Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Parts I and II

Well, I'm going to type some stuff now, and then finish this post later tonight after play practice so I can include what happens then, too. That way, I don't post twice and clog up y'all's dashboards, but I have time to post everything I want to say :) Because I am NOT going to type out a whole run-down of my day at 10pm tonight when I can barely keep my eyes open.

Wait...I can barely keep my eyes open now...

I am runnin' on adrenaline, people!

I'm pretty sure the schedule is about to become a thing of the past. I'm just too busy to crank out good advice, character sketches, awards, etc. on a daily basis right now :(

I still love "Mulan" SO MUCH and I'm definitley gonna cry when it's over in a little more than a week, lol :'( The school performance is a week from tomorrow, and the last show is a week from Sunday. This has been the most amazing and fun experience, and I treasure everyone I met. I'm going to miss them so much...

"I'll Make A Man Out Of You" is getting better and better. Shang still hit a couple of flat (I think XD) notes, but I'm confident that he'll fix that before showtime.

I have written absolutely, flat-out NOTHING that wasn't school-related for about two weeks. That's pretty bad, I know, but I'm so caught up in other stuff that I barely have time to miss it. I know once the play ends (*SOB!!*) I'll have more time, but I really don't want it to end. Really. I'm really tired all the time and I'm working on school until 11:30pm some nights, but it's all worth it! I love this play!

I'm trying to make this a balanced post with stuff about every aspect of my life, but somehow everything comes back to "Mulan".

The stuff that the cast is doing together is gonna be awesome. This Saturday, some people are going to a little coffee shop owned by one of the mom's of someone in the play. We're gonna eat stuff and maybe watch "Mulan" on the big TV :D :D :D I want to go SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO badly, but my mom says she'll have to see how I feel and how school is going for me. She thinks I'm wearing myself to a pulp, which maybe I am, but that's okay with me! *sigh* I can still see her point though. I'm going to work really hard in school and eat lots of healthy stuff so I "feel good" this Saturday :D :D :D

Oh, remember how last Saturday's practice was from 10-5? This one is from 2-7, so it isn't as long. Yeah. I don't know why I'm telling you this.

On opening night, we're all going to go to a Mexican restaurant together!! And then the day after opening night, we're going to a little pizza place. And then on the day of the last performance, we're gonna go to someone's house for hot dogs and chips and stuff!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!

I love these people and I want to spend as much time as possible with them before TIME'S UP! Because even if they all do plays in the future, this exact awesome cast will NEVER BE EXACTLY THE SAME TOGETHER EVER AGAIN!!!!!! I must CARPE DIEM and enjoy everything to absolute highest degree NOW NOW NOW!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

O.O

Wow. I'm not wound tight right now or anything...

Okay, end Post Part I.

PART II:

It is after play practice. Hmm. Shang and Mulan still have a ways to go before they have all their lines down at the end :- Yikes. We go on in 8 days. The director was not exactly pleased with our progress.

Other things happened, but I think I will document them in my journal and not on the blog :P

Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Forget the Four Ls, Breathing is Enough to Do

School: Educational. I guess.
Writing: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh, wait. Were you serious?
Play ("Mulan"): Completely amazing, and I got a "Go get 'em" from someone, but it's totally dominating my entire life right now. One of my friends there told me a secret. Everywhere I go, like two weeks later, someone confides in me about something. My whole aura must scream TRUTHWORTHY AND WILL GIVE ADVICE!!!!!!
Family: I'm getting along with them...something weird is going on...*gasp* Am I GROWING UP?? :O

Physical: So physically exhausted that I'm getting sick -.- *grumbles irritably*
Emotional: ...that is not for public blog-ness.
Mental: Crazy as usual, but in the controlled, tired as crap way.
Spiritual: Working on my God relationship. Goin' pretty well!! Life is good!

Story of my life right now: By Your Side

Monday, September 28, 2009

Control

Thanks for following, Eruanna!!!
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So, I'm trying to decide if I want to ditch the schedule thing. I dunno. I made a poll about it, so if you want, you can vote about it. For today, at least, I'm going to skip Advice Day and just post something I've been thinking about:

Control.

It might be like this for everyone, but I've been thinking a lot about how I am deep down, what I want deep down, how I feel deep down, and you know what it all comes down to? Control. I like to be in control; I hate it when I am not.

Think about my top three fears. What do I say they are?

#1: Losing people close to me
#2: Disease
#3: Change

What do those three things all revolve around? Me not being in control.

Remember how I said that episode of Alias freaked me out a couple of days ago? Because it was about a creepy insane asylum?

As I laid in bed that night, I tried to figure out why it scared me. (That's another control-freak-y thing about myself. There is a reason for everything, and I have to know what it is.)

I was kind of disgusted with myself. Kendra: not afraid of blood or needles or death or panic, but freaked out by people with mental problems?? Not only is it a bit embarassing, it's mean! I felt horrible as I realized that I didn't want to be around or think about people who were crazy (really crazy, not the fun kind of crazy). It was judgmental and wrong, but the deep-seated terror remained.

I thought about it for a while. Why does that scare me? What about crazy people is so terrifying and unsettling to me? Other people I know don't have a problem with this. I decided to take it one step at a time.

Crazy people are not masters of their own minds. That freaks me out. But why?

Crazy people see, hear, and feel things that are not there, that are not real. Freaky again. But why?

Crazy people see, hear and feel things that I cannot see, hear or feel. Now we're getting somewhere. It bothers me that they experience things that I don't. Why does that bother me?

If I can't see it, I can't stop it. Ah, getting even farther! But what they see doesn't bother me, so why should I care that I can't see it? I'm not this amazing person who only wants to see imaginary things to help the person.

Back to the people not being able to control their own minds. No matter how much I DO NOT see what they see, crazy people still see/hear/feel things that aren't there, and I cannot convince them otherwise. Big AH-HA moment.

What is so terrifying to me about crazy people?

I cannot persuade crazy people.

Yeah. Wow.

I feel like I can usually convince people of what I want, but crazy people don't appeal to reason, to logic. Reason, truth, and logic mean nothing to them. They believe what they see, and I can't see what they see, so I can't use it to persuade them.

Basically, it circles back to Control. I like control. When I'm not in control, I freak out. I can't persuade (control) crazy people, and it scares me.

I can't control when I lose people. That scares me.
I can't control disease. That scares me.
I can't control change. That scares me.

When it all comes down to it, my life is just about control. Either I have it, and I'm using it, or I don't have it, and I'm trying to gain it.

I believe this is why I have such a hard time with my faith. God is in control, not me, and that's hard for me.

What is your life all about? As complex as people are, I'm beginning to think that deep down, we're simpler than I thought.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hi.

So, wow.

Busy, busy, busy.

I didn't post yesterday because I honestly had NO TIME. Play practice went from 10am-5pm, and then I babysat the rest of the evening/night. Having a long play practice was awesome, though. Usually, about the time I get "warmed up" to people, it's time to leave. With the 7 hour practice, I got warmed up to people, and just STAYED warmed up for a LONG time after that, lol! It was great.

Play practice today was cool, too. People are still being really nice to me, even more so after yesterday. I love these people :)

School. Hard. Too much of it. *UGH* Still having...well, I don't know if "fun" is the right word, lol, but working hard is turning out to be more fun than slacking, so cool.

I am really tired, y'all. I'm probably going to go to bed within the half hour.

*eyes droop*

This is almost practicum tired, except I can sleep in my own bed.

I have some really interesting stuff to say about being in control, but that will have to wait until I can form a comprehensive thought. Hopefully tomorrow. No promises, though, lol ;)

Carpe diem, tired or not.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Long Life Lessons

FOLLOWERS SAY ON CARPE NOCTEM HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!! :O :O
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Well, today is Question Day, but I won't be able to do it for lack of a question, lol!
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So, justagirl4god awarded me in the Honesty Scrap thing! Instructions:

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2) Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Thanks, Rachael!!

Okay, 10 honest things...

1. I don’t (usually) like to eat.
2. I like the moon better than the sun.
3. I have a strange fascination with thieves, assassins, etc.
4. Although my blog is named ~Carpe Diem~, I totally suck at carpe-ing my diem.
5. My goals for my life include becoming a writer, lawyer, kindergarten teacher, and mom.
6. The author I admire most (aside from the obvious like Tolkien and stuff) is Hilari Bell.
7. My hair is naturally this weird mix of corkscrew curls and waves (maybe it sounds pretty, but it’s not, lol).
8. My eyes change color.
9. I sometimes bruise/get scratches/have pulled muscles from dreams.
10. My #1 wish of ALLLLLLLLL time is to have an older brother.

Ta-da! :D I now tag/award...
Jaynine
Seth
Steven
Cassie
Mr. Puddle
Meggie
Gabrielle
---------------------------
Okay, so today has been weirdly awesome.

First of all, let me start out by telling you how a typical school day goes for me.

9:30am: Get woken up by mom.
9:45am: Actually get up.
9:40am: Go upstairs and eat breakfast (and read Dear Annie in the paper, catch my favorite comics in the funnies section, read a chapter or two of whatever book I'm reading..."
10:10am: Come down stairs and "start school"
10:11am: Check all my many emails, check my blogs, check Facebook, stalk some people on Facebook (maaaaaybe...)
10:30am: Repeat.
10:40am: Actually start school. Fiddle around with some research for Western Culture, glance at biology, check off twice as much stuff on my list as I actually did.
11:05am: Repeat what I did at 10:11.
11:30am: Do a math lesson.
11:55am: Well, I've been hard at work all morning, so I guess I can just read or goof around until lunch.
12:30pm: Lunch.
1:05pm: Write a paper...or at least a couple of paragraphs...okay, four sentences maybe...
1:10pm: Check Facebook.
1:30pm: Finish paper...or at least a couple of paragraphs...
2:00pm: Check Facebook, emails, blogs...
2:20pm: Do some logic.
2:40pm: Glance over some reading for Art History...
2:50pm: Get side tracked by this old story I found in my room...
3:10pm: Oh, wow! A whole day gone! Guess I'll call it a day.

-.-

Long schedule short: My work ethic sucks. Absolutely SUCKS. I know that, and the people that I admire the most do not have sucky work ethics. I would like the people I admire to think well of me, too.

So.

Today, I decided to exercise the self-dicipline I KNOW I have (...don't I?) and work HARD. Actually HARD.

I was at school by 9:30. I attacked biology with ferver. I got a lot more done than usual, and OMG I UNDERSTOOD IT??????? I did!

Then, I got to work on the bibliography that I'm supposed to have been keeping for six weeks but haven't. It is no easy task tracing down every website you used to find research on the Renaissance, Albrecht Durer, Jan van Eyck, Michelangelo, El Greco, Leonardo da Vinci, the "Pieta", "The Resurrection", and "Arnolfini's Wedding".

But I did it.

Then, I got to work on the vocabulary list I'm supposed to have been keeping for six weeks but haven't. That was a bit easier.

THEN, I FINALLY started working on my Art Grant Project. (Basically, we have to put together a presentation to apply for a "grant" for an art project. We give a presentation to the class, and then the class votes on whether or not we get the grant.)

Step One: Decide on a project.

Yeah. My work strategy basically sucks.

So, anyway, I got up to date on the Grant Project.

Next, a math lesson.

Next, attack a chapter in logic.

By this time it's 3:30pm, and I've only checked Facebook once. I've also had the most enjoyable (NO sarcasm!) and productive day I've had in a long time.

Then, I attack the Art History paper on Leonardo da Vinci some more.

By this time it's 4:15pm. Busy day, crazy, day, but a really fun day! :O :O :O Weird, huh?

So, my dad comes in and tells me that if we want to grab a bite to eat somewhere before the special play practice at 6pm, we should go. (It takes us 45 minutes to get to the play practice town). The special practice was for me and the other people who are working with the Hun puppets.

So, we go eat at Pizza Hut, just me and my dad, which was awesome. I get along with him so well. We always have such a fun, easy time. We're a lot alike.

Play practice went well. Working with a big, heavy-ish puppet is a challenge, and my arm is a tad sore (lol), but I think I'm getting it, and I had a lot of fun. I'm really getting to know people better, and I'm getting to be more of myself around them.

We came home, and watched two episodes of this spy-mystery-action-freaky-action-spy-mystery TV series we got on DVD called Alias. It's so awesome, but this last episode had some stuff set in a creepy, bad-conditions mental institute...do I even have to say that I am a little creeped out?

So, after an awesome day in all ways possible...

I still have to read a ton of "Gulliver's Travels", do some Latin, and read some Art History stuff.

*SIGH*

SLACKING DOESN'T PAY, PEOPLE! And actually doing the work can be more enjoyable than doing nothing all day...

I am a bit worried about getting those three last things, done, though...Tomorrow's schedule:

8:00am: GET UP.
8:30am: Eat something (c'mon, just oneeeee bite...)
9:00am: Get self looking...decent.
9:30am: Leave for play practice.
10:00am: Play practice.
1:00pm: Lunch break.
2:30pm: Resume play practice.
5:00pm: Get out of play practice.
5:30pm: Babysitting
11:00pm (hopefully): Come home, sleep.

...

And WHERE am I supposed to fit in reading "Gulliver's Travels", doing some Latin exercises, and reading loooooong chapters in the Art History books?

Ohh, right, I should have been doing that instead of posting...

XD Ah, well. Some things never change.

Carpe diem, everyone! And sorry for this epic-long post...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Character Day and Feeling Much Better

Character Day! I'm going to do one of my own today: fourteen-year-old Kaelie Kayla Morgan (KY-lee KAY-lah MOR-gun).

Kaelie is bubbly, fun-loving and impatient, but also clever and maintains a touch of solemnity when necessary. She's a complex person. She can be giggly and easily distracted one moment, and then come up with a perfect solution to a mind-boggling problem the next. Her favorite things include good jokes, the color periwinkle (she likes the name as well as the color), and friends. She despises stupid people, her brother being right when she's wrong, and long waits.

Appearance-wise, Kaelie's looks match her personality. Her auburn hair and extraordinarily bright green eyes give her a clever and excited look. Originally, her hair was supposed to be kind of scrunched-style and shoulder length. Now I'm starting to like the picture of hair I have below. Kind of a Star Trek-esque ponty-tail thing going on, which fits since Kaelie's story is set in the future. What do you think? Anywyay, she's 5'6" tall and weighs about 124lb.

The color and texture (and maybe length?) of Kaelie's hair:
Kaelie's eyes:
Over-all (she's a bit younger than the girl in this picture):
And there's Kaelie Morgan!
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So, as you might have gathered from the title of this post, I'm feeling a lot better. I guess I was just having a bad few days. I'm still not who I want to be, but that's okay, but God is working on my every day. I'm not *supposed* to be perfect!

Thanks, all of you guys who left such encouraging comments. You can't possibly know how much they help me when I'm feeling down.

I don't want to talk about school. At all. Next topic.

I'm supposed to be reading "Gulliver's Travels" this week for school. So far, it's pretty good. It's not super exciting, but it's not particularly hard to read either. We're supposed to be keeping a record as we read of all the satire in it. I'm really looking forward to that. Satire/sarcastism is definitely a subject I love XD
No writing to speak of. I've been thinking some about my stories, but nothing has struck me as writing material--yet. I'm still waiting.

I haven't written any "Mirror" in a very long time. Like, MONTHS long time. Am I worried?

Nope.

This happened to me in the beginning of "Mirror", too. I wrote about thirty pages, and then it was a good nine or ten months before I read over it and got excited about it again. I'm just taking a break. Sooner or later, I'll start to miss my characters and I'll get a brainstorm or something and BAM! The words will flow.

Play practice tonight :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D I've been a little depressed, though, thinking about the fact that it has to end.

I'm telling you, I SUCK at carpe-ing my diem. I live in the past (I wish I could go back and time and relieve such-and-such) and in the future (it's gonna suck when so-and-so leaves or when such-and-such is over). I've been trying SO HARD to enjoy "Mulan" while it lasts that I've been ruining it for myself.

*MOANGROANSIGHWAILSOB*

I know this is a weird prayer request, and frankly pretty selfish, but if y'all think of me during the day, do you think you could send out a prayer that I will learn to enjoy life RIGHT NOW?

I guess that's about all I've got to say.

Oh, hah, no, it isn't. I lied XD

Fact or Fiction Day was yesterday. The fact/fiction: Eating 2 poppy seed bagels can make you test positive for drugs.
FACT.

Cavender, Bethany, and Gracie all got it right, but Cavender got it right first. Here's your award, Cavender:
I think I'm going to stop giving out awards for this. Awards are supposed to be special, and giving them out twice a week is just making it kind of mundane. And it's kind of a pain to keep cranking out awards, lol XD

Thanks for being there, you guys!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Who Am I?

Fact or Fiction?

Eating 2 poppy seed bagels can make you test positive for drugs.

Email. Comment. First correct gets an award. No Googling.
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So, Followers Say is this Saturday! I'm really excited to see what people have to say. I'm thinking this is gonna be an anual thing, and I hope that it will grow every year.

School...I don't know what's wrong with me. Usually, I go through times when I "hate" school, but I never REALLY do. I feel like I'm kind of resenting school right now. It's getting in the way of all the other stuff I like to do. It seems like the assignments are all really tedious and stupid. I don't know.

I don't like myself very much lately. It's not that I'm usually in love with myself, but I'm usually pretty okay with how I am and getting to be more of who I want to be. Lately, I've not been liking the way my work ethic and thoughts are going, but I don't seem to take the iniciate to change them either. Everything just seems like of discouraging, like I'll never get anywhere I want to be with anything.

My posting style and content are going downhill, too. I used to post lighter, more fun things with interesting facts and real outlooks on things. I used to try to be real and post challenging things. I feel different now, but not good different. Different...darker, more conforming. I hate that. I really hate myself right now.

Don't freak out, I'm not suicidal or anything; I'm not one to go for the permanent solution to a temporary problem. I just don't know what to do to get myself back on track to...whatever it is I want.

I feel kind of lost, I guess. Remember my advice a few weeks ago? "Be sure you know who you are. If you don't, how can you expect others to?" Well, I really need to do that now. I feel like I'm being fake with everyone, but it's not really my fault because I'm not sure who I am anyway. I used to be really sure of who I was. I was KENDRA: smart, persistent, persuasive, and certainly destined to be a great writer and lawyer someday.

NOW what am I? I have no idea, and it bothers me.

Sorry. I don't mean to rant at you guys. You didn't sign up for this.

I guess I'm just feeling down-in-the-dumps. *shrug*

I have my headshot for the play today. I hate pictures like this. I don't mind regular pictures when you're just doing life and people are like "SMILE!" *flash* I hate pictures that you prepare for. I always end up having a bad hair day, or one of those times when my eyeliner won't do right. This picture is for the play, so all the people that I really care about what they think are gonna see it all over. If I look stupid, I'll look stupid for a long time.

-_-

I'm just going to stop now. I don't know who I am, so how can I expect you to?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Just Real(ly) Quick(ly)...

Not much time to post. Quick over-view just so I can say I posted ;D

Mulan:
- Had practice tonight, went well. Finished blocking the play. It's basically awesome XD

School:
- Am starting to genuinely resent it.

Writing:
- Haven't really had time today :(

Other:
- Um...none!

Bye, y'all! I might post a Memory tomorrow. *shrug*

Monday, September 21, 2009

Confessions of a Chocoholic

That's not exactly what this post is about, but close enough. And it sounds cool XD
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Advice Day:

Source: Me
Advice: "Chocolate is dangerous. Consume in moderation."
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Play practice tonight :) Yayy! I still love it.

So, I wrote my short allegory for school today. I would like to put more finishing touches on it and polish it a little more, but I only had today to do it. Might go back and work on it some more. I don't really like it, but I don't completely hate it. It's just kind of blah. I'll post it at the end of this if you want to read it, but don't feel like you have to.

Today begins the first bianual Strange Confessions Week. Because...I feel like it. *blink*

Strange Confession #1: I get hurt in my dreams.

I know what you're thinking. Wow, big deal. I've gotten shoved off a skyscraper in my dreams before, too. Not exactly a confession, and not strange either. That's all true.

But you don't actually BRUISE from falling off that dream skyscraper.

I do.

I wake up with actually bruises from stuff that happened in dreams, and scratches and sore muscles, too.

The scratches thing seems easy to explain, doesn't it? I scratched myself in the middle of the night, and then I dreamed about it. Or, I dreamed about it and then scratched myself. Either way. Unfortunately, that theory flops.

Because, flexible as I am, even I can't make several long scratches stretching from my left shoulder to my right hip, and right shoulder to left hip, and neck to back, etc. etc..

Yes, that has happened to me before. How? Why? *shrug* Who knows? Not me.

End of Strange Confession #1.

*sigh* I feel like my posts are getting weird, strange, stupid, and in other ways not...not...not something. Something about my posts is different, and I can't put my finger on it. They're almost...darker or something. Do you think so, too?

*shakes head* I don't know. I think I'm going to stop typing now. I need to figure myself out. I'm sorry for being so weird. I promise I'm going to try to get back to however it was I used to be :-/


Allegory:

“Do you realize what today is?” Rennite asked Felon as they walked home from middle school. Felon frowned, glancing at her best friend with a quizzical look.
“No,” she said, tossing her dark hair out of her eyes. “What is it?” Rennite grinned.
“It’s our two month anniversary of being best friends!” she cried. Felon smiled back.
“Oh, yeah,” she agreed. “I guess we did meet two months ago at…um, where was it?” Rennite frowned.
“Elizabeth’s birthday party,” she reminded. Felon nodded.
“Oh, yeah, that was it,” she said. “Do you want to come over to my house and celebrate?” Rennite nodded, her straight, red hair catching the sunlight.
“Absolutely,” she agreed. “A little friendship party, for just you and me!” Felon smiled as the two turned into her driveway. Rennite frowned as she spotted someone sitting on Felon’s porch.
“Who’s that?” she asked, pointing. Felon squinted.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Oh, wait, is that the girl that moved in next door to the Rileys’?” Rennite shrugged, looking a bit uneasy.
“I don’t know. Do you think we should invite her inside with us?”
Felon shrugged, too. “Let’s just see what she wants.” That seemed fair enough, so the two best friends approached the lone little girl with smiles.
“Hi!” Rennite greeted, trying to be welcoming. “What’s your name?” The girl smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. Her curly, blonde hair bounced as she got to her feet.
“Temporania,” she answered. “I just moved here.” She turned to Felon. “Our moms were talking yesterday and they think we should get to know each other, since we’re both in sixth grade and everything.”
“Oh, sure,” Felon said. She tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. “Um, wanna come inside? Rennite and I were just gonna have a snack.” Temporania smile brightly.
“Sounds great!”
Rennite nibbled her lip. Oh well. They could celebrate the friendship thing later…
“I love your house!” Temporania cried, looking around. Felon smiled faintly.
“Thanks. My mom likes to decorate stuff.” Rennite nodded.
“Yeah, her mom has a great eye for colors,” she said, heading for the kitchen. The other two followed. Temporania sat down at the dining room table, Felon got out the cookies. Rennite poured everyone glasses of milk. An awkward silence hovered over the three.
“So, what school are you going to go to?” Rennite asked Temporania. Temporania swallowed the last of her third cookie and answered,
“Just the public school. Right up the road. Is that where you two go?”
“Yes,” Rennite and Felon said in unison. Temporania beamed.
“Great! It’ll be nice to know some people already.” Rennite frowned and looked away. She didn’t want to snub this girl or anything, but the way she was horning in on Felon’s and her afternoon…
“Oh, hello, girls,” Felon’s mom walked in, smiling. “Felon, Rennite, I see you’ve met Temporania. She just moved in down the street. I was hoping you’d all get together.” Temporania, of course, smiled. Felon raised an eyebrow. Rennite looked away. Sensing the awkwardness, Felon’s mother suggested the girls play a game.
After a few minutes of polite, “Oh, I don’t care, whatever you want”, the game Sorry! was selected. They played three games, two of which Temporania one, and Felon one the last one.
“I guess I better head home to start homework,” Rennite said around four-thirty.
“I should probably go, too,” Temporania said, to Rennite’s relief. Felon smiled to both of them.
“Alright. I’ll see you in school tomorrow!” she called as the two other girls exited.
After dinner of , Rennite called Felon.
“Too bad we didn’t get a chance to celebrate our friendship monthaversary!” Rennite said, half joking, half serious. She could almost see Felon shrugging on the other side of the phone.
“Yeah, that was too bad. Temporania seems nice, though.” Rennite frowned.
“I guess so. I’m just a little miffed that she horned in our day. I guess she is nice, though.”
“Sure,” Felon agreed. “My mom says we’ll all be good friends. She invited Temporania and her family for dinner tomorrow night.”
“That’s cool,” Rennite said, starting to feel better. She and Felon were best friends. How could one girl change that?

The next day at school, Temporania continued being the bright, open girl she’d been the day before. Most everyone loved her, students and teachers alike. Rennite shrugged off her feelings of resentment and began to like her, too.
The feelings came back that night, though, when Felon called to talk about what a great evening her family had had with Temporania’s. Rennite tried to feel happy that Felon had a good time, but the way Felon talked about Temporania made her jealous.
Shrugging off the feelings once again, Rennite finished the conversation and went to bed.

“Finally, lunch,” Rennite said to Temporania and Felon as they made their way to the cafeteria the next day. “I’m starving!”
“Definitely,” Temporania agreed. “I could eat just about anything right now.” She looked at Felon, her eyes gleaming. “As long as it’s not plastic!” Felon burst out laughing and Temporania joined in. Rennite blinked and laughed hesitantly. It wasn’t that funny…
“Sorry,” Temporania gasped as soon as she could speak. “Inside joke.” The words hit Rennite like a punch in the stomach. An inside joke? Rennite bit her tongue to keep from telling Temporania to keep her inside jokes inside.
The three girls settled at their usual table and began unpacking their lunches.
“Look what I brought,” Felon whispered to Temporania. She whipped out two brownies—only two.
“Oh my gosh,” Temporania said. She groaned with a smile, as if she’d just heard a bad joke. “I’m guessing they’re not—”
“No, they’re fine,” Felon interrupted, grinning. Temporania took the brownie and tucked it into her lunchbox, ignoring Rennite. Feeling like she needed to prove her closeness with Felon, Rennite repeated one of their own inside jokes. Felon stared at Rennite for a moment.
“Ohhhh,” she realized. “I remember that.” She turned to Temporania and began explaining the inside joke in great detail. Rennite ate her lunch in silence, listening to Felon and Temporania finish each others’ sentences about the evening before.

After she finished her chores that day, Rennite decided to see if Felon wanted to come over and hang out. She picked up the phone and dialed the number she knew by heart.
“Hello?” came Felon’s voice.
“Felon? Hi! It’s Rennite!”
“Oh. Hi.” Was it just Rennite, or did Felon sound…disappointed? “What’s up? I can’t talk long. Temp—er, I have something I have to go do.”
“Oh.” Rennite swallowed hard. “Well, I just wanted to see if you wanted to come over, but I guess you can’t. What about tomorrow afternoon?”
“Maybe,” Felon didn’t sound too sure. Rennite heard the doorbell ring on Felon’s end of the line. “Oh! Gotta go! Talk to you later!”
Click.
Rennite lowered the phone, tearing up. She angrily slapped the tears away and set to work on her homework. If Felon would rather hang out with Temporania than her, fine. If Felon wanted to throw away two months of friendship, fine. If Felon would rather explain inside jokes to Temporania than to Rennite, fine.
But Rennite didn’t have to sit alone all day and listen to it.
Later that night, Rennite called one of her other friends and made a sleepover date for that Friday.

Over the next week, Temporania told Rennite at least fifty million stories about herself and Felon over lunch. Felon always eagerly jumped in to help tell the stories. Rennite tried very hard not to talk over Temporania with her own “me and Felon” stories, but it grew increasingly difficult.
After a couple of weeks of this, Felon stopped phoning Rennite entirely. She created a new email address and kept “forgetting” to give it to Rennite. Instead of Temporania being the one to initiate the inside jokes and stories, Felon began to start them, too. When Felon’s parents went out of town, she stayed with Temporania, not Rennite. Felon and Temporania made up a secret code, and used it around Rennite. At birthday parties and church, Felon out-and-out ignored Rennite when she tried to speak to her.
Pretty soon, Rennite decided that Felon no longer wanted to be her friend at all. She started getting close to another girl, Fidelia. Rennite and Fidelia became close friends as Felon and Temporania did. Soon, the two pairs had almost nothing to do with each other.
Somewhere around Christmas, Rennite spotted Temporania and Felon with a new girl. They all seemed to be getting along fine. Of course, by this time, Rennite honestly did not care, and went about her own business with Fidelia. She didn’t think another thing of it until Felon randomly called one day.
“Hi, Rennite!” she said brightly over the phone. Rennite was silent for a moment.
“Hello, Felon,” she said somewhat coldly. “Can I help you?” There was a slight pause.
“Well, no…I mean, I was just calling to talk. What’s up?” Felon said.
“You mean lately, or for the past four months?” Rennite continued in the icy voice.
“Er, both…” Felon said. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come over later?”
“Why?” Rennite asked, almost genuinely curious. “Is Temporania busy?”
“Yeah,” Felon replied before she realized what she was saying. “She and this other stupid girl are out going to the movies or something.”
“You don’t say?” Rennite answered sardonically. “You mean Temporania ditched you for someone else?”
“Yeah, can you believe it?” Felon fumed. “So, what about later? Wanna come over and hang out?”
“Not really,” Rennite said indifferently. “I’ve actually got plans with Fidelia. See you later!”
Click.
And so the unforgiving Rennite decided it wasn’t worth Felon’s disloyal company, and Felon learned the hurt of being friends with someone who’s only looking for temporary companionship.

Symbolism:
1. "Temporanea" is Italian for "temporary"
2. "Felon" is French for "disloyal"
3. Rennite is a name meaning "stubborn"
4. Felon’s hair is black and often shadowing her eyes. This stands for shadiness, disloyalty.
5. Rennite’s hair is straight and red. The straight standing for solid principles, not going to bend for anything. The red stands for being extreme, refusing to mend the friendship.
6. Temporania’s hair is curly, bouncing from one direction to another.
7. The girls play Sorry!, a restatement of what’s to come

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Er, Don't Bother Reading

Play practice was today!!! YAY!! I really love it. I'm gonna be SO SAD when "Mulan" is over. I'll probably do another play, but I like this one!

We're continuing to just run through the show, and today we got to my all-time favorite "Mulan" song: "I'll Make a Man Out Of You". Our Shang (Matt B, not to be confused with Matt, my "little brother") does a great job of acting, and his singing is good, too. He didn't hit a couple of notes, but you could tell he realized it. I'm sure he'll be fine by showtime.

We went through my second Hun part, and afterwards, Matt B gave kind of a "good job" look and gesture. Cool.

*two hours later*

Sorry. I got interrupted for dinner, etc.

I'm so upset right now. Like, really, majorly upset.

Guys, don't feel obligated to read this girlish rant.

So, I had Facebook up, and then I had to go to dinner, and then I came back, and I had an IM message from Shang, only I hadn't seen it because I was at dinner and so now he's offline and he probably thinks I just didn't talk to him and so I feel really, really, REALLY awful, and I would have liked to talk to him too so I could have told him that he did well at practice because he's always telling me that and I never tell him that so that would have been the perfect opportunity to tell him only I missed it and he probably thinks I just ditched him or ignored him or something and he doesn't get on Facebook that much I don't think, so I might not get another chance to say anything for a long, long time and if he is ever on Facebook, he probably won't say anything to me because he thinks I don't want to talk to him or I'm rude or something!

...

*EPIC GASP*

HE'S BACK ONLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he said "hi" again! And now we're talking! And he doesn't hate me!

*wipes brow*

Um, wow. Okay. Sorry. Girlish tirade over.

I promise, I'm really not like this usually. All of you new followers, don't be scared off. This is really, really, really unusual for me to go all baserk like this.

*shakes it off*

Anyway.

Uhm, I have nothing more to say.

*feels stupid*

Saturday, September 19, 2009

A Lame Award and Two Good Newses (Lol XD)

I had a soccer game today. More on that later.
---------------------------
Award Day!!

The I-Know-You-In-Real-Life Award! :D I know, pitifully unoriginal and disappointing. Sorry.


It goes to Cavender, Gracie, Gabrielle, Lizzy, Ellie B, Meggie, Mr. Chris, Tori, David Bailey, Anna Lee, Cassie Roads, Nicole, Lisabailey and Ember! It's great knowing you guys!
----------------------------
So, I had a soccer game today. We played the team with all the really good Mexican kids on it. (I'm not being racist, I'm just saying they're all REALLY GOOD where I live.) It was coached by a college guy named Luis, who's pretty much a soccer legend in my town. I didn't think we would win.

Which is why it surprised me when we did.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D I actually did okay this game, too!! Ben (The Dare Devil) even told me I did well, and he never says that unless it's true. Especially at soccer. He doesn't talk to me that much at soccer. So yay!! :)

Lizzy's party was today, but because of the soccer game, I missed pretty much all of it :( Ah well. It's times when she gets all her friends together that I actually like being the oldest. I get a lot of reverent looks from the younger ones when I tell them I'm a sophmore XD

No play practice today, but I have it tomorrow.

OH!! I didn't tell you about Thursday night. Okay, so, Thursday night at play practice, we started at the beginning of the show, and just did it up until a certain point with singing, dancing, lines and everything. My part came. Man, my heart was pounding, but I sang it out. (I actually sing better when I sing loud.) I sounded fine! I was so relieved. The second time through wasn't as good. I got a little nervous for no reason, and I didn't sing very loud, so I couldn't hit some notes :-/

We took a five minute break, and Matt (who's playing Shang, the main guy character) came up to me and told me, "Girl, you can sing! You sound good! You just gotta sing loud."

That made me feel SO GOOD. I was definitely beaming for a while. I was so afraid that I just sounded really bad, but apparently I sound fine. What a relief! And it was nice of Matt to encourage the New Girl.

Sorry. That was random and you probably don't care XD

That's all! Thanks for reading! Bye!

Friday, September 18, 2009

What Kind of Guy?

Hey, welcome to Carpe Diem, JT Norlander! Thanks for following! If anyone didn't see my "announcment" about the Caption Contest at his blog, here's the link.
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Question Day!

Okay, so, I thought about this one like all night last night, trying to think of a good answer. Justagirl4god asks:

"What type of guy do you find attractive?"

Prepare yourself for one of my infamous LOOOOONG-Probably-Could-Have-Been-Short answers XD

First, let me decide how I want to come at this. What TYPE of guy do I find attractive? That would imply a specific sort of stereotype that I naturally gravitate to. I'll answer the question that way first.

What TYPE of guy do I find attractive? I'm honestly not original or complex at first. If we're going on a shallow, superficial level, I will go ahead and admit that Jocks/Preps are the ones that catch my eye. There. I said it. I am guilty of following society's lead, too.

I have had crushes on people of ALLLLLL types though. Not kidding. Jock, prep, nerd, loner, tall, short, white, black, older than me, younger than me. Once I get to know people, my preferences are all over the place. But, if we're going at first glance or first impression, I guess Jock/Prep is unfortunately it.

Now, to answer the question differently. What type of guy PERSONALITY do I find attractive?

Now we get real. Top five personality qualities I find "attractive" (more or less in order):
1. Christian
2. Intelligent
3. Funny
4. Adventurous
5. Protective (I've been over this before. Not Edward Cullen, but looks out for me.)

One more way: What type of guy LOOKS do I find attractive?

I'd really rather not go into this, but, to answer the question all the way, it must be done ;)

Again, I am pretty diverse in my preferences. I will find the generic hottie attractive, but I think people are good-looking that my friends are all like, "KENDRA. Seriously??"

I've never really gone for the blonde surfer dude. I think they're cute and all, but sort of stereotypical. (Gosh, if anyone reading this is a blonde surfer dude, PLEASE don't be offended!!) BROWN-HAIRED surfer dudes on the other hand...XD Haha, just kidding. Er, okay, not really.

Black hair is cool. So extreme. But I'm really not...I don't know, picky. I'm not. ESPECIALLY about hair.

Eyes are VERY important to me. It doesn't matter what color they are, I just like eyes. I like different eyes for different reasons, and some I think are cooler than others. It usually has nothing to do with the color, though.

Height. Hmm. Well, considering I'm 5'8", tall guys have always been more on my radar, lol!

Celebrity crushes I've had based on appearance (in order of occurance):
Orlando Bloom (...how can you NOT think he's cute??)
Rollo Weeks (something about him...)
William Mosley (I love Peter.)
Hayden Christensen (Anakin <3)
Jesse McCartney (eyes of WOW)
Zac Efron (everything of WOW)
Joe Jonas (reminds me of Him.)
Kellan Lutz (I love Emmett.)

Currently, I think all of them except Joe Jonas are very cute. Joe I think is just average now. Eh.

*blink* Wow. The appearance section was the longest. Am I that shallow??

Long answer short: I am so hopelessly diverse in looks and type preference that it HONESTLY comes down to the personality. I am not trying to seem virtuous, it's just really the way it is for me.

Thanks for asking, justagirl4god!!
------------------------------
Today, Lizzy is thirteen (13!!) years old.

Dang. Wow. Awesome. Wow.

School is...absolutely great/fine, which probably means I forgot something HUGE.

Oh. Yeah.

Read "Pilgram's Progress" and write my own allegory. That might qualify as HUGE. *GROAN*

I will finish it tomorrow.

Speaking of procrastination, here are some awesome quotes for that:

"Procrastinators: Leaders of Tomorrow"
"OCD Procrastinators: Do it right, but do it tomorrow."
"If you wait until the last minute, then it only takes a minute."

I love those.

Okay. Sorry. Back to real stuff.

Uhm...the usual:

1. Writing:
- Mirror = nothing
- Desirae Mayes = nothing
- Gembira/Chinese story = something
- The W Chronicles = thoughts, no writing

2. Announcments:
- Vote on the poll
- Ask me questions for next week
- Follower's Say is in a week and a day if you want to participate

Thanks! Bye!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Character Day: Taking Sibling Rivalry To a Whole 'Nother Level

FIRST: Thanks, Lady Brainsample, for following! I love your name.
--------------------------------
Character Day:

One of my own today--a character that resulted from my temporary obsession with Chinese culture.

Of course, to have a story set in actual China would be too simple. I have to create my own fantasy world based on China (see, that way if I get half my facts wrong, it's not wrong because it's MY world. See how it works? XD). I have no idea how exactly Chinese the culture will be. I've added some things, and will probably change some things, too. The one-child rule was ditched because of my obsession with big families.

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever written a story about an only child...(Well, Darren is an only child).

Anyway. Back to my character. Her name is Gembira, and she's fifteen years old. She has twelve siblings, including a twin brother.

The culture she lives in is much like China in its system of honor and respect, but I added the rule that your older siblings are also to be honored and respected, and boys are generally valued over girls (not an original concept, especially for Chinese culture).

This creates a very interesting relationship between Gembira and her twin brother, Gan. Gembira is the older of the two, but Gan is a son. Who has more authority? They often have arguments over this, but at the same time share a close mental and emotional bond.

Gembira's personality is curious and unsatisfied with life, but she mostly sticks to tradition and obeys the rules of society. However, in her mind she is constantly questioning the status quo. She's the third daughter in her family, preceded by Darpana, the practical and harsh "oldest daughter", and the long-suffering but unimaginative Fara.

Gembira struggles between trying to be the perfect daughter and wanting to question the family's way of life. She feels that she has just as much to offer as her brothers, but she has trouble accepting those thoughts as legitimate because of her upbringing.

The story (if it goes anywhere) will begin with Gembira's oldest older brother getting married, followed by a terrible fight between her and Gan (her twin brother). The argument becomes so severe that it is brought to the attention of the parents. Father sides with Gan, being a son, and Mother follows his lead. It is decided that [insert something terrible that I haven't decided yet] is to happen to Gembira.

By this time, even Gan is horrified and wants to help his twin sister, but cannot go against his parents. He decides to help Gembira escape somehow.

The story from there is fairly generic in my mind so far: Gembira is thrust into the world where men rule and girls drool, and she probably gets the help of an "unlikely friend" (how cliche, I know), and discovers more about herself and the status quo and how it's unfair.

OR.

Gan might end up going along with her for some reason and that same stuff happens.

It probably won't be that generic, but I haven't thought through the plot very far yet XD

So, there's Gembira, a curious and unsatisfied victim of unfair upbringing struggling to find herself, no thanks to her power-hungry but close twin brother.

:D

For all the other family-and-character-obsessed people, here's a handy list of all the things you didn't need to know about Gembira's family. The list includes the names of her siblings, their ages, and their name meanings. I found some pictures from Google that sort of look like the character. You can click on their name to see the picture (I didn't have much luck at all with the brothers). Sorry Gembira is in a bathing suit. There's no reason for that except that her face looked kind of like I imagined her looking. *shrug*

Name - gender (hey, it's hard to know by the names sometimes!) - age - name meaning

1. Aran – brother - 25 – forest
2. Bien – brother - 23 – sea
3. Eun – brother - 21 – silver
4. Darpana – sister - 19 – mirror
5. Chet – brother - 18 – brother
6. Fara – sister - 16 – flower
7. Gembira – sister - 15 – happy one (Ironic, right?)
8. Gan- brother - 15 – dare; adventure
9. Hikari – sister - 14 – light; shining
10. Izanami – sister - 12 – welcomes others
11. Jun – brother - 11 – obedience
12. Kiet – brother - 9 – honor
13. Lek – brother - 7 – small person
-------------------------------
Gracie and Krevan both got the answer right to yesterday's Fact or Fiction.

China is considering renouncing its one-child law.

FALSE. That law is here to stay, at least for a while. They are, however, allowing families to have two children IF both the mother and father were only children. Interesting, isn't it?

Sorry, Krevan, you were just a little too late! Congratulations, Gracie, for being the first correct guess! Here's your award:
-------------------------------
Today's been fine. It's raining, so that means the church thing was canceled, so that means I can go to play practice!! Yay! As much as I was looking forward to hearing the church band play, I'm glad I get to got to play practice. I really do love it.

I've listened to NOTHING except Mulan (oh, well, I listened to the LotR soundtrack while I did math, as usual) for about 48 hours. I have never, ever, ever been so totally emersed in something in my whole entire life. (With the exception of being consumed by physical science during exam week last year.) I listen to Mulan, think Mulan, read Mulan, quote Mulan, dream Mulan. I've listened to the CD five times in two days (it's 57 tracks long, people), and had Mulan dreams several nights in a row. I've had nothing but Mulan songs running through my head absolutely-no-freakin'-lie-CONSTANTLY for three days now.

Miraculously, I still love it. Completely do. I don't see how it's possible, but I do. (Haha, I've still got three weeks to go, though.)

School is school. *shrug* Nothing really new there. "Pilgram's Progress" = FTL, but maybe a little less than before.

Still drowing in Latin, but not quite as badly.

Writing...well, Gembira's story has been getting on fairly well for me. (Fairly well meaning a page and a half and ton of back story and character sketches, lol!)

Thanks for reading, I love hearing from you!!

P.S. Also, don't forget tomorrow is Question Day! If you have a question, no matter how weird, awkward (within reason XD), random, generic, or silly, I'd love to hear it!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Caption Contest at Proeliator of Lux Lucis!

Hey! One thing, just really quick:

I found an interesting blog out there that's having a Caption/Photoshop-ish Contest, and thought some of y'all might be into that. I know Bethany likes to use Photoshop, and Gracie is into digital art, and a lot of you guys like to make funny captions on LotR (Earwen :)) and stuff. Here's the link to the post with the details: http://proeliatorofluxlucis.blogspot.com/2009/09/contest-and-first-video-blog.html

Chinese Culture

Fact or Fiction?

"The Chinese are considering renouncing the one-child law."

Comment. Email. No Google. First one correct gets an award (no longer all who get it correct, sorry :-\).

Oh, yeah, and here's the award from last week that I forgot about XD Cavender and Justagirl4god got it right! (Will a tooth left in Coca-Cola over night disolve? The answer is NO! That's a myth!)

Award:
---------------------------
"Let's get down to business
To defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?
You're the saddest bunch
I ever met
But you can bet
Before we're through
Mister, I'll make a manout of you
***
(Be a man)
We must be swift asthe coursing river
(Be a man)
With all the forceof a great typhoon
(Be a man)
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as thedark side of the moon!"

I am listening to the Mulan soundtrack for the third time today. I have no idea how, but I'm still not sick of the songs yet...

Favorites:
1. Written in Stone
2. I'll Make a Man Out of You
3. A Girl Worth Fighting For

The way the guys do A Girl Worth Fighting For is hilarious! They do a great job, even with the harmony and stuff. I have no real idea who's reading this, since no one uses their real name, but if any of the guys from the play is reading this, GOOD JOB! XD

School is going okay. I've barely started "Pilgram's Progress", and I need to finish by tomorrow so I can start on the writing assignment: write an allegory. Sounds pretty fun to me. I'm going to try to make mine more subtle than John Bunyan's. *rolls eyes* I mean, really. A guy named Help? Hmm, wonder what he symbolizes...sheesh :P

I've become a little obsessed with Chinese culture. (Gee, wonder why? It can't be the fact that I'm totally EMERSED in it 24/7 because of Mulan, can it? XD) It's so fascinating. Very unfair, but fascinating. I love different cultures, they get my imagination going, and I just love learning about them. Chinese culture is such a good culture to write stories in. It's really sad that you're only allowed to have one child, but it does create an interesting premise for stories.

*frowns at self* Maybe I'm just horrible and unfeeling. Oh dear...

I had lots of crazy dreams last night, but I can't remember them clearly at all. Something about kidnapping and a driveway...lol, no idea!

Dance tonight! And no play practice, so I don't have to miss it.

Lizzy will be THIRTEEN YEARS OLD in TWO DAYS!! :O :O It's freaky enough that Matt ("little brother") just turned thirteen, but Lizzy? That's freakier even still.

He turned eighteen (18) today. :- Wow.

Writing on "Mirror" = zip
Writing on random otherness = some

That's all :D Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Drama and Debate

Memory Day:

Hmm...Ah, I've got a good one ;D

When I was little, I was very persuasive. I remember multiple times when I tricked the babysitter into letting me do things I wasn’t supposed to, but the funniest instance occurred when my grandparents were babysitting me. I was about two at the time. I told them I was thirsty, and so my grandfather and I went to the fridge to get something for me to drink. I spotted a bottle of something that looked interesting in the fridge.

“That,” I said. “I want some of that, please.” I can remember my grandfather’s confused and hesitant frown.

“Your mother lets you drink lemon juice?” he asked.

I put on my most solemn face and nodded.

“Yes,”I said.

After a moment of convincing, my grandfather poured me a Sippy cup of lemon juice. I’m not sure if he really believed me, or just decided to humor me, but either way, the lemon juice was awful. I remember thinking that next time I should probably be careful what I persuade people of.

XD
-----------------------------
Hey, y'all! Thanks for your encouraging words these last few days!! Your awesome comments have helped me out more than you know :) Feel special XD

Debate went very well today. My partner (Cassie Roads) and I won!! The debate was:

Resolved: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) should be abolished.

We were affirmative, and our points were that the NEA should be abolished because...
1. It's unfair to force the American people to support the NEA through their tax dollars when they might not agree with the art being promoted.
2. The NEA is unnecessary, and it's silly for us to be putting our money toward something unnecessary when we could be paying off America's GIANT debt.
3. The NEA is unconstitutional, because the Constitution clearly states that unless specifically said to be the government's job, the power rests with the people. The Constitution does not say anything about the government supporting art, so the government should stay out of it.

We won our debate :) Yay! It definitely helped that I agreed with our side. I do believe that the NEA should be abolished.

Cross examining my opponent was my favorite part XD I love cross x. I love leading people to agree with harmless little points, and then asking them a question that proves MY point, only I've gotten them to sort of say they agreed with it already.

Example:
Me (who thinks government support should be removed from artists): "Would you say that art is important in American society?"

Opponent (who wants government funding to continue): "Oh, yes!"

Me: "But is it VERY important?"

Opponent: "Yes. It is VERY important in today's society."

Me: "So if art is VERY important for Americans today, don't you think it will flourish without government support?"

XD Not too original, but that's how I roll.

Anyway, today has been pretty good. Other classes were kind of boring, but whatever. Oh, there is a bit of drama going around. *rolls eyes* Involving texting using other peoples' cell phones, and crushes that may or may not be real...

-.- Drama, drama, drama. *sigh* And we're usually so good at staying away from this kind of junk between each other. I don't want to think this, but I do believe it has a lot to do with one our our new classmates. *shrug* I repeat: whatever :P

I have play practice for Mulan tonight! Yay! 7-9:30pm. Long one :-/ Oh well. Still fun.

Uhm...Sorry for rambling about mostly nothing. Stress is slowly leaving, yay. Debate was a lot of pressure.

Thanks again for all your wonderful comments, and welcome back to the blogosphere, Krevan!

Monday, September 14, 2009

[Insert Title Here]

Advice Day!

"Having fun is easy; it's knowing when to stop that's hard." ~Kendra Logan
-----------------------------
Well, today kind of sucked. But it's better now, so I'm going to focus on the positive. I finished writing the 1AC for debate, which was great. It had really been weighing down on me, having to worry about getting it done. Now all that's left, I guess, is to see what happens. *sigh*

I really hope I don't lose! That would be sad. Maybe this is petty, but I have never, ever lost a debate in my whole life, and I want that streak to continue for as long as possible, lol! XD

I talked to my Brain Half yesterday, so that made things a little better. We're still in perfect mental sync, lols! Just kidding. Ish.

Tonight I have play practice at 7pm, soccer practice at 8pm, and this PSAT meeting at my house at 7pm...er, hmm...

Yeah, I can't do it all, obviously, which sucks. I tend to attack things with kind of a Superwoman attitude, and then when I can't do it all, I get frustrated with myself. *sigh* Oh well. Tonight, I'm just gonna shoot for play practice. Soccer is nothing different than usual, but play practice is something new and un-missable every time. The PSAT meeting is mostly for parents. So, I guess it's a no-brainer.

Writing has been HAHAHAHA-Writing-That's-A-Good-One lately. I've barely had time to breathe much less write :-/

I'm not in a bad mood right now, but I don't have much to say because everything I've done or thought all day has been purely academic.

And now my mother is pestering me about cleaning up downstairs even though I've said about thirty times in the last five minutes that I'll do it in JUST A SECOND. Geez.

Okay, now I AM in a bad mood -.-

Whatever. So much for today. Do you want me to stop posting for a couple of days until I can stop being so negative?

P.S. I got my signature fixed. Yay.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Missed: One Brain Half

God Day:

Er...Not now, y'all.
----------------------
Sorry. It has so been one of THOSE days. As much as I really have tried to put on a happy face, today did not go well for me at all, as much as I think I hid it.

I got up, thinking that the day was going to go differently, and when it didn't go how I thought, I was pretty disappointed.
I was hungry all during church.
I woke up just kind of stressed out because tomorrow is Monday, which is gonna be bleep.
The sermon just did not hit me at all today.
I didn't feel good this afternoon.
I had to go to youth group, which I feel is at the moment led by slightly hypocritical people. (They DEMAND us to be consistent and faithful with coming to youth, and yet they cancel on a dime because they "want to spend time with their kids" or something.)
I got so hot playing outside at youth, then I came inside, and it was the same temperature.
I was just feeling so stressed and not looking forward to tomorrow at all when the work load will hit me like a ton of freakin' bricks.
I really miss the other half of my brain that decided to be lame and quit doing Classical.
I really miss the other half of my brain. Really a lot. It is so not the same without it. So not.
Chores.
Suck.
Crap.
Crapp.
Crappp.
The end.

Sorry for being depressing.

~Kendra

P.S. Oh, and my nose hurts from getting hit in the face at the soccer game yesterday. All this stupid little crappiness just makes me wanna cry, you know? It's nothing big, just a lot of little things.

:'(

Saturday, September 12, 2009

YAYY!! And Awards

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:O

...

:O

...
:O We won our first soccer game today. :O

Did you hear me? WE WONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
More on this after Award Day.
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Well, two awards are to be given out today. Who will they go to? Hmm... >:D

JUSTAGIRL4GOD for her flattering interest in "The W Chronicles: Walls"! She gets the Kaelie Kayla Morgan Award for being fun and sparkly just like her! Congratulations, justagirl4god!
The next award belongs to...Drumroll, please.

Illunse for being a fellow language-lover! She gets the Logophile Award! (That's actually "word-lover", but oh well XD)
Congratulations, y'all! :)
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So, back to soccer.

Not counting last year's amazing season, that's the sixth game I've won in my whole life. ALRIGHT! I am *SO* happy!! Way to go Josh-from-class (The Nice Guy) for scoring two awesome goals! I kind of missed the other two...don't know how that happened...I was out, asking the principal of the school that I took drivers' ed at about my certificate to get my permit. The one that that guy let expire without telling me? Yeah. That one ;)

The game went pretty well. We could definitely work on teamwork, but hey, we won, right? I got shot in the face pretty good. It didn't hurt exactly; it was just one of those I'll-Be-Fine-As-Soon-As-I-Can-Feel-My-Nose-And-Lips-Again things. I walked off the field and my mom gave me her seat for a second. I just sat there with my eyes closed, waiting to feel something, and I was like, "Was that Zach?" (He's...really good. And a hard kicker. And on my team, yay.) My mom and like three other moms sitting around were like, "Yeah." Lols :-/ I was perfectly fine like two mintues later. It's all good.

WE WON! :) Really, that is exciting, because I thought we were gonna lose every game. Of course, the other two teams we'll be facing...*crosses fingers and looks doubtful of sucess* We shall see.

Play practice was fine this morning. More choreogrpahy, but it was the same dance, so it was pretty much just review. That was good since I had to leave early to go to the soccer game, lol!

No babysitting tonight, hallelujah. (Did I spell that right? I never can.) I found out that Matt and Katie's ("little brother" and "little sister") mom recommended me as a babysitting to another family, so my babysitting might get to be more frequent. We'll see. The kid sounds adorable. He's four. I don't really know who it is yet. I guess I'll find out if they call, lol! At the soccer field, one mom that I know asked me, "So did you get a call about babysitting for that family yet?" I was like, wow, how does she know about that?? I just found out in the car! (And she wasn't the person who recommended me, either.)

Welcome to [insert the name of my tiny town], where everyone knows everything about everyone, sometimes before you do. I honestly love it.

Sorry I'm all over the place today. I know this is a huge and rambling post. Mostly I'm just keeping a record for myself at this point.

My mom is making chicken and dumplings for dinner. They are SOOOO good. She makes the best ones EVER. Wow, I can't wait. And I hate eating, so you know if I'm looking forward to it, it's GOOD.

Well, I guess I'll go now. I need to take a shower. I feel sweaty.

Sorry. You didn't need to know that.

I'm so...hyper. Must be a runner's high. Talk to you guys later!! Vote on the poll!

~Kendra (I am NOT risking this post being deleted by putting my normal signature up. Sorry.)

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remembering and Overwhelming

Even before Question Day, I'd like to say something very important:

Eight years ago today, something terrible happened. Evil poluted the minds of some people, and the result was death and destruction for thousands. We can't forget it, no matter how horrible it was.

The more terrible a thing is, the more it needs to be remembered, lest history repeat itself.

So let's all pause a moment and remember. Remember those who died on September 11th.
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Question Day:

This question brought to you by: Moon Shaw!

Question: "How many sports do you play?"
Answer: Hmm...WELL >:D

I played T-ball from the time I was four until I was about six, maybe seven.

When I was seven, I started playing soccer, and LOVED it, even though I have won a grand total five games (no joke) in my entire eight year's worth of playing (not counting last year when we were undefeated, lol).

Some of my friends got into tennis when I was like ten, so I played a season of that. Loved it, but I wasn't serious enough to continue with matches and stuff.

At age eleven, I tried out basketball, but since I'd never played before, I had no idea what was going on >.< All my sports knowledge was based on soccer. I never figured out that in basket ball, you play offense AND defense depending on what side of the court you're on.

The spring after that, I did softball. That would have been okay if we had one at least ONE game (we didn't) and our pitchers could get the ball over the plate (they couldn't)...

I've been dancing since I was two and a half.

So, to make a LOOOOOOOOOONG-could-have-been-short and answer short, I play soccer and dance (tap, ballet, and jazz/hip-hop) and I LOVE them both. I would be horrified if I had to chose between them (although dance would win in a heart beat).
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I got all my school work (except Latin...) done today! YAY! Latin is killing me. I used to be so good at it! I think I just got too comfortable with it, and stopped working on it. Then all the hard stuff came at once and now I'm so overwhelmed I don't want to start trying again :-/

I have play practice tonight for the first time since Sunday! Yay! And then I have it again tomorrow at 10am. Then I have a soccer game at 2pm.

Then I have play practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Then I have it Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Including on Lizzy's THIRTEENTH birthday, AND her special birthday dinner! *MOAN*

I have so much going on! Soccer practice, dance classes, play practice, soccer games, school, babysitting, writing.

*shriek/moan of agony*

The problem is I LOVE it all! Love it! There's no way at ALL I will EVER give up dance (EVER), and soccer is only for a few weeks. I love the play and I want to do more later. School isn't really a quitable option, lol! I physically CANNOT stop writing, Like, I really CAN'T. Babysitting is so much. I love kids, I love being around lots of friends, and I love having extra "brothers" and "sisters".

*moan*

Sorry. I'm dumping.

No writing to speak of.

Cavender is grounded :(

Byee :D

~Kendra (my signature is being stupid and did something weird that caused this post to be erased FOUR TIMES. Yes. FOUR. You are reading the FIFTH time I have written this same stinkin' thing. FIFTH!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!)

Thursday, September 10, 2009

WARNING: Political Post (Please Don't Hate My Dark Side >:D)

FIRST: Lostie's Art is now following Carpe Diem!! Awesome! Thanks, Lostie!
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Character Day! I'm doing one of my own today.

As I was reading through some older (from summer '08) story bits of mine, I came across something that astounded me. (Just in case I ever finish this, no taking the horrible idea XD) I had started a story titled "The New America". One of the most important characters is one that you never meet or see, but just gets talked about. I called him Alexander Williams.

Let me quote from my story idea folder:

"Alexander began to see that things were going badly in America. People were losing jobs, inflation was up, global warming was taking over (bite me), people were looking for somewhere to turn. Alexander stood up and said, "Hey, follow me. Listen to me. I can help you. I can make everything all better. I'll give you jobs, homes, stability, someone to count on and look up to."

"With the help of a couple of friends, Alexander led the American people slowly to change their thinking. Alexander rose to power, eventually becoming the leader of America. Most people loved him, and anyone who didn't was labled "old-fashioned" or "against change". Alexander promised change, good change, and people believed him.

"After a little while in power, he began to lead the American people to change their faulty ways. He made new laws that, although they were completely against the Constitution, gave Americans less responsibility, and allowed them to lean more on the government, giving them peace and stability. Alexander made laws and regulations that covered so many aspects of life, that things were just plain easy for the people! No one had to take responsibility for anything anymore! It was a dream life.

"Even when Alexander's laws began to restrict things like what you could say, whom you could talk to, and how you could treat sick people, everyone loved him because he would make life better for them.

"Eventually, Alexander had laws governing almost every aspect of life. He had been ruling longer than most other leaders, but no one seemed to mind. Children were taught that Alexander had saved America, and everyone must love him. Alexander had complete power over the people, and no one seemed to care."

There's Alexander for you, just as his character sketch from my notes from summer/fall 2008 depict. Funny isn't it? How personal freedoms and the republic died at the hands of the most popular man in America? Isn't that funny?

Yea, I'm not laughing either.
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I know this is not my political blog, and I normally don't like posting this kind of stuff here, but it's been preying on my mind all day, I wanted to say that.

I don't understand. I really don't. I don't understand how someone could swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, and then say in an autobiography that he thinks the founding fathers have no place in today's society, and the Constitution is a joke. Why would you swear an oath like that if you believed so the opposite? And why haven't people seen that?

How can you try to pass a health reform bill that restricts freedoms and is completely unconstitutional?

How can you promise to give better health coverage, to more people, and swear that it will cost LESS?

How can you peddle all these paternalistic ways of thinking and call this America? A Constitutional Republic? America is not about the leaders patting people on the back and saying, "There, there, I'll take care of you. You don't worry about a thing, I've got it covered." Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

America is about teaching a man to fish, not giving him the fish on a silver platter and then telling him how to eat it.

Big government is what we ran from in England. Small government, power to the people, "give me liberty or give me death", stop taxation without reprsentation. Has America really forgotten all of this? Has America forgotten that people, good people, fought bravely and DIED so that we would never have to live with the kind of government our president is promoting? Have we forgotten, America?

The American people are one of three things at this point:

1. Against the direction our government is heading
2. Ignorant of the direction our government is heading
3. In support of the direction our government is heading

You can't really believe that this is heading a good direction. If you think it is, or you think it's at least not heading in a BAD direction, then you are fooling yourself. I'm sorry, but these kind of laws and ways of thinking lead to only one thing (socialism), and that is NOT what America is all about.

Do you support where this is going? If so, fine. Support it. If you are ignorant of it, please, open your eyes.

I am a strong believer in people chosing their own beliefs, thoughts, principles, ideas. Don't let yourself be indoctinated. Think. Look at history. This story we're living has been told hundreds of times in many different eras and civilizations. Time and time again governments do this. This leads to one thing, and one thing only: socialism, loss of freedoms, and destruction.

I understand that this was a very passionate and political post. I'm still debating on whether or not I will hit "publish" or transfer this post to Carpe Noctem.

Hmm. I have nothing left to say except, "Think." Think, America. What do you want?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Facts and Sigs

*jaw drops to desk-level* ... *rubs eyes* ...I *DO* have 54 followers now! :O :O Wow, how did this happen?? Thanks Jaynine, Cassie, and Illunse! Y'all are fantastic! You make my day!!

EDIT: *GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP* 55??????? Thanks, Calico Zak! Wow!!
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Fact! Or...Fiction?

A tooth left in Coca-Cola over night will disolve.

Leave your guess in a comment or email me for an award! First person to get it right gets and award, and everyone who gets it right but not first will get a participation award. No Googling allowed ;)
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Well, today was fine. Nothing to report, really. I have dance tonight, though! First class of the year! Same teacher, probably a lot of the same girls. It'll be fun. I do have kind of a lot on my plate, though. Soccer practices, soccer games, play practices, dance classes, school work getting significantly challenging...*moangroansigh*

Anyway, I started ANOTHER story inspired by soccer the other day, but I do not even plan to continue it, so I probably won't talk about it much. It's just a random scribbling (er, typing...).

I was very bored, and didn't have anything real to say today, so I made more signatures for no reason XD I made them for the main characters of "The W Chronicles".

The main character in "Woods" is Tyler Gifford (she's a girl, by the way), a bad-tempered freshman who has forgotten the joy of being a child.

The main character in "Waters" is Linder Asp, a shy half-elf lady-in-waiting for the Elven queen who wants to prove her human mother's innocence in a murder case.

The main character in "Walls" is Landon, an smart, sixteen-year-old orphan boy who works for the Leader. (This story is set in the future. It will portray how I think America will be in a hundred years or so.)

Also, there's Kaelie Kayla Morgan, Landon's clever and quirky fourteen-year-old sister.

The main character in "Ways" is Princess Kristalia Calvinson (Krista), a troubled thirteen-year-old princess whose strong family ties and sense of duty give her strength and courage.

During the story, Krista has to give up her identity as a princess and go "undercover". Then she can really be her own person. Because she's so different during this time, I made a seperate signature for just plain Krista.



The main character in "Wars" is Vega the Assasin Girl, proud and capable. (Yes, I decided against the majority. Vega is such a cool name [I loved Kieran, too, though] and it goes with the meaning of her brothers' names as well.) Despite the fact that I've talked about Vega the most and I have some of her story written, I don't know much about her yet. I'm still figuring it out. Here's her signature, though:


Her almost-thirteen-year-old brother, Levant, is also a big character, to give the series another boy :) He's wild, easy-going and extremely likable. He's also a pick-pocket.


So, yeah. That's what I did for like forty-five minutes XD Thanks for reading, you guys! WOOT! Over 'n' out,

P.S. *another jaw drop* TWENTY PEOPLE VOTED IN THE POLL! YAAAAAAAAAY FOR MAJOR RECORD-BREAKING!! Apparently, "Beauty and the Beast" is the most popular Disney movie among Carpe Diem readers. Runner ups were:

Mulan: 11
Aladin: 9
Cinderella: 7
Toy Story: 6
Sleeping Beauty: 4
Hercules: 3
Snow White/Can't decide: 2

Over all, I totally am in agreement with the outcome. My top three favorites came out as the over all top three, and my least favorite, Snow White, came in last place. I'm just surprised that Sleeping Beauty beat Hercules... ;)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Imagination and Irritation

Memory Day! Peek into my past... ( ;) )

When I was about ten years old and Lizzy was eight, my parents left us home for an hour or so to go to band practice for our church. Things were fine at home for a little while, but then Lizzy and I heard a noise coming from my dad’s office. It sounded like my dad talking on the phone, so we weren’t bothered by that, until we remembered that our dad wasn’t home. Then we sort of freaked out a little. Lizzy demanded that I go and check in my dad’s office to see if someone was there. After a lot of arguing and freaking out together, I did. I didn’t see anyone, but both of us were convinced we had heard someone.

The rest of the night we kept hearing people! Upstairs, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in our parents’ bedroom. We finally decided that the intruders had to be invisible. It was the only explanation. I had actually been doing some research on invisibility cloaks for a story I was writing, so unfortunately I knew that being invisible was actually possible. Lizzy and I ended up calling our parents, who were more than little ticked off at me for getting us both all scared.

For a long time after that, I really believed that there were people in my house wearing invisibility cloaks. That’s definitely one of the downsides to having a powerful imagination.

So, yes; I've pretty much always been this paranoid and, um, creative :)
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FIRST: Thanks for following Lisabailey! You rock!! ;)

FIRST AND A HALF (because "second" sounds too late): Thanks to Bethany for making the wonderful new header for the blog! Yayayayayayayay! I love it! Do you? She says she likes working with photoshop, so if you have the need for a banner as well...

Classical went well today. Our class is really back to its regular self, which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside XP It does, okay?! I love how we all laugh with and at each other, and so much more. Most of us have been together since eight grade, and some of us from even elementary school. We're a pretty tight bunch ;D

There was a Latin quiz this week. Some of you may know that Latin was not exactly my focal point this week. Let's just say, I studied lightly at the most. So, when the teacher announced that the Latin quiz was today, it was one of those You're-Joking-Right?-Please-Be-Joking-Oh-No,-You're-Not moments for me. Despite my horrors, I actually did pefectly fine. The quiz was EASY.

The logic quiz...hmm...In my defense, whoever wrote the book is a flat-out HORRIBLE teacher with NO LOGIC EXPERIENCE or GOOD WRITING EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER. All he talks about is crap like Simple Aprehension and Verbal Expressions and Comprehension vs. Extension and all this junk that has to be put into confusing over-lapping categories! I HATE IT! I *love* logic, so when someone like Mr. What'sHisName comes along and writes a terrible logic book (which we frequently have to change in class because it's INCORRECT), it makes me MAD. Can you TELL?

Lol. Sort of. No, actually, you know what? Not lol.

Other than that, today has been fine. The teacher really loved my "Paradise Lost" paper, which is a major YAY because I loved the book. I hate it when I write a bad paper for a good book.

Tonight I have soccer practice :-/ Normally I don't dislike soccer at all. Normally, I actually love it by this time. The only problem is our coach isn't a great coach. He's not BAD, and he's really nice, he's just not the best coach in the world. So, I feel like we never really learn much. AND, he doesn't make us run, which might be a good thing, except that it means that I'll just STAY out shape instead of improve. Humph.

Desirae Mayes story: I think I wrote some last night, not much, but some. It's going okay. Still not great, and I doubt it will go anywhere. Still, it's good to be writing SOMETHING again, you know?

No play practice tonight :( None, actually, until Friday! *sob*

Hmm...I think that's all for now, folks. The What Disney Movie is Your Favorite? poll is about to expire, so if you'd like to cast your vote, go for it! So far 18 people have voted, which is an all-time high for me :) Yay and thanks, y'all!

Carpe diem!