So my mom just went off the deep end. My brother was mad and made a big deal about how my other brother got all the sour candy that we got from our neighbor. Then the brother with the candy gave some to the first brother. But he put it in his mouth and found out it tasted disgusting, and spit it out. Then, my mom, who was really mad about the big deal the first brother made, told him to put it back in his mouth, and the other brother jokingly agreed, kind of teasing him. So he did, and he spit it out again, because it was too sour. Then my mom started getting all serious and yelling at him, and told him that if he didn't eat it, he couldn't go trick-or-treating, and the other brother stopped agreeing, because she had started yelling and stuff and she's kind of scary when she's yelling. So then the first brother said, "Wait, I have to do something," and he went to the kitchen and got a glass of water and put the candy in it "to dilute it". And then my mom got super mad and got the candy and put it in his mouth and covered his mouth so he couldn't spit it out and he was crying and yelling stuff like, "It burns!" and that sort of thing. This happened for maybe a minute. Then it stopped and my mom started talking like it was a lesson and that's what you get sort of thing, but he ran to his room and started retching and everyone knew she had gone too far. And now he's just really mad at mom and he's kind of beating up my other brother but not really because they're twins and it's not like he can actually hurt him, but he's yelling at him too and stuff. I think my mom did that because she was mad for the other brother that he gave up his candy and it wasn't appreciated, but she shouldn't have even done anything, because the other brother didn't care, and she definitely went too far by forcing someone to burn themselves with super-sour candy. So I'm kind of scared right now, because she's crazy, and he's mad, and my other brother is mad because the first brother is taking out his anger on mom by getting mad at him, and it's all crazy right now.

Wow, it's been a long time. I guess I've just been busy, and stressed, and stuff. I'll probably write something about what I've been up to later, because there's been a lot. But right now, I'd like to remind you of my summer goal of painting my room. That didn't happen. And I can't come up with any way to rearrange stuff because my room is, like, ridiculously small. So that's what's on my mind at the moment, anyways.

I also just finished watching all three seasons of American Horror Story, first on Netflix, and then on Megashare. Opinions: The first season was kind of adorable, like the whole love story thing, and how it was creepy but not so creepy that it was gross. The second season was ridiculous, like it was just kind of terrifying, and I don't think that I really liked it very much. The third season was definitely interesting. It was nice how the characters were a bit more in control of their situation, I think.

So that's it for now, I guess.

Bonsoir, mes chéris. A bientot!

So sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been kind of busy between school, and homework, and tennis games and practices.

So before I get into anything important, I'm going to talk about the weather. Because that's kind of what I do.

Right now, it is unreasonably cold for summer. Like, it is about 55 here right now. But it doesn't ever go higher than 65 during the day. So last night at the football game, I was sitting there, shivering in jeggings, Uggs, a sweatshirt, gloves, and earmuffs. It was BAD. (And we also lost pretty awfully, so that was bad too.)

Last night I stayed at my friend Faith's house. She used to go to theater camp with me, but she couldn't come last summer because of a schedule issue, and I can't go to camp anymore because I'm ancient. So, about Faith. She's a freshman, but she's 13 right now, because she skipped a grade. I think that's a little funny, because most of my friends aren't that young, but she's a really fun person.

But anyway, what I really wanted to make this post about was my new playlist for September so far. It only has 9 songs, but it's only about halfway through September, so... it'll probably expand a little. But these songs are kind of most of my life right now X)

1. Angel in Blue Jeans- by Train
2. Centuries- by Fall Out Boy
3. Come With Me Now- by KONGOS
4. I Just Wanna Run- by The Downtown Fiction
5. Love Don't Die- by The Fray
6. Love Runs Out- by OneRepublic
7. Lovers on the Sun- by David Guetta featuring Sam Martin
8. Pompeii- by Bastille
9. The Walker- by Fitz & The Tantrums

So that's it for right now, but I hope everyone had a great summer, and enjoys the fall!

Fun fact: I am so very very tired right now. And I have homework. Some of which is ridiculously complicated. So I need to be completely alert to do it. And I will not be.

Also, sometimes when I'm really tired I forget to breathe. Which is also unfun.

So today, something funny happened. I also think it is ironic that in this case, starting off with that would seem like an excuse in the context, as this thing which happened caused me to be unable to do my homework. (Imagining a conversation as "Well why didn't you do your homework?" "It's a funny story...") But in this case the story is actually funny, at least to me.

So I had just finished reading my daily pages in the Scarlet Letter, when I closed my eyes for a moment and accidentally slept for an hour. When I woke up, it took me twenty minutes to start thinking clearly (meaning not in the dazed way in which someone who suddenly wakes up but is still tired thinks). So, of course, I could not start my homework, which of course would take longer than the ten minutes that I had left before I had to go to bed.

I will be fine, this homework isn't due until the 5th, but I was supposed to work on it, because our teacher has been warning us against procrastination. I will definitely need to start working hard tomorrow, though. The problem is that at the same time, our teacher has assigned us two other things, one being to read the Scarlet Letter by the 12th, and the other being the same sort of assignment as the one which I suppose I am currently procrastinating: a précis, where one analyzes an article, finds and asks questions, and writes a summary.

And then, of course, I have my other classes on top of that. But the only homework I really get is in French.

Kind of still tired, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight

The school week is over and I'm so exhausted and it's kind of depressing knowing that this is what I have to look forward to for the rest of the year. But today, I'm going to the outdoor YMCA with my girl scout troop, and I'm just going to relax and read and maybe swim a little. So yeah. And this past week I turned 15. I thought that might be important to mention. But because I got my iPhone as an early birthday present in July, I only got a pedometer and some gift cards for this birthday. So it kind of made my birthday un-special.  (Although, I'm just saying, my brothers got iPhones, and also everything else that they normally would have gotten for a birthday. But whatever. It's not like I want to be the favorite or anything.) And also we couldn't even celebrate it on the same day as my birthday because for the first time ever in the history of my birthdays, school had already started, and thus girl scout meetings had started, and I had to go to a stupid meeting where the mothers of children talked and wouldn't let anyone else say anything and they brought up the concerns of their daughters, but because NO ONE ELSE could say anything, I didn't get to bring up my concerns, and neither did half the troop, AND I HAD TO SIT THROUGH THIS CRAP INSTEAD OF CELEBRATING MY BIRTHDAY.

So, um, yeah. Not the best birthday ever. And also, I was going to have my birthday party today, but because they wanted to have this thing today, I couldn't, because the few people from the troop that I would invite would come to my birthday, and most of the people going to this thing would be offended, and SOMEONE would start drama, because all they live for is drama. And I don't have a free week-end until the middle of September-ish. So.

I'm a bit bitter right now. Excuse me.

So I'm in school now. And I'm sick. Not having the best time ever. 

6 Days. I don't know what comes next.

I got my chromebook for school today. Our school is trying this thing where they give everyone a chromebook, and force everyone to pay $60 or else they can't participate in any school activities such as sports, commencement, or dances. Which is kind of stupid. But whatever, I can deal with it.

I'm honestly not a big fan of the chromebook, because it doesn't have Microsoft programs, or a hard drive, and I really just don't like using Google docs. But it's for school, and I kind of have to deal with it.

School starts in five days. I'm really not looking forward to it.

The first tennis match of the season is tomorrow, which is exciting. The un-exciting thing, however, is that I probably won't get to play, because I'm #8 on the Varsity lineup, and only three singles games and two doubles games, with a total of seven players, count. But I'm first singles on JV, so it won't be a bad season at all.

I'm sad. I'm just so sad. Because apparently I'm a disappointment, and the reason this family is falling apart, and I just cause every single problem. Which isn't true. But when she says things like that, and calls me stupid and not good enough, I do feel like I'm not good enough. I try to talk to her about that but whenever I say anything about how I feel like that, she thinks I'm calling her a bad parent, or that I'm too sensitive and need to get over it. So I'm really sad, and I don't know any other way to say how much I just want to go away, and I just really want someone to care.

And this day had been going pretty well. But now I'm worried about every part of it. Did I look crappy in my tennis pictures? Do the girls on varsity think I'm annoying? Will those chips I had make me gain weight? I was honestly doing so much better, and I was actually hopeful about everything. But I guess that's over now. 

Okay, that shopping trip was super duper awesome. I got stuff from Forever 21, H&M, Bath & Body Works, and Dick's. I got a dress, a button-up, some $8 jeans, and a sweater at F21, a sweater at H&M, a candle for my mom (vanilla chai) and some hand sanitizers for me at B&BW, and some sports bras for tennis at Dick's. That was pretty successful, I think. 

Okay so the best camp ever and the highlight of my summers for the past four years just ended. We had our final show, and performed our dance which me and my friends (but, ahem, mostly me) choreographed. I already miss everyone. So. Much. I probably won't see most of these people ever again. Because I have officially "graduated" from camp. And also, the director announced that they are not doing a show again, even if they have camp again next year. So everything has changed now, and it's so sad.

Today I'm going shopping with my friend Brooke, because Ashley cancelled on me (again. For unclear reasons. Obviously I'm still a little miffed. Oh, and she didn't think to tell me this until yesterday. So yeah.) But anyway, me and Brooke are going to the mall in Mentor. To be honest, it is so hard to shop at the mall. Because most of the stores that have actual good clothes don't have anything that fits me. (I'm kind of really tall.) So that's annoying. But I'm still going to find stuff. Probably from Maurice's or H&M. Whatever. This fall, I kind of want a jean jacket. Like, something to be warm in and still look okay. Because I have loads of ratty sweatshirts, but I can't wear those a bunch.

In other news, I got a haircut. So that's going to be fun to do stuff with.

This is (from left to right) Emily, Ashley, and me performing our dance at the show.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=341289819360358&set=vb.100004380275822&type=2&theater

That's the link to the video, because I couldn't save it from Facebook to my computer.

 

And here is a picture of me and my short hair.

As for my countdown, I don't really care what the future brings right now. I just can't stop thinking about how it's all over. Theater camp, and the show, and my friends from camp. I might never see these friends again. I might never visit theater camp because they may not have it again. It's all just, gone.

I'll post more videos from the show later, including Thriller, and the Purple People Eaters dance that Ashley and I choreographed.

12 days to the second day of school, and also an awesome birthday balloon which I have been promised.

Update: She didn't give me a balloon. And also didn't wish me a happy birthday. Because she forgets everything about me, unless it has something to do with her. She was probably preoccupied by the fact that she's "officially" going out with the boy who is my friend who was also her ex-boyfriend who has been flirting with her all summer, and who was always complaining to me about how she wouldn't go out with him, and who I had to keep reassuring that it would all be fine, and she told me that she would never go out with him again, and he just kept being miserable, and uuuuugh. But she was also flirting with him the whole time, which led him to think that they would go out, and all summer he was miserable because they weren't dating and he was kind of mad because she kept leading him on, and with all of this I was just exhausted, and now I kind of feel like she is cruel and he is a pushover, because even after all of what she put him through, he would still go out with her again. But whatever. I'm dropping this whole thing. I don't have the time for this now.

13 days to possibly a cat (Oh gosh I hope so)

14 days to new goals

16 Days to Something New

I'm so happy that I don't have to be like anyone else. I don't have to be girly, or happy, or chatty, or hairstyle/makeup obsessed, or energetic, or outgoing, or texting my friends all the time. I can just be me, and no one can expect anything else.

 

I guess I'm kind of optimistic right now. Because it's still summer. Because we finished choreographing the dance I was worried about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj9XlfXC4gU .

 

Because things are better than they were yesterday. I don't know. Maybe I just care less. People will think things about me. They can do that. That's them. And if they're mean to me because of what they think of me, the only fault is in them.

 

Because school is coming. But I can't change that. And even though school is sometimes very stressful for me, and I sometimes hate it, it is still coming, and it will come. Maybe it won't be so bad. And sometimes I like the challenge.

 

And tennis is starting. And even though we have very few games this season, that was never really the point. The point was my teammates, and the way we cheered each other on, and the way we said crazy things on the bus coming back from an away game at 8:00 at night from exhaustion.

 

And my theater camp play is coming. And we aren't ready. But I can only do my best, and that's what I will do. And besides, we have a whole week left. Anything could happen.

 

And a lot of what I ever worried about was all in my head. These things haven't happened yet, but here I was, ruining them, ruining any chance I had to enjoy them. Why did I do that.

 

16 days to something new.

Watching old TV shows and eating some chocolate. This is my kind of night.

Right now is really weird. Because I kind of just want to sleep and eat. Because it's Sunday and I don't have anything to do and I'm just tired and hungry and all that. But I never could go to sleep again after I woke up, and I just ate lunch and I really shouldn't even be hungry right now. So yeah. I really should do something today.

Another installment of The Type of Person I Hate:

Type 4: The Low-Appetite Showoff

The kind of person who can have just fruit for breakfast, or a salad for lunch, and be full. The kind of person who does not have to think about food all the time, and isn't hungry all the time. This isn't so much a person I hate as a person I am jealous of. If you are this person, I can definitely still be friends with you. But when this kind of person is very "look at me and how little I'm eating" as opposed to just eating all that fruit and salad stuff, that's when I get really annoyed. Like, when these people literally always talk about what they've eaten that day, or more realistically, what they haven't. I just don't get it.

Why do people think they can be mean and get away with it?

I wish that the words didn't hurt like they do.

Ugh. The thunder is shaking the floor and the lights are flickering. Another flash flood warning. It was hailing on the way home, but it stopped. This is ridiculous though. It's summer. We are not living in a rainforest. It is supposed to be sunny!

So my mom just called me stupid. Again. Because I "couldn't find the Gogurt which has been in the same place for months". I wasn't even looking for Gogurt. And she won't apologize because she thinks she's done nothing wrong. I told her it makes me feel crappy when she says that, but she's just like, "I can't help how you feel." Well, if you insult someone, your goal is obviously to make them feel like crap, so...

I really don't need this right now. I have a day ahead of doing boring stuff, and then when I'm done with that, some exhausting stuff that needs to be finished today but because I have to work with people who have to argue everything probably won't be finished today, or will end up being crappy.

And I had to wake up at 7 after staying up late last night because my mom guilted me into helping her unload garage sale stuff at a sale ten minutes away. And she knows that I won't be able to go back to sleep, and also that it takes me at least an hour to fall asleep every night, and that I went to bed at like midnight. So yeah. 6 hours of sleep, and an exhausting day ahead. I don't even drink coffee, so there's nothing I can do.

I just want to be done with today.

If I was gone, where on earth would you get your sense?

This sentence pretty much sums up why my friends keep me around. ;)

Just some thoughts

Thursday. I did not sign up for this.

I'M SO HUNGRY BUT IT'S 10:00 WHAT DO I DO?????????

Let me show you the fantastic desktop screen I put together to take my mind off of it.

IT IS FANTASTIC BUT I AM STILL STARVING

I just realized that throughout this entire summer, I have not once gone for ice cream or froyo. Not once. There is literally an ice cream place about 5 minutes away by car, and I haven't gone. I've really been wanting to get froyo at Froyo Twist. But that's thirty minutes away and my mom won't take me. My ice cream dreams are continually dashed! 🍦

Si tu m'oublies, je t'oublierai, et nous pouvons partir, et ne rencontrer jamais une autre fois. Mais si tu penses de moi, et penses de ce que était, puis peut-être un jour, nous pouvons être ensemble pour une autre fois.

My attempt at dramatic French.

So that was stressful. We had tornado warnings, with the sirens going off until 9, and the news channels say that the warning goes until 11. We were all in the basement for like two hours. And there's still the flash flood warning until 3 AM. So yeah. Loving this day.

My face is being awful right now. I had a bad reaction to some makeup, and not only am I breaking out, my face is getting super dry and it's even looking a bit scaly in some places. The bad dryness happened to me once a few years ago, and it took months to get rid of. Everyone thought I had burned my face or something. But anyway, I have to put on this super moisturizing stuff, and then go over the zits with a thing to dry them out... so I may have mixed results... It's really just so messed up.

Hating all of this.

My dad just made crêpes for us, which were really yummy. He's really good at making them, but he doesn't have time to cook them a lot because he's always either working or napping. He cooked them today because my mom is in Rochester visiting my grandma and helping her move into a nursing home.

My brothers' friend Jake is over (again. It's like he lives here.). He stayed for dinner because there's a tornado warning, and a flood warning. But it's not even raining right now, and he lives like 5 houses over, so I don't really understand it.

And now everyone is watching the news, because apparently crazy weather is exciting. But come on. You look out the window, and you can plainly see that this stuff won't happen here. It stopped raining, and it's even a little brighter outside. They might as well be watching a movie, because it's basically fiction considering how little it applies to us.

We're all going to watch Escape from Alcatraz later. I've already seen it, though, so I might try to catch up on my reading in The Sound and the Fury: the last book I have to read for English next year. I'm about 35 pages in, out of 200, and since I started it just 4 days ago, I think I'm doing okay. It's a bit complicated, so I'm consulting Sparknotes after every few paragraphs. Sparknotes is literally my savior.

So, yeah, that's what's going on right now.

Oh, and I cleaned out my bathroom. Because I had nothing else to do. Yay.

So my e-mail is broken. This is going to be one of those days when absolutely everything goes wrong. I can already tell.

Update: I fixed it. I googled how to fix it, but like origami instructions, after a while it just got too complicated for me. So I did what I could. And then restarted the computer. And everything magically worked again. So that's good. But my pessimistic view of today still stands.

I feel like everything on here that I post is either the stuff that I  just get really excited about, the stuff that I feel is too personal for all of my Facebook friends to automatically know, or the stuff that nobody really wants to read but I want to write.

Just a random observation.

The Type of Person I Hate

Type 3: The Insensitive Victim

The person who will make an insensitive comment about your weight, or your bad hair day, or your clothes not looking right (or some other obvious thing that you obviously cannot immediately fix, as opposed to the "oh, you have food in your teeth" "oh, thanks let me get that out" kind of thing). Especially the people who do this, but then claim they are insulted when you point out how that comment will make you feel insecure for at least the rest of the day, and how you are upset that they said that.

Example which is slightly exaggerated for effect:

Type 3: Ohmigod XXXXX, you have a muffin top in those jeans! Those are way too small for you. Why did you even wear those?
You: Thanks, Type 3, now I'll be stressing about that all day. Why on earth did you say that? It's not like I can just go change jeans... That was kind of a mean thing to say.
Type 3: Jeez, XXXXX, sorry. I was just trying to help. You don't need to go and attack me...
You: Seriously? You're the one who said I had a muffin top. I just pointed out that that was mean. I'm not attacking you or whatever. (At this point "you" may get a little rude or sarcastic due to the insanity of the accusation.)
Type 3: God, you do this all the time! You're SO sensitive. Calm down, XXXXX.

I call this type The Insensitive Victim because they will insult you by making an insensitive comment, and if you say anything about it, they play victim and act like you are insulting them.

Listening to the playlist.

We Didn't Start the Fire- Billy Joel
Be Okay- Oh Honey
Come On Eileen- Dexy's Midnight Runners
Clocks- Vitamin String Quartet
Counting Stars- OneRepublic
Dog Days Are Over- Florence + The Machine
Irrational Anthem- Plain White T's
Kids in America- Kim Wilde
Lightweight- Demi Lovato
Love Me Again- John Newman
Rhythm of Love- Plain White T's
Until the Day Dims- The Woodlands
Viva la Vida- Coldplay
22- Taylor Swift
Human- Christina Perri
I Just Wanna Run- The Downtown Fiction
She Looks So Perfect- 5 Seconds of Summer
Don't Say Goodnight- Hot Chelle Rae
Love Runs Out- OneRepublic
Love Don't Die- The Fray

I know some of these songs don't really make sense... I mean, not only are some YEARS old, but some are just not even cool to people anymore. But I only use the money I get from gift cards for iTunes music, and so it takes a lot for me to actually buy the song rather than just look it up on Youtube all the time. Like, I have to be committed to a song. And I keep it in my playlist for a while. So that is why there is a wide variety of songs in there. The retro ones I was led to by well-meaning and enthusiastic adults and old movies from Netflix.

So yeah. I made a lot of posts today. I don't know. Maybe I'm being more involved???

Or maybe I'm just bored. That's a little more likely.

Going to bed.

Ciao

 

Just painted my nails! They're not spectacular, but this hand ended up SO much better than the right one. And I made an effort. So I get a cheer.

I used a Sinful Colors polish in Gogo Girl and a New York Color clear coat. I also used a nail pen for the white, but it's so crappy that I won't even mention it in the hopes that I will someday find a nail pen worth mentioning.

Another kind of person I hate: The kind who when they have a bad day, try to ensure that everyone else has one too.

Like, just get over it and be miserable by yourself.

I understand that you have had a bad day. (Although in the case I am referring to, there is NO WAY it was worse than mine.) I understand that you are upset that you have had a bad day. But that bad day is over, so stop dwelling on it. And don't take it out on other people or make sure they feel guilty for having a better day than you. That's just not cool.

Maybe this should just be a series. "The Type of Person I Hate". For anyone who has a problem with me complaining about nameless people in my life whose personalities I am fed up with at the moment, pretend that I am saying that I love and appreciate the kind of person that is the exact opposite from everything that I say. Or feel free to move on to another blog. It really doesn't matter to me.

So yesterday I made double chocolate + mint cookies, because sometimes you just feel like baking, and I just had one and they are SO good. It's a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips and the mint comes from mint extract. The recipe is here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Addictive-Double-Chocolate-Mint-Cookies/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

You definitely need to try these! What I really liked about this recipe was that it didn't take too long to bake, and it used very common ingredients that I already had.

Here is a picture that they have on the recipe. Mine turned out bigger, just because I scooped more batter for each cookie. (Also, this is supposed to make 3 dozen cookies, but I made maybe like 20 because of the size difference.)

Oh my gosh I am in love with this stuff! I put it in my hair after my leave-in conditioner and my hair is super soft on top of being less frizzy. It is definitely a lot better than argan oil, which is what I've been using. (Say what you want, but argan oil is still oil, and made my hair kind of greasy.) This is the cashmere touch hydrating serum from TRESemmé nourishing rituals. You can get it for $8.66 on Amazon. (Or do what I did and borrow it from your little brother. Whatever works.)

Something I seriously hate right now: People that everyone thinks are really helpful but when they say they'll help you in a situation that ends up more difficult than it originally seemed, they get all annoyed at you.

It's just like, I'm sorry my life is so complicated. It must be so hard for you.

Gah. Today is SO POINTLESS. In the morning, I couldn't get a ride to tennis practice, so I figured I could bike, and be a little late. But then my bike decided to stop working (something with the chains), and I had to walk the rest of the way. By the time I got to practice, there were literally only five minutes left. And then my grandma came to pick me up, and we couldn't get the bike in the trunk. My coach told me not to leave my bike there, because some kids would steal it, so we had to leave it at one of the town service office places (you know, the kind of stuff you pay taxes for). We got someone to watch it until my mom could pick it up. It was so annoying though, because I didn't get to practice, and I have to worry about someone stealing my bike.

And now I'm still not even doing anything. Like, I'm literally just eating food, looking around on sites, and watching 6teen on Netflix. SO. POINTLESS.

My new iPhone came! I got a white 4s a week or two ago, but since it was from a company that sells used phones, it was a little broken (calls only worked on speaker, and siri couldn't hear me). So we just sent that back and got a new one which works fine (But it's black. I know that doesn't really matter, but it just looks a bit depressing with the dark blue case I have.)

In other news, I think I pulled a muscle near my ankle or something, because it hurts really bad but I definitely didn't sprain my ankle because I didn't fall or anything. So I wrapped it up and I look a bit like a mummy now. (Fun times.)

Ash came over today and we finally finished Purple People Eater. (It was really only the last four 8-counts, which are during a dance break, so we finished pretty quickly.) We also planned out a school-clothes-shopping-trip-slash-adventure for about two and a half weeks from now. It's going to be super fun since I finally have someone to come with me. (And also since I finally have a card, so I don't need to drag my mom with me everywhere. Nothing fancy, it's a pre-paid card, supposed to be used only for clothes shopping, but it means some freedom.)

I'm almost done with Billy Budd, which is good because I was supposed to be done on Sunday...

So anyway, I'm going to finish some things and get back to reading...

Okay, quick question. Who are the 223 people who have seen my blog? Because I set it up not to count when I see my blog. And this URL is definitely not one where you would just randomly type words in and find something. Confused...

???

I got back today from my cousin's wedding. It was kind of iffy, because not only did I not know most of the people there, the groom and best man, who are my cousins, didn't remember my name. They remembered my brothers. But not me. And I was seated at a table with my cousins (the ones 25 and younger, I guess) for the reception. But no one talked to me. It's like no one even wanted me there. That is seriously how bad it was. I'm sure most of the people there had a good time, but I've definitely had better experiences, myself.

So my dog did something pretty stupid. Any guesses as to what it was?

I was walking him, and it was kind of late, like 8:30ish or so. So I noticed he kept stopping and sitting down, and walking behind me or something like that. I thought maybe he was scared of the dark, or tired or something. Maybe he was. I don't know. But when we are halfway through the walk, he lies down in the grass next to someone's mailbox. I pull on the leash a little, hoping he'll get the hint and keep walking. When that doesn't work, I come over and pet him, because I'm like maybe he just needs reassurement or motivation or something like that. He won't move. And it's getting pretty dark. So I pick him up and walk home. God he is such a baby. And he's pretty heavy, it's not like he's a tiny dog. So now my arms are a little wonky, and my dog snootily ignores me as much as he used to.

Great day.

I just played tennis with Olivia. I won 6-2. Which is only one set, but we were both too lazy to play another, and we were kind of almost dead, which tells you how much we actually should be doing to get ready for the season, but...

Now I feel kind of bad. Because I woke up kind of dehydrated, but it was okay because camp wasn't so sweaty today. But after tennis, I have this big dehydration headache, and I slept for like an hour because I was feeling so crappy. I had dinner a little while ago, which made me feel a little better, but honestly my face is killing me. And it's not so simple as drinking some water. Because water tastes really crappy right now. Like, I get nauseous when I drink water when I'm a bit dehydrated. I was thinking about taking some Advil, but that involves drinking water.

This used to happen a lot. On Saturdays during the school year, I would have dance class for three hours, and I guess I would get dehydrated and feel crappy for the rest of the day.

I'll probably be fine tomorrow, but it kind of sucks right now.

So yeah. But at least I won!

So I'm wondering why girls are generally really nice to each other, but guys are generally pretty mean to girls they don't find attractive. I was on Youtube, and I stumbled onto one of those "do you think I'm ugly?" videos. I was scrolling through the comments, because it can be pretty interesting what people say. Most girls were like, "You are gorgeous, don't let anyone tell you otherwise" or at least like, "Your eyes are pretty". Most guys, however, were more like, "You're so fat! It's disgusting!" or "That face is nasty" and things like that. Like, there is no way the majority of girls would tell a bad-looking guy that his "face was nasty". I don't understand it. Even if you don't find someone attractive, you shouldn't say mean things. That's just dumb, immature, and disgusting. (And for the record, guys, most girls won't date someone who is mean to people. It's not cool, it's not hot; it doesn't make you a bad-ass, it just makes you a jerk.)

So that is my important thought for today.

We were choreographing a dance to Purple People Eaters, if you were wondering, for a theater camp we go to. The directors were starting to get a little miffed at us for taking so long to finish, so we got together on a non-camp day and worked for about three hours on finishing the dance. To be honest, a lot of that was spent on one very annoying line where we could not think of anything. And then when we went on Youtube to search for ideas and ended up watching some music videos and clips from old TV shows. The good news is that all we have left is the sax solo at the end. The bad news is that we choreographed a dance to Purple People Eaters.

I was going to start a new paragraph on something else I was thinking about, but it has nothing to do with this, so I'll just make a new post. Also, according to Facebook, the mythical creature that matches my personality is the unicorn. Thought that was important to know.

Choreographing with Ash!!! Not loving this song though... lol Honestly it's pretty bad

So I have finished that book and am onto the next: Billy Budd. Which looks really short because its like only 115 pages or something but is actually a death sentence because when you open it, not only is the print very small, but the language used makes it difficult to tell whether the captain of the ship is a super cool guy that everyone likes, or if the main character is a sailor that no one likes who is being sent to the military, or if the sailor is the one that everyone likes and he's being sent to the military, or if the guy coming to get someone for the military is the guy everyone likes. So I think I'm just going to bluff my way through this one.

Also, right now I'm having one of those moments like when you give someone your phone so they can see a picture, but then they keep it for like five minutes and press buttons and stuff and you have no idea what they're doing like maybe they just set your phone to Japanese. Except its my mom trying to set up my new phone. She has a trial-and-error way of doing things. So I think my phone may either be completely erased or include a multitude of her knitting videos when she is done. Normally, I wouldn't really be so worried, but she keeps hiding what she's doing when I try to look and see what's going on. So... (secretly changing my ringtone to something weird? changing the language? renaming everything George? I don't know what to think!)

Woo! 80 pages to go! (Kill me.)

What's annoying is that it would be interesting. Like, the storyline right now is pretty crazy. Hepzibah's cousin says he'll put her brother Clifford in a mental institution if he doesn't tell him where the deed to the land he should've inherited is. But Clifford probably actually doesn't know where it is. And Hepzibah and Clifford just ran from the house while the cousin was sitting in the parlor (or sleeping? maybe? It's a little hard to tell). So they're on the run. Which should be exciting.

It's just that it takes forever for the author to get to the point. Like, I understand that it's important to know character's thought on things. I'd be fine with just that. But when looking out a window takes up four pages, you know it's a little excessive. And the word choice just makes everything sound kind of boring. Like, there is definitely a way to make blackmail sound interesting, but the character sounded like they were about to fall asleep.

It's also a little hard to read because every time I turn a page, I think "x pages left". Because I need to finish this soon, I am even stressing out while I'm reading the book, which makes it a little harder to concentrate.

I just hope this all works out. I'll actually probably forget the whole thing by the time school starts. (Sparknotes will definitely be my best friend a few days before the start of school.)

I'm going crazy. I'm procrastinating stuff that I kind of need to do, but also bored out of my mind because I want to do something fun. I know I should really just get this stuff done but I seriously just can not make myself start. I have to read about 100 pages in The House of Seven Gables by like Friday to stand a chance of finishing all the English books I have to read this summer, and I know that I could do it in a day or two if I tried, but I really don't want to try because it's SO boring. The thing after that is I'm supposed to choreograph a song for my theater camp's play, but I'm doing it with a friend. The issue is that I need to start working on this, because we have to teach it next week, but I don't want to start and then have to completely change everything because we don't agree. That's why I really can't make myself start that.

I guess I'll start that reading. Maybe do it in twenty page intervals to stay awake.

Gah.

Planning a Les Mis movie night with my camp buds. They're all super fun people. You know, the kind who quote the entire movie and sing every single song with the actors/actresses. Going to be fun, if I can find a day that actually works for everyone (a little impossible). Hoping it all works out...

I have returned! After a one and a half hour flight, three hours of sitting in the airport, a four hour flight, and the hour drive home, I finally made it back to XXXXX! (I may be writing my whole life on here, but I still believe in some degree of Internet privacy.) I need to unpack, clean my room (which is for some reason dirtier than I left it?), practice my violin before Wednesday when my teacher will realize I have once again accomplished nothing, and deal with the repercussions from the vacation (many more zits, loss of much money, and gain of at least five pounds from all the restaurant food). But I am a professional procrastinator, so we'll see when that all gets done. I may still be unpacking when school starts.

I did not write about our last day on vacation, I don't think, so I'll do that now. First we went to this redwood forest and looked at trees. (I think it was a state park, but it's hard to tell when no one thinks you need to know where you are. As a result, I don't know what city we were in, or even if we were really still in California, although since it was a less-than-three-hours trip, I assumed we were.) That was kind of fun, but my mom kept stopping to take pictures, and everyone else would keep walking, and then we'd have to walk back because my mom has this thing about "how dare you go on ahead we're all supposed to stay together what kind of rotten children are you". I tried to enjoy it, I really did. The trees were pretty cool, and pretty wide. (Although I didn't get the whole height thing, because they weren't as tall as I'd thought they'd be. Honestly, we have trees that tall here.) But with my brothers bothering each other and me, and my dad yelling at us every time someone said anything, and my mom yelling just because, it was a pretty iffy trip. I got a cool wooden owl there, though.

After that, we visited Stanford. I'm not sure what the point of that trip was. Yes, I get the point of visiting a college, but when all you do is walk around looking for the gift shop (they call it a "book store" but it's really a gift shop), what's the point? There were some cool old buildings, and the weather was nice. But everything was ruined again by my mom trying to find the gift shop, and my dad yelling at all of us when he was mad at my mom for walking off in some direction without telling anyone where she was going, and my mom yelling at us for not telling my dad where she was going, even though we had no idea where she was going either, and everyone was just mad and it wasn't fun. I got a Stanford shirt there, though. Not to remember this particular visit, but to imagine a better one, I guess. I've thought about going there when I graduate from high school, but I'd imagine you'd miss the fall college atmosphere, because of the year-round fantastic weather. I'm thinking more New England area right now.

Then we visited my dad's old house in Palo Alto, on Lois Lane. (You can laugh, it's hilarious.) He lived there only until he was four or five, so he wasn't very emotionally attached to the place, but he still got upset when his house looked different from what it was when he lived there. But honestly, what did he expect? It's been like 46 years. Even houses evolve with time. He was also upset that the swirly slide he conquered just before his family moved was not there anymore. I'd be concerned if it was, because park and playground equipment tends to deteriorate pretty quickly, and a 50 year old slide sounds pretty dangerous. (The Conquering of the Slide is a fun story though, I might tell it sometime.)

So then we drove back. My mom had to get an ornament from San Francisco, so we stopped by Pier 39 again. I got a snow globe to add to my imaginary collection. (I was starting a collection a while ago, but half of them broke, so now I just have a snowman one, one from Chicago, and now one from San Francisco.) Then we got mini donuts because my youngest brother was upset about not getting ice cream. (It was 10:00, and 50 degrees.)

And that is the end of our vacation story.

Remember,

La vie est courte, mais elle est large.

Now we are in San Francisco. I got these cool San Francisco notebooks from an Alcatraz gift shop. So obviously we went to Alcatraz. That was a little creepy, honestly. Especially the "dark isolation cell block D" cells. There were also a lot of seagulls. My mom recorded them, and might be planning to use the recording as her ringtone. (I can see that being SO annoying in the future.)

We also went to pier 39, where there is a bunch of stuff (stores and restaurants and things). Yesterday, we went to this place that had a bunch of old arcade and pier games, which was really cool. There were fortuneteller machines, racing games, strength testers, pinball machines, etc. It was all pretty cool.

My parents have these fancy pedometers, and we walked about 17,000 steps and 69 flights of stairs. (San Francisco has WAY too many hills.) So now I'm kind of exhausted, and we're just relaxing and watching TV. Right now, I'm watching something with John Green on it. At our hotel, they don't tell you the actual channel, they just say Comedy, Drama, Kids, Food, etc.

Speaking of John Green, I recently finished Paper Towns. I liked it, although the storyline was eerily similar to Looking for Alaska. 8/10.

So I'm kind of tired, and I'm going to stop writing now.

Apprécier les choses douces dans la vie. <3

A pic of me and my mom at Disneyland! (And don't worry, I totally have hair: it's in a french braid :* And please ignore the tired children in the background.) I have to say, it was kind of disappointing after having gone to Disney World. My final reactions? The Matterhorn is overrated. Space Mountain is the holy grail of Disneyland rides. It's a Small World made me totally nastalgic for the days where I had nothing else to do but watch Disney movies, princess and otherwise (I'm looking at you, Lilo and Stitch.) I wish we could've spent more time there. We left as the Frozen float was getting ready to start the parade. We might go back for the fireworks, but that's a little unlikely. Right now I'm just trying to deal with the massive sunburn this whole day gave me. Apparently, my spf 30 has failed me.

Until I type again,

Puissent vos jours soient pleins de bonheur. :)

So this is the first chance I've had to write, but we are now in LA, visiting my aunt and uncle. We started at Las Vegas, where my youngest brother found a $50 bill on the floor of a casino, and then we went to the Grand Canyon, where my other little brother got food poisoning and fainted the next day during breakfast. So, actually he missed the Grand Canyon, and the train ride to the Grand Canyon. So it's been a little up and down so far. We stayed at the New York- New York hotel/casino at Las Vegas. It was nice, except for the whole 5-people-in-a-4-person-room thing. We got these really good crêpes one morning at a restaurant in the hotel. My younger brother and I got nutella and banana, my mom and youngest brother got bacon and egg, and my dad, I don't remember what he got, but I remember him eating the other half of everyone else's crepes as well as his own. But so now we are in Los Angeles. It's kind of void of life so far, to be honest. I guess I'll find out later what people like about it so much.

I think I forgot to write about this, but I'm leaving for Nevada, Arizona, and California tomorrow with my family. We're flying to Las Vegas, then driving around to see some stuff, and then we end up at the Grand Canyon. Then we're going to California. I'm not sure what we're doing in any order, but a list: Disney Land, Alcatraz, Hollywood, visiting my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kris, and visiting where my dad grew up before his family moved here. It's going to be really fun, hopefully, and also, unfortunately, really, really hot. I've plugged some of our stop points into my Weather app, and it's going to be 104 degrees in Las Vegas while we're there, and 108 at the Grand Canyon when we end up there. But anyways, I'll probably post some pictures from vacation. But I also might not post anything, depending on if I can get my tablet to work well, since I'm not bringing my computer.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packing for vacation!!!

Thinking about redoing my room. I'll probably paint it either light blue or a cream/ivory kind of color. It's light green right now, and it's a little too fruit punch for me. I'm also moving furniture around. It's going to be kind of hard, because I have a small room, and a window that's too tall to put any furniture on the better part of a wall, but I'll figure something out.

Just went to the beach! It's a little further away than I'd like, but a mile and a half isn't so long when you're riding your bike. So, I went down to the beach, and I was literally the only person there, probably because it was insanely windy. I set up my towel and made a little pit for my diet pepsi so it wouldn't fall over. Then, I just listened to music, read my book, and snacked on pretzels for a while. I skipped some rocks, and got my feet a little wet, too. And this actually happened yesterday, because I forgot to post this, but yeah, you get the point. It was fun.

So, the fourth season of Pretty Little Liars is on Netflix now, just as the fifth season is starting on TV. It kind of bugs me, because I'm watching it on TV, and also on Netflix, because I'm a season behind, and it's like "Surprise! Allie is alive, which was probably the whole point of season 4! But you haven't seen the whole season yet! So you have no idea what's going on! Ha ha ha ha HA!" And I'm trying to watch all of season 4 before I get too far into season 5, but those are all like 40 minute episodes, and to be honest, it seems like each episode is just the same old problems as before, but with Spencer finding out a new bit of information each episode that doesn't seem to be useful. But what do I know. I'm on episode 7.



So. Tired. But. It's. Too. Hot. To. Sleep. Blarg.

If you think someone is too sensitive, does that mean you are justified in making them cry? If you know they're sensitive, is it okay if you try to make them cry? Nope. It just means that you are and will always be an awful and self-centered person.

Recital tonight. I'm so nervous, I could barf.

I just got back from my dance recital dress rehearsal. I spent six straight hours at a place filled with giggly three-to-seven-year-old girls, rude girls on the competition team, and a few moderately friendly people slightly younger than me who aren't on the competition team. The only point of dress rehearsal is to give you a chance to rip up your brand-new tights two days before the real recital. Most of the people who go to see the recitals are there, and they expect you to put on full makeup, so I don't really get the point of having both a dress rehearsal and a recital. I have tomorrow off, though, so I don't have to do anything for dance, which is a relief.

So I found this recipe online for making your own lip gloss. I thought it was pretty cool, and decided to give it a try. I had to use what I could find in my house, because I can't drive, and my parents don't like to drive. So, I used Vaseline (petroleum jelly), some mint extract, and shavings from an old lipstick. For a lip gloss container, I used a craft-store bottle cap from a previous craft adventure. In my pic, you can see the finished lip gloss in the bottle cap, a pipette I used to put in the mint extract, and the old lipstick I used for color. Results: it looks pretty good, and has an intense color from the lipstick. It smells really good, too, and the petroleum jelly makes it shiny. But it tastes like crap, and it's a little torturous for it to smell so good and taste awful. But that's how life works. I'll probably use this when I need a little color. It's not very long-lasting, and because of the petroleum jelly, it's a little messy to put on with fingers, so I'll definitely have to use a mirror, but I think it's pretty good for a first try.

Going to bed, so goodnight! xox

I just got a typewriter from my g-ma! She had a friend who was going to throw it away. So, it's a little broken. The apostrophe key doesn't work, and the correction tape key doesn't do anything, so all of my mistakes are out in the open, but it's still super cool, and so totally 80s. I tried it out a little, and it's pretty nifty. But putting it together was so funny. Because I have no idea how to put together a typewriter. I thought the ribbon was a cassette tape. When I pressed enter for the first time, the arm shot out and knocked my water over. So when I say "funny", I mean sad and totally embarrassing. It's obvious I'm a 90s child, right?

So I was on Instagram and I notice that there are some pics of people from school hanging out at restaurants and at the beach and stuff, and literally, instead of feeling left out like a normal person would, the first thought that came into my head was, "What? They're not allowed to do that. You can't just talk to people that you go to school with during summer. That's not how it works."

So that's the story of me losing touch with reality over summer break. It's only the second day, so be prepared for even worse insanity as summer goes on.

Also if you have a lot of free time, go ahead and check out my Instagram: 19paqstar

Procrastinating studying for finals and a last-minute social studies project.

My brothers are at 6th grade camp for three days! Peace! Quiet! The ability to study for finals! Oh, what a life!

 

I can't get this stupid song out of my head!

I just got really mad at my mom.

My brother was making fun of me, saying something like, “Sarah’s just going to sit in her room on the computer for the whole camping trip.” I normally wouldn’t have been offended. But this was coming from a little boy who spends hours each day playing on x-box, watching YouTube videos on his nook, playing games on his iPod, and watching TV. He is the one who actually never does anything when we go camping. I’m the one who has been a Girl Scout for eight years. I’m the one who knows what real camping is (which by the way is not what we are doing this weekend at all). So all I did was tell him to stop saying mean things like that. I didn’t say why, because I would get into trouble for accusing him of things that are completely true (even though he got into no trouble whatsoever for accusing me of something that will be the opposite of true).

My amazing mother then proceeded to tell me that I was too sensitive, and could never take a joke, and it was probably true anyway, and she bets that I’ve never laughed anything off, and I was totally overreacting, and no one else would get offended by that, and how she knows that because she knows everybody and all the people that she knows are way more significant than the people I know that I claim would take offense to such an innocent joke.

This made my brother say something along the lines of “Yeah, jeez, Sarah.” So, my mom, by having a problem with what I took offense to, has allowed my brother to disregard my wishes of to not be made fun of. So she has basically given him the go-ahead to insult me again.

The worst part is, that when I tried to stress the importance of the fact that while she has issues with what I am offended by, I was nevertheless offended by it, and since I asked for that kind of “joke” not to be repeated, I should be listened to, she totally changed topics and launched into the general “You are an irrational bratty ungrateful teenager who is stupid and dramatic and too uptight” speech.

I can honestly never get my point across in an argument, because every time we argue, and she can’t win because I am making sense, she goes into that whole rant and I eventually have to just stop talking to her because eventually one of us would go crazy.

She has the weirdest logic, too. She has literally admitted, on several occasions, that she won’t take anything I say seriously until I’m an adult. Like I’m going to just suddenly start being right when I turn 18? I think she has this idea that I’ll someday see how irrational I’m being, and thank her for constantly making fun of me, lowering my self-esteem, and ruining any respect anyone ever had for me. Ha!

But honestly, this all really hurts me. I’ll never be able to get my brothers to stop making fun of me because they’re “allowed to” now. I’ll never believe in myself because she always doubted me. I will never have good self-esteem because after she has been insulting me for years, I sometimes believe that what she says is true. It’s really weird. Even though she has never respected me, liked me, or cared about me, I still want to make her proud, and to show her that I’m not what she says I am. It’s sort of like a bully at school whose opinion you can’t stop caring about (girls will be familiar with this).

I try not to post stuff like this, but this whole thing really just grinds my gears. (Something my dad would say, but I won’t start talking about him, too.) I really just needed to write it all down, to get it out. I’m posting it because it’s a part of who I am, and I couldn’t just leave it without feeling like I was ignoring or avoiding a big issue.

Jusqu’à la fois prochaine.

Double Standards

If you have parents, then there are definitely some double standards in your life. This goes even more when you have younger siblings. Today I will share with you some of the ridiculous double standards in my life.

1. If my brother hits me, and I am actually hurt, and I say something about it, I am too sensitive. But if I poke him, and he starts whining about me hitting him although I did not, and he is obviously not hurt, I am yelled at.

2. If I leave my door closed, I am yelled at for being "too antisocial" and I am "a part of this family so start acting like it". But if I leave my door open, it is totally okay for people to just step in whenever they want, even if I am doing homework or an extremely important essay and cannot be bothered.

3. If I work all day (housework, yardwork, homework, etc.) and then in the evening I want to watch a movie on Netflix in my room, I am a "lazy, ungrateful brat", though this person saw me working, and commented on how hard I was working.

4. My parents yell at me for staying in my room for most of the day (weekends and most of summer), but if I go downstairs, I am yelled at for bothering someone while they have very important work to do (which, besides actual work, may be things like knitting, Sudoku, or checking Facebook).

I decided to write this down because these things have really been bothering me. I'm not totally sure how I'm supposed to act around my family now, because everything I do turns out to be wrong. So I'm just kind of depressed about this right now.

Just found out I'm going to Salt Fork next weekend for camping! Yay! We'll be in a cabin, so it's not like if it rains (which it probably will) we'll have nothing to do. Also, we haven't gone anywhere since Thanksgiving, when we went to visit my cousins in New Jersey. So I'm really glad to get out of here. :)

I just got back from dance class, and we now have all of our costumes for the recital coming up. All I have to say, is YIKES. My costumes for ballet and tap, while pretty, don't go with the dances at all. My jazz costume makes me look like a stripper. And my pointe costume has this weird netting on the tutu. The netting doesn't seem so bad, until you accidentally brush your hand against it while moving to a different arm position, and your arm is captured and it sort of looks like you're caught in a fish net. So, yeah. Not my favorite year for dance ever. I definitely got better costumes when I was in the production group, but I guess they're a priority. The worst part is that it's not like there's not any other costume options. It's just that we all look totally different, and they have to find costumes that make us look the same. (By different I mean we all have radically different body types: short and stout, tall and toothpick-y, tall and curvy, short and skinny-to-healthy, etcetera.) I'm so glad that I have all of my dances on one night this year. I'll wear these costumes once, and never have to think about them again... hopefully. Going to go find a soda. I might be back later.

Reading again. :D

Also dying of heat/humidity/whatever-this-evil-weather-is-called. :P

At least it's Friday. :)

I went on a walk with my dog, and on the way back to my house, he walked into the street and lay down in the road. He probably needed a break, because it was so hot, but it kind of freaked me out because we were walking on a fairly busy street. So, I went over to him and pet him a little and gave some words of encouragement, and we continued on home.

This doesn't really have a point. I just thought it was a sort of funny story.

I don't like Mondays, but probably not for the reason you're thinking. It's just that they're not Tuesdays.

WARNING: Never watch The Starving Games. My brothers' friend (who is like 11) recommended it because he thought it was funny. (Note: after watching this, I'm concerned about why he would actually recommend this. It really should have been rated R or something.) So we decided to watch it. As a family.

He really should have warned us that it is a movie you do not watch with your parents. And also really weird.

I think I might actually be psychologically scarred now. Also because there were actors that I knew in it. The mean girl in Mean Girls 2. Paisley from Ant Farm at the beginning. Random other actors that I knew but can't remember now while I'm typing this. All of them doing and saying many gross and weird things.

Honestly, most of it would have been funny, if my parents weren't watching it with me five feet away. Except for some of it.

Scarred for life.

Just got back from the SAT. Ugh. That was awful. Four hours in a room with people who knew each other but that I did not know, taking a test that actually matters. And the only thing in which I am remotely confident that I did well in is the essay. Which doesn't really count so much. My dilemma.

I'm so tired of having to choose between getting a warm shower and getting enough sleep to function. My brothers take showers at 9:00, even though they're supposed to at 8:30. I have to take a shower at 9:15 to get enough sleep. (It takes a while for me to wash my hair, and I wake up a lot earlier than them, too.) Very often, the shower is so cold that I literally can't stand in it for more than ten seconds without violently shivering. I could wait thirty minutes to an hour more for the water to warm up to a bearable temperature, but then I wouldn't get to sleep until 11:30 or so. (It also generally takes me 45 minutes to an hour to fall asleep... so...) So I would only get at most six hours of sleep (and generally not even this because I wake up a lot at night when I'm stressed, and during school, this is most of the time.) Just really sick of all of this! (Going to go to bed now--- yay for seven hours of sleep!)

Have you ever been so jealous of someone that every time you look at them, you want either them or you to die?

Complicated

:L

Transcendence

I went to see Transcendence with my whole family a few hours ago. (It's a thing we'll do on break days when none of us has something to do.) That was a freaky movie. I honestly didn't really understand the story at all, because even the actors seemed confused about what was going on, but it was entertaining. I mean, Morgan Freeman and Johnny Depp? That would probably make any movie entertaining. It was pretty cool, though, especially the special effects. Rate: 6 out of 10.

We all went out to Eat 'n Park afterwards. I got a cheeseburger and a milkshake, but then immediately regretted it because I had forgotten that all of the milkshakes in Mentor are gross. My dad made this big deal about how awesome the cod was, but I'm like, in my head, 'How awesome can it be? It's fish.' Maybe it's just me, but seafood is gross.

Also, I'm 14.75 today. Go me. :)

Why Today is Awesome

          So, first off, today is awesome because I don't have school and I was finally able to catch up with the sleep that I lost stressing out about the end of the grading period. Yay! Also, it's about sixty degrees outside, and that in general just makes today two times better.
          Also, I just went to the dollar store, and got caramel, twizzlers, yorks, and two kinds of gum for $5. And then the cashier said that she remembered me from a play I did last summer, and that I was a good dancer. So I'm in a good mood. (And I have a fan! Weeee!)
          Today is just really good because there is nothing that I have to do, and I can enjoy it however I want.

I know this is probably a weird thing to start talking about, but the weather is really bugging me. Like, today it's 73 and overcast, and on Tuesday it's going to be like 34 and snowing. MAKE UP YOUR MIND. I'm starting to wear shorts and break out the flip-flops, and now I have to dig out my snow boots again... :P

I'm ridiculously tired and my dog just wants to play... :(

School started again. Blech.

          My mom and I went to see the Divergent movie today. I guess it wasn't as bad as I expected, but then, it did not live up to expectations set by the book (which I guess is hard to do when a movie is based off of a book). Character development was a little weak, and I felt like a lot of the plot was lost when the audience didn't know Tris' thoughts, especially on choosing a faction.
          They left out the eye stabbing, part of the aptitude test, and the capture the flag guns change from paintballs to darts that simulate what a real gunshot feels like. I also kept getting Will, Al, and Peter confused. They looked really similar. It was sort of creepy.
          Personally, I think that if you haven't read the book, you could probably still watch the movie, but you might have some questions. So, after the movie, you might want to read the book. My dad and little brothers are going to see the movie next weekend, and they haven't read the book. My mom and I went alone this weekend to see if the movie was appropriate for eleven year old boys. I think it's not, because it really is a teenage girl kind of movie, I think. But they thought The Hunger Games was okay, so I guess we'll see.
          I rate the movie seven out of ten. Despite all of the things I have mentioned, there were some good effects to the movie that made you get into the simulations, and that sort of thing, and the movie did tell most of the story.
          I honestly wonder how the critics will see this movie. If they have read the book, the rating will probably be less, but it really depends on how many people watching the movie have read the book, and how many haven't. Based on the advertising and previews, though, I think it will be more people who have read the book. The previews don't explain that much about the story, and so I think the people who have read the books and know the story are more likely to see the movie.

Ridiculously Awful Nail Polish

         So I painted my nails this gorgeous dark blue, and then used a nail polish pen to make white dots on my ring fingers, (which turned out surprisingly well, even though I'm not ambidextrous) and then I put a clear polish coat on top so it wouldn't chip. And it didn't chip exactly. But I spent an hour painting and drying my nails.........
         

Only to have six fingers of polish peel up and fall off while I was in the shower.

 

          I don't know what I really expected with cheap jelly bean scented nail polish, but this was just so ridiculous, I had to say something about it. (Also, I only found five of the six pieces... I have the feeling I'm going to find the missing piece in my hair tomorrow... Ew...)

          I'm just so irritated, because I spent so long doing my nails and they looked pretty good, and now I have nothing to show for all of my hard work. (Say what you might about painting nails being "hard work", but I had to repaint my right ring finger three times because my left hand kept messing up the dots.)

          Needless to say, I will not be using this nail polish again:

 



          So my mom is reading the Divergent series now. I finished the series over winter break, but now I have to wait for her to get into the second book before we can go see the movie.
          Personally, I think this whole "dystopian fiction" thing is getting out of hand. Yes, it's a little fun to imagine how terribly awful our country and world will be in the years to come, and I'm sure there are quite a few ways that could go, but after a while, everything starts to sound the same.
          In Divergent, what bothers me the most is that it's not so different from every other dystopian fiction book. People are separated into organized places, some fighting/dying goes on as part of everyday life, there is political corruption, rebellion/war happens, and in the end people realize how totally pointless it all is.
          And, of course, the mandatory love interest: Four.
          The book to movie thing kind of bugs me, too. Because honestly, Shailene Woodley looks nothing like Tris is supposed to, except for being blonde. (And don't even get me started on Shailene Woodley playing Hazel in "The Fault in Our Stars". The snark is killing me. And the haircut. And the shortness. I'm just really depressed about this because "The Fault in Our Stars" is one of my favorite books, and I thought it would be awesome if they made a movie, and then it goes and turns out like that.)
          So, anyway, we'll probably end up seeing the movie tomorrow or sometime next weekend. I'm also trying to persuade mom to let me go shopping. I need floral prints. And dresses. Because I apparently grew the half-inch more that made three of my favorite dresses look "too low" on the neckline and "too high" on the hem. Sigh.
          Also shoes. Because shoes.
          So I leave you with some pictures of my disappointments for today.

 

Love this!

 

I really want to make this! But we are lacking anything sweet here... :(

My mom is going to a knitting convention called Knitter's Fantasy. This is her spinning wheel, in a giant backpack (and that's me, modelling the 2014-2015 school year's trend in backpacks for high school students with over five hours of homework each night). I think it's kind of dorky that she is only 49 and she's already taken up knitting and spinning, but I guess that everyone needs a hobby. (That just isn't going to be one of mine...)

I think this is called an introduction

          So... I figured I should get more involved with this whole "blog" thing, at least as a way to collect my opinions. And I do have a lot of opinions. I'm probably also going to post pictures. And random things I find on Tumblr. And stuff about my dog, Baxter. (He's a peka-poo, aka a Pekingese-poodle mix, and he is also the cutest dog in existence.)
          I might also post some things about books, or clothes, or movies, or whatever. Because I'm a teenager and I think about these things.
          Some things about me: I'm fourteen right now, drastically taller than all of my friends, and I am really good at (sigh) math. My favorite color is purple (officially, but sometimes it's green, orange, blue, or red, too, because my favorite color changes with my mood). I also might abandon this blog for months at a time because nothing interesting is happening, I have no time, or I forgot I made a blog. (It's happened before.) I play tennis, go to dance class four hours per week, play violin, and am a Girl Scout. (And no, I am not too old. You have to stay in it this long to get to the real community work. Although this doesn't really help during cookie selling season.)
          I have two little brothers who are eleven (they're twins, but the fraternal kind so it's not as interesting as it sounds). It's sort of funny, because one has blond hair, blue eyes, and doesn't really talk to people that much, and the other has brown hair, brown eyes, and talks to everyone ALL THE TIME. They like most sports (except they don't play football, and I'm kind of thankful for that because there are a lot of creeps at my school who play football). They also like x-box games where many people die in many different ways.
          My mom and dad both work at the same place. My dad is a chemical engineer, and my mom works in supply chain. She doesn't really like her job that much, but it works.
          That's all there really is to my life right now.

An Afterthought:

          Also, it's really cold and rainy here right now. It's depressing. We got out of ridiculous blizzards and dangerously low temperatures to get weather that resembles hurricanes. Thank you ever so much, Nature.

          So that was my rant for today.