I'm blogging right now because I promised Leash I'd post every day this week, and I probably won't have time to do a late night post. Too much homework and chores and stuff. My room is really messy because I have been trying to find some shorts and summery clothes. I guess I'll have to do some rearranging. And some laundry.

My grandparents made a visit this weekend. I didn't know my Dad's parents would be arriving on Thursday until it was already Wednesday night. Oops! I guess I'm out of the loop. They left yesterday... it was a fun visit. Now my grandma from England (la madre de mi madre) is here. She brought back some British candy. I much prefer chocolate from Britain to chocolate here. It's much sweeter. Her arrival is bittersweet, though, because I have to give up driving whenever I want. She gets to use my car while she's here. That whole thing is bittersweet because although I won't be able to sleep in late and drive myself places, I won't have to drive Jill and Charlotte everywhere. That is really nice.

I think I'll go do some laundry or something. And some homework. Yeah... that sounds good.

Hello All... I write to you in shorts and a t-shirt and I am still burning up. How the heck is it 88 degrees? I don't know. But it's annoying. I also write to you with a farmers-sunburn. Yesterday was a heck of a busy day for me. First I woke up at 7:30 to go to the March of Dimes, where I walked 6 miles around town. I am really sore and I walk like a grandma after I've been sitting down for a while. After MOD I had Rocka Fest where I worked all day at the Interact booth which was ridiculously underwhelming. We were sitting on the football field which has absolutely no shade. Needless to say, I'm sunburnt. Only, it's probably going to go away by Monday and I'll only have freckles as proof that I was out in the sun. Story of my life. After eating dinner with my Grandparents, I went to Mo' Rocka. It was good, though I'm sad I missed the bands from our school. I showed up in the middle of "Only on Sunday." They were pretty good. So now I'm really glad all of that is over, I was becoming a little bit stressed. Now I'm off to Church and stuff. Au revoir.

Holy Cow, guys!! We missed the 1st birthday of my blog! It turned 1 on March 6. Happy Belated Birthday, blog! And thanks to Brad for reminding me...

I am (fortunately or unfortunately... you choose) the queen of getting songs stuck in people's heads. All you have to do is start singing a catchy tune and people will sing along. I do it all the time. Example 1- I started singing "I can't see me lovin nobody but you for all my life..." before class. Later on, I heard a couple people singing it. My work was a success! Example 2- I heard Avril Lavigne ("did you think that I was gonna give it up to you this time") on the way to school, so I sang it at lunch and got Audra singing it. Then I wrote her a note with the lyrics. Definitely stuck. The thing is, I don't mind having songs stuck in my head, because I can either relish it or replace it with a new one, because I am the one who started it. When somebody else gets one stuck in my head, it is annoying and never goes away. That's what I do to people. Annoying, maybe... but I am enriching their daily musical experience. I sang the Sesame Street song in Spanish, very timidly, and got a chuckle out of Ms. Ucinska. I didn't sing it enough for it to catch on, though. Too bad. I often find myself singing about random things. I'll just sing my hello to somebody instead of saying it. Or maybe I'll sing some part of something I say. It randomly happens. My day becomes more and more like a musical and less and less boring. Whatever it takes, I say. For all of you dying to get a song stuck in your head (and I know a lot of you are...) I'll give you some suggestions. "I just died in your arms tonight... it must have been something you said" (Journey, I think...) or "Don't waste your time on me, you're already the voice inside my head" (Blink 182). I can't think of any more right now. Have fun!

There's nothing quite like being serenaded by my slightly tone-deaf mother singing along to a dog food commercial on a Sunday night. Gotta love it. I love weekends. If only they happened more often. And if only my next three weren't jam packed with things to do. But next weekend will end up well... hopefully. I hope these bands don't suck after a long day of march-of-diming and rock-a-festing. Fun times. Hopefully it will be warm and I can get a farmers tan. Hey... at least it's a tan, right? Hah. So I apologize for my lack of subject matter on which to comment. I have to start exercising again to work off those Cadbury Eggs. Those are good. So maybe tomorrow I'll have some good things to comment on. For now, I must go finish The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I like English class. Mrs. Carson is so... thoughtful. Okey dokey... off to Jim and Huck and Tom.

I went to Hickory (h-k-weeezy) this weekend to have a Shmimmy reunion. It was much fun indeed. Now I'm sad to be back in Mayberry. I went to see Jerry Chapman and the Evil Herbivores along with Joel Calloway at the Good Life tonight, and it was also a lot of fun. I was there for a substantial amount of time, where I sat with Leash and roasted marshmallows (fun times!), sat on the couch with mi padre, and sang along. They really got into it, and had a great jam session on the last song. 'Takin Care of Business'. Tons of fun. I'm proud of myself for sitting on the couch with my dad and not in that loud room of boys my age. Sometimes I just like listening to the music, not having a social gathering. Back to Hickory. It was tons-o-fun! I had some great experiences. A Shabat (sp?) dinner with Shmimmy's Jewish friends, Lazer Tag with some more of her friends, watching The Prince and Me, shopping, sleeping for 12 hours, watching Wet Hot American Summer. Total fun times to the max. Okey dokey, it's now bedtime. Happy Easter, folks!

P.S.- I got yet another CD on Saturday after my CD post. Howie Day. Quite good. Oh, and on Sunday night, I had my first 'gig,' at the Church. Fun times!

Life is kinda funny. More specifically, high school is kinda funny. Everyone is worried about what people think or who is saying what or who likes who and why and stupid stuff like that. Things are akward a lot of the time, and people are totally immature. Sometimes I wish I could just tune out the rest of high school and fast forward to college or something. College will probably be just like high school, but at least a higher percentage of people will be mature- at least that's what I'm hoping. Maybe I should sit everybody in the high school down and tell them that life is a whole heck of a lot easier if you don't take everything so seriously. Have a little fun, people! Not the kind of fun that is only funny until the wrong person finds out about it, but the fun that lasts forever, and then you remember it later and it still makes you happy. This is the way I've lived my life so far, and I don't really have enemies. Some people may not like me, but I don't dwell on it, and it goes away. It can be so easy, yet most people make it so hard. Instead of dwelling on what look somebody gave somebody else and all the possible meanings, why not just think about funny things? High school is mainly annoying because nobody has self-esteem or self-worth. People only have self-preservation. What will make them the happiest in the long run. What friends will get them the right connections. Who cares?

Whoa... blogging at nigt is a whole other experience, and I like it. I seem to have the same theme when this happens, though. I guess that shows that it really is some sort of problem. Right now I'm concentrating on how fun the Biltmore trip is gonna be, and how great it is that I'm going to Hickory this weekend. My escape! I love it!! Oh now I guess it's time for bed. Life is funny. Sometimes comically funny, other times the odd kind of funny.

Lately I've been buying a lot of CD's. I got over the whole burning thing because by the time I got them on CD I was already sick of them and I never listened to it. Now I get a whole lot more songs that I wouldn't have gotten on a mix. I like this way a whole lot better. I used to have a bad CD collection, and now I'm building on it. I have some really good stuff. Every time I listen to a CD, I remember how I felt when I first listened to it. For example: Right now I'm listening to Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers, and I'm remembering how I felt and what I was doing when I got it. I was babysitting and I went with the kid to go get some donuts at Krispy Kreme, but when we got there he said he didn't want any so I went and got this CD and then we went to the Talent Show @ MAHS. Cool. Another CD that brings back memories like that is my Paul Simon: on my way... compilation CD. I got it after YLS one time and then that weekend I went to YL Windy Gap and had "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" in my head all weekend. It is like a domino effect, because I start thinking about memories a long time ago. Who needs pictures?? not me... just give me CD's.

Today I had a slight out of body experience in Youth Leadership Surry. I was writing my name and I was wondering if my name fit w/ my personality, because I didn't feel very 'emma' today. I looked at it and got the weirdest feeling that I wasn't me and what I would think of someone named Emma if I didn't know me. You know, if I would match what people think an 'Emma' would be like. It was really weird. It was so weird that I tried to savor it for a long time so I would be able to write about it. Just when I was getting a pretty good grasp on it, I lost the feeling. Then I wrote on my hand to remember to blog about it. It was an awesomely weird feeling. I get those every once and a while and I like to write abou them. Okey dokey, I must go read Huck Finn... I feel bad because I think this blog would have been better if I wasn't rushing to go read. Whatever. Okey dokey folkey's... au revoir!

I'm trying to build callouses. Wish me luck.

bohemian rhapsody... in pictures

Things that make me happy:

- playing bass guitar
- that 6-flags commercial
- reminiscing about good ol' refvem/menear quality fun times on Grandview
- thinking about governer's school
- typing with semi-formed callouses on my fingers
- getting out of spanish class to help Nancy w/ her Pre-Cal while she's in Journalism
- wearing glow-in-the-dark shoes
- finishing my homework early
- sleep

woot woot i'm gonna learn the bass guitar

Holy Cow spring is almost here. It makes me bastante happy. I love wearing shorts and not feeling overly hot, and I like wearing pants and a short sleeved t-shirt at night, and not needing a jacket. I hate winter. Yay!!!

Right, so last night I went to see SNL. Fun times to the max. Highlights of the evening included Deep Thoughts with Brad Clifton... totally cracking me up, Coach Belton playing Coach Price... yet again cracking me up, and some great political humor. Gotta love it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait till next year's... maybe I'll be in it, if I don't die from all these AP classes I'm gonna take. I might just die. It is quite possible.

News flash: I've just discovered what my wardrobe lacks- dresses. I have all the shorts and t-shirts I could ever want, and so spring shopping would be merely trivial and possibly useless if I just looked for these things. In the past, I have never needed dresses for the summer because I've been going to Cheerio, where one can get by with maybe a skirt or two. When I'm at home in the summer, I just wear a jean skirt or my white linnen pants with various t-shirts. This summer, however, I'll be needing some dresses for Gov's School. Fun times. I guess that means I'll have to do some dress shopping soon. I like getting clothes shopping done all at one time. Otherwise I get really tired and headachey and it loses its fun... fast. So I guess some random free saturday I'll go buy some dresses. Sounds like fun.

Quote of the Day:

"I have no professional training. I already gave my best. I have no regrets at all." -William Hung

Sometimes I think that I want to stay up late and watch Law and Orders and have fun like that. Then days like today happen, and I am quickly brought back to reality. I must sleep now. For a long time.

Sometimes I like being a girl. Other times I despise my fellow females, porque they give us bad reputations. When I think about things like Prom, I initially think: "Yay! I get to get dressed up in a pretty dress with pretty makeup and pretty shoes and dance and have a date!!" and other fun things like that. Then I talk to my friends, and I forget about the fun parts and start thinking about who will be mad if we go here with them, or why this person is going with this person, and on and on and on like that. It ruins it. I think from now on, I want to concentrate on the fun aspects of Prom, and stop talking about the messy stuff. If it gets messy, I'll just start thinking about other fun things. My life doesn't revolve around the drama involved with Prom. Sometimes I just can't wait for summer, where I will be away from it all. I'll meet new friends and have fun and then there won't be any drama. Oh, there might be... but I'll just ignore it like I'll do now. See? It's easy. I'll just think about fun things, like the fact that it's getting warmer and I can break out my T-shirts. Or the fact that my hair is getting longer and more fun to play with. Or going to see SNL this Saturday. That's fun! See, I'm getting over it already. Thanks for listening, guys!!!

Today it's Saturday, but it feels like Sunday. Yesterday was Friday, but it felt like Saturday. Weird how that works. If it keeps going on that trend, will tomorrow feel like Monday? Or will tomorrow feel like a 'regular' Sunday, and today just feels like a 'blast from the past' Sunday... back when Dad was on the computer all the time and I had nowhere to go but home. These days, Sundays are hecka crowded. This week has been interesting. Full of thought and introspection. Do I want to go to Stanford when Davidson is really nice too just a little cheaper and closer? Do I want to make up a major at Davidson and have to write a 100 page thesis as a senior? What is Governers School gonna be like? Why don't any prom dress stores ever have a size 11/12? Why did two freshman get to go up on quiz bowl when I've been here for 3 years? Why can't Mrs. Stanley ever make any decisions? Oh, and Why did the two freshman she chose happen to be the ones that just flirt in practice and never get anything done, while others of us (yes US) answer questions? These are some questions that I will have to think about for a while. Which is why there is one more day of spring break. Halleluia. I have one more day to relax before the chaos we like to call school commences. Halleluia.

So on Thursday I toured Davidson. Nice and small and cute. Very cute. It cracks me up that they assign roomates using the Myers-Briggs. Ha, ha, ha and ha. Will and I have decided that Myers's wife was an INFP and his overbearing mom was an ESTJ. Silly man. I can't wait to see what my real results are. Mom thinks that the version I took was biased because it was abbreviated and will read it to me. Hah.

Today I hiked Stone Mtn. I like hiking after I have hiked, because I forget about the terrible pain I went through on the way up. Oxygen decreases as the need for it increases. Hiking up the rock is the worst part. Then it becomes all fun and games and stuff. And then I remember the part of hiking that I like. From the top I could see Camp Cheerio and it made me sad. Very sad. I wish I was there. Pooey. Now I'm going to Governer's School West at Salem College instead of my favorite place in the world with my favorite people in the world. But now I'm excited to meet new people an have tons of fun this summer. Wow I'm sounding like a totally cheezy person trying to apply to get to go to Governers School or something. Whatever. Ok, nothing else to say. Adios.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'm back. The bad news is that I'm not in California, and it's cold. I'll get over it. We got a new computer- a Dell. Of course I'm going to say it- "Dude, You're gettin' a Dell". Too bad that guy got fired or something... doobies will do that to ya. This computer rocks. Now I can get on the computer without it randomly dying or anything.

So it's spring break, and nobody around here is doing anything. A lot of Juniors are visiting college campuses, myself included. Tomorrow I'll go tour Davidson... and then go shopping. (there's always an ulterior motive) Spring Break really sucks when it's in the 40's or 50's. It ruins the whole atmosphere. Soon the sun will start shining, and the temperature will start rising, and the school administration will keep cracking down on short skirts/shorts. I'm seriosly thinking of converting to capri's from here on out. Ok, maybe not. I'll still wear my long shorts. Ok who am I kidding? My shorts aren't that short, my arms are just ridiculously long. I haven't been called out in the past two years for anything of that nature, so as long as I don't make any drastic wardrobe changes, I'll be alright.

On another note... Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you are not wearing green, consider yourself pinched by me. I could probably fool a few people into thinking that I'm Irish, but I can't really back that up. Just the red hair. Ok, it's time for me to depart. If you see any leprochauns (whoa i don't know how to spell that)... tell them I said "Top o' the mornin to ya".

I never want to leave this place. It is 80 degrees. There are palm trees. It is beautiful. I visited Stanford today. Holy cow that place is huge. There are a moderate amount of people there (14,000 - 6500 undergrad, 7500 grad) and the campus is about 8,000 acres. whoa there. Most of it is wildlife preserve, so the actual buildings cover about 2,500 acres. My feet and my brain hurt. So much to take in. I don't want to go back to 50 degree weather. Darn it. I'll savor it while I can. Ok... I must depart for dinner at Chevy's. You probably don't know what that is... it's a CA thing. hah. Oh yeah, and on Sunday I got to go to In-N-Out. Just one of the many things I love about this state.

Greetings to you all from a computer that works. Too bad I had to travel all the way to California to get it. That's right, I'm in California. I haven't posted for the past 8 days because our computer has finally decided to stop working. It was inevitable. I am here in 80 degree weather in the Bay Area of California. My spring break started by leaving Stats early to drive to Greensboro, where I took a 40 minute flight to Charlotte. I then waited in Charlotte from 4:45 to 6:35. Holy Cow. Then I flew from Charlotte to San Fransisco, where I met my Dad (who had been at conferences here all week). I then proceeded to spend the night in San Carlos a la casa de mis tios. I woke up thinking it was probably noon or something, when in all reality it was only 7:30. That's Jet Lag for ya. I ate some Honey Nut Cheerios, watched some Tivo'd Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, then scooted on over here to Burlingame (5 minutes outside of San Fran). I have most recently taken a break from watching basketball games to come and blog... something that has become unfortunately unfamiliar to me. I miss blogging. I miss having a computer that works. Darn it. I'm excited about this trip, though. Tomorrow I am going back to my "hometown", I guess you could say, of Vacaville for church. Then it's off to my cousin's house in Livermore for some fun-filled Family times. On Monday I'm going to visit Stanford. I am totally pumped about that. In the mean time, I'll just have to watch Stanford on TV- in the Pacific 10 tournament. Stanford vs. Washington. Exciting. Hasta manana, folks!

Sorry about the lack of posting. Our computer is muy estupido and always cuts off. It must have a virus. Or it is probably just too old. So I can't post a long thing for two reasons. reason numero uno- I don't have anything to say. and reason numero dos- I don't know how long I have to say it. So maybe there will be one tomorrow. Wish me luck at the play. Adios, amigos!

Jeans are funny kinds of things. Back when I was about 7 till I was about 11 I never wore jeans. ever. I went through a "white phase" where I wore all white. A typical outfit would be white Keds, white socks, white stretch pants, a white turtle neck, and a white headband. It cracks me up. I hated jeans. Despised them. Swore I would never wear them. When I was 12, I had a slight identity crisis and never dressed up. Ok, I dressed up once, but it was stirrup stretch pants with cool (at least I thougth they were cool at the time) platform-ish shoes, an old navy sweater with a striped turtle neck underneath. Hah. Every other day I wore sweatpants and sweatshirts with turtlenecks and a scrunchie in my hair. And keds.

In 7th grade, I graduated to nike shoes and "flare" jeans. It was crazy. It just so happened that 7th grade was my extreme growing year, and the cute jeans soon became high waters. Me not being the fashion savvy chick I am today, I never noticed. Great. In 8th Grade I discovered looser jeans. There's not so much to talk about there. 8th grade was weird for me a little bit. Kinda fuzzy. Right, back to business.

I first fell in love with a pair of jeans in 9th grade. Kate passed them down to me. I still think of them fondly. They fit me so well, and I felt so nice when I wore them. Then, tragedy struck- in the form of a humongus hole right below the left-back pocket. I had to retire them. The rip was too high up to make them into shorts, and they were becoming a tad small.

The next pair of jeans I fell in love with was in 10th grade. They were Kate's also. I'm wearing them right now. There are some small holes, that I have just discovered are getting bigger. The only problem with that is that the holes I wear into my jeans are never in cool places, like the knees. They are in places like the butt and on the belt loops and akward places like that. The holes are getting bigger, and it is time for me to move on. Don't get me wrong, I wear other jeans, these just make me feel the best.

I'm excited about this next pair of jeans I'm going to adopt. Yet again, they are from Kate. They are really long and fit really nicely and make my legs look long and skinny. The only problem is that they have stains on the knees. Stain stains. Stains from stain. Kate stained a deck in them at Bear Trap. Anyway, I've worn them, and I like them a lot. A lot a lot. I'm looking forward to the time I will spend with them.

I never knew I could write so much about jeans. Whaddya know. Fun times.

High school is weird. A lot of people are fake and superficial. It's weird being surrounded by people who are ok with just skating by as long as they are cool. I wish it wasn't like that. I like having intelligent conversations sometimes. I like having conversations if they mean something, not just for the sake of having a conversation. Otherwise, it's pointless. Just words filling up space. I want it to be spring. I have been overwhelmed with winter, and I think I can return to my normal self when I can spend some time outside. Commune with nature. Get back in touch with my romantic self. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of people talking about other people. It really doesn't help anything but the instigation of more talking. I can't wait until summer when I don't have to face the fakeness all day. I'm tired of akwardness. I'm tired of being tired. All I really want to do is sit on a hammock in the spring air and think about things until I fall asleep. If only. I like sitting and doing nothing except listen to good music. I like reading good books. I like being sincere and real. I like talking to the imaginary person reading this blog. I like looking at the stars. I like reading good books. I like silence sometimes. I like sleeping without having to wake up to an alarm. I like using my brain. I like talking about what I like. It makes me happy. Thanks for listening.

The warm front is gone. It's becoming more like February now. I don't like it. On to toher things, I have to play for the Orchestra for Cinderella today. My lips are totally shot and I sound like crap... hopefully this will go away sooner rather than later. I'll just try to play as softly as is humanly possible on the oboe, and hope for the best. I only have to last from 6:30-7:15. Wish me luck. Ok, nothink left to talk about... adios.

Babysitting sucked last night. They were supposed to get home at 11:00 and they got back at 1:45. And the kid stayed up the whole entire time. I, however, fell asleep for about 2 whole hours. Holy cow. I got 60 bucks, though, so it wasn't totally worthless. Oh, and I'm allergic to their cats...

So I didn't post for the past couple of days. The end of this week has been really kinda weird: Thursday felt like Friday, Friday felt like Thursday, and Saturday felt like crap. Saturday school is unfortunately becoming some kind of routine. I'll be pleasantly surprised to have two whole days off of school. One thing that has made it slightly bearable is the warm front that has seemed to move through. I actually wore a short sleeve shirt and went walking! The short sleeve shirt might have been a little over the top. I couldn't resist. I won't, however, wear shorts until there is no chance of cold weather. And until it isn't February. This weekend is also weird because my family isn't here. They are all in Raleigh at a swim meet. I'm home alone. I've been watching TV for a long time, probably because there has been nobody to stop me. I have to babysit at six tonight. Great fun. This is a night of firsts in the babysitting department. First A) the kid actually asked for me to babysit her... whoa... and first B) I might actually feel like doing something other than watch TV. I'm gonna get a lot of money, too. Babysitting is the best job ever.

P.S.- people that pee in bottles in class and then cuss at the vice principal about it and then try to get out of their 3 days of OSS crack me up. It would have been worth fighting for, and they probably would have won, if they hadn't have cussed at the v.p. So Mrs. Mendez isn't the nicest person in the world, and you really had to pee. All that needed to be done was some simple negotiating, and explaining the situation. Silly boys.

So basically that Asset Test was ridiculous. It started of with a writing test. Whoa. That was the easiest dang thing that I have ever taken. It would underline this ridiculously stupid part of the sentence that was way wrong and then give a "no change" choice, two other ridiculous choices, and the obviously right answer. I wish I could think of an example for you. I guess you just had to be there. Then the reading comprehension was basically just about details from the reading that you had to go back and look for. I haven't done that since about 7th grade. Then there was "numerical skills" where we couldn't use our calculators. I was way rusty on multiplying and dividing decimals, but the way I see it, I'll always have my trusty TI-83. It's weird how simple math can be so hard after doing semi-advanced math for so long. And then there was the calculator part that was Algebra 1 all over again. Including the sleeping. So it wasn't that fun, but I got out of a reading check in 1st period and I got a little nap in between sections. Hopefully I will place out of the "0" level courses at Surry. Boy, I sure hope so.

nope. still not gone. and I have to take an asset test tomorrow. great.

Whoa. I just lost my post. Weird. It didn't say anything important, though. Just that I have writer's block. Still do. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. Guess that's all.

Yay for our Quiz Bowl Team!!! We won, for the 3rd year in a row. It was a fun day. After taking about 7 questions of a reading check in English, we got to go on a bus (that smelled like football players) to the AGP. The questions were really great. There was even one about blogs!!! 'what is the term for an online journal?' Sarah, Brad, and I totally had that one covered. During the refreshment break, Sarah and I talked to a guy she knew from Governer's school and some of his friends, one of whom recognized me from band. It was fun times. I got to be on the panel for the middle round, missing my hecka easy individual question on alternating current. It was swimming around in my brain, but it just didn't come together in 10 seconds. Then we got the best set of questions ever for the final round. They (Brad, Johnathan, Sarah, and Holden) collectively knew most of the answers. It was great fun. After the competition and the tons of pictures, we were waiting for the bus where we had a great conversation on the difference between geeks and nerds. I think we concluded that geeks know the difference between geeks and nerds, and nerds didn't. Oh the conversations of a Quiz Bowl team. So now we will advance to the District Competition, to be held also at the AGP on March 20th. I'm excited. Anyway, so now I'm gonna babysit. On Valentines Day. How romantic. Hasta luego.

In the words of Sarah Gitt, SAD (single awareness day) is coming up this Saturday, and we have to go to school. I wish we got out of school every time it rained. I, however, will not be at school because of the Quiz Bowl "meet." This year seems to be a good one, and I hope we will be victorious yet again. I'll be there supporting from the audience, as usual, getting some random questions right. Fun times await me. This weekend is going to be quite jam-packed for me, and I'm looking forward to it. Except for the makeup work that I'll have to do for missing Saturday. That won't be fun. Right-o, now I must go read The Scarlet Letter... great fun...

Never get your kitchen remodeled and/or your cabinets stained. If you do, be sure to invest in some serious gas masks and air fresheners. Whoa. I have the worst headache right now. Ahh. Just wanted to share that with you guys.

Happy Valentines Week. and always remember...
"Love lifts us up where we belong"

Prom is a curse on everybody without boyfriends. I hate it. I actually hate talking about it. It gives me a headache. All of my friends act like it's the easiest thing in the world to have a date. That is probably because it probably is the easiest thing in the world for them to do. It might not be hard for everyone to do, but not everybody centers their lives around boys. Me, for example. I pay attention to more concrete things. Like: getting good grades; sleeping a lot; enjoying life; doing other things besides obsessing over the opposite sex. My life has been quite great without boys in main roles in my life. Don't get me wrong, I like boys plenty. I just don't make it my objective in life to be constantly with one. I need alone time, and spending time with friends is much more fun than the heartaches of high school dating. That's another thing. High school dating is RIDICULOUS and pointless. It is constant drama, and nothing good ever comes of it. I'm sure that the bad outweighs the good in that situation. I mean, I have a more enjoyable life than most people that move on to the next boyfriend within hours. It's silly. I like having intelligent conversations about events or ideas or books or something, while a lot of my friends enjoy having conversations about prom dresses and each other. I guess I'm just noticing that I am quite an individual. I don't really need a significant other to feel significant.

So there is a romance story for you. Sorry for my ranting. It needed to be done. I've heard that psychologists say that it is good to have an outlet for your thoughts and feelings. Welcome to my outlet for today. Adios.

Whoa there, I can't even make up a story. I'll need some help with this. How about you guys send me "topic sentences" and I write a story to go along with it. That would be peachy keen. We'll keep this up, so if you happen to think of a random one after Valentines day, I will still make up a story to go along with it. This sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to it, as should you. e-mail: refvemma@hotmail.com; aim: emmarefvem

Valentines Day is coming up. I would write about love stories or how much I'm looking forward to V-Day, but it just isn't happening. I mean, I don't have any personal love stories to tell you. None whatsoever. So I guess this is time to make up a love story. I will make it a continuing story, and you will have to stay tuned for the whole thing. Sounds like fun. I guess to make it legit, I should start another post. Consider it done.

So, our girls swim team won 1st place in 1a/2a states in the 200 Medley Relay this past weekend. I'm expecting rings, a picture and a plaque in the gym, and new bleachers... in Reeves. Oh, and a parade. But swim team doesn't get that much recognition. I swam in prelims and got 31st place in my 50 free and 27th place in my 100 breast. Yay! I'm really tired right now. Tired of life, tired of boys, tired of girls, tired of driving, tired of school, and tired of being tired. I'm going to go do homework now... to add to my good mood.

p.s.- i like movies based on previous works of literature. that's what we watched on the way to and from and around raleigh. these included 10 things I hate about you (taming of the shrew), o brother where art thou (the odyssey), and clueless (emma).

I am exhausted from school today. My brain is killing me. I just want to go to sleep for a couple of days. On another note, I tricked myself into thinking it was summer today. I was sitting in AP Stats reading the Scarlet Letter when it happened. I get lost in books, and forget where I am. It was hot in the room, so I opened the window and took off my sweatshirt, to leave only the short sleeve shirt underneath. It felt like spring, and I heard a car outside and people talking and remembered spring. Then I looked back in the room and saw all the winter coats and winter dropped it's heavy load on my back once again. I don't like winter. It lasts too long. It is dreadful. I can't wait until summer, or spring at the least. I can't wait to wear birkenstocks without socks and cool t-shirts. Man, I miss those days. Alas, the groundhog says we'll have more winter. Darn him. I guess I'll just have to survive wintry mixes and freezing rains for a few more months. Tengo dolor de cabeza. (holla back spanish 2) I'm gonna go sleep or something. Tootles!

The super bowl isn't such a big deal. I don't like football and that halftime show was not very exciting. There were some good commercials, but that was it. I ate way too much food at Erin's. There was a lot of secret talking and people going to and fro at that party. I just sat there and watched the football that was kinda boring even to people that liked football. I don't like football probably because I don't understand it, and because I don't want to understand it. Whatever. Right now I'm trying not to think about going back to school tomorrow.

Happy February everyone! 2004 is a leap year, so get excited about February 29th! February is such a great month. It goes by so fast. And every once in a while you get an extra day. Woo hoo. Anyway. So today is Super Bowl Sunday. NC is getting really pumped up about our Carolina Panthers. Krispy Kreme is showing their support by making the sprinkles on the donuts black and blue. Gotta love the South. Ok so I just got writers block. I might blog later on. Chao!

The superbowl is coming up, and apparently NC is getting hyped up b/c of our good friends, the Panthers. I never really pay attention to football, and (regretfully) my motivations for the past superbowls have been the parties and commercials. Commercials are fun to watch sometimes. Especially during the superbowl, where they spend a lot of time and money on them. I'm looking forward to some high quality advertising on Sunday. My grandfather is a big fan and supporter of the San Fransisco 49ers, so I always cheer for them. Unfortunately, they haven't made it very far lately. I think because of his love for the SF49ers, I have always had an underlying hate for the Dallas Cowboys. And the Greenbay Packers. I don't know why, but I just don't like them. It confused me that there is like a basketball team or something that are the 49ers, but like Charlotte or something. It kinda weirded me out. Anyways, I will go into this superbowl with my hopes up that the Panthers will pull through. And that there will be some cool commercials. Hah.

Thank you Dr. Church (birdman) for letting us out of school for a grand total of 9 glorious days (including weekends). I hear a rumor that we may even get a wintry mix on this Sunday and Monday. Seriously. What is a wintry mix? Do they just make that one up so that they won't be wrong? Probably. I really love the weather channel people. It seems like the women meteorologists are always pregnant. Seriously. They have this one meteorologist named Jennifer Lopez. Hah. A good weather guy is Jim Cantore. He is the guy that is always out in the hurricanes. Here's an example of his weather reports: "I'm out in Hurricane Floyd right now, where they have issued a curfew telling everybody to be inside their houses. I am still here, and I think I just saw a mailbox fly by. These are some strong winds, guys..." And then the connection breaks off... I love those. But my favorite weather guy is Paul Kocin. As I'm writing this, I'm getting the strangest sense of deja-vu. Forgive me if I've posted on this before. Anyways, Paul Kocin has a funny voice, and he's the winter weather expert. Gotta love ol' Paul. Anyways... I'm going to go watch some more random TV... one of the joys of snow days.

Ahhh snow. I've lost track of the days. I went over to Montclaire after sunday's blog and stayed there until this morning. Snow is a glorious thing. It is fun playing in the snow, but only when there are people to play with. Now it's time to stay at my house for a while. Hopefully there will not be school tomorrow. Hopefully.

Yay! It finally snowed big enough to play in! Too bad i'm not playing in it... maybe I'll go do that now.

Alas, I've missed blogging. I love writing down my random thoughts. To make up for the lapse, I will now write some random thoughts that have been going through my head that I haven't gotten to voice in a while.

-I burned my finger today. It hurt. A lot. Making pancakes is all fun and games until someone burns their hand. Seriously.

-The John S. Clark "convention" was held at Cross Creek a couple of days ago. I love it when they come to Cross Creek. They all have white trucks, so both parking lots are packed with seemingly identical white trucks. It makes me smile, because it looks so cool!

-I realize that I become extremely paranoid at night. It is really rather weird. Just ask Shmimmy. Hah.

-For some strange reason, my friends have started talking about Prom. I know you must be thinking... "isn't prom may 1st? and isn't this january?". Exactly my point. What's worse is that they've sucked everybody into it. See, I'm even talking about it. darn. Yesterday was the worst. It was everywhere. We decided to go to the movies because our friends were either sick, with their boyfriends, or prom dress shopping. At the movies, the girls behind us were talking about prom during the previews. ahhhh! Then, Erin's mom called her during the movie. I'll give you three guesses as to what she wanted to talk about, and the first two don't count. Hopefully this will die down and we can get back to our normal lives.

-My math classes are fun. Not the actual classes, but the people in them. I have Coach Hayes for 2 periods in a row, and Nancy, Sami, McKenzie, and I have them together. Coach Hayes says the randomest things. Some of his sayings include: "riddle me this, pre calculus students..." and "historically, this graph will be linear" and "you'll probably never get such a rinkydink problem like this on the AP exam". Whoa there. We get off topic sometimes, which is the fun part. I'm glad it is enjoyable, because otherwise I don't know if I could stand it.

Whoa. That felt good. I'm officially back. Yay!!!

I was thinking about the phrase "cat and mouse game" the other day, because my cat was chasing a mouse around our basement. You're probably thinking why does she have mice in her basement?... so I'll explain. We are getting our kitchen remodeled, so we had to move all of our food to the basement where there is this little kitchen area, so we would have a place to eat. Food naturally attracts mice. Anyway. So while watching 24 on Fox on Tuesday, a mouse scampered past me and my cat, Pooky, was not far behind. He would kind of hit the mouse around a little, then the mouse would roll over and play dead, and then Pooky would look away and the mouse would roll back over and start to run away. Then Pooky would once again hit it around a little bit, and so it went. I understand the "cat and mouse game" better now because it makes a lot of sense. Sometimes you don' t know where people come up with those phrases, but this one is legitimate. Oh yeah, Pooky chased the mouse into a camera bag and we released it into the wild. Not the camera bag, but the mouse.

Sad news. I quit band. I know you're torn up about it, but try to deal. I will continue to play the oboe, but not in the MAHS band. I switched classes to take AP Statistics. It has a scary name, but will be quite easy. I'm excited about what the year will offer with this new schedule change. Another AP credit, but also another AP test. I don't like those. Well, I shouldn't say that because I have only taken one that I didn't like. I've only taken one. Well whatever, I'm assuming that none of them are fun. I don't know of any test at all can be considered fun. Unless it was a test on fun, but then it would have to be fun. Ok that's enough. And I apologize, I should have spelled the previous "fun"s "phun". I apologize. Adios, amigos!

School started today. It totally sucked. I'm suffering from vacation withdrawl. If this was any other day and I didn't have a puffy, sore face and wasn't so hungry, I think it would have been just fine. Things are looking up. Soon I won't have an after school responsibility (swimming), and I will be able to come directly home and relax. Soon.... very soon.... but I still have to deal with Pre-Cal, which isn't really that hard but will be my biggest challenge. I'm getting prepared for next year, where I will be working out the wazoo. Alrighty, enough complaining. I can't think of any decent topics to ramble on about, so I will say my goodbyes. "My goodbyes."

Hello, all. I got my wisdom teeth out on New Years Eve, and today I look like a chipmunk! If it didn't hurt so much to do so, I would laugh at the sight of my chubby cheeks. One good thing that has come out of this experience is the discovery that I like cottage cheese. It is really good. Really, really, really good. Also, chocolate pudding livens up the spirits and gives energy. I also found out that too much I love the 80's can be a bad thing. I watched it all day yesterday. Whoa there.

I'm gonna go watch the television and ice my cheeks with frozen peas. Fun times to the max.

If something is on ESPN, does that make it a sport? And if so, does that make spelling and scrabbling a sport? That would rock if it did.

My new favorite channel is ESPN2. They cover the more important sports, if you can call them sports. First off, we have the 2003 National Spelling Bee. Those were some high-quality spellers. The commentators were my favorite. "So, Jan, this one is another homeschooler who is also a scrabble championship." "That's right, Bob, and she's an 8th grader, so this is her last year to compete." Hah. Another of my favorites: "So, Bob, when they lose, where do they go?" "It's called the comfort room and, let me tell you, there are many tears cried in that room. A lot of the kids have already gotten over it and are now in the hallway playing video chess and scrabble." Silly. Secondly, there is the adult Scrabble championship. The biggest move was the word "roquet", which got a tripple word score and added up to a whopping 75 points. Whoa. Finally there was the World's Strongest Man competition. My favorites are Yanni Virtanin, Magnus Samuelsson, and Hugo Girard. Boy, those guys can lift some really heavy stuff.

Oh yeah, I didn't fail my physics exam. Phew. And I got a car wash... after driving around MA pointlessly. Fun times. Christmas break is so much fun. I haven't slept in my house in 2 nights. I would tell you how much I enjoy sleeping in, but so far I haven't done much of that. I've been a "teen slave" as my mother puts it, driving my sisters around all the time. I also do some chaufferring (sp?) for the Tilleys. It pays well, I must say. And I babysat for 5 hours for one kid while everyone was just sitting around, and I got 50 dollars for doing it. And I did about as much stuff as everyone. Ah... the life of a teenage, babysitting driver.

Will and Kate come home tomorrow! Yay!

oh yeah, i also got 2 free car washes because of my trouble. yay for friendly mt. airy businessmen!

snow, snow, go away. come again some other day. so i can fail my physics exam today and not in 3 weeks.

Today has been a day of injustice. During Swimming, someone decided to pour their drink on my car. Great. Then, I went to the School Board Meeting to stand up and say that I didn't want a new calendar that would take time off of AP courses before the exams. Dr. Church was being rude by talking while we were talking. We don't care, Dr. Church, you look like a bird! Hah. Then, I went to the laser Car Wash and put in 6 dollars and it didn't do anything. It just sat there. So I have to call the guy and get it straightened out. So now my car is dirty from driving in the slushy gross ice on the highway, and from some stupid person's drink. Cut it out people! But it's all good because they decided to keep the old calendar. Yay. One bright spot. But other than that, it was a good day. Positive surroundings, positive people, and no school on Thursday for me! Hurrah!

Snow day. Again. I've done lots of driving in the past few days. On Saturday I drove >300 miles, because I had to drive Charlotte to a swim meet. Whoa there. Then I went to the mall today. There I go again. Driving like it's my job or something. I am so glad this semester is almost over. Hecka glad. New classes, new classmates, new semester, halfway through, prom is coming up, spring break is coming up, then the summer will be here. Lots of things to look forward to. The most exciting thing is that I will be done with Physics and Anatomy. Halleluiah. I can't really think of anything else to write. Ok then, ttfn!

The only thing on my mind right about now: failing the physics exam. Don't expect many posts.

So I had a little respite from blogging. Hmm... exams must be the reason. This should be relatively stress free except I might blow it on the Physics EOC. Time will tell. Not much to say. Adios hermanos, adios.

So this bizarre weekend is finally overwith. It was 4 days long! How strange... Too bad I was sick. But now I am on my way to recovery. I watched Honey with the girls last night. Fun times to the max. It makes me wish that I could dance, and then that I could dance like Jessica Alba and her stunt (dance) double in that movie. I'm just a white girl that aint got no beat. I had to hold the cross at the front of the church this morning for about 20 minutes. That thing is dang heavy. Now I am preparing myself to go back to MAHS for about 2 more weeks of school. The end is in sight!!!

For the last 2 days I have been sick. It all started Thursday morning, which also happened to be a snow day. So I sat around all day watching mindless t.v. and staring at the winter wonderland. Then on Friday I was worse, but we still didn't have school so once again I watched t.v. and stared at the winter wonderland. As well as rubbing my nose raw with tissues. I missed the basketball game but we lost again, so what the heck. Now I am getting over my cold and getting on with the after-cold symptoms. Gotta love it. It was probably from walking out to my car from swim practice with wet hair, in a wet bathing suit, wrapped in a wet towel with wet chaco's on. Yeah, that's probably why. Not doing that again. At this point in time, I'm going on 62 hours straight of being in my house. The furthest I've been out was the mailbox. Whoa there. So now I'm going to hang around the house some more. Yay.

oh yeah, about that tackling... it was made possible because the guys had to be on their knees. otherwise, it would have been quite impossible.

Yeah... so today I realized how truly sketchy the Wal*Mart hunting section really is. I was buying stuffing for Charlotte and, while walking back, I passed the hunting section. These three guys were standing in their camo and boots etc., and when I walked by one guy said, quite loudly, "Hooters". Ok. That is total sketch. I ignored it and kept on walking, and I think I heard one guy mutter something like, "I can't believe you did that" or something. Anyways, that renews my faith in the total wierdness of hicks at Wal*Mart. Just so you know.

On a lighter note, I went to a basketball game today! It was tons o' fun. And, I made it from the HS to Wal*Mart to home in record time. It took me 5 minutes to get from the HS to Wal*Mart, then about 7.5 minutes to get the stuffing, then approximately 12.5 minutes to get home from Wal*Mart. Holy cow! All this just because of my driving limitations. But my worries will be over on December 18th. Yay!!! I can drive any time of the day I want!!! What freedom!

Thanksgiving was a blast, but my tummy is, shall we say rounder than it was before I went to California. Between dark meat, jello salad and in-n-out, I don't know how it couldn't have been. Yummmmmy!

On a side note, I've found my niche in football. Tackling. With a big coat on. It is so much fun, it is almost unexplainable. I was a madman tonight, because I would just tackle and tackle without thinking about it. Turkey Bowl 2003 was hecka cool. Yay!

This weekend has had a weird feeling about it. I can't quite describe it. It is like it has been too short, yet too long. It doesn't seem right that I am going back to school tomorrow. I don't know. Generally weird. Yay for almost Thanksgiving!!! Yay for almost Christmas!!!

When writing be more or less specific.

Today Physics was phun. And phunny. We laughed, we cried, we made phun of people, we studied rephraction... you know, good old physical phun. I discovered that Wilson, Tom Hanks' sidekick in Cast Away, was phriends with a physicist named Snell. I discovered that the reason I haven't been able to spear that elusive phish in the water was because it is physics-ly impossible. The phish has phooled us! Spelling things with ph is hecka cool. Know it, use it, love it. That's all, pholks!

Today at YLS (Youth Leadership Surry) I learned about 4 important things.

1) I really do not want to go into the medical field because everybody seems to be pressuring me to do so.
2) I really don't know my way around Surry County
3) I live ridiculously close to Camp Cheerio
4) People saying "n kay" all the time is hecka annoying

I went up to Elkin, where I passed by the Theater and Theo's where I spent some good times this summer. It was such a clashing of two worlds. My school world and my utopic Camp world. I wish I lived far away. Camp is for the summer, to be savored. When you see it again, it doesn't feel right. Also, it makes me sad that I can't be a counselor this summer. Hopefully I will be able to come the summer after this one, but you never know. Sad.

The entire day was, shall we say, BORING. One lady talked for about 2 hours about how there is a nursing shortage in the US. I don't care about that kind of stuff. I want to be a marine biologist and be in the peace corps and live in Ecuador and study the life on the Galapagos. I don't want to prick people with needles and have to deal with complaining people all day. So I decided to be productive and make something with our paper handouts. I ended up with a box full of folded up "envelopes" that looked hecka tight. The girl who said "n kay" all the time also couldn't spell and had an unfortunate sense of humor. She couldn't spell because her box was labled "food modles". Ummm... modLEs? how bout modELs. I mean, obviously you had to go to school... maybe you should've learned to spell while you were at it. I say she had an unfortunate sense of humor because she said things that she thought were supposed to be funny, and we only laughed out of sympathy. Well, at least I did. But I do respect her because aparently she went from being muy gordo to being quite petite. Kudos.

So that was my day in a nutshell. Ahh... get me out of this nutshell. Right... see ya on the flip side folks...

Haikus from the free time in Anatomy yesterday:

biology class
nothing can be more boring
what else can we do?

Christmas is coming
we'd better go deck those halls
yay for yule-tide cheer

the birthday pig says
have your cake and eat it too
Hey! happy birthday.

leeches are quite gross
those bloodsucking parasites
get them off of me!!!

Mt. Airy: Hot now!
Fresh krispy kreme rocks my world
wow I love donuts!

Today was quite a good day. I had to wake up early so I could go to school to study for Anatomy and Spanish. And of course, it's hoodie Monday, which is hecka tight anyway. It was such a beautiful morning. I didn't feel too cold or too hot or too anything. It was perfectly comfortable. I loved it. Then we had a test in Spanish, but I got to study some more for Biology with the left over time. Then I took the Anatomy test which was ridiculously easy. I was glad but annoyed all at the same time. Then the rest of the day progressed in normal fashion. Another small thing that made such a difference was my hair. It's true what they say about good hair days. They make you feel good. My hair was down to begin with, but hoodies and semi-long hair don't mesh well. So I put it up in a loose ponytail. It curled in perfectly and was just the greatest ponytail ever. Maybe you don't understand, but then again, maybe you do. Anyway... Then I came home and watched Recess. Boy, I love that show. A lot. After that was the swim meet which was stress free after I swam the 50 free, because I have already qualified for states in breast. And then there was YL which was fun times. So all in all 'twas a grand day. Muy bueno. Bedeebedeebedeee..... That's all folks!

Whoa there, 2 days in a row!!! I'm gettin back in the groove!!!

Little known fact: I love studying. I adore it. Why is it little known? Because 'taint true. Sorry to break it to you. I really hate studying when the only preparation for the test has been two, count em two, worksheets on the subject. No notes, no explaination from the teacher, just two worksheets. Oh yeah, and a funny little video made by the same guys who do my SAT review cd rom thing. Those silly geese. Still, our fair teacher Bodnar has been out all week and just randomly gives us a test on Monday. Yay!!! I loathe Monday tests because you have to get all of your other work done that you didn't do because you were relaxin to the maxin. Tuesday tests are the bomb, because if you're on the ball, you study Sunday night and then review in class and then get another night to study! Mainly I'm writing this because I don't want to devote the 45 minutes it will take to ace this test. But, I'd better not say that because then people will get mad that their study habits are all screwed up and they study for 3 hours and still get a 57. Not my fault guys! Get over it! Sorry for that short bit of ranting there. So now I'll go study the cardiovascular system. Yay... that sure gets me pumped up... haha... get it? pumped up? the heart pumps? Well, at least I got it. Alright. That's enough elipses... I guess I'll be bejeezin it!

I didn't know it was possible to sleep for 13.5 hours... wait... I mean I didn't know I could sleep for 13.5 hours. But it happened. Amazing. I love sleep! Weekends involve sleep! Therefore... I love weekends!!!

Whoa... I think I'm going through music withdrawl. I had a slight smack in the face with music yesterday and early today, and it made me realize how much I missed it. I don't have a class where I am bombarded with music at all this semester. Yesterday I had piano lessons, and Jill showed me my all district piece, and this morning Brad, Anthony, and I were discussing music in Espanol. We weren't speaking Espanol, we were in the class... Right. I realized that last year was jam packed with music. I had concert band and APMT right next to each other. And piano lessons. It was so great. Now there is only piano and oboe practice. I must get myself back into the music loop so I don't go through this awful withdrawl again. Aahhh!!! 'Tis hard to describe the feeling. It is like there is something missing. Like I should be doing music but I am not. I don't know. I guess that's why I get so much enjoyment out of Paul Simon's pieces that have all those instrumental parts. Well... enough band-geek-esque reminiscing about music... time for beddy bye!

Studying US History makes me feel insignificant. It crushes all of my blissfully naive thoughts about the world. Now, studying the picture, it seems as if all I am is dust in the wind. Is that a song? I think it is. Anyway. It makes me feel as if I'm just nobody. But then I realize, why do I wan't to go through life thinking like that? I don't. So I won't. I am important, thank you very much. I happen to think that this world wouldn't be the same without me. So there. Take that, US History. Forget the past, I'm livin in the present. It is way more fun. That's that. Hah.

I used to think that I liked all kinds of music. I guess I was wrong. I was listening to the radio today and it dawned on me. I don't really like "pop"-ish music. I like less catchy things. Or maybe I like catchy things just not so... fake... I guess. I don't quite know. But I do know that I like: Relient K, Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Fountains of Wayne, and some other random songs. Paul Simon makes me so happy. Even though his songs aren't all happy, they are all just so good. I guess that's what you get from a greatest hits album. That was the most solid investment I've made in a long while. I just can't explain how much I love Paul Simon. Relient K, too. They are awesome. Even though a lot of their songs sound the same, I still like it. APMT (a part mint)(AP music theory) has made me appreciate good chord progressions. I am playing a song in piano... it's a Chopin Prelude... boy, talk about some melancholy chord progressions. It almost brings tears to my eyes it is so mournful. Its funny... because I liked chord progressions before APMT, but they just have a whole new meaning after studying them for a while. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love music because it brings out so many emotions. What can I say... I'm a music geek! yay!!!

wow. writers block. major case of writers block. maybe if i keep on typing it will all of a sudden go away. maybe if i keep writing without any capitals i will get an idea. maybe not. i feel sorry for our poor old city schools. we never get any money. i soudned all informed today because i heard from my sister and my mom that mt. airy city schools might become apart of the county schools. then mrs. george got on the announcements and told everybody that it was a vicious rumor. boy isn't that great. makes me seem really cool. anyways. nothing to do, nothing to say. okey dokey, that must be all. hasta luego.

I feel sorry for Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. I really do. Do they know that we are laughing at them, not with them? Everybody makes fun of Jessica. Baby this and baby that. And of course you can't forget that whole chicken of the sea thing. Maybe it is some publicity stunt, but I still feel so bad. They should do themselves a favor and quit the show. Although I must admit, it is kind of funny at times. I just wanted to say that. There. Consider yourselves warned, you two!

small post today. yay!

I have now entered the phase in my life where my hair will no longer be soft and will break off easier. All of this courtesy of chlorine. Swim season is so great, but not at the beginning. My body is out of shape. My hair, my muscles, my lungs, my brain, everything. But it shall soon pass, and I will welcome a new season with open arms. Our first meet is a week from Monday. Lovely. Hopefully I will be able to work hard enough so I don't embarass myself. Swimming is a monumental improvement over volleyball, which is not hard. It is amazing how different the two really are. I think I work harder in swimming but because it is enjoyable, it goes by quicker. Anyways... on to bigger and better things, I say.

Halloween is tomorrow, but I cannot dress up for school. Our principal came on the intercom at 3:06 and said that "students should not wear halloween costumes tomorrow". That makes me so mad. I was going to wear a blonde afro and wear bellbottom pants and be a disco diva. Now my plans are foiled and I must go to school in blue and white. Great. woo hoo, go bears. yay. I'm not really that mad, though, I'll just wear the fro to the football game... that will be fun times! It will keep my head warm. Adios for now, muchachos y muchachas!

Why is everybody in high school tired? I am always tired. Sometimes, when I'm not tired, I feel like I should be tired, so I say that I am tired when, in truth, I am nothing of the sort. I really like to sleep though. Sleep is the thing I look forward to throughout the day. If only my life didn't get in the way and I could sleep all the time. Actually, that wouldn't be too nice. I wouldn't get the high quality sleep that I get when I am truly exhausted. Like Friday night for example. I have been doing vigorous things all week and never get a chance to catch up on the sleep that I need, and then on Friday night it all catches up. I got 12 hours of sleep. You can't even imagine. I mean, you probably can. Isn't it so great? I am just sitting here thinking about how truly glorious sleep really is. I feel like writing a haiku about it.

sleep is amazing!
oh how truly wonderful
is my comfy bed!

Ah sleep... mmmm I love it!

Today we had pictures for school clubs, and it was about to crack me up. Mrs. Wagoner almost had a fit. We were sitting in the formation for the picture for pep club, a club where you pay a dollar and you're a member, and she gave us an announcement. She said that she was going to check the picture with the members of pep club, those that had paid, and you would go to ISS for a day. If you wanted to be in it, you could pay her a dollar right then, and you wouldn't get ISS. She also said if we messed up the picture we would get a day ISS. Cracking me up. Then Jacob Blizzard turned his head right as the camera guy said "3", and she saw him. She called him out and made him leave and go to the office to see Mrs. George. It was quite funny. I was tempted to look somewhere else but the camera, but feared the wrath of Wagoner. Pictures always crack me up. The whole process. Especially the picture guy. He was making these weird sounds, and I wasn't sure if he was being funny or was really like that. I was unsure if I should laugh or not. My thoughts were confirmed and he laughed too. Bastante funny.

Squirrels really need to watch where they are going. I mean, I feel no sympathy for squirrels who run in front of my car. It's really their own fault. I'm not going to ruin my brakes trying to slow down, and I'm not going to hurt myself by swirving the car, so if they run in front of my way, they will be run over. The other day I was driving down cross creek and I ran over my very first squirrel. I felt absolutely no sympathy. At all. I felt kind of evil for a second, but then quickly got over it. I see it as I'm doing my part to rid the world of squirrely squirrels.

Volleyball is over. Halleluia. The end.

It seems like I always think to blog after a babysitting job. I had another one today. from 7 am (on a workday... so much for sleeping in) until 4:30 pm, with a little respite from 10:30-12:30. I had volleyball practice and Jill came over and babysat for a while. Wow. Speaking of volleyball, the season has produced some funny things. Coach Knott really likes "tails". Nancy and I have counted up all of the ways she uses tails while talking to us in practice and/or huddles. Here it goes:

1. Lay your tail
2. Chew your tail
3. Gnaw on your tail
4. Kick your tail
5. Whoop your tail
6. Blitz your tail
7. Get your fingers out of your tail

Fun times. She also has other random sayings like "get down" and "pissyfitting around". They quite crack me up. Well, the Alf is in town, and I surprisingly haven't been yet. I am going tomorrow, during what I believe to be the busiest time. I have to work for the Chicken Biscuit booth from 4-5 for swimming and then again from 7-8 for volleyball. Alright then, I'm out!

Man I hate being sick. But it is thankfully now overwith. I am now nice and well. My cold started on monday as a general sickness thing. Then on tuesday it turned into a throat cold. ouch. Wed. and Thurs. were really bad because I kept having to talk and talk and talk. The v-ball game on Thurs. was the climax of my cold because it got to a point of swollenness where I couldn't talk because it hurt so much. Then on friday it morphed into a nose cold. It semi-dissipated on saturday, and is now relatively clear. So that is a load off my mind. This week also was bad on the volleyball perspective. On tuesday we had to go see the middle school v-ball team play from 4-5 and then be back for practice at 6:15-7:45. I got my eyes dialated so I was wearing my aviators plus those glasses they give you. I had to play mom because my parents were at a DMB concert. So I was driving to and fro all over MA with glasses on. Then I had to wear my glasses in practice, much to the objection of coach k. Then on friday we had to have practice from 7-8:30. AM. Whoa there. But because I woke up so early on friday, it seemed to have lengthened my weekend. Last night I had to babysit from 3 PM on sat till 8:30 AM sun. Fun times. So there was my week in a rather large nutshell. Adios!

So today volleyball was yet again a waste of my time. Coach Knott tells me if I practice hard then I will get to play. Not true. Last week I had the most stellar practices of my entire volleyball career. So, I thought maybe I would play at least for a couple seconds in the game. Whaddya know? I played for a grand total of 0 minutes. Thats right, 0. Not a lick of playing time for Emma Jane Refvem. Right... like that is going to make me practice harder. So today at practice, I was less than enthusiastic. I wasn't "moving my feet" according to Knott. Umm.... ok.... And then we had to run sprint after sprint after doggone sprint. Lovely. It hurts me to run. Not my lungs, which means I am semi-in-shape, but my whole body. My feet, my knees, my abdomen, my chest, everything. Running more will only make it hurt more. Knott doesn't get it. So there I go. Tomorrow I have to devote 2.5 hours to volleyball and a lot more time to taxiing my family around while my parents are at a DMB concert. When am I supposed to do my homework? How should I know? So we ask if we can do it while we have to watch the Middle School V-Ball game. She says no. We ask when we are going to have to do it, and she shrugs her shoulders. So I told her I would have my teachers send her a note when my grade drops. Argh... this is frustrating. It will all be over in October... oh happy day...

So today was a good day. I spent the whole afternoon doing US history stuff. First I had to write a report on Tecumseh in first person. Hello, I am Tecumseh. I fought in the battle of Tippecanoe. You know, stuff like that. That reminds me of a joke. What do you get when the indians stand up in their canoes? A tippy canoe! hahaha... right. Then I had to go to wal mart to get posterboard and construction paper. Then I had to do the poster. Then I had to do a timeline. Woah there... I guess that's where procrastination gets ya. Of course, in between the poster making and the timeline writing, I watched the last 45 minutes of LOTR2. Didn't get to finish it last night. That is a good movie. Real good.

Oh yeah... I went to church this morning, also. It was great. Quest is starting at our church, which is just a fancy name for spiffed up sunday school. We ate donuts and played music and sang and talked about God and it was tons of fun. There were 31 people in sunday school! Apparently our church sunday school attendance was 141 or something like that. It broke records... seriously. 'Twas a good day for the methodist church. Oh yeah... you should come on sundays at 9:30! If you do, I get bonus points and if I get enough, I can go to Busch Gardens. Yay. I really really REALLY like Busch Gardens. Right... ok... tootles!

So right now I am sitting here procrastinating. I really should be doing my report right now, but it just isn't happening. Maybe it would if I really cared about Tecumseh, but he doesn't really matter to me. I'll have to get down to it. Right now all I want to do is chill out and watch LOTR2. So that is what I'll do. Because I love it. Yay LOTR!!!

Matchstick Men... good one... go see it... that is all.

This is an apology. I have been misusing the word euphamisms. First of all, it is spelled euphemism. Secondly, it is used to make a phrase sound better than it is. Like "slumber room" in a funeral instead of like "death room" or something. Sorry!

And I'm back. I feel as if I have settled back into the routine of school, and can now devote a little more time to this here blog. However, I might not be able to devote as much time as in the past. Therefore there may be lapses in the days of postage, so bear with me. Is that how you spell that? It kind of sounds malicious. Almost as if I am asking you to act like a bear or something. Is it bare? because that would be kind of more like I was asking you to "bare it all", which is not the intention at all. It is funny how we take this funny language for granted. Ms. Ucinska, my spanish teacher, is polish and knows like 5 languages. I think English is like her 3rd or something. She reads the newspaper and highlights phrases, or euphamisms, that she doesn't know and gets a student to translate, if you will. It is not for a grade, it is just for her knowledge. Es muy interesante. We were trying to explain "rip tide", and I asked her if she knew what an undertoe was. She pointed to her toe and said she knew what toe meant. I said, "no, i mean like in water", and she didn't know what I was talking about. So we had to take the long way around to explain it to her. I think it is a good exercise for communication. Right-o... tata! Ah... how good it feels to be blogging once again...

This is a public service announcement brought to you by the letter "S" and the number "21".

Volleyball season is now in full swing, therefore blogging has become virtually impossible. Weekdays are devoted to bench sitting and conditioning, and weekends are devoted to rest. When volleyball season dies down, blogging will resume at a more regular rate. Sorry for the inconvenience. Adios, Amigos!

The volleyball scrimmage was great. I had to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to go to Dobson to sit on the bench for 75% of the games watching our team play. I guess our team was helped by the experience, I wouldn't know. There is one thing I'm gonna get out of volleyball though, and that is killer leg muscles. All that "boot camp" Coach Knott makes us do sure helps with those. In fact, all my muscles are sore. I guess that means they're getting stronger, I'm not sure. Well, My contacts are about to pop out because they've been in since 6:45 this morning. I'm gonna skidaddle. Tata!

Sleep is a many splendored thing. Is that how you spell splendored? Who knows. Anyway. Too bad I'm not going to get to sleep in for like 2 weeks. Man, that's the one thing I miss about summer. Even though most days I was getting up at 7:00 at Camp to wake other people up for showers, it was still better than this. I have to get up at like 6:45 tomorrow because we have to be at the High School at 7:30. We have a volleyball scrimmage at Surry Central. That is cruel and unusual punishment. And I'll probably be sitting on the bench most of the time. But I'm not complaining, because I'll just come home and take a nap. But it still isn't the same as sleeping in. Most of the time naps only make me more tired. I will miss my only day to sleep in, but there will be another one, hopefully soon. Well I'm gonna go savor the 8 hours of sleep I might get, ttfn!

Hello all! As has become the norm, I apologize for lack of postage. I will also take the chance to apologize for events such as this in the future. The apologies take so much out of the blog. The plug is pulled on the creative juices. So there you go. Alright. School is going good, thanks for asking! It seems as though it is second semester though. I feel like I have been at school for 4 months already. That is not so nice. I still don't know whether or not this semester will be hard. Spanish is going to be easy, they tell me. Ms. Ucinska, for those of you who do not already know, is Polish, and is fluent in Spanish as well as English. English is her 3rd language (at least) so it is quite fun. My spanish name is Cecilia. Represent Simon and Garfunkle baby! Honors Bio with Bodnar looks like it will be fun because he drops in random jokes in the middle. Its great. Comic relief. Then Honors Physics... boy I hope I'm never tired in that class because Mr. Belton's voice would put you right to sleep. He reminds me of the way the boys in my grade talk when they don't really want to be talking. Kind of slow and depressed and stuff. Honors U.S. History is going to be fine I think. No EOC, which is a big plus. So those are my classes. I have to go study for my quizzes, I have one in each class except Spanish. Perfect. Gotta jet! Tootles!

I got my braces off! Yay!!! I look so different, but yet so the same! While I was driving around today, I kept looking in the rearview mirror and smiling to see my teeth. Also, my tongue is worn out from licking my smooth teeth... woah that sounds disgusting, sorry about that. If I had the technology to put a picture of myself on here I would, to show all of you guys my new smile! I'm glad I got them just in time, too. School starts Wednesday, so its a good start. Well, I gotta go to bed, I'm trying to get in shape for school hours... tata!

I get my braces off tomorrow! Finally! I am nervous, though. The person that I am today, the person who has been in high school for two years has had braces. I have learned to play my oboe with braces. I have grown accustomed to how my face looks with braces. Now I won't have them anymore and that will be weird. But the good outweighs whatever the bad would be. Now I won't have to worry about wires poking my cheek or hooking into my tongue. (ow!). So I will post tomorrow on the results. Wish me luck!

I apologize for the lack of postage. As I have said before, it is hard to get back in the groove. Anyways, back to the subject at hand. Today I earned some things. I earned 12 dollars to watch The Simpsons with Matus and Anna Kriska, and I earned a sunburn from laying out at the Cross Creek Pool for 2 hours without sunscreen. Yep, I'm probably going to get skin cancer. I don't know why I didn't wear sunscreen, I guess I thought I was rebelling. I need to stop myself from doing that. Nothing good ever comes of it. What makes me mad is that I only got sunburn on the places that didn't see the sun at camp. That would be the places that my lifejacket (PFD) and shorts covered. The only place on my legs that got sunburn was the white where there used to be a shorts tan. And I now have a reverse lifejacket tan (I mean BURN). Alright, I'm off to lather my ailing skin with Aloe and then going to sleep. Goodnight!