I'm Posting... :3

I'm sorry I haven't been posting! *sigh* I don't have any especially good reasons besides the old favorite:

I've just been busy.

But I really have XD I've been feeling behind ever since the trip to Great Wolf, and then Wednesday-Friday, I was out of town at a conference. It was really awesome and definitely worth it (I'll probably be posting about it at some point), but I'm back to treading water in school. Gah.

I'm especially behind in math, which sucks. At least I'm getting it though, right? Usually I just keep up with the pace, ignoring my issues. This year I'm actually slowing down to learn the concepts. So...that's good...right?

Tomorrow I have a Family Tree project due. In Spanish XD It's pretty fun, but a little complicated. I'm not sure which labels to put and how to show all the relationships. I also wanted to make the poster look like an actual tree, but there's not really room for a leafy outline and trunk at this point...

So yeah. My life has not been boring lately, I'm just telling you the boring PARTS because telling the exciting parts would take a lot more time, and I still have philosophy and Shakespeare to tackle...not to mention babysitting tonight...Although you really can't call it babysitting when Matt is now FOUR-FREAKING-TEEN and Katie's almost twelve.

That's kind of scary.

>.>

*stops ranting*

~Kendra

P.S. If you want to, check out this blog. It's...sort of hard to explain. But I like it XD Check it out: A Crossroads of Rhyme and Reason.

Avatar Review (among other things)

Thanks for following, Milli! YAY! :)

And happy New Year, everyone :)

Tonight I was supposed to be babysitting, but that got canceled so we're going over to Matt and Katie's (little brother and little sister's) house for a New Year's party. Tons of people are going to be there. Tons. It's going to be...utterly insane. I'm talking like seven families. Around 30 people. In one house. >:D This should be fun.

Today has been fairly uneventful. I went to be at...uh, just...late, and woke up at 11:30 :O My mom was surprisingly cool with that. *shrug* Okay, I'll take it. Then, I talked on gmail (what else is new?), then ate lunch, then went on a walk with my family. We took our black lab, Licorice (or Licky for short). She's my baby :)

The wind was COLD, and it made my sinuses hurt, but the walk was still fun. The sun actually came out about halfway into the walk, which was great. One thing (of many XD) that I hate about winter: it's always either nighttime or cloudy. No sun. And I LOVE sun.

We walked around in a house that's under construction. My dad and Licky go there a lot, but Licky won't go up the stairs because they're construction steps and she can see through them. But guess what? When I was there, she went up the steps with me :) *Aw* I love my doggie :D

Anyway, the house was nice, but not a Mr. Leon House (Mr. Leon is Matt and Katie's dad). Once you get used to looking, you can just tell when a house is one Mr. Leon has built. LOL, after ten years of walking through house after house that he's built, I've become pretty good at identifying his work.

Hmm, that came out really stuck up. LOL, I didn't mean it like that XD

But anyway, so far today has been good, but pretty chill. Tonight, though, at Matt and Katie's house... O.O :) That's really gonna be something to post about XD

Oh, a quick word about Avatar for those of you who might be wondering what I thought of it:

On a scale of 1-10, my personal rating is about 5, maybe 6. The graphics were AMAZING, absolutely stunning. The acting was fine, the script was fine, but the plot...the plot (in my opinion) wasn't very good.

Plot (no spoilers): The American army is trying to get to this really awesome, valuable rock found on the planet Pandora. Unfortunately, the Na'vi, who live on Pandora, have a village right over the bed of really awesome, valuable rock. The American army wants the rock.

Whoo hoo XD

That wouldn't have been so bad if the villains hadn't been so BLAH. The main "evil guy", an American colonel, is mean for one reason only: the wants the rock.

...

What? That doesn't seem like a good enough reason to be a raving mad evil guy determined to kill everyone in his way?

I didn't think so either.

He was VERY two-dimensional, which is especially pathetic because we saw it in freaking 3D ;)

One last issue:

The movie portrays Na'vi (eco-friendly natives who want nothing but peace and happen to be sitting on a valuable resource) as the terrorists of the real world. The movie then portrays the crazed American army who will stop at nothing to get at the resource as America.

Think I'm reading too much into this? I am not. The comparison is fairly in-your-face. Notice the phrases "shock and awe" and "preemptive strike". Whoever made the movie was clearly trying to show the American army as evil and the terrorists as victims. If you like that sort of thing, fine. I did not.

So, that's my take on the movie. I did not really like it. I may want to see it again, but I was disappointed greatly.

:D So...have a great rest of the day, and I'm headin' to Matt and Katie's!

~Kendra

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!!!!!!!!)

Out With the Old, In With the New!

Hi! Sorry for not posting yesterday. We went to a funeral reception, a movie, and then I had to babysit, so there wasn't much time.

Well, tomorrow starts the new Days! I've been thinking, and I think I'm going to change out all the days anyway. I really love Name and Quote Day, but I have other ideas for different Days, so I'm thinking I might rotate everything every once in a while. The way I'm thinking, this is going to be the new schedule:

Sunday: God Day--I share a thought on God.
Monday: Advice Day--I give some personal advice, or quote someone else's advice.
Tuesday: Memory Day--I share one of my favorite memories.
Wednesday: Fact Day--I share a weird fact.
Thursday: Character Day--I'll talk about one of my characters, or a book or movie character.
Friday: Question Day--You ask a question, I'll give an answer.
Saturday: Award Day--I'll give an award to a different follower every week.

What do you think? You'll notice that I omitted "Obsessive Day", even though it's currently winning the poll! Why? Well, I figure that I post about whatever I'm obsessed with anyway, don't I? So why make a special Day for it when I could do something else? Sorry :(

One other thing: for Question Day, I'm going to need some follower participation. Every Thursday, or just whenever, could everyone (if you can) ask me a question? It doesn't have to be about me, it can be just a really weird fact you want to know, my opinion on something, anything. There's no limit to how many you can ask or anything, I just need something to answer for Question Day, lol! You can just leave a comment or email me (lol, as usual). livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com.

Muchas gracias!! Well, I don't really have that much to say...Oh, wait, yes, I do!

We ate lunch at this little lakeside restaurant today with David and Daniel ("brothers"). I don't know if you remember, but I posted before about how eating there makes me feel sick? And I kept experimenting, getting different things to eat and stuff, and my dad and I came to the conclusion that it must be something in the well water that disagrees with me. So, today I got a bottled drink, so it wouldn't have well water ice in it.

SUCCESS!

So far, zero sick-feeling! Yay! I can eat at the restaurant again without worrying! Hooray for experimenting, hooray for science, hooray for being able to enjoy food (as much as I ever can, at least)! :)

Mystery solved.

Now if I can just solve the mystery of speed-math....

Using Music in Every Day Life

First: THANK YOU TO CIARAAA:) FOR FOLLOWING! YAAAY! You are awesome! AND you love the classic Disney movies apparently, which, of course, triples your awesomeness :)

Challenge Day: learn to juggle.
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Guess what?

I'm done with school for the day :O

I don't know how I did it, but apparently I just way over-scheduled Wednesday and Thursday, so today and Monday I have hardly any work to do! Yay!!

So, as soon as Lizzy's done with her school work (it's her first year of middle school! :O), I'm going to watch The Scarlet Pimpernel. I've been having an absolute CRAVING to watch that lately. I have no idea why. It's a great movie to any of you who haven't seen it. It's about a guy during the French Revolution who annonymously rescues people from the guilitine. He goes by the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel. It's such a good movie. Anthony Daniels plays the Scarlet Pimpernel, and the lady he falls in love with is played by Jane Seymore.

**BREAKING-ISH NEWS** I actually got up to run today!! :O I know, hard to believe, isn't it? I got up at 6:50am, and was out of the house at 7:05. I was out until 7:30. I ran some, walked some, ran some, walked some. I listened to my iPod, and that was cool. I'm in about as bad of shape as I thought, but no worse. I ran from the beginning of the trail to the little picnic shelter, but that means nothing to anyone except me, lol! It's not that far, so don't be impressed. It's kind of hard to say how far it was, because the trail twists and turns so much...It's maybe twice the length of a public school cafeteria. Does that help? Lol! :)

Lately music has helped me in a lot of areas. It made running more enjoyable, and I listened to the LotR soundtrack yesterday while I did math, and the difference was amazing! I finished my math in record time, about half as long as it usually takes me, and I only missed one! Today was the same except that I got three wrong, but still. I'm WAY not a math person, so any help at all is good. If you have trouble with math homework, I definitely suggest listening to that kind of music.

Well, I still haven't picked a song to sing for the Mulan auditions, and that's not good. The audition is a week from today. Wow. Time flies, doesn't it? I gotta get my act together and pick something. If you have any suggestions, feel free to give them!

Tomorrow I am babysitting for this girl (9 years old) and her brother (4? years old). She can be kind of nightmare, but usually not to me. She actually listens to me. Why is beyond me, but that's one thing I don't have to understand. I'm just glad she does.

Book action is about zero in the writing area, reading action is maybe a three. I'm reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as well as finishing up The Knight's Tale for school. HP is alright, better than the first one so far, but not super exciting yet. The Knight's Tale is about the same as it was yeterday. Pretty dang good, just kind of long.

Uhm, I guess that's about it. Sorry for the looooong post. I know I rambled about my life, and honestly, y'all probably don't care that much, lol! And I honestly can't blame you one bit.

Carpe diem, y'all!


P.S. Don't forget about the Carpe Noctem Followers Say...thing coming up in September! You get to post on the blog about anything (well, read the full post) you want! Join the fun! Haha, if you're interested, or know someone who is, email me at livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com.

Excuses, Excuses

I am evil and must be destroyed.

I didn't post yesterday.

But I have a fabulous excuse!!

Ready? Here it is:

I had no time.

I woke up at eight and had time to get dressed, eat, and skim over some peoples' blog posts before Maddie and Ryan were dropped off at my house. (I'm babysitting while their parents go to a home-school thing.) So then the next six and half hours were spent hanging out with them!

Things We Did:
1. Fed the fish at the lake
2. Fed the ducks at the lake
3. Saw the cutest ducklings EVER
4. Played a mystery and deduction game called Crack the Case (Maddie, who's seven, is REALLY good at that game!)
5. Watched the Bilbo's birthday party part of Lord of the Rings
6. Played a lot of hide 'n' seek
7. Ate lunch (cherries and Hot Pockets :D)
8. Went down to the "beach"
9. Took my dog on a walk
10. Watch part of Hannah Montana
11. Lizzy and I showed them our dances

I think that's it.

So then at three thirty, they get picked up and I start packing to go to a sleepover at Ellie B's.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but a couple of days ago, I GOT THE FINAL BOOK IN THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS TRILOGY!! YAAAAAY! Yeah. Sorry.

So I finished packing and called Ellie to ask her if I could come early. The party started at six, but my parents wouldn't be home from the home-school thing, so a family friend was gonna pick me on her way home from work and drop me at Ellie's, and just take Lizzy home with her. I also told Ellie that I was almost done with the Mortal Instruments book, and that if I finished it before I had to leave, I would bring it to her. Her response:

"Hang up. Go. Read. NOW."

Lols :)

So I sped read like 150 pages and finished the book two minutes before the family friend came to pick me and Lizzy up.

So, see, it's not actually my fault I didn't post.

...

Okay, yeah. Still my fault :P

Sorry. I'm making like no sense probably. I'm going to come back tomorrow and read this and be like, "WOW". But I'm reeeally tired. That's why I'm not making a lot of sense (if any at all). I got to sleep around four last night (sleepover at Ellie's), and woke up at nine forty-five. So, that's really not that bad. But I'm still a little out of it.

I had a really good time though! Two of Ellie's friends from private school came, and they're so fun and nice. We all had a great time together. And we watched Veggie Tales at like three in the morning. So that was FUN!!

Lizzy used to love Bob the Tomatoe. He was, like, her favorite.

Okay, wow. I usually make a little more sense when I've had... *counts on her fingers* ...almost six hours of sleep. I don't know why this time I'm especially...incoherent.

I also just drank a coke, so I'm hyper and about to crash at the same time.

I'll shut up.

No dark thoughts today yet, but I'll let ya know if I come with a good Carpe Noctem idea.

Carpe diem. Peace out.

(And if you're reading this blog for the first time, I promise I'm not always this...scattered? Whatever. Bye.)

OHH, and ONE LAST THING:

Thanks for following, Mike!!!!!