Christmas time

I don't have anymore finals so I am finally out for Christmas break. Today I plan on chilling at my house and then going to basketball practice. I can't wait for Christmas to get here. I love hanging out with my family and friends on the holidays and decorating the house. It is always really fun. We usually visit both sets of grandparents on Christmas eve to open presents. This year is going to be a little weird because my mothers parents have both passed away and it will be our first Christmas without either of them. I still think it is going to be great though. I haven't asked for anything. I didn;t make a list for my parents or my grandmother so I have no clue what I'm going to get. i still haven't bought any gifts so today I guess i will go shopping. I will at least get Austin's gift for my church Christmas party this Sunday. Merry Christmas everyone!

The Adventures of the Psychology Project

The Psychology Fair for my class was last Thursday and everything had to be done by 4th period including a presentation board and a 3 page essay. I had yet to start on this project until Wednesday night. That was probably one of the stupidest things I have ever done considering we had a whole semester to work on it and it had to be done in 12 hours. On my way home from basketball practice I got prepared for my all nighter by stopping by the gas station and getting a red bull, a bottle of sierra mist, some gummies, and some sweet tarts. The lady at the register looked at me like I was crazy. I finally got home and started working on my project at about 7. I seemed to be getting nowhere with the essay so I decided to print some things off.

I found the pictures that I needed to go along with my information, but I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste it. This is not because I am totally clueless with computers. Microsoft Word just wasn't working. It wouldn't even let me type. I was so mad at the computer but I didn't have any time to waste so I called my dad and asked him what to do. He was in town and told me he would fix it when he got home. Waiting until late wasn't really an option for me so I told him I would figure it out and when I hung up the phone I threw it across the room into the kitchen counter. Red paint no longer exists on the top of my phone.

Lucky for me, my sister came to the rescue and informed me that we didn't even have Microsoft Word. We had Open Office instead. I was relieved beyond belief. Finally, I printed off some pictures and placed them on my board to see how it looked. It was about 2% covered. Looking at the sad board kind of depressed me so I moved on to the essay again. I wrote about the different lobes in the brain and finally seemed to be finished with the writing. Now all I had to do was transfer my information to my presentation board.

My parents got home pretty late that night as I was making my brain. I had everything out all I had to do was look at the instructions. When I found the paper that told me how to make the brain I realized that I was missing a crucial ingredient. I didn't have any fat free condensed milk. That is what makes the brain look solid and it helps it stay together. My mom was so mad at me because she was at Wal-Mart before she came home. She wouldn't even talk to me for a while. So at 11:15 PM I drove out to Wal-Mart to buy some milk for my brain. I decided that it was a good time for some extra energy so I had my Red Bull on the way. I got in and out of that place as fast as I could and returned home around midnight. I had to make the brain quick because it took all night to form in the fridge.

I continued working on my project for a couple of hours and at about 2 I tried to find a suitable outfit for the fair. I found some black slacks and a pretty top. This was exciting because I had it all picked out and I didn't even have to wash it. The final step to being finished was very near. I had to print of a few more pictures and paragraphs and then paste them onto my board. Unfortunately, everything that could go wrong...did. My papers were printing out real funky looking. The black ink was messing up. I didn't understand how that was possible because my dad had just changed the ink cartridge not too long ago. I didn't know what else to do and I couldn't wait until the morning so I slowly walked into my parents room and woke my father up. He didn't seem to happy to be up at 3 in the morning to fix the printer. He spent around 30 minutes staring at the printer with a puzzled look on his face, but finally succeeded in getting it to print correctly.

For the next hour I cut paper and stuck it to my board with double sided sticky tape. My back began to hurt so bad. Ethan texted me and told me about his progress which actually made me feel a lot better. He didn't have much done and I was almost finished.

I believe I finally got to go to sleep at 4:30 but it didn't really matter because all I was going to get was an hour of sleep. The next day we had the fair and everything was a success. People liked my brain and were impressed with the color and organization of my board even though information kept falling off. I was so proud of myself for finishing this daunting task and never again will I wait until the day before to start on a project of this magnitude.

SANTA

I found out that Santa wasn't real when I was about 7 or 8. For Christmas I got a really cool green scooter. It was labeled from Santa and I was so excited. My sister got one too and we played with them all the time. Unfortunately the scooters are what gave away Santa. We were putting all the decorations up in the attic and I found two boxes with the pictures of our brand new scooters on them. I threw the boxes back into the attic and pretended like I didn't see them, but I knew that the gifts had actually been from my parents.

Future =/

Lately I've been wondering what the big deal about grades was. I've been slacking a lot and I honestly just haven't cared as much as I used to. I keep getting the same score on my ACT and that is really beginning to frustrate me. I had decided that I wasn't really going to care about grades anymore and I was going to focus on getting at least B's. I wasn't ready for the bomb that my parents dropped on me today. We were eating Subway and all of a sudden my mom looked at me and asked, "Would you like to trade your old car in for a new one?" I was confused and asked her what exactly she was talking about. She said that they would give me a nice new car, whatever I wanted, if I could get a ridiculously good scholarship to college. That means that I have to improve my ACT score by a lot and get as many A's as possible. Right now I have a GPA of 3.97. My mom said that it has to stay that way and I don't know if I can do that. It looks like I have a rough road ahead of me, but if I work hard I will have a new car to drive on the real roads with.

Basketball Season Starts

We have been practicing and conditioning for the past few months and it is finally going to pay off. Our first official game of the season is tomorrow. We play Edmonson County and I am super excited. We've had a few scrimmages, but that's never the same as a real game. We finally get to see how good we are and how are season is going to go. I play JV and Varsity so I can't wait to play. I enjoy playing JV more because I feel like I have more control in those games, but the Varsity games are what I care more about. They are just more important and a lot more exciting to watch. I think we are going to be pretty good this season. Our 4 seniors are all just amazing. I can't wait to see how it plays out tomorrow. We leave right after school and it's a long bus ride there. I am going to have to bring my homework with me because I won't have any time to do it when I get home after we play. It will be around 10 most likely by the time I get home. I hope we play hard and win tomorrow!

Hanging of the Greens

Every year the youth group of our church hosts a special service. Its called Hanging of the Greens and it is basically the kick off to the Christmas season. We don't like to admit it, but we are always freaked out about speaking in front of so many people. There was about 60 people there tonight. We each get a few parts, some speaking and some parts that lead a song. I always pick speaking parts because I'm better at talking in front of people than singing even though we aren't required to sing into the mic. Regardless of what parts I had, I was still nervous. I was so freaked out that I started shaking. About halfway through the service my cousin started mouthing something to me. I looked over at Austin to try to figure out what he was saying but he didn't know either. He finally made a motion that looked like he was taking a drink of something and pointed at the pulpit. I then realized that I had left my water bottle on top of the pulpit. It wasn't too big of a deal, but when you are hosting a service the little things kind of get to you. We developed a strategy to try and get the bottle without anyone noticing and I think we succeeded. The next person up to speak took it down while he was talking. It went down very smoothly. After all of my parts were over I was able to relax. The only thing I had to worry about was keeping a straight face. Austin insisted on singing Joy to the World and Silent Night in his high-pitched voice. I wasn't able to sing along because I would've busted out laughing. We had to add a little bit of humor in order to keep from having panic attacks. All in all the service was a success. No one tripped and fell in front of the congregation and we got through all of our parts without messing up any words...too badly. Continuously gave one kid some trouble, but we got many good comments and were happy to have it all over with.

Genetics Update

Every year some students get the chance to go to the genetics update at Brescia to learn about new discoveries. Our Biology class was among these students, but I think the main reason for attending was the lunch we received afterwards. At the beginning of the lecture, we were told that we wouldn't understand everything and that we were college kids for the next couple of ours. I was excited about playing "college" but I didn't comprehend anything the man said. The only thing we had actually talked about in class was phagocytosis and he spoke about that topic for about 2 minutes. The highlight of his speech for me was when he used one of our vocab. words. He said fortuitously and my whole row looked at each other whispering "I know that word!" I think we were surprised and very proud of ourselves for learning something even though it had nothing to do with genetics. After the 4 hours were finally over we took the bus over to Buffalo Wild Wings and had a delicious lunch. Getting to eat here and getting out of class all day was exactly why we all went. I think it was worth sitting through that whole genetics update, but I still don't know if I will be going next year.

Dumplings

So for Thanksgiving the only thing I have really wanted to eat was dumplings. They are the best thing ever created. My grandmother made them all the time and they were delicious. I couldn't wait for Thanksgiving dinner this year. When I woke up yesterday I couldn't find anything that might be used for the preparation of my chicken and dumplings. I was afraid my mother had forgotten all about it, but she didn't. My mom asked me to cook them, which probably wasn't such a good idea. I can't cook at all. I burn just about everything I touch. Thankfully they turned out nice and everyone enjoyed them.

Halloween

I don't know how fun Halloween is actually going to be this year. My parents won't be in town so I have been told that I am either going to church for a trunks and treats thing that we do or I have to stay home. I really don't want to stay home, but Trunks and Treats isn't much fun at my church because there aren't many kids around my age that attend my church. We have a youth group of about 5. They are all younger than me and one of them is my sister. I also just found out that I have to work this weekend. We were supposed to be shutting down the drive in after last weekend, but they decided to go one more week because of some business deal with a movie. This weekend should be our last, but I'm still not happy that I will be behind a concession stand selling popcorn on Halloween. I will probably get off pretty early, but that doesn't even matter because I'm not allowed to go anywhere. I will try to make the best of it, but I haven't figured out how that is possible yet.

Brains

So in Psychology we have a big project that is worth a lot of our grade for the semester. We have a lot of time to work on it and I honestly have no idea when we are supposed to be done. We each get to pick a different topic and research as much as we can about it. We then have to create a presentation about our topic and show it at the Psychology fair. My topic is going to be the human brain. Right now I'm thinking about discussing the different parts and functions of the brain. I told Jones about this and he gave me a good idea. He said I should make a jello brain and set it out in front of my presentation board. I could stick labels from the jello and have a model for everyone to look at. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't know how to make a jello brain. Jones, the nice person that he is, got online and found a brain mold and bought it. It came in a couple of days ago and I had to carry down the hallway when the last bell rang. I thought I looked ridiculous. I was right. When I walked in the locker room I got many weird looks. Ginger stared at it and said, "What...is that?" I think they were a little confused and creeped out. I haven't had time to try it out this week, but I have been ordered to make a brain this weekend. I won't let Jones down. I think I will even take a picture of it as proof.

Spanish

I have neglected to do my spanish homework all week. I haven't really meant to. I just forget or run out of time. My spanish teacher is a really nice person and she understood how stressed out everyone was this week so I don't think she is gonna be too mad about our lack of work. She actually came up to me and asked if I was overwhelmed. I told her yes and explained to her ecerything I had to do this week. She told me that I shouldn't worry too much about it. I should get what I can done, but if I can't do it then it's not a big deal. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the big scheme of things.

Stress

This week has been really stressful. It seems like all of the teachers assigned more homework and had no sympathy for us. I'm not going to lie, the English projects really stressed me out. It was a lot due in one week and I'm not the kind of person who spreads out the work load. I try to do all of it a couple of days before. That didn't work out for me too well. I think next time I am going to have to work on it a little each day.
It's kind of obvious that I procrastinate. Right now I am furiously blogging because I need a few more in the month of October. I should really get on top of my procrastination issues. I'm just lucky that basketball practice didn't worry me all week. Last year that was what stressed me out the most. I think I'm less stressed about that because I'm a junior and actually know what I am doing unlike the years before.

Saturday

I had to wake up at 8 Saturday morning. I was not a happy camper because I like to sleep in until at least 12 on Saturdays. But I didn't have a choice because I was going to a street weep for Beta Club at Apollo. It was freezing cold that morning and no one acted like they wanted to be there. We were given gloves and trash bags and were then sent down Tamarack to pick up trash. We started out trying to make it fun by singing and dancing, but that ended when Chassidy walked backwards into a puddle. She almost fell on her back. It was pretty funny. So we decided to split the street to make the work go by faster. Our side definitely won the battle of who could find the most interesting things. We were walking by a creepy house when we looked down and found two needles on the ground. We got excited because we knew that we had instantly won our trash battle. Two feet later we found rubbing alcohol. We started to get a little freaked out and were hoping that no one would come out of their house and attack us. It wasn't people that we had to worry about though. We should have been more concerned with canines. A huge dog with a bum leg, which did not hinder the running ability, came out from behind a car and glared at us. Chassidy took off and was halfway down the street by the time I looked up. Hope and I decided that running was a plausible decision. Unfortunately the dog also thought that running would be a good idea. He chased us for a while down the street. It was so scary, but we got in some good exercise. We had a lot of fun that day. I don't think many people can top our story of what happened to us when we tried to help out society.

Does Everything Happen For a Reason?

I don't really know if things happen for a reason anymore. Why do so many young people have to die? Is there really a point in that? I mean honestly, how does that make the world a better place? I don't think it does. These people had so many things going for them and so many people cared for them. Think about all of their friends and family that will have to grieve over it. They will never get to grow up or have a future. Their lives were cut short and it just doesn't seem fair. I don't think there is really a reason that it happened. I think it just does. We have no control and it happens randomly. There isn't a point to it.

And what about signs? Do things happen to grab your attention or are they merely coincidences. I have a hard time believing that everything can just be coincidental. I think I got a sign yesterday, but then again it could just be a coincidence. I honestly don't know. Life can be so confusing...

Sad

I feel like there is a depressed mood hovering over the whole school. I don't really understand why these things are happening. We have had so many car accidents recently. It just doesn't seem fair. It is really hard to watch everyone grieving. Some people are being so strong though. I can't believe certain people are even at school. They are dealing with this extremely well and I am so proud of them. Lunch is really sad too. I think everyone is just in a depressed mood right now. I know it will all be okay, but it is so hard to see their reactions. I don't know what to say or if I should even say anything.



It scares me so much because this could have been anyone. I am known for speeding a little too much and now I have realized that there is no reason for it. I don't speed anymore even if I am late for something. It just isn't worth the risk.

Be careful everyone. Please wear your seatbelts and stay safe.

Shoes

I don't really know what my obsession with sneakers is, but for some reason all of my paychecks go to shoes. My second pair got here today. They are green, yellow, and orange. I'm pretty excited about these because they are so bright. I wore my rainbow shoes to school today. Destinee wants to steal them. She said she will take them while I am sleeping. I think she is serious.
Right now I'm looking at shoes while I'm blogging. The purple and blue ones are looking pretty good so I think I'm going to get them. I love buying shoes. It always makes me feel better when I get a new pair of shoes. I have no clue why, but it somehow lifts my spirits. I guess it is a good thing my parents don't make me pay for my gas all by myself. I would either be going places without shoes or staying at home, but with a pretty cool pair of sneakers. I think I would buy shoes either way. Talking about sneakers is getting me excited so I'm going to go look at some more now.

Pepsi vs. Coke

So I'm sitting in the office for study hall quite disappointed that my desire to restock the fridge has not been fulfilled. Micah and I went on an adventure full of restocking only to be denied by someone of whom I will not release the name (Mrs. Hayden ). She said that we had no beverages to be restocking with. Our sad faces turned into looks of curiosity. Why are there no beverages to restock with? Well, the answer is that we are switching to Coke products rather than Pepsi. Why? Who knows, but the point here is that there are no cokes to put in the refrigerator. We are still sad. Why does it even matter what kind of cokes we get??

Is there really a difference between the two?
I'm not going to lie, if I had a choice I might pick one over the other, but if I was stranded in a desert and the land happened to be abundant with a different brand I don't think I would be complaining. But anyways, is there really a difference between these two rivaling products. Let's see...

Well technically the definition of Coke is...a cola-based soft drink containing caffeine and sugar

and the definition of Pepsi is...a brand of carbonated cola non-alcoholic drink produced by the company Pepsi

The only difference seems to be the name unless Coke contains alcohol that I am unaware of.

It has been thought that Pepsi is sweeter and liked by most, but Coke is the preferred beverage when drinking a whole can. I think it is ridiculous that we have such a big controversy over this. I think it is just a pride thing. Kind of like how republicans and democrats can be. The rivalry can become a meaningless hatred of one another and have no true purpose. I think this is what has happened to Coke and Pepsi. They don't know why they are fighting, it just seems to be the right thing to do. I think they should just make up and perhaps combine to form a super-coke like Coca-Pepsi. Oh wait, that would just be RC. Speaking of RC, where does it fit into all of this? I mean, it has been great since 1905, but remains in the shadows of Pepsi and Coke. This is just unfair. RC deserves more credit than it gets. It has Sunkist, which is the orangey goodness of the world. You just can't beat it. Good for you RC! You are the underdog that will end up taking over the beverage industry whenever Coke and Pepsi self-destruct during their epic battle. Congrats!

Well if we ever make it through our quest to restock I will let you know, but for now I will just sit here deeply disappointed as Micah snorts and grabs her suspenders.

Biology Vocabulary

Oh how Biology homework pains me. I think Bates enjoys causing pain to others through new words. It wouldn't be too bad if there were'nt so many of them. Last night I wrote down and defined 52 vocab words. It took me about 2 hours to finish all of them. They aren't even easy words either. They are words like lysosomes and cytoskeleton. These words are so confusing. I do not enjoy learning the parts of cells. But I have learned that 1 out of 25 people have "webbage" which is webbing between the toes. That is a surprisingly high number of webbed-toed people. I'm pretty sure that is all I learned today in Biology class, but at least I learned something.

Pondering

I am big on pondering. I like to take time out of the day and just think about things. When I'm stressed out I tend to go into my own little world where I'm deep in thought. Lately I've been thinking a lot and people think that there is something wrong with me, but honestly I am just trying to figure things out in my head. I think best while I'm driving and at lunch for some reason. When I'm driving while deep in thought I tend to swerve so I try not to do that as much. I don't view it as waisting time. Sitting down and thinking helps me get through my day. I've solved huge problems in a short amount of time just because i decided to sit down and think about it. It's also a great relaxing technique. I'm not worried about what's going on around me. I am focused on my thoughts and stress free.

Television

Okay so does it get on anyone else's nerves that all of the TV shows start back up at the same time? My TiVo is so full that it is not even funny. We have about 7 shows to record on Thursdays. But I honestly don't know what I would do without TiVo. I'm so busy that I have to watch all my shows after they have already come on. If I had to watch them when they aired I would be in trouble. Here is a list of all of my shows in a week:

Monday- House, Big Bang Theory, Castle
Tuesday- Hell's Kitchen
Wednesday- Glee, Real World, Top Chef: Las Vegas
Thursday- Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Fringe, Vampire Diaries, Bones
Friday- Mentalist, Medium

I just don't understand why we have to have all of our enjoyment at the same time. Why can't we spread out all of these shows and have bliss all the time?

Another problem I have with my shows is that I can't watch the new season of House yet. I missed the 5th season so I bought it last Sunday and now I'm trying to catch up. I have watched 5 shows already in two nights so all in all I think I have been successful.

APUSH Test

We got our tests back in history class today. The highest grade in the class was an 80. I believe most people got around the 60's or 70's though. But of course I did not recieve a 60 or a 70. I got a 45 on this test. He gave us a 15 point grade, but my score was so low that it barely even helped. I think he was mad that we had all done so poorly, but we really just don't learn anything from the way he teaches. He asked for our input on how he should teach us and we told him we were very visual. I don't think he actually liked that we were criticizing his teaching skills. I told him that I just didn't learn anything in his class and he said he would resign and become a WalMart greeter because that was his goal in life. I'm glad he had a sense of humor about it, but I really do wish he could modify the way he teaches. I have all good grades except for the one in his class. I really hope I don't get my car taken away because of this class.

Money

Many people say money isn't important and that it doesn't matter how much money you have, but in today's society it really does matter. Having money makes a big difference in peoples' lives. It affects your happiness, your education, and basically everything. It makes such a big impact on people because it can improve your life drastically. Without money the whole world would go crazy. Buying and selling is a constant circle that keeps everything going in the right direction. Without money no one could ever gain anything and no one would own anything. It would be complete chaos. We need money in order to get what we want out of life. It shouldn't be our goal, but it can definitely help us reach that goal that we strive for.

Time to Get Serious

So this year, I haven't been too worried about my grades. I basically just didn't care. But I've looked at the rankings and noticed that I am pretty high up on the list. I think this has motivated me to keep my grades up and actually study for tests. I don't want to go down in rank at all. One thing I know I need to work on is procrastinating. I always wait to do my homework until the day its due. That just isn't going to fly anymore. I need to get serious about this stuff. The only bad grade I have right now is in AP U.S. History and I think I can bring it up if I study hard for future tests. I hope I just don't get too stressed out. When I get stressed, I pretty much lose it and go crazy. So I guess we will see how this whole plan works out in a couple of weeks.

Laughter

Laughter unifies us because it allows everyone to bond with each other. My friends make me laugh a lot. Especially when we create dances like to the song Party in the U.S.A. Oh such good times. We laugh about the littlest things though. It really doesn't take much for me to laugh. I am easily amused. I don't know if anyone else does this or not, but sometimes I start laughing with someone even though I have no idea why they are laughing. I can't really help myself. I guess I find laughter in itself funny. Humor is my favorite personality trait in people because they can at least make you laugh and have fun. Laughter is one thing that I look forward to and expect every single day. I know it will never let me down. There is always room in your day to laugh at something.

I Can Drive

So I got my license. I was so nervous when I took my test, but it all worked out. A dog ran across the road though. I thought I was going to have a heart attack because I didn't need anymore distractions at this point. The examiner tried to make jokes, but I couldn't laugh along. But seriously, I am so glad I can drive now. I have so much more freedom now and I don't have to rely on my parents for everything. Driving to work by myself will be pretty great and so will leaving practice. I no longer have to wait for them to pick me up or drive me off. The only con to having a car and my license is having to drive my sister around and taking the freshmen on the team to eat before games. But I know I will be able to live with it because I can now drive!

Dum Dum Suckers

I know this is really random, but I love Dum Dum suckers. They are the best candy in the world. Especially the blue ones. I am going to get a HUGE bag to keep in my car this week so I can have them whenever I want. I love the way they turn your mouth colors too. That's really cool. My sister is excited about this plan also. I think I'm going to just hand them out to people when they pass my car. How cool would that be if some random person gave everyone free suckers? Well, as long as they weren't poisened or anything, it would be pretty cool.

Basketball is about to start up again. I can't wait. I have been so bored without playing basketball for the past month. But open gym starts next week and we get to play around a lot and get back into the habit of playing. I'm really excited about this season. We have some good freshman and I think we may do really well this year. I think the team is going to bond better than it has in past years too and that's a key component to a team. It will make us much stronger throughout the year.

Driving

I can't wait until I can drive. It will make everything so much easier. I won't have to rely on my parents so much and I will have so much more freedom. Work is also a big issue. I will finally be able to drive there myself and get there on time. I just hope I pass. Parallel parking is proving to be a bigger task than I anticipated, but I think I can manage. I'm really nervous about taking this test. Wish me luck!

Fun Weekend

So I work at the Drive In in Ohio County and working this weekend was by far the best weekend of work so far. We had a guy fill in as manager and he is the coolest guy ever. We weren't too busy during the first movie so we started messing around with spoons and hitting each other. Somehow it went from spoons to shooting popcorn kernals at each other with straws. It was so much fun. We were laughing really hard at things that weren't even funny. To make things even better, we started shooting our manager and instead of getting mad he came back at us with ice. Of course we had to clean it all up, but I think we would all agree that it was definitely worth it.

I am not like any of my relatives. Most of my relatives are either passive and shy or they tell you how it is straight up. Im more of a happy medium between these personalities. I don't let people walk all over me, but I don't put people down out of spite. Im glad that I am this way because I can stand up for myself without sounding like Im better than someone else. I stand out a lot from my family because I am probably the most outgoing of everyone. I am very spontaneous and I'm not afraid to give my opinion. This sets me apart from all of my relatives because they don't like to do things that get them out of their comfort zones.