swingset, a few pieces of chalk--and are still doing that. And the myriad TV shows we had in common? They're just different ones now--Golden Girls and Touched By an Angel to M*A*S*H and back again. You and Daf as twins, Zinnia and Laurel as twins.
Bethie, friend through so much, keeper of so many jokes that only we understand, co-hassler of Mr. K, the surest to understand when parents are difficult, sharer of humor-style--not to mention one very elaborate dream--and confidant of so many secret fears, even to the biggest, scariest questions I've ever had. What would my years have been without you? ...When we reminisced about sixth-grade in Wendy's, here's one we didn't mention: the sleepover, with the glass bubble and the mosaic, there in the dark--"Bethie?" "What?" "...Thanks." "What for?" "...I'm not alone anymore." "...Neither am I."
Lily, favorite cousin, now and always. From our first-grade newspapers and our plays where I was the chick and you were the deer, to how we always, without ever consulting each other, wanted to be the same things when we grew up--we copied each other consciously and subconsciously, and even when we weren't eerily similar anymore, there was always more to it than watching Whose Line and making ramen. We do ordinary things, but we're still always so excited to see each other again.
Megan, friend despite usual lack of classes together--bound together in sixth grade by science class and Sherlock Holmes. ...You were my faith model for longer than you know--I could ask anything, say anything, and you'd have the answer. When you spaz, it's even bigger than mine; you talk even faster than me--but you know, far better than me, how to put everything out there. And the farther I look back, the more I realize that you always have.
Aneya, whom I've had so much more in common with, since the day I met you, than just Velcro shoes...*g* We talked about everything, did so much together--I've laughed so much with you, and have talked more utter nonsense, as our mothers know well! ...We could have a normal conversation, but where would the fun be in that? Two writers together, the both of us, and the writing's changed, but it's still us.
Melly, friend from eighth grade on...begun in English class and lunch, progressing to common TV shows and improv in study hall--your happiness and humor, your own style...no one else could do it quite like that. This one's short, but there's the same meaning in it. ...When Zinni left and I didn't have classes with Ananda, and only one with Daf, you were the one to keep me company. That meant a lot.
Bunny, heckler of the waves...but more than the humor, so open, so accepting, and so affectionate. One of the best things about the play--getting to know you better. And so behind-the-scenes: you coach your siblings and watch them succeed, but your success in another way, just as big as theirs--and maybe bigger--you don't even mention. I knew you for four years before I ever knew it--you never breathed a word, and it's an incredible secret to just decide to keep. ...I wish I could succeed and not have to spread it around. ...And you say what you mean, full emotion intact, and let it happen, without so much as a qualifier. To someone as over-sensible as I can be, this isn't something I'm consistent with, either. ...If you envy my intelligence, as you say you do, I envy those things.
Jordan, quiet and shy, fascinating and sweet...saw you first at pole last year, then in health class, though I thought at first you were Josh J.'s little brother. I wanted even then to get to know you better, and I haven't been disappointed. A few words, a few gestures, a few food-bits shared and walks taken down the hall...it seems like so little sometimes, I know, but it's meant so much to me.
And Jay Jei, self-proclaimed nerd, English-major boy...both endearing and obnoxious, sweet and annoying--like a couple of boys I knew last year, as dismayed as we both are at the comparisons. Have you any idea how much you've taught me, Jayj, how much it's meant to me to have you for a friend, even for just a couple of months? What seems to continually surprise you is how our senses of humor are so nearly identical--what's continually surprised me is what you are, as opposed to what I expected you to be. I can't describe it better than that. ...Didn't you tell Bunny once that half the reason you came to practice was to talk to me? I think I must have heard it wrong from her, or from you, whatever was said. But in any case, I'm pointing back. ...Practice was good, but my favorite part came before it--talking to you.
My family I won't do here, but my friends...I couldn't have asked for better ones, nor picked them. Thinking about death has made me see how blessed I am to be living here with you.
-Laurel
...In psych we just did this big death-and-dying project. We went over Kubler-Ross stages of terminal illness and death, then learned about making wishes known, planning one's own funeral, etc. We wrote our own obituaries, compared them with ones in the newspapers, and had to be eulogized by a friend or family member. (Ananda wrote mine, and it was so sweet and kind and wonderful--seriously, 'Nanda, you said you couldn't write it right, but I wouldn't have it any other way--you wrote it like you write everything to me: conversationally, familiarly, honestly. That's how Bono writes, that's how C.S. Lewis writes--and that's how you write best. That's not something to change, seriously.)
And the project was a little on the creepy side, but it made me realize--for the dozenth time since the cast party--how much everyone in my life means to me, and they mean so much...
Ananda, with her U2 and perpetual mp3-playing/downloading and college-life news; and a familiar, oddly-comforting string of questions, rebellions, and complaints...as honest, articulate, and protective as ever...we've rubbed off so much on each other, 'Nanda, and broadened each others' tastes--but there's more to it than that, stuff I can't explain just yet, and that I'm not sure I want to have so exact as an understanding about, but more of a sense...
Daf, with gerbil-ness, Adam-ness, and the tangle of half-finished stories (so like my own files!) that's been growing and changing since I met her, even back to fifth grade, with silliness and an easy-coming giggle; so much more peaceful, so much less a melodramatic spaz than I am...you only nod when we tell you things, but we find out later just how well you understood. You know how Ananda says I changed her writing? Well, you changed mine. That story I wrote in creative writing that Ms. Mohring said didn't even sound like me? That was me trying partly to write like you. It may not have sounded like you in the end, but it was partially you all the same. ...And there's so many other things about you we've always valued--I've always valued--but I guess they're easier known than described.
Zinni, who doesn't listen to the same music, nor write in the same way, but whose music and writing we wouldn't have any other way, either. You gave us so much more than a place to congregate--you listened, offered help, and so often knew just what would make us happy. You made the simplest things the best things--a tree to climb, a joke marathon on a long bus ride home, a swingset, a few pieces of chalk--and are still doing that. And the myriad TV shows we had in common? They're just different ones now--Golden Girls and Touched By an Angel to M*A*S*H and back again. You and Daf as twins, Zinnia and Laurel as twins.
Bethie, friend through so much, keeper of so many jokes that only we understand, co-hassler of Mr. K, the surest to understand when parents are difficult, sharer of humor-style--not to mention one very elaborate dream--and confidant of so many secret fears, even to the biggest, scariest questions I've ever had. What would my years have been without you? ...When we reminisced about sixth-grade in Wendy's, here's one we didn't mention: the sleepover, with the glass bubble and the mosaic, there in the dark--"Bethie?" "What?" "...Thanks." "What for?" "...I'm not alone anymore." "...Neither am I."
Lily, favorite cousin, now and always. From our first-grade newspapers and our plays where I was the chick and you were the deer, to how we always, without ever consulting each other, wanted to be the same things when we grew up--we copied each other consciously and subconsciously, and even when we weren't eerily similar anymore, there was always more to it than watching Whose Line and making ramen. We do ordinary things, but we're still always so excited to see each other again.
Megan, friend despite usual lack of classes together--bound together in sixth grade by science class and Sherlock Holmes. ...You were my faith model for longer than you know--I could ask anything, say anything, and you'd have the answer. When you spaz, it's even bigger than mine; you talk even faster than me--but you know, far better than me, how to put everything out there. And the farther I look back, the more I realize that you always have.
Aneya, whom I've had so much more in common with, since the day I met you, than just Velcro shoes...*g* We talked about everything, did so much together--I've laughed so much with you, and have talked more utter nonsense, as our mothers know well! ...We could have a normal conversation, but where would the fun be in that? Two writers together, the both of us, and the writing's changed, but it's still us.
Melly, friend from eighth grade on...begun in English class and lunch, progressing to common TV shows and improv in study hall--your happiness and humor, your own style...no one else could do it quite like that. This one's short, but there's the same meaning in it. ...When Zinni left and I didn't have classes with Ananda, and only one with Daf, you were the one to keep me company. That meant a lot.
Bunny, heckler of the waves...but more than the humor, so open, so accepting, and so affectionate. One of the best things about the play--getting to know you better. And so behind-the-scenes: you coach your siblings and watch them succeed, but your success in another way, just as big as theirs--and maybe bigger--you don't even mention. I knew you for four years before I ever knew it--you never breathed a word, and it's an incredible secret to just decide to keep. ...I wish I could succeed and not have to spread it around. ...And you say what you mean, full emotion intact, and let it happen, without so much as a qualifier. To someone as over-sensible as I can be, this isn't something I'm consistent with, either. ...If you envy my intelligence, as you say you do, I envy those things.
Jordan, quiet and shy, fascinating and sweet...saw you first at pole last year, then in health class, though I thought at first you were Josh J.'s little brother. I wanted even then to get to know you better, and I haven't been disappointed. A few words, a few gestures, a few food-bits shared and walks taken down the hall...it seems like so little sometimes, I know, but it's meant so much to me.
And Jay Jei, self-proclaimed nerd, English-major boy...both endearing and obnoxious, sweet and annoying--like a couple of boys I knew last year, as dismayed as we both are at the comparisons. Have you any idea how much you've taught me, Jayj, how much it's meant to me to have you for a friend, even for just a couple of months? What seems to continually surprise you is how our senses of humor are so nearly identical--what's continually surprised me is what you are, as opposed to what I expected you to be. I can't describe it better than that. ...Didn't you tell Bunny once that half the reason you came to practice was to talk to me? I think I must have heard it wrong from her, or from you, whatever was said. But in any case, I'm pointing back. ...Practice was good, but my favorite part came before it--talking to you.
My family I won't do here, but my friends...I couldn't have asked for better ones, nor picked them. Thinking about death has made me see how blessed I am to be living here with you.
-Laurel
12.07.2002
And, for my second entry of the night...
...I've been all over Daf's song blog, Lyrical Heaven, basically going through the entire blog to date tonight (I've been sadly remiss in my song-reviewing duties to this point), and it's got me in such a music-loving, lyric-sharing mood that I'm putting up one of my own, here, tonight. ...Don't worry, Daf, I'm not copping you off--too much. I won't be doing this every day, or even every week. But I want to do it now.
...You've seen these before, 'Nanda and Zinni, but you can see them again...
"Disappear", Jars of Clay
(The Eleventh Hour, 2002)
I watch you smile
You steal the show
You take a bow, the curtain falls in front of you
You're magical, on display
I gaze into your eyes and
You turn to look the other way
[Chorus:]
But I'd really love to know
I'd really love to climb
Way into your heart
And see what I could find
I'd walk into your skin
Swim through your veins
See it from your eyes
'Cause I'd really love to try...yeah
Standing still, but in my mind
Trying to escape
Looking for a place to hide
Well, it's not safe, but I'm so near
Invading every place you go
To disappear
[Chorus]
I'd really love to try
I'd really love to know
I really want to climb
Into your soul
Walk into your skin
Swim through your veins
See it from your eyes
I'd really love to try
I'd really love to try
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Try
[Chorus 2x]
Yeah, I wanna get inside the you
You're hiding from (yea-a-a-ah)
Yeah, I wanna get inside the you
You're hiding from (yea-a-a-ah)
I wanna get inside the you
That you are hiding from (yea-a-a-ah, yea-a-a-ah)
*
Of all the JoC songs I've loved over the years, this may be my biggest favorite of all. It's taken on so many meanings since I heard it around May...love (if you want to take it that way, this is, like, the best crush song ever...), friendship, soulmate-ness...I've always wondered what it'd be like to be another person--and some people I've just wanted to much to understand, to be for a while...the first verse is my favorite--the short half-scream of guitar to open, then to the music, which creates this atmosphere--well, it's happy, but it's not perfectly happy, you know? You can feel like there's some kind of internal thing going on...it took me forever to really notice the piano part in the background, but now that's what my ear goes to automatically...and the words...the first verse is just wonderful, it fits the music perfectly, and it's one I connect to so well...
I watch you smile, you steal the show...
...Is there any physical feature I value more than a great smile? That's always been it. Eyes are fine, but when someone's got a melt-worthy grin, one that I can't watch without smiling myself...that's what completes a cute guy and saves an otherwise-plain one.
*Thinks, suddenly, of Billy Boyd...and catches self smiling at thought of his smile* ::giggles::
...Mm, love the lovely song. ...But must work on psych now. Cheerio.
-Laurel
...I've been all over Daf's song blog, Lyrical Heaven, basically going through the entire blog to date tonight (I've been sadly remiss in my song-reviewing duties to this point), and it's got me in such a music-loving, lyric-sharing mood that I'm putting up one of my own, here, tonight. ...Don't worry, Daf, I'm not copping you off--too much. I won't be doing this every day, or even every week. But I want to do it now.
...You've seen these before, 'Nanda and Zinni, but you can see them again...
"Disappear", Jars of Clay
(The Eleventh Hour, 2002)
I watch you smile
You steal the show
You take a bow, the curtain falls in front of you
You're magical, on display
I gaze into your eyes and
You turn to look the other way
[Chorus:]
But I'd really love to know
I'd really love to climb
Way into your heart
And see what I could find
I'd walk into your skin
Swim through your veins
See it from your eyes
'Cause I'd really love to try...yeah
Standing still, but in my mind
Trying to escape
Looking for a place to hide
Well, it's not safe, but I'm so near
Invading every place you go
To disappear
[Chorus]
I'd really love to try
I'd really love to know
I really want to climb
Into your soul
Walk into your skin
Swim through your veins
See it from your eyes
I'd really love to try
I'd really love to try
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Try
[Chorus 2x]
Yeah, I wanna get inside the you
You're hiding from (yea-a-a-ah)
Yeah, I wanna get inside the you
You're hiding from (yea-a-a-ah)
I wanna get inside the you
That you are hiding from (yea-a-a-ah, yea-a-a-ah)
*
Of all the JoC songs I've loved over the years, this may be my biggest favorite of all. It's taken on so many meanings since I heard it around May...love (if you want to take it that way, this is, like, the best crush song ever...), friendship, soulmate-ness...I've always wondered what it'd be like to be another person--and some people I've just wanted to much to understand, to be for a while...the first verse is my favorite--the short half-scream of guitar to open, then to the music, which creates this atmosphere--well, it's happy, but it's not perfectly happy, you know? You can feel like there's some kind of internal thing going on...it took me forever to really notice the piano part in the background, but now that's what my ear goes to automatically...and the words...the first verse is just wonderful, it fits the music perfectly, and it's one I connect to so well...
I watch you smile, you steal the show...
...Is there any physical feature I value more than a great smile? That's always been it. Eyes are fine, but when someone's got a melt-worthy grin, one that I can't watch without smiling myself...that's what completes a cute guy and saves an otherwise-plain one.
*Thinks, suddenly, of Billy Boyd...and catches self smiling at thought of his smile* ::giggles::
...Mm, love the lovely song. ...But must work on psych now. Cheerio.
-Laurel
Hurrah, the Christmas season! December is, as far as I'm concerned, about the only good month of winter. The way I see it, snow should start falling on the day after Thanksgiving, it should stay in blanket form over the ground until the last day of January, and then it should melt away, not to be seen again until the next fourth-Friday-in-November. ...As it is, we get winter, which around here takes a while to come, but stays until halfway through April once it does.
All right, so it does make spring all the nicer--seeing grass again, no matter how pale and frozen, and it being light out again when I get on the bus in the morning. Spring is my favorite season. Summer is nice, but oven-like rooms, sunburns, and mosquito bites are things that have to be dealt with; by spring, having to wear light jackets is freedom after four months of parkas, gloves, and hats; it's still warm enough for both ice cream on sunny days, but cold enough for hot chocolate on rainy days; and the way the air smells, all light and clean and sweet...oh, gosh, it makes me fly. And wind--wind that doesn't cut you in the face, but shoots through your hair--wind you can stand into and throw your arms back and just staythere. Summer wind is for the night, to walk along a beach and think about life, love, and friendship, and it should be softer, warmer, smoother than spring wind; spring wind begs a hilltop to stand on and throw your arms out, and to not think anything so much as feel it--especially freedom--and the harder the blast, the better.
Mm. ...But as I was saying, the Christmas season's here, and that at least is happy. We've got snow (which around here is actually a rarity for Christmas!), and I get to pull rings off my Christmas chain, and I started getting people's Christmas presents (which I think is my favorite part), which means I got to poke around in the college bookstore when we were there to watch my cousin wrestle, looking at books and craft supplies and kitschy $5 mini-versions of cool things usually only found in large, $18-ish versions. Check Bethie and Aneya off my list, but that leaves my family, 'Nanda, Daf, Zinni, Melly, Bunny, and maybe Jinni still...definitely breaking into my summer-job money, 'cause it was all I could do to scrape $4 together the other day, and the presents I still need are gonna run me at least $50, I'm thinking, and maybe even more.
The play for Spanish was great fun--the inside jokes and funny things from the day took up a whole page in my quotebook, and I think I'm still missing some...
...hm, I wish the computer upstairs hadn't fried. I lost my clips from Danger Mouse and Spaceballs and everything, and I think I might have lost "Lifeforms", too, dang it...will have to put them here and transfer them by disk when we get a new one...we have no Microsoft Word down here still, more's the great pity: I hate the program, but need it for school--double-spacing on Wordpad is the biggest pain, 'cause my printer lines up differently than the screen...
I think I'll figure out at some point whether there's a new Coville book out with Rod Allbright. Having reread Left My Sneakers and Search for Snout last week in a bout of nostalgia, it made me wonder if anything comes after Stole My Body, which I read at Daf's...can that have been ninth grade? It must be, 'cause I used it for reading credit that year...goodness. Well, in three years (or more, considering I only read it then), he must have had time enough for the next one, right?
(Related note to J.K. Rowling, wherever you are: Finish Order of the Phoenix. It was supposed to be out six months ago.)
Lalala, two weeks and a day to my seeing Two Towers, hurrah...
Merry Christmas-season. Hang your stockings by the chimney with care. *g*
-Laurel
All right, so it does make spring all the nicer--seeing grass again, no matter how pale and frozen, and it being light out again when I get on the bus in the morning. Spring is my favorite season. Summer is nice, but oven-like rooms, sunburns, and mosquito bites are things that have to be dealt with; by spring, having to wear light jackets is freedom after four months of parkas, gloves, and hats; it's still warm enough for both ice cream on sunny days, but cold enough for hot chocolate on rainy days; and the way the air smells, all light and clean and sweet...oh, gosh, it makes me fly. And wind--wind that doesn't cut you in the face, but shoots through your hair--wind you can stand into and throw your arms back and just staythere. Summer wind is for the night, to walk along a beach and think about life, love, and friendship, and it should be softer, warmer, smoother than spring wind; spring wind begs a hilltop to stand on and throw your arms out, and to not think anything so much as feel it--especially freedom--and the harder the blast, the better.
Mm. ...But as I was saying, the Christmas season's here, and that at least is happy. We've got snow (which around here is actually a rarity for Christmas!), and I get to pull rings off my Christmas chain, and I started getting people's Christmas presents (which I think is my favorite part), which means I got to poke around in the college bookstore when we were there to watch my cousin wrestle, looking at books and craft supplies and kitschy $5 mini-versions of cool things usually only found in large, $18-ish versions. Check Bethie and Aneya off my list, but that leaves my family, 'Nanda, Daf, Zinni, Melly, Bunny, and maybe Jinni still...definitely breaking into my summer-job money, 'cause it was all I could do to scrape $4 together the other day, and the presents I still need are gonna run me at least $50, I'm thinking, and maybe even more.
The play for Spanish was great fun--the inside jokes and funny things from the day took up a whole page in my quotebook, and I think I'm still missing some...
...hm, I wish the computer upstairs hadn't fried. I lost my clips from Danger Mouse and Spaceballs and everything, and I think I might have lost "Lifeforms", too, dang it...will have to put them here and transfer them by disk when we get a new one...we have no Microsoft Word down here still, more's the great pity: I hate the program, but need it for school--double-spacing on Wordpad is the biggest pain, 'cause my printer lines up differently than the screen...
I think I'll figure out at some point whether there's a new Coville book out with Rod Allbright. Having reread Left My Sneakers and Search for Snout last week in a bout of nostalgia, it made me wonder if anything comes after Stole My Body, which I read at Daf's...can that have been ninth grade? It must be, 'cause I used it for reading credit that year...goodness. Well, in three years (or more, considering I only read it then), he must have had time enough for the next one, right?
(Related note to J.K. Rowling, wherever you are: Finish Order of the Phoenix. It was supposed to be out six months ago.)
Lalala, two weeks and a day to my seeing Two Towers, hurrah...
Merry Christmas-season. Hang your stockings by the chimney with care. *g*
-Laurel
12.04.2002
Oh, ruddy heck. I just lost the entire posting I was going to put up. Oh, well. The short (sort of) version:
Greetings from the after-school computer lab--the "informational meeting" for the Big Brothers/Sisters Christmas party--which I'm probably not even going to qualify for, because they only take the first few applications, and I (unlike my friends from psych) cannot get to school at six o'clock, but can only get there by seven, when the application "opens"--only took about two minutes, just long enough for me to miss the bus. Which is not a good thing, considering how much ruddy homework I have for psych and stats.
The Spanish field trip tomorrow is a good thing and a bad thing--we're going to miss second, third, and a little of fourth block to go downtown and see The Barber of Seville. It's good because I get to miss girls' chorus--Mrs. R blasted us yesterday like you wouldn't believe for a sub-par rendition of "Gloria", and since tomorrow night is the actual concert, that means the unlucky wretches (figurative wretches, of course, Daf--I'm not calling you one!) who get stuck there will probably spend the whole 40 minutes being drilled to death on it. Since I know the song just fine already (unlike the general chorus kids!), I'm very glad to miss this. Also, I get a day with Bethie, Melly, and Aneya, which is always a good time, especially lunch (it's nice to get a break from cafeteria food, even if said break comes courtesy of McDonald's, instead of happier Wendy's food).
The bad news is that, for the second time in a row, I'm missing my day-2-block-3C study hall, which is now the only chance outside of Leo Club that I ever get to talk to Jordan, now that the play's actually over (drat our not being in the same stats class, and me not having picked Performing Arts I/II instead of Piano/Keyboard as a class to attempt to take, 'cause I would have ended up in his class, and in third-block psych with Bunny). And I don't have one again until Wednesday...oh, no, what day's Wednesday? Is that the tenth? No, okay, it's the eleventh. The tenth--which I miss for a choir field trip--is a Day 1, and those are boring anyway. Good.
Speaking of play-people, Feisal came up behind me the first time I was typing this, reached over my head, and started pressing keys. He and Chris are here at the computers in front of me, looking something up.
...I should get offline soon and start my psych, but we'll see if that really happens.
Cheerio for now.
-Laurel
Greetings from the after-school computer lab--the "informational meeting" for the Big Brothers/Sisters Christmas party--which I'm probably not even going to qualify for, because they only take the first few applications, and I (unlike my friends from psych) cannot get to school at six o'clock, but can only get there by seven, when the application "opens"--only took about two minutes, just long enough for me to miss the bus. Which is not a good thing, considering how much ruddy homework I have for psych and stats.
The Spanish field trip tomorrow is a good thing and a bad thing--we're going to miss second, third, and a little of fourth block to go downtown and see The Barber of Seville. It's good because I get to miss girls' chorus--Mrs. R blasted us yesterday like you wouldn't believe for a sub-par rendition of "Gloria", and since tomorrow night is the actual concert, that means the unlucky wretches (figurative wretches, of course, Daf--I'm not calling you one!) who get stuck there will probably spend the whole 40 minutes being drilled to death on it. Since I know the song just fine already (unlike the general chorus kids!), I'm very glad to miss this. Also, I get a day with Bethie, Melly, and Aneya, which is always a good time, especially lunch (it's nice to get a break from cafeteria food, even if said break comes courtesy of McDonald's, instead of happier Wendy's food).
The bad news is that, for the second time in a row, I'm missing my day-2-block-3C study hall, which is now the only chance outside of Leo Club that I ever get to talk to Jordan, now that the play's actually over (drat our not being in the same stats class, and me not having picked Performing Arts I/II instead of Piano/Keyboard as a class to attempt to take, 'cause I would have ended up in his class, and in third-block psych with Bunny). And I don't have one again until Wednesday...oh, no, what day's Wednesday? Is that the tenth? No, okay, it's the eleventh. The tenth--which I miss for a choir field trip--is a Day 1, and those are boring anyway. Good.
Speaking of play-people, Feisal came up behind me the first time I was typing this, reached over my head, and started pressing keys. He and Chris are here at the computers in front of me, looking something up.
...I should get offline soon and start my psych, but we'll see if that really happens.
Cheerio for now.
-Laurel