Pshaw

I could type for hours and still not even touch on how absolutely lovely today was. Firstly, though, I’m going to touch on the not-so-lovely part of today, which happened this evening not too long ago.

Okay, so Jake often sort of pretends to punch people. This type of ‘punching’ is up close to one’s face, too close for comfort. I’m always sure he’s going to miss and accidentally punch me for real, and that is exactly what happened. Clara was (still kind of is) crying and nearly hyperventilating. Her nose might be broken. I’ve never been that scared after somebody gets hurt.

Now, I’m not going to say another word about the incident because I don’t want to keep remembering it over and over again. I saw it happen.

On to the holiday festivities (speaking of which, we still need to light the menorah):

Most of my family woke up bright and early this morning, or at least before 9 am, and then we of course proceeded to wake those who were not yet up, consisting of Jake and Lydia. Then it was time for the obligatory kids “walking to the presents” picture. We stand in a line in the hallway, oldest in the back to the youngest up front, and my mother takes a picture. Shockingly, she only took one this year. I guess she’s starting to realize that we don’t like standing still for oodles of photos in order to get the “right one.”

Next, of course, it was present time. I ended up getting so many presents over the course of the day that I couldn’t believe it. I was under the impression that this Christmas would be much smaller, but it sure seemed grander than ever. Maybe I received to many because the things on my list were all relatively low in price. Either way, here is some of what I received and some pictures from the websites to go along with them. I am pleased as punch right now.

^Lovely earphones, I think, but my mother hates them. Says they’re creepy and that she’s noticed that a lot of my presents this year are disturbing.

^It’s a music player! It’s a phone! Could it be…both? Yes indeed, and it was free after having my old, beloved phone for two years. It’s real spiffy.

^These are the most adorable little miniatures! Super detailed and I love them!

^All four are thigh high socks from welovecolors in gold, royal, emerald, and red (funny how they’re the four “basic” colors, eh?). My knee highs are always falling down (to my knees, which makes sense, but still) so I thought I’d get some taller ones.

^ Oh my goodness, that stuff is amazing! With my luck, of course, there was nothing really sour in the house to try it with, but we did have some clementines. I ate like, three of those. They tasted like candy! Delicious, healthy candy! Marvelous, it was.

^It just looks like a pile of floating books, but it’s actually a hidden bookshelf. Awesome stuff.

^That was my gift from Santa. It actually broke shortly after being opened, so we’ll be returning it for a non-broken one. It knits i-cord.

^It’s an ornament and much cuter in person. That is the best picture I can find.

^Micro Spy Remote– a universal television remote that’s tiny.

^On a t-shirt

^AMAZING! I saw it in theaters and loved it and I’ve watched it already. Absolutely fabulous. Highly recommended.

^The milk chocolate ones. It’s a tradition for my dad and me to each get a box of them.

Oh, and I also received some The Office related things, sticky notes and pens and such, including a stress ball of Dwight’s head.

Aaaand for Secret Santa it turns out Emma had me. She gave me an amazing purple umbrella and mini peach rings. I had Clara and gave her purple eyeliner and gold eyeliner. Last night I also received pajamas with lovely little triangular trees all over them.

Well, this post is long enough, I think, and it’s getting late. It’s been a long, fun day and a happy holiday indeed. As Travis from YouTube said (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQJdQUX8uw), Merry Whatever.

Love you all to pieces.

EDIT: (I tried to add this last night shortly after posting, but the computer was being a douche again)

I also got an amazing dinosaur plant, as seen below:

It really is amazing.  It grew in three hours.

As one site says, it is:

• A Prehistoric evergreen that keeps coming back to life!
• Grows in one day! Unconditionally guaranteed to grow!
• Can “sleep” for fifty years and spring back to life in one day!

So, yeah, it is pretty amazing.  It actually looks a lot greener and leafier than in the picture.

Bye now.

Typing this up early…

Usually I go to bed early on Christmas Eve and, what with Secret Santa and Hanukkah and all in a little while, I figured I’d post now just in case I don’t have a chance to later. I’ll add to this if I have time.

Also, because of Christmas tomorrow, I might not have a chance to post then either.

Now, now, what on earth have I been doing today?

First of all, I knit another soap sack, this time for my grandmother, the one that lives with us.

Secondly, I baked, Christmas-related, of course. I helped Emma make chocolate chip cookies first. She is very stubborn in that she wants to do everything herself, even though she’s never baked cookies herself before. She refused my help and instead tried to bake them herself. Like I figured she would, she messed up. Not even following the directions, she put all of the ingredients in the mixer at once instead of mixing them two or three at a time and then gradually adding more ingredients. Luckily, they were more or less saved, but they are kind of salty and taste as if whole wheat flour were in them instead of regular old flour. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still.

The second thing I baked was a few dozen butter balls. Yeah, that’s seriously what they’re called. Not my decision. I’ve made them once before and I don’t like them all that much, strange considering I usually go for any type of cookie. The rest of my family, however, reacts rather enthusiastically to them and enjoys them immensely so I figured, what the hey, it’s the holiday season, the time for giving and all of that jazz. To change things up a bit, I put a single chocolate chip in the center of the little cookies and I think they turned out rather nicely.

The third thing I baked, or just made, rather, not really baking, was chocolate covered pretzels for my father. He loves those, and usually we make them to give as gifts and he looks at them longingly. They have red and green sprinkles and are refrigerating now.

Oh, and I received Maureen Johnson’s cheer card in the mail today! Basically, it’s an autographed holiday card. Maureen Johnson is a fabulous young adult author, in case you’re out of the loop, in which case I shun you. Only kidding.

Now, now, the holidays are cheering me up a bit tooo much (if that’s possible) and I need to get off the computer. My hands are shaking with excitement, practically.

Oh oh oh, and I finished the ornament I was making! It’s titled The Life and Death of a Human because the top of it is shiny and cheerful, youthful and pure, and then, gradually, as the pretty colored sequins ran out, the colors become duller until, at the very end, they are drab as can be, as if aging. At the very bottom is a single bright colored sequin, a last sparkle before death. Very sad, but I am proud of it, and it has meaning, always a good thing.

Farewell my lovelies. I hope you all have very merry Christmases or Hanukkahs or Kwanzaas or whichever holidays you happen to celebrate. If nothing, then I hope you have marvelous upcoming days, anyhow.

Miss you.

Love,

Hope.

************P.S.: Anwar/HAHA.sg has a new submission up on Threadless. What, you ask, is so awesome about it? Well, he used portraits of faces of people who volunteered in it! 34 people, in fact! And I am one of them! I am on the right side closer to the bottom than the top, reading a book of course, with long bangs. If you have an account on Threadless, 5 and buy, I tell you! Here’s the link:
http://www.threadless.com/submission/189792/INSPIRATION?streetteam=HAHA.sg#lastcomment

Frozen Computers Frustrate Me

If you hadn’t guessed it by the title, the reason I failed to post yesterday was that my computer was frozen. I only wish outside were becoming as white-Christmas as the PC. *cue Christmas songs*

Blegh, sorry, I know, that was completely uncalled for. Christmas songs are heard enough around the holidays as it is.

Speaking of the holidays, just as the last time I posted: boy, am I excited! Tonight was the third night of Hanukkah– we got a new menorah, replacing the one we got as a gift before I was born and which we have to jab the wax out after each use in order for it to actually hold new candles. We also got some chocolate covered oreos in festive Hanukkah colors. Blue and silver, blue and silver, blue and silver. What comes next? Silver!

Gee, am I really still in the Child Development preschool/pattern mood? Guess so.

Oh, and so yesterday was the second day/night of Hanukkah. Baskin-Robbins gift certificates galore and a fruit basket along with that! It’s a sort of running joke in my family that every year my father ends up getting summer sausage from somebody. Guess what? There was summer sausage in the fruit basket! And fudge shaped like a tree! And an apple with a Merry Christmas stamp on it! Ironic, eh? Jolly good fun for all.

Speaking of which, I never even wrote about the first night of Hanukkah! Sorry, I’m a bit scatter-brained at the moment. We got the Wall-E movie. I still have yet to watch it– that and Elephant Man, and The Incredible Hulk, for that matter. I love movies but it’s difficult to find time to sit down and watch one. I get distracted easily.

Over the past few days, I’ve knit up three soap sacks. Yup, supremely snazzy indeed.

Oh oh oh, guess what all the things I received from friends as presents were? (verbose sentence alert!) Well, there were plenty of candy canes, of course, and a scrumptious cookie from Daniel, and then a bag of holiday-color-wrapped Reese’s peanut butter cups from Kaitlyn from yesterday (and possibly some from Friday). Then, today, I got a piece of peanut butter fudge, and MORE Reese’s peanut butter cups from my bus driver, and a super adorablicious pink and green turtle from Rachel, and two marvelously adorable real (as opposed to fake?) handmade crystal animals, a dog and an elephant (a puppy-sized elephant! except not! half-dollar sized, perhaps?). Great great great presents. Thanks, everybody.

If I get around to it (and it’s on the official List of things I have to do over the holiday break), which I most absolutely definitely will, I will be bringing in gifts after the break, not only because I didn’t get around to collecting gifts beforehand, but also because it’ll be nice to give things after the holidays, once everybody’s suffering post-break depression and all.

Oh, and today I was working on an AP Euro project in the library (what a shocker– usually it’s lecture lecture lecture lecture test) and I came across a few carts full of old books that the library was going to get rid of to make room for new books. Naturally, I couldn’t let them go unnoticed, and I plucked three of the spined, word-filled creatures to take home with me. Two of them were those corny scary story sort of books for more or less middle school aged kids, so I brought them to Clara and Emma in case they were interested. The third book, far more superior in every way to the other two, is a lovely old-book-scented being titled The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. Sound familiar? Amazing, that book is. I’ve only had a chance to read the first tale of mystery and I’m as hooked as ever. Doyle, Doyle, Doyle, fantastic human you are.

Though, naturally, the computer’s basically frozen again and so if this doesn’t end up being posted for a while, then you will know the reason, though it will be too late to wish about it anyway by then.

Wow, I’ve practically written up one fiftieth of a NaNoWriMo-sized novel! Crazy, that is.

Golly gee wow, Christmas is the day after tomorrow! The year is nearly halfway through!

Oh, good, the computer’s sped up again. Maybe this will end up being posted straightaway just as planned after all.

Well, I’d better post it before it’s too late.

Sayonara, por favor. (ooh, getting cultural now, are ya? two languages at once? does it even make sense? that is doubtful. does the writer care? also doubtful.)

Sleep tight, sapes. Lovely weather we’re having, eh? Cold and windy, not a hint of snow? Come along, white fluff, we love you.

P.S. Let It Snow is in the school library! I, for one, was SHOCKED, with a capital S.

EDIT: Wow, I just viewed this post and found that it is the longest in quite a while.  Now, cheerio for real.

I am in a blender, according to my facebook status. You know, because I have mixed feelings and all.

It is Wednesday and my second-to-last day of school. You all probably know that if you have ever read anything recently that I have written, considering I speak of those facts constantly, but I felt the need to mention it nonetheless.

Alright, today. Hmm… (cue numerals)

[1]Wednesday Club, our last one of the school year, was marvelous. We hope to continue it over the summer, though I am thinking it would be nice to go someplace else such as bowling or people watching or something.

There was this guy at Wednesday Club, this guy pretty much everyone else I know knows. I simply had not struck up a conversation with him before, though I had heard a lot about him from friends and such. The conversation we had was about me looking familiar to him. Actually, it was not really a conversation, more of a sort of greeting or… whatever… it got me thinking.

Am I a familiar face? I cannot really ask people that know me whether I am familiar to them, considering that would be pointless. So, hmm… unless I speak to perfect strangers and ask them whether I look familiar, then I guess I will not get an answer. Much like many things in life.

Other than that, we did not stray far from our usual Wednesday routine. I did get handed a free local newspaper at Giant, so that was pretty neat. I have not yet had much of a chance to look at it, but most definitely will after this post.

[2]Tomorrow is the last day of school… my goodness, this year sure heeded my beginning-of-the-year warning to, ‘hit the road, Jack.’

[3]Fantastically, I received my new Threadless shirts in the mail today. They are even more marvelous than I had thought they would be. I think I will wear Training for Utopia tomorrow. It is a nice end-of-the-year shirt, I think.

[4]This morning, I realized while on the bus to school that I had forgotten the yogurt and measuring cups needed for a Child Development project. I frantically phoned and text messaged both of my parents to see whether one of them could bring them in. My father ended up doing it, kind soul that he is. I must find a way to be less forgetful, seen by the next snippet-

I forgot both my yearbook and a book Daniel borrowed from me (The Princess Bride– despite being far overrated, it is one of the best books ever) at the library in the hands of friends. They will bring them to me at school tomorrow. In the meantime, does anybody have any ideas for remembering things? Preferably not relating to writing on hands- I did that for a while with writing the holidays and numbers and words of the day on my right hand, and whenever I leaned on my hand (which I do quite frequently) ink marks were left on the side of my face. Not that I minded so much, but my parents did not like that so much.

[5]And, as I was speaking of my father bringing things to school for me, listen to this- he was able to walk into the school right among the students, and nobody even stopped him. This worries me terribly- if he was able to walk in undetected, then would strangers be able to walk right in and leave a bomb in a bathroom or something? Perhaps school is not as safe as I once thought.

[6]Speaking of school, as I was quite a lot (considering, without school, I would not have much to do), there was a fire drill today. Nothing eventful happened, we just left the school and then came back in a few minutes later, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

[7]I took a final in both Child Development and Albegra II today. Both were quite easy, and I am hoping they will bring my grades up. My English grade went up to an A (despite what is being mentioned in the next section), my Child Development grade is an 88%, and my Math grade is hopeless (at 82%), so there is a sort of kind of slim chance I will get straight A’s. The Math final counts for 20% of my grade, so mayhaps that will help.

[8]We took our last vocabulary quiz in English today. I was so excited to finish my 100% streak that I finished it quickly, convinced that I got every one correct. Unfortunately, in my excitement I accidentally skipped a problem, making another one incorrect as well. Meaning I received a 92% on it. I was so upset.

[9]I finished reading The Death of Vishnu today. It was horribly sad, at least a lot of it was. The next book on my list is The Nazi Officer’s Wife, an equally sad book. I am thinking I will read a different book instead, one that is much happier so that my summer does not start off on a grievous foot. So, with this I ask you- does anoybody have any happy (or at least mostly) book recommendations? Thank you in advance.

[10]We received our schedules today. Mine is pretty much amazing. I got into all of the classes I wanted to be in. Unfortunately, I got a teacher for Math that everybody says is a bad teacher- must I be cursed with bad Math teachers when I am already not so good at Math? Also, I received an amazing teacher for AP Euro but, apparently, he is no longer going to be teaching that class so that will change. On top of that, a ton of people’s schedules are all messed up, with the same class but different teachers in one semester and other such mistakes. So, perhaps everybody’s schedules will be changed up.

Luckily, I have one of my favorite teachers for Latin II. So, all in all, it is great and I am looking forward to next year. I do not have many friends in my classes, but I never do so that will be fine.

In my schedule, I am signed up for Photography I and Guitar I in the same semester, meaning that I will have to carry around a camera and a guitar throughout the whole day. At least, providing that I do have to do that for those classes. I am not exactly sure.

[11]The number of the day is 3393 (chosen by Wallie- something to do with his birthdate), the word of the day is zazzy (flashy or stylish), and the holiday is Hug Holiday. I actually received more hugs than usual today, so that is good.

Anyway, (boy, I use that word often) I am off to do something. I am not sure what yet, but I will find something.

Farewell. (Wow, when I write again my freshman year will be over!)

Plastic Bag Yarn, Leftover Pizza, and Temporarily Knowing a Word That My Older Brother Does Not

That just about sums up my Friday evening thus far. Other than some reading time. And, you know, breathing and all of that jazz.

Plastic bag yarn portion- I have wanted to do this for a while, and I did so today. Actually, I still am doing it- I just stopped in order to write this post. Making yarn out of grocery store bags, that is. I have a nice-sized ball of plastic bag yarn already, and only three bags have been transformed. Ah, transformed, such a magnificent way to describe the meticulous task. I love to transform things, and will most likely be knitting this particular transformation into a bag. If it is strong enough, I will use it to carry books back and forth from the library.

Leftover pizza- this, too, is self-explanatory. My mother is out for a knitting night with her friends (which she does every Friday night) and my father did not feel like cooking anything special, so we just had leftovers. I had white pizza. Delicious white pizza, that is.

Temporarily knowing a word that my older brother does not- yeah, this is probably the most self-explanatory of the three. Essentially, I told my brother that one of the words of the day is hypnophobia and I asked him whether he knew what it meant. Naturally, being the cocky, stubborn college student he occasionally is, he said he did. After a lot of prying, I found out that he did not, in fact, know what it meant. He guessed for a bit, and finally I told him. I will tell you all what it means in a few moments, along with the other things of the day.

And here I am, as promised, telling you the things of the day. The words of the day are hypnophobia (as mentioned- it is a morbid fear of falling asleep) and gormless (lacking intelligence or vitality). The number of the day is ninety-four, the holidays are Love a Tree Day, National Bike To Work Day, National Sea Monkey Day, and Wear Purple For Peace Day. I actually saw quite a few people wearing purple today, but I do not think the majority were actually celebrating it. Perhaps my friend Laura was- she was wearing purple socks, but I did not think to ask. Speaking of Laura, her dad has been offered a job and she may be moving to Chicago. I really, really, hope that she does not end up moving. This would tear me to pieces. I am trying not to think about it and become even further upset… Anyway, the color of the day is aquamarine. Wallie was thrilled about this as, evidently, it is his birthstone. I was equally thrilled because it is a rather lovely color.

Today in English, we were reading a poem aloud. The last line was something like, “I shall love, until life renews,” or something of the sort. Well, the person started it and said, “I shall love,” when, suddenly, there was a sound at the window. Everybody looked over, and a bird was falling right past the window. Mr. Schoder just goes, “continue the poem,” in that monotonous voice of his, and the person finishes, “…until life renews.” And, suddenly, the noise is there again and we all turn to the window once more. A second bird is falling fact first down right by our classroom window. I have no idea what happened to them. It was funny, in a morbid sort of way.

My siblings are watching Toy Story. Oh, how I love Toy Story.

Hey, did you know that (according to the Completely Useless, Yet Interesting, Facts Collection), “An apple, onion, and potato all have the same taste. The differences in flavor are caused by their smell. To prove this – pinch your nose and take a bite from each. They will all taste sweet.” I will most definitely need to test this out.

Also according to the Completely Useless, Yet Interesting, Facts Collection, there are two million different combinations of sandwiches that can be made from the Subway menu. Now, that is very interesting. Think of all of the possibilities! Oh, wait, you can not comprehend the idea of two million different sandwiches. Neither can I.

Now, I am off to finish making plastic bag yarn- there are many more bags and I would like to make a lot of it to start off with.

Good night, friends. Farewell, friends. Be merry, friends. And otherwise.

Just Promise Me You Will Never Try To Grow Up

Nostalgia is steadily taking over…

The color of the day is wisteria, the number is thirty-one, the holidays are Police Officer’s Memorial Day and National Chocolate Chip Day, and Pomona Sprout’s birthday, the words of the day are ersatz (an artificial or inferior substitute or imitation) and finagle (achieve something by means of trickery or devious methods), and today I walked/jogged/ran the last required mile of my life.

It was in Gym. At my high school, you are required to take one Gym class before being allowed to graduate. We had to do the mile thrice, and today was the last time. Ever. This is thrilling.

Next Wednesday is going to be spectacular- not only is it the weekly Wednesday club, but I volunteered to help out with the Preschool graduation practice and therefore get to miss the whole school day watching and playing with little kids. How awesome is that?

Speaking of the preschool, we are putting on a puppet show in class tomorrow. I am going to be playing a chicken and finished making the puppet a little while ago.

Also a little while ago (more like two or three minutes ago) I started and finished the short story I had to write for English. It is due Thursday, but I like to be ahead. It is only the rough draft, anyway. It is titled “Nobody in Particular” and I am going to paste it below. You know, because I have nothing much else to say. Laura, if you read this, do you think you could edit when/if you have the time? I am pretty sure there are some mistakes, but, as you know, staring at your own work for awhile kind of makes it tough to find mistakes.

[ “What am I?” I ask aloud, to nobody in particular.

“What are you not?” nobody in particular responds.

He has always been a wise fellow, this nobody creature. I am not entirely sure whether he exists, then again, as I have been known to imagine things. That is what they said when they kicked me out, you know. “REASON FOR EXPULSION” the slip was titled, the big, bold letters giving way to the infamous fine print. “Prone to excessive bouts of overactive imagination often leading to impulsive actions,” the report continued in the same minuscule size, ending with the signature of whomever was unduly placed in charge. They even had the nerve to slap a period on the end of it, as if turning the claim into a sentence fragment would change its significance, somehow. Quite the opposite, though- it only served to further infuriate me.

Now, that is all behind me- I still say as I did when I left in the first place: good riddance.

To be honest, I am dead grateful that I was ousted. After all, if I had not been, I would never have met nobody in particular- and that, my friend, would be unfortunate indeed. Had I not met nobody in particular, I never would have been granted the many drops of wisdom he has bestowed upon me since our meeting. Though, I guess calling it a ‘meeting’ would not be fully appropriate. We did not meet, per say. To this day, we have not formally done so. Rather, we have a mutual agreement: I ask a question, any time of day, and he answers. The scale is tipped more generously towards me, and I should think he would care, but he has yet to complain about my having the better half of the bargain. Now that I think about it, he has yet to complain about anything.

Occasionally I attempt to persuade the man to show himself, but it never turns out to my benefit. Surely he (and I assume that the creature is a ‘he’ based on the tone of his voice) wishes to come out of wherever he is hiding, at least sometimes. If he does, however, he does not show it. Always speaking in the monotonous, deadpan voice of a robot, one would think he would wish for a little excitement in his life. Evidently not yet, but I am sure he will crack someday. I have a strong feeling about it, and secure ones such as this are nearly always correct.

I shudder to think of what would happen if he were discovered. As long as the human race exists, the intense longing for knowledge and wisdom is inevitable, and nobody in particular has an abundance of it.

More so, in fact, than anybody I have met before. This never ceases to amaze me- if somebody this intelligent were to suddenly disappear from society, someone would certainly realize it.

He is an enemy spy, I once thought, yet there is no trace of an accent about him. I then considered that he is merely a hermit, choosing to be cut off from the rest of the world for some mysterious reason. That musing, however, was quickly shot down- to the best of my knowledge, nobody in particular has not left wherever he lurks. And, even if he were a hermit, he would still need to eat in order to survive. His voice comes from somewhere a bit off, but not enough that he could possibly be near a door or garden where he would be able to gather nutrients- or water, for that matter. If he is not human, though, then what is he? Without food or water, he could not even be living. A zombie, maybe? I doubt it- he does not seem like the type. What, then?

I have tried not to dwell on it too much, but I must admit that dwelling on things takes up much of my time. There is not much else to do, in this monster of a house with echoing rooms and the eternal scent of mothballs.

So, yes, it is free of most insects. It is also free of humans, other than myself of course. I have no family, never have and doubtlessly never will, and no friends to speak of either. In the end, it is just me here. And, obviously, nobody in particular as well.

I do not care, though. Who cares if I have nobody to talk to, nothing to do? What does it matter to be lonely when you have the answers to every question in the world? ]

So yup, there it is. I hope somebody liked/likes it.

Gosh, today feels like a Friday.

Oh yeah, my brother is home from college.

Pixie dust to all.

Try and fly.

The Reasons I Am Happy and How Easily Upset I Become

The color of the day is scarlet, the holidays are Frog Jumping Day and Leprechaun Day, the letters of the day are A and B, the words of the day are acopic (meaning ‘curing to relieving fatigue’) and ballyhoo (meaning ‘blatant or sensational promotion’), and the number of the day is seven thousand seven hundred seventy-seven. It is rather sunny outside, but I am in a delightful mood nonetheless- there are many reasons, a few of which I will list below.

[1]Tomorrow is Wednesday, meaning another edition of the Wednesday Club

[2]I am wearing neon green socks, which always make me happy

[3]I think I may have gotten one hundred percent on my Algebra II quiz today

[4]I am feeling particularly in love with typography and color right now

[5]I am wearing a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt and this too makes me happy

[6]I am going to make something spectacular once this post is done

So yeah, obviously, as I mentioned and all, I am having a lovely day.

I finished Book of Reasons and am almost done with Teen Inc., which is great because I am going to return the books I have read thus far tomorrow.

Only a few more days until my ant farm arrives! I am going to dig up an anthill and find a queen ant among others to put in it.

Gee, I could use a huge glass of milk right about now. Yet another thing I will do once I finish this post.

Well, I still have some more room on this page to type. Therefore, I am going to write some random babble from the point of view of a blind (the window kind).

[Blinds are mysterious. It is almost like being invisible, being a blind. People pass by me, day after day, not realizing that I have feelings too. They scrunch me up at night, when I can finally have a chance to enjoy the view. When it is sunny, they draw me and I must stand still, regardless of the harsh sunlight seeping into my skin.

I have tried to make conversation a few times before; after all, being a blind is rather dull. Unfortunately, the couch does not make for a very good companion. Anyway, it is usually busy with somebody sitting on it. That does not seem interesting either, but at least the furniture has a chance to speak with the humans if they wish. Nobody converses with the blinds. Nobody seems to see them at all, for that matter. It is sort of ironic, how I am a blind yet it is others who cannot see me. Kind of ironic, how I know more about the layout of the living room than the humans do, considering they are the ones who designed it.

Before I came to this house, my life was exciting. I was in a shop full of other blinds to talk to, full of things to see and new people to observe. I was always a plain blind, but dreamed of being installed somewhere stimulating: I always thought it would be neat to be set up in a classroom, where I would be able to learn and see all of the children grow up, or a mental institution, perhaps, where I would be able to talk to the patients and nobody would care, considering they were already known to be crazy.

In the end, though, a seemingly nice couple came to the shop. When I saw them headed my way, I stood up nice and straight to look presentable. Once I noticed how young the couple was, I knew they would choose me. After all, I was, by far, the cheapest blind there. I was right about that, them deciding on me. When the delivery person came to pack me up, I gave a stiff wave to my blind friends. They wished me luck and I was on my way, to where I thought would be a better place and a final home for me.

Unfortunately, nobody every mentioned that being a blind is kinda like being a human. Those preposterous humans get so worked up over everything, so excited, and when the event finally comes it is never like they hoped it would be. They have a life goal, something they hope to be someday, and it always lets them down. Like being a blind, where I became so excited and so happy in dreaming up places I would be installed and how fun it would be. While, in the end, I am just hanging around wishing I had never been sold. It was much better in the shop, I always think. At least I got a good dusting every once in awhile when I was there.]

Holy mackerel, perhaps I should not have written that. Now I am getting upset… it is just like me to get worked up over blinds. There are blinds right in front of me right now, and now I feel so sorry for them. How preposterous a human I am.

Hearts your way.

‘Til then, penguin.

How Pleased You Look Reading That Funny Book

Ant Farm and Other Desperate Situations

– a book I started last night and finished today. Seriously, I think it is the funniest book I have ever read. It was not the obvious kind of humor, just a subtle kind that I find especially amusing. Anyway, I am so happy I picked it up off of the library shelf because it is truly fantastic.

The holidays are Astronomy Day, Fatigue Syndrome Day (and, amazingly, I am not tired today), International Nurses Day (how many holidays relating to nurses are there?), and Limerick Day.

The color of the day is Cosmic Latté, a creamish shade of white. I think that is a rather spectacular name for a color.

The word of the day is a plural noun, ‘olio.’ Its definition is ‘a hodgepodge or medley.’

This afternoon, I have been looking at the site swissmiss.typepad.com for quite a bit. It is a website where this woman basically posts awesome things. That is the best way I can describe it. Anyway, there are an abundance of magnificent links on there.

I have been adding more to my ‘for all occasions’ wishlist. There are many things on it. I suppose it is not really a wishlist, more of just a list of things I would buy if I had all of the money in the world. Though, honestly, that would be my worst nightmare.

Upon having a Hank-and-John-Green-related dream last night, I finally made an account on nerdfighters.ning.com. The link to my post is: http://nerdfighters.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1833893%3ABlogPost%3A412384 in case you were wondering.

Man, I really want to get So, Now You Know… A Compendium of Completely Useless Information. It sounds like a book I would love. It is only $0.01 on amazon, but the shipping brings it up to four dollars. Perhaps I will buy it anyway, along with the ant farm I still have not ordered.

Oh, and I also wish I had the following books: The Ultimate Book of Useless Information: A Few Thousand More Things You Might Need to Know ( But Probably Don’t), BLA- 600 Incredibly Useless Facts: Something to Talk About When You Have Nothing Else To Say, Useless Knowledge: Answers to Questions You’d Never Think to Ask, The Emperor Who Ate the Bible: And More Strange Facts and Useless Information, The Book of Totally Useless Information, Woody Allen’s Without Feathers, and many others that I do not have time to list.

My goodness, I love books.

Speaking of love, I also adore the rain. And, hurrah, it has been raining all day long! There are rumors that it is supposed to rain all week long- now that would be something to blog about.

Speaking of time running out (or was I?), there are only twenty-three days left of ninth grade for me! I hate that- this year has gone by way too fast and I am not ready to be a sophomore yet. Oh my, a sophomore? No. I am still a freshman. I am barely used to that idea, and the year is nearly up.

More a bit later- my mother just came in and ordered the ant farm! It should not take too long to arrive- about three or four business days.

Farewell now, my various life forms.

May your rainy day be sweet.

“Correct papers at my window. I need them by tomorrow. *Hums Pachelbel’s Cannon*”

Well, what do you know, it is Wednesday again already. The year is flying by like there is no tomorrow.

I went to Giant twice today: once during the Wednesday Club where I purchased dragon fruit vitamin water. It was delicious. The other time was after, when my father called me and said he was at the Giant, which is right next to the library where we were, and that I should walk over there. I did so, after depositing my backpack, bag, and bag stuffed with books in the car. I checked out twenty-five books, you know. Instead of returning them in two weeks, I am probably going to take the full three weeks to read them. During the second time to Giant, I bought four bottles of SoBe Life Water, because I love flavored waters very much. These flavored waters are made with vitamins and herbs, which is pretty jokes. I bought it in Blackberry Grape, Pomegranate Cherry, Orange Tangerine, and Passionfruit Citrus. I drank some of the Orange Tangerine flavor and it is quite delicious.

Oh yeah, before returning my books I finished reading Hitler Youth. It was as depressing as one would expect it to be.

I continued my one hundred percent streak on vocabulary quizzes and we received the new list of words. They are simpler than ever before.

The first book I started on, which I am already about halfway through with, is titled Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and is all about mnemonic devices. There are a few for the names of the presidents and I am going to be paying very close attention (and reading, and rereading) those ones.

Unfortunately, Valerie was not able to come to the Wednesday Club. Well, she was going to come late, but she was not able to follow Danya’s hand-drawn map to the library and ended up getting lost and just walking back to the school, where she had band practice soon anyway.

The word of the day is craven, meaning ‘cowardly.’ The holidays, which are devastatingly similar to yesterday’s, are School Nurses Day and National Tourism Day.

The color of the day is a shade of black (grey?) called Davy’s grey and is a greeny grey color.

Hey, did you know that the ‘dragon fruit’ is an actual fruit? I just looked it up.

Oh man, I also just looked up whether it is legal to drive golf carts on streets and, unfortunately, it is not. Where the speed limit is under thirty-five, it is legal, and neighborhoods may be okay- however, I do not really live in a neighborhood. It is more of a highway. There goes my dream of owning a forest green golf cart and driving it to the library whenever I want.

Oh bah, I felt so tired this morning. Luckily I no longer was once Wednesday Club arrived.

My second day of no contractions failed even more so than yesterday, the first. I think it would be best to try my hardest over the weekend so that I am used to it come Monday and school and all.

My good friend Laura, creator of storiesfromahat.wordpress.com, has started updating again after a brief hiatus. Her stories are extremely good- very funny and full of excellent lines- you really should read them.

Well, that is all I have to say. I am off to either read or get started on a wooly scarf I am knitting, made up of many stripes of various lovely colors. Plus I need to take out the trash and recycling and bring the laundry up.

Good night, everybody.

“For the LAST time, I have no idea what happened to the basketball. Mine just showed up one day, and you have no right to take it away like that. It has my name on it. See: right there, in bold black letters. Alright, so it is not MY name, but it is somebody’s alright. It could very well be mine in another life. Or not. Anyway, just cut the shenanigans and give me back my basketball.”

Hurray, the word of the day is ‘brio,’ meaning vigor or liveliness. Oh, and the number of the day is one hundred twenty-six. The holidays are Beverage Day, National Teacher’s Day, National Tourist Appreciation Day, National Nurses Day, and No Diet Day. Upon Wallie’s choice, the color of the day is a shade of green, today’s shade of which is one titled ‘grey asparagus,’ which is, evidently, a mixture of grey and the color ‘asparagus.’ Interesting, indeed.

Hurrah, I finished Sickened. It was inspiring. I have now moved onto Spud, which is also an excellent read. I am finished with that and am going to start and finish Hitler Youth before tomorrow after school, when the Wednesday Club will meet.

Huzzah, I have started (term used loosely) on the brainstorming of characters for my short story in English. Sometimes I jot down loose interpretations of the main characters, their names, and traits. In this case, I may or may not change the characters and plot completely before I decide on one. During NaNoWriMo, I wrote and rewrote the plot at least a half dozen times, sometimes getting even so far as to write a few thousand words before changing everything. In the end, I settled on the tale of Oliver Caspian, who hacks into computers of major companies and sends them spam upon the payment of one of their competitors for a living, if that makes even an ounce of sense. The point is, here are the main three characters for my current to-be-written short story:

Archibald “Archie” Lincoln- a rather sarcastic boy

Cabin “Cab” Everett- enthusiastic and talkative

Peter Scotts- the cliché extremely shy and smart reader

I am planning on Archie being the narrator of the story. At the beginning, I would have him explain how people always judge him on his last name, either thinking he is a stuck-up, rich, snobbish boy (based on his full name) or some sort of country bumpkin (based on his nickname).

Anyway, Archie, Cab, and Peter, all of whom are around seven or eight years old, meet up while exploring the woods behind the boys’ houses and quickly become friends. The highlight of the story is when the trio manages to build a tree house together.

So, yup, there is my first idea for a short story. I particularly like these characters and, even if I do not end up using them in this assignment, will most likely write them into something else, perhaps a ten page or so story in my own time.

Oh wow, did you know that in the UK there is a game (from what I gather, much like the ‘punch buggy’ thing we have going around where I live) called “Yellow Car” which, according to Wikipedia, involves yelling “Yellow Car” and striking someone close to you on spotting a yellow car. This sounds quite interesting; perhaps I will play this with my friends sometime. Maybe tomorrow during Wednesday Club- they will not know what hit them: literally.

Wow, I just clicked on ‘random article’ on Wikipedia and got turned to this amazing political/social activist/musician named Tom Morello. I looked him up on YouTube and, I must say, thank goodness for Wikipedia.

Also, guys, if you want to seem some truly spectacular videos, do a search for ‘typography’ on YouTube. There are many magnificent music videos and videos on speeches that people have made with typography. I especially love one of The Hush Sound’s “The Lions Roar” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxouXt5dz4. Ah, typography, how wonderful you are. (Hey, I said this about books the either day, did I not? I am terribly sorry for being so ridiculously repetitive [have I said that before?].)

Ugh, I am getting super mixed up. This post is long enough now.

Good night, good morning, whatever you wish. Please hope that it rains tomorrow.