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!