I Have a Crooked Smile.

Today was a lazy Sunday. Hmm, that sounds like a saying or something… I will have to look into that.

I spent the majority of the day watching Brotherhood 2.0 videos of the past. I got through I think three pages of videos.

Most of the rest of my family went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I did not really have a choice as to whether I wanted to go because Emma was at our neighbor’s house and I needed to be home for when she came back.

They had corn dogs there. Corn dogs! Oh, the nerve of them to have such a magnificent food when I have been wanting one for over a year and not had the chance.

They did, however, bring back kettle corn, so I will be forgiving them for the mishap.

We are going to have pizza for dinner.

I am actually feeling rather discouraged at the moment because Abie left an open purple marker in one of his pants pockets, which ended up being washed with one of my newer Threadless shirts. One of the few that I did not receive as gifts and instead bought myself. Which now has purple splotches on it. I will need to get some stain removal and hope that it is effective.

Oh man, I just remembered something that has now burst my already-burst bubble: remember how I told you guys that my sister was singing in the middle school talent show? Well, in the program it listed a snippet of each of the acts. In one of the acts, either eight or nine, perhaps act ten, it said something like, “[names of people in act] call themselves the JANCC 5,” and then, in parentheses, said, “an anagram of the group’s first names.” I read this and was like, ‘what the heck?” I mean, honestly, they thought that was an anagram when it was so obviously an acronym? I felt sick to my stomach when reading this- no joke. I shared my anger with various family members but they all thought I was overreacting. And I was not, really. It is just that… well, so many people need serious help with their grasp of language and then something like this happens- adults not knowing what something is properly called and sharing this lack of knowledge with the general community. It is absolutely preposterous that something like this should happen, in the field of education, no less. Like how I so often find grammar mistakes in my high school teacher’s writings. For instance, my math teacher used, ‘zero’s’ as the plural form of ‘zero.’ I mean, honestly- it can be spelled ‘zero’ or ‘zeroes,’ but NOT ‘zero’s!’ Really, can they truly not use an apostrophe correctly? They are teachers, for goodness sakes.

Sorry, I am ranting. It just really… infuriates me how doomed the English language is. Among other things.

Another slightly doomed fact- my sister Clara, who just turned thirteen, found out today that peanut butter is not made from actual butter. That is unbelievable.

“I wish I…” rant-

I wish I …

…were as smart as people think I am.

…could whistle, snap my fingers, or blow a gum bubble.

…knew what I could expect in my future and stop worrying about it.

…could stop being so shy that strangers think I hate them.

…could do something extraordinarily interesting.

…had enough money to give it out to deserving people.

…could stay a child forever but still grow up.

…still believed in the tooth fairy.

…could eat vegetables and not gag.

…could stay outside and read all day.

…knew how to cheer people up.

…could talk to people without feeling stupid and inferior.

…were born before technology became such a huge part of people’s lives.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Learn the Tricks of the Trade and Be in a Parade

Today was a nice day, though dreadfully hot (which I disliked immensely). It was Wednesday (well, it still is), meaning that the Wednesday Club met. Unfortunately, Valerie, Danya, and Laura were not able to stay for the whole thing (Valerie did not come at all, we walked Laura to her neighborhood and she walked home, and Danya left at around 3:30 pm rather than the usual 5 pm). However, Courtney, Daniel, and I had fun nonetheless. We did not walk around much, seeing as none of us live in that area and would have gotten lost, (plus it was a real scorcher, as I already mentioned) instead electing to stay at the library the majority of the time, with a quick trick to the Giant next door.

Because Valerie was not able to come, we had no video camera (plus she did not unload last week’s episode from it so the memory was full) and merely had fun without the added pressure of being captured on film.

I returned my fourteen books of two weeks ago and checked out fourteen new ones, including about fifty percent non-fiction books. Because I like actual knowledge and all.

At Giant, Daniel and I bought spice drops (which turned out to be a bit too spicy for my liking), dark chocolate peanut M&Ms, and a pack of Orbit gum for Courtney, who elected to stay at the library during this trip.

I tricked my little brother Benny into thinking that I was getting my driver’s license rather than going to the library. I told him I was going to McDonald’s to get a drink and he asked if he could come. I told him yes and got him to sit in the passenger seat up front and buckle up. Then I pretended I was driving by telling him he needed to close his eyes (as everybody knows, when you are up front the sun is too bright to keep them open) and then shaking his seat so it was as if we were driving. Once we ‘got there,’ I spoke in a robotic voice and said the whole fast food spiel, complete with “Thank you, have a nice day!” We had bought a soda from McDonald’s about an hour before, meaning that there was actually something to ‘prove’ that we had gone there. I think that he still believes I drove there.

It is Lover’s Day, National Zucchini Bread Day, Take a Chance Day, and World Laboratory Day. It is also James Buchanan’s birthday. (See the epic [Elephants Prefer Ignorant Children] card I made him below):

The reason it says ‘thanks’ on it is because I made it during Random Acts of Kindness Club, where we were instructed to make a thank you card for somebody.

Oh, yeah, obviously it was the actual club day at school. Besides the above mentioned club, I went to German club, because, as I believe I mentioned yesterday, Meditation Club was cancelled.

In German Club we had a party, where we wondered why the fruit snacks provided included gummy pineapples that were, rather than yellow, blue. We also wondered whether there is such thing as an actual, real-life blue raspberry. In fact, I am going to find out now. Google, here I come!

Okey dokey, apparently the flavor originated from blue whitebark raspberry juice and has, since then, been used as an artificial flavor somewhere between tangy and sour. I guess that settles that.

We had to run the mile in Gym today, unfortunately. It was scalding and all, but shockingly I beat my old-time wimpy score of 14:30 with a new-time, improved wimpy score of 13:01.

The word of the day is ‘twixt,’ a variation of ‘betwixt,’ both of which mean ‘between.’ I did not even know this when I chose the word, but my good friend Laura has been trying to bring the word ‘betwixt’ back into modern use. A noble cause, Laura. Very noble.

Actually, speaking of Laura, she is the one who recommended that I read an autobiography of Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo. I did not take her up on the suggestion last time because I got kind of distracted. However, I checked it out this time around and, so far, I love it. Thanks, Laura.

Oh yeah- at the library, something momentous occurred. I found two quotes lying on this table in the library. Though I am still not convinced that my friends did not write and leave them there in order to trick me, they are wonderful nonetheless. I am going to hang them on my wall, actually. I have scanned them and they are below. And, yes, I know that ‘afraid’ is spelled wrong in the second one. That annoyed me a bit as well, but not enough to sway me away from them.

 

I was wondering what Buddha’s birthday was earlier today. It is sometime in May, in case you were also wondering.

I cannot take it any longer- I am going to read now. Please leave a comment if you wish; they please me to no end.

By the way, I apologize for the monstrous amount of tags.  I got a little carried away.

May your life be merry.