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?

Fact or Fiction and the Timeline from Satan

Fact or Fiction:

The Kentucky Fried Chicken chain changed their name to KFC to eliminate the word "fried" from its title.

As usual, comment or email me your answer, and NO GOOGLING :)
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Well, today was just lovely.

NOT.

School was going moderately fine until about 2:45 when I started to work on my hateful timeline for Art History. To keep it short, I'll just explain it as the most horrendously tedious, mind-numbingly frustrating, stress-inducing school activity ever conceived by man (or in this case, woman :P).

AND it has to be done on the computer, which triples the liklihood of getting a monsterous headache (I did).

I had three pages worth of dates to enter into this timeline. I have to copy and paste the timeline onto a word document, change all the dates on the line to suit what I need it to, copy and past the little labels and stick them to the right date.

To give you an idea of how long it takes to do this, I'll tell you that it took me 53 minutes to enter in half a page's worth of dates.

I saved the document and decided I'd finish later.

That wasn't good enough for my mother, however, she said I had to finish the other two and a half pages NOW, and she wanted to see what I had done so far (I don't think she believed me that I had worked on it at all :( ).

Grumbling to myself, I pulled up the hateful timeline.

Er, tried to.

The thing is, it wasn't there.

None of it. At all. Nothing. Nowhere.

My timeline had somehow gotten deleted, or at any rate, not saved even though I specifically clicked SAVE a million times!

SO, I had to start ALL OVER and do the WHOLE THING which took me a grand total of THREE HOURS of insanely tedious, mind-numblingly frustrating, stressful WORK.

I almost cried. But I didn't.

So, that was my day.

How was yours? >:E

No play practice tonight :'( I'm sad about that. I really, really, REALLY like it. I thought at first it was going to just stress me out, but it actually is KEEPING me from being stressed. It's a great way to relax and have fun after a horrible day. So, I really wish I had it tonight :(

As for writing...*sigh* I really need to get with it, I know. I don't know what's wrong with me, but then again I never do.

So, blah. Vote on the poll. Answer the Fact or Fiction question. Participate in Followers Say. Ask me a question for Question Day. Get someone to become my 50th follower.

*sigh*

I'm sorry. Today has just turned out to be a heck of a let down. Thanks for cheering me up, though, Cavender :)


P.S. Check out my new bookshelf! It's on the sidebar thing right after the blog archive.

Fact...or Fiction?

Weird Fact Day!

*GASP* I just had a better idea!! :O :O :O What if I change this to Fact or Fiction Day, and you have to guess whether or not the fact is, uh, Fact or Fiction! First person to guess it right gets an award, and everyone who guesses at all gets and award, too.

Ready?

Fact or Fiction? In Missouri, a man must have a permit to shave.

(No fair Googling it -.-)
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Today Lizzy and my dad and I went shopping for my mom's birthday, which is tomorrow. We got some good stuff, but I didn't quite finish all my school work because of the shopping trip. But, hey, for my mom, it's worth it :)

My mom is one of those people who tries to do everything, and is good at everything, too. She speed-walks seven (I think) miles every day, comes home, works out, then homeschools Lizzy and sort of me, and does her job, which is being the state manager for the company Classical Conversations. She's also really involved at church, including singing in the church band.

She's also an amazing speaker. She's inspirational, and clear. She helps people see the big picture, and how they can get there.

She's good at pretty much every subject in school (physics isn't really her thing, though). She's a great mom, as well as being a great person in general. Happy almost-birthday, Momma!

If she even read that. Which I doubt :P

Anyway, life is pretty good at the moment. Can't really complain, I guess.

I started watching Disney's Alice in Wonderland for the first time in eleven years yesterday. It's not a little kid's movie at all! It's really quite thought-provoking if you want to get into all the symbolism and questions asked. The idea of a world where everything is nonsense in itself has incredible discussion possibilities.

We're reading the book this year in school, and I can't wait to discuss it.

XD I'm such a nerd.

There hasn't been much writing action lately. I've had lots of ideas, but nothing has made it onto paper, or the computer screen, yet.

I have two things to remind you of:

1. Followers Say...On Carpe Noctem is coming up in September! Let me know if you want to do it.

2. Questions for Question Day are always welcome ;)

I hope I don't sound like a broken record...

Anyway, if you want to guess whether the fact is Fact or Fiction, leave a comment! Thanks for reading, y'all! You're the best.

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

I just did the tag that Bethany tagged me in, and now it's not showing up. I am not kidding. I just spent like twenty minutes on it, and it's, like, deleted. *ISMADISMADISMAD*

Sorry, Bethan, but I don't feel like doing it again right this sec. I'll do it later.

*moan* Blogger can be so retarded.

Top 50 Ways to Annoy People Who Don't Like the Maximum Ride Books

This is great because you can change it up a little and make it work for ANYTHING.

1. Relate everything they say to the Maximum Ride books.

2. Say they look like a Maximum Ride character of the opposite gender.

3. Quote the Voice.

4. Rewrite their favorite song with Maximum Ride lyrics and sing it constantly.

5. Crowd their inbox with Maximum Ride related e-mail and make sure the subjects are misleading.

6. Start reciting Max's poem "White" at random moments, pretend to forget what comes next, and ask if they know in a very loud voice.

7. Make them play Erasers vs. Bird Kids with you.


8. Give all of their friends Maximum Ride related nicknames and act mortally offended when they don't know the history of their character.

9. Change your name to that of a Maximum Ride character and start screaming when they don't address you as such in public.

10. Draw wings and wrist-scars on every poster and picture you come across...in permanent marker.

11. Give long lectures about how the Voice's advice relates to every day life.

12. Constantly ask if they can see the Flyboys too.

13. ...refuse to explain what a Flyboy is.

14. Pretend you can fly, become invisible, or read minds..

15. Insist that NOTHING in your house be moved, for Iggy's sake.

16. Constantly compare them to Jeb.

17. ...laugh evilly if they ask who Jeb is.

18. Complain loudly about how you need at least 3000 calories a day to grow up big and strong like Max.

19. Tell a very long joke using a random Maximum Ride quote as the punchline and then laugh hysterically.

20. ...make sure the joke isn't funny.

21. Write letters to people (friends, neighbors...politicians) and ask them to join the fight to save the world.

22. ...hand fliers advertising it to random passerby.

23. Report Ari's death to your local authorities.

24. Call them repeatedly asking if Dr. Martinez is there and hang up before they can reply.

25. Walk past a wall over and over again, stopping randomly to bang on. When you receive weird stares, shout, "What?! I'm look for branches of Itex!"

26. Every time you see them, demand an explanation of why exactly they don't like Maximum Ride.

27. If anyone tells you you'll go to hell for reading Maximum Ride, either: a) jump and down and tell them that you can't wait; b) tell them you'll meet them there; or c) ask them to back up this claim with evidence, and laugh at them when they can't.

28. Play the book-on-tape while they're stuck in your car.

29. ...add commentary.

30. When it's the anniversary of one of the releases, call to remind them.

31. ...every five minutes.

32. Classify everyone you meet as a different mutant. (Example: "Ooh, he would make a great dog-whale!")

33. Follow them around while acting out a scene from the book doing very annoying voices for all the characters. Expect them to join in, and act offended when they don't.

34. Count down to some obscure Maximum Ride event, whether it's a random date mentioned in the books, or maybe a character's birthday. Keep saying: "87 (86, 85, etc.) more days!" in the middle of every conversation you have with your friend. Smile in a superior way when they ask what you're counting down to.

35. Start talking about a deceased Maximum Ride character and suddenly burst into hysterical tears.

36. Refuse to be comforted.

37. Send them numerous letters informing them that they have been selected for research, and you must bid them goodbye.

38. Print this out and use it as a checklist.

39. Insist that they subscribe for your new Maximum Ride newsletter and when they say no, act like you've been seriously offended.

40. If you go to a big city with them, loudly ask random people if they know where you can find the School.

41. Invite them to play "Mad Scientists" with you.

42. Tell them you're Fang, then hide.


43. Send out birthday party invitations for a Maximum Ride character. Be sure to call everyone who doesn't respond and ask them if they're coming.

45. Call your local news station and give them a tip on where to find the Bird Kids.

46. Whenever looks like it might rain, scream "Global-warming induced hurricane!!" and hide for days at a time.

47. When travelling long distances, tell them it would be so much faster if they had wings, too.

48. Tell them that they're almost as good a cook as Iggy.

49. ..refuse to tell them who Iggy is.

50. Speak in an androgenous voice at random moments and make predictions about people, give directions and advice. Then, use your normal voice again and pretend that you don't remember anything.

Haha, now that that's done with, I just have three quick "announcments" to make.

1. Since Word Day and Carpe Noctem Day are scheduled for replacement, I need something to replace them WITH. I have some ideas, but I'd really like to know what you guys want, since you're the ones who read my boring junk anyway ;)

2. Don't forget to vote on Name the Assasin girl poll. Pro to Kieran: very cool sound and cool meaning. Pro to Vega: very cool sound and fits with the meaning of her two brothers, whose names mean Sun and Mood. (Vega means falling STAR).

3. Also don't forget about Followers Say...at Carpe Noctem coming up on September 26! So far there are only three people "signed up" to do it. C'mom, you know you want to ;) Details here.

That's about it! Thanks, y'all! Talk to ya later!

Audition??

NAME DAY!! I'm actually going to do three names: Chandar, Vega, and Levant. Their meanings? Sun, falling star, and moon. Isn't that great? Sun, moon and star! If I decide to use the name Vega for my assassin girl, her brothers will be Chandar and Levant.

I remembered the big thing I wanted tot tell y'all! Remember when I said I was thinking about becoming an actress? And how I might want to do some plays at the community theater coming up? Well, I got a little card in the mail about the play Mulan! The auditions are on the 28th, and I think I'm going to go. I have to sing sixteen bars of a song, and then a short dance combo is going to be taught. My mom says I can sing, and I've been doing dance all my life, so I guess I'm going. I don't think I'm an *amazing* singer, my range isn't very good, but I can sure carry a tune.

I'm super excited. What should I sing? Yikes! Mulan!

I also have poison ivy :'( All over my left ankle. And now my face is itching and there is a bump under my nose. I'M ITCHING EVERYWHERE! AHHH!! *moan* I've had poison ivy before, all over my face. It is NOT FUN, let me tell you. My dad is pretty allergic, and sometimes when he gets poison ivy in one place, he'll break out in all the places he's ever had it. What if that happens to me? What if I get it all over again? WHAT IF IT'S STILL THERE FOR THE AUDITIONS??

Sorry. I freak out about this stuff. (In case you A: haven't figured that out yet or B: don't know me personally.)

So, I found out when soccer practice starts. This Saturday at 10am. *MOAN* I am so out of shape it isn't even FUNNY. I'm going to die. DIE, I TELL YOU. HOW CAN I GET IN SHAPE IN TWO DAYS??

Sorry, sorry. I'm in the freaking out mood today apparently.

Under my nose is REALLY itching...

Harrpy Potter is getting a little better. I don't hate him anymore, and I really, really love Draco Malfoy, just like I thought I would. Evil little cuss >:D

The W Chronicles is going alright, too. I wrote a little of the first series, Woods.

Kieran and Vega tied for the names for my assassin girl (series Wars). I'm setting up another polls just between those two names. Sorry if it seems like this is going on and on.

Picture Day won for the favorite with 6 votes, followed closely by Name Day (yay!) with 5. Quote Day came in next with 3 votes, then God Day at 2 and Challenge Day with 1. Looks like Word Day and Carpe Noctem Day are OUT! Fine by me! But, I do need two days to replace them. I have some ideas, but I'd really like to hear yours. Leave a comment if you would, or email me at livinglovinglaughinglearning@gmail.com as usual. There may be an award for best idea...

So, if you would, vote once more on the poll for the assassin girl's name. Vega (VAY-ga) or Kieran (kee-ERH-in)? And if you have any ideas for what to do in place of Word Day and Carpe Noctem Day, let me know!

Muchas gracias!
a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank">

P.S. I also wouldn't mind an occasional prayer about the audition? And the poison ivy...Lol :)

Yeah.

Carpe Noctem Day: http://toseizethenight.blogspot.com/2009/08/word-inflation-is-love-officially.html

Hung out at the neighbors' today, saw the movie Knowing (good, just...creepy), went to the lake, read some "Maximum Ride", which is very good so far. I like Fang a lot :D

That's all.

Attention Followers!

On Saturday September 26th there is going to be a special eddition of Carpe Noctem: "Followers Say..." You will be granted access to posting on Carpe Noctem from midnight on the 25, to 11:59pm on the 26.

Sound like something you or someone you know might enjoy? Click here to read the details! I really hope you decide to do this! The more people we have involved, the more fun it will be! Please do it if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, and tell your friends! Thanks!

Farewell! (Fairwell?)

Hey! I just got finisned packing my one allowed duffle bag with mid-thigh length shorts and a secret stash of rice krispy treats! I also just washed the dog. Now my hands smell like doggie and shampoo...

I don't think I can post for long, we're doing housework. Tomorrow, a ton of family is coming, including my favorite aunt! And I won't be here! *sob* About the time they're getting here, I'll be almost at our destination...yikes!

Lizzy is pretty nervous, and I'm...*very* surprisingly NOT. I can't believe how UN-nervous I am! I'm totally excited!

OMG! Today is Carpe Noctem Day! I have a whole post to put together! *screams* How am I supposed to think deep and controversial thoughts in like five minutes?

Okay, well, this is the last time I will be posting on Carpe Diem until Saturday, August 1st. If you are going to miss so much you can't wait until then, I, along with all the other youth, will be blogging every (ish) night on the youth trip, and you can read that here. I don't know that you'll be able to comment, though, and I'm *sure* I won't be able to respond.

Please keep me in your prayers this week, and I will talk to you later! Carpe diem!

God Sightings

*sobs for joy* 38 FOLLOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bekah, you rock! Thanks *so much*!!

I'm listening to "Leave Out All the Rest" by Linkin Park, so this post might be a little distant because I love this song and am mostly listening to it and not thinking about typing so much.

Okay. Never mind. It's over.

Such an amazing song. *sigh*

OKAY, so, here's what I plan to cover in this post: Carpe Noctem, God Day, and a quick run-through of my day and the sleepover last night.

Sleepover: It was fun!! We had a blast being crazy and super silly and watching like forty-five minutes of "Twilight". We took lots of crazy pictures. Here's one of them :)

There's nothing like girl friends gettin' together and doing crazy hair! :) (I'm the one in the middle, the tall one, lol!)

Quick run through of my day: Got up, got ready for church, ate two PopTarts, went to church, talked to people, listened to the amazing sermon, went to a little restaurant with D&D and their family, ate only a grilled cheese and drank Coke because their chicken fingers make me sick-feeling for some reason, took David home with us so he wouldn't have to go all the way home only to come right back for youth group (which is near our house), did stupid stuff on the computer, felt sick to my stomach (possibly because of that restaurant?), watched thirty minutes of "Twilight", went to youth group, had a great time talking about Miracles, came home, still feeling sick, blogged on Carpe Noctem, ate dinner, still felt sick, finished blogging on Carpe Noctem, re-did the layout of Carpe Noctem, went up and watched a news special about this news guy named Walter Clonkike (or something) who died, came down here, read blogs, started typing this, still feel sick.

We think it must be something in the well-water at the restaurant that makes me sick. Ugh, I feel kind of like crap.

Carpe Noctem: Uhm, just click on the link up there (or here: http://toseizethenight.blogspot.com/) and read it for yourself. Let me know what you think of the thingies on the side if you do, please.

God Day: Let's talk miracles!

We did in youth group, and it shocked me at how many miracles we've actually seen. Like, ME, personally.

1. We as a church laid hands on this guy who had kidney stone and prayed over him. We didn't pray for his surgery to go well, we prayed that God would just take the kidney stone away. We prayed that this guy would be a living miracle for the doctors to see. Well, he was. He went to the doctor the next day and the kidney stone was GONE.

2. A little girl at our church got kicked in the head by a horse. Her skull was pushed into her brain two inches. She is not paralyzed, has no brain-damage, and is completely healthy without so much as a visible scar.

3. A man at our church, a very old man, had really bad pneumonia. He was on his deathbed. The doctors all said so, we all thought so, but we kept praying. He's alive and perfectly well today.

4. Our youth leaders' daughter had severe heart problems when she was born. Time and time again, she has been a living miracle as she has had problems with that, and come out fine every time.

5. A boy we know was born with 20 different disabilities. He wasn't supposed to live to be more than a couple of DAYS old. He is currently sixteen years old.

6. A friend of our youth leader was doing something that needed a parachute in the dark. He thought he was much higher than he was, and pulled his parachute very late. Miraculously, he didn't die. He landed in a tree, and is pefectly fine today.

7. Our church is very small, and has a lot of bills to pay. Our offering isn't exactly rakin' in the cash. On a weekly basis, the accountant will wonder how in the world we're going to pay the bills. Something always happens.

8. Our youth leader was going on a family vacation a long time ago, and was broke. FLAT BROKE. They did not know how they were going to pay for the gas it took to get to their destination. They day before they left, a check came in the mail for $500. They had overpaid on something.

Stories like that are miracles that I have seen personally! Isn't it amazing? Our God is such a big God!

And it's not just the big things like kidney stones disappearing and money showing up; little things like being late to work so that you run into an old friend, waking up early to see a beautiful sunrise. Those aren't really "miracles", but God did it for you. God is always doing little things for us. You just have to stop and watch for them. At Bible School, we call those "God Sightings".

So look for God in the little details. Watch for miracles. Be prepared for God Sightings.

Hello? What are you waiting for? CARPE DIEM!

P.S. I found this blog a while ago, and this post just absolutely blows me away every time I read it. It's so poweful, so deep, so well-put, so moving, so true. "Reno" puts into words what I've felt before and never have been able to say. A thousand congratulations, Reno, for your amazing, poetic skill with words. Unfortunately, he hasn't enable comments on his blog, so I can't tell him how I feel about his writing, but I *can* share it with you, so here it is (WARNING: depressing, if incredibly eloquent): My Angel.

Another Amazing Day!

Not much time.

Lake 11:00am-7:30pm.
Matt, Katie, lots of other people.
Big family again. Awesome.
Two girls (Kaitlin and Jessica) are coming over in a minute and spending the night.
Katie is spending the night, too.
I always think it's funny when Lizzy will go over to Katie's one night, and then the next night, Katie is over at our house.
Got sunburned on shoulders and face. Oh well. It was worth it.
Got to see Matt and Katie's cousins again for the first time in FOREVER. They're both absolutely *GORGEOUS* now and pretty fun. Kind of city girls, though, lol! I never realize how "country" I am until city people come.
Can't post on Carpe Noctem right now :( I'm too tired. The post would be really shallow and rotten. Plus, Kaitlin and Jessica should be here any minute now.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: I must be the luckiest girl in the world!!


P.S. I also had a dream last night that I had four brothers!!!!!!! Two older, two younger. And a bunch of sisters. One of the younger brothers was Matt! Lol! Maybe I'll tell you all about the dream sometime. I wrote it down. I always write down my interesting dreams, especially if they're about brothers. When I'm feeling pitiful, I read over them. Yes, I am weird.

P.P.S. THANK YOU, OURLIFESAVIOR FOR FOLLOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, I'm back up to 35 followers. Strange world, isn't it?

Five Days in One

Sorry. I've been really busy with Bible school and Fourth of July stuff, and frankly, I just didn't feel like posting.

I still have nothing to say. I'm having posting block or something. Well, since I missed Thursday through Sunday, I'll just do those specialty posts:

Thursday, Name Day:

Let's do the most popular names, shall we?

Most Popular Top Ten Girls' Names:
1. Emma (means "universe" or something)
2. Emily (Nothing to say.)
3. Madison (Wisconsin?)
4. Isabelle (Love it.)
5. Abagail (Don't like that name just a whole lot. Reminds me of the 1800's. I like Abby, though.)
6. Olivia (Reminds me of an olive.)
7. Ava (Love this name.)
8. Chloe/Khloe (Kewl.)
9. Sophia (Means "wisdom" or something.)
10. Addison (Pretty much like Madison, only someone drops their "M"s.)

Most Popular Top Ten Boys' Names:
1. Jacob (And Esau ;))
2. Noah (And the ark. Seriously, can't believe this is making a comeback.)
3. Aiden (Means "fire".)
4. Jackson (Yay for surnames as first names!)
5. Jack (And Jill...)
6. Logan (My last name...)
7. Ryan (I like this name. But I think it would be a cute girl's name, too, for some reason.)
8. Matthew (Okay.)
9. Jayden (Hey, I made this up!)
10. Joshua (Generic, but I like it.)

How interesting. Hey, wait a minute! I thought I made up the name Jayden! I thought *I* invented that! -_- Apparently not. Oh well. Just goes to show I make up pretty sweet names, right? Lol ;)

My favorite girls' names out of those would be Isabelle, Ava, Khloe, and Sophia.

My favorite boys' names out of those would be Aiden (it means "fire"), Jackson, Jayden, and Joshua. I like "J" names :D

Okay, Friday, Challenge Day:

Uh. Okay, read a chapter book in a day. Good luck :P

Saturday, Carpe Noctem Day:

You could just go read Carpe Noctem, you know.

Sunday, God Day:

Oh, boy. Well, here's something. I'll tell my favorite Bible point from Bible school this week: God is with us (FEAR NOT!). And he is. All the time, everywhere. How cool is that??

Today, Monday, Word Day:

Ooh, I actually like my word from my Word of the Day calendar! It's "atrabilious", which means given to or marked by melancholy.

Pretty much it means gloomy. Cool word, right?

Well, in the words of Bugs Bunny, that's all for now, folks!

Nothing...

First things first: Thanks to Sam Probert for following! Followers are the best.

Today was pretty good! Woke up at like ten, didn't eat breakfast, did stuff on the computer, at lunch, watched the end of the Disney movie "Cow Belles", got back on the computer, wrote something on Carpe Noctem (which turned out to be pretty lame), ate delicious dinner, figured out how to fix what was wrong with Blogger, talked to some people on gmail, and now I'm typing this with my throat feeling like it's swelling up -_- It did this yesterday at the pool, earlier today, and again now. It really freaked me out the first time, but now that I know I'm not dying, it's just annoying.

Basically, nothing happened today.

We're going to watch "Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl" tonight, which should be awesome.

Uhm...

Wow, that's it. I'll just post my mega-lame Carpe Noctem thought and stop wasting your time:
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One thing that really drives me crazy about today's culture is how quick we are to take things in. Or, to put it bluntly, how gullible everyone has become.

Appealing to authority: a logical fallacy when someone believes something just because so-and-so says.

Example: "Leaves DO SO turn purple when they fall off; my big brother says so!"

Everywhere you look, people are shouting out theories and guesses and sometimes even just LIES, and their audience is taking it in like it's proven fact.

Um, sorry, but for something to be "proven fact", it has to be PROVEN first.Think about all the stuff we Americans are taking in by the minute.

Tabloid gossip.

Global warming.

Evolution.

There are more, but those are the ones that come to mind, and that I'm going to try to focus on.

First of all, I completely understand why tabloids print such awful stuff about celebrities, and I can also understand why people read them. No problem there. The problem comes when the general public BELIEVES all that junk just because a trashy magazine says so. Puh-leez. Sure it's fun to read, but don't you think the writers of those magazines are going to try to put the worst and juciest spin on things?

That's kind of a minor issue in my book, though. So people believe gossip, okay. It's not a matter of life or death, or even public intelligence. It's just silly and vaguely annoying, but that's about it.

Now come the big two:

Global warming and Evolution.

I already ranted about global warming, so I won't do it again, don't worry. I'm just going to say that to believe in global warming, you're forced to rely on the least accurate and smallest pieces of information. If you ask any earnest scientist, s/he will tell you that as much comotion as people are making about GW, it's not really a problem. The earth naturally runs in cycles like this. In twenty years, we'll probably be going through a "global cooling" scare again.

Yes, AGAIN. That already happened. And now we're into global warming.

And the disgusting thing is, WE STILL BELIEVE IT!

COME ON, people! Global cooling? Global warming? They're just big hoaxes designed to get us all stirred up.

Don't believe me, though. I don't want you to do that.

I want you to go do some research for yourself. I've done mine, you do yours. Don't take stuff from me or even big shot scientists without looking into it a little. A little healthy skepticism never hurt anyone. In fact, it's actually been known to help occasionally. Especially in times like these when selective use of evidence is booming.

Which brings me to my final section of this tirade: Evolution.

*sigh*

If you believe in Evolution (capital "E"), you are going to skip this section, so I'm pretty much wasting my breath. Still, I'm going to try to straighten this out even a little.

First, define terms. This is really important, especially in an Evolution debate, because there are two definitions to Evolution, and I believe in one of them.

evolution: the belief that things change slightly over time to adapt to their surroundings.

Evolution: the belief that life began as an unguided fluke, then species gradually changed and mutated into completely different species.

Take a wild guess which one I believe? :)

There's really so much I could say about Evolution that I could do a whole series on it.

Which is exactly what I'm going to do.

I'm going to close this post, and begin my series on Evolution.

I'm sorry if this wasn't much of a post. I feel like I wasted a good thought. Hope you don't feel that way.
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DANG IT.

Okay, something is massively and infuriatingly wrong with Blogger.

I had a whole post written and published, and I went back to add something to it. When I published it again, ALL BUT THE FIRST SENTENCE HAD BEEN DELETED.

Yeah. I'm so mad I feel like crying. I don't even remember what I said! But it was pretty good! And I worked on it for a long freaking time! GAAAAAAAAH!! And the whole thing is just messed up. Like, I can't change the font or anything for some reason.

*grrrr*

Okay, let's see...what did I say...

We're going to watch "The King and I" tonight and I'm excited because it has Yul Brynner (spelling?) in it and I love his accent. I love accents.

And it's still possible that we're gonna go see "Star Trek" tomorrow. Yay.

And my Carpe Noctem thought is:
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The Problem with Global Warming:

It doesn't exist.

Yeah, you read that right.

Now, before you roll your eyes, say "typical skeptic" and close this window, maybe you want to hear what I have to say?

I'm not an out-and-out skeptic. Not in the usual sense anyway. Yes, I am very skeptical of things until I have looked into them myself, but I DO look into them. I don't just dismiss every theory that sounds unpleasant; I do actually research them first.

I didn't actually challenge the theory of global warming until last semester. I just figured that it was true, or at least mostly true. Well, it's not quite.

Basically, the theory is that if the concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were to increase too much, the earth would get too warm. (This is what global warming is, obviously, lol!) As civilization has become more industrialized, people have been burning a lot more fuel than they used to. Before the Industrial Revolution, people burned wood and coal to heat houses and businesses, but that was about it. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, however, people are burning coal, wood, natural gas and gasoline in huge quantities to generate electrical power, run manufacturing machinery, etc. As a result, we have been putting a lot more carbon dioxide into the air than we used to.

This is where worries about global warming come from. Carbon dioxide is a participant in the greenhouse effect, which warms the planet. We also know that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air has been rising steadily over the last 80 years or so. Well, increased carbon dioxide means an increased greenhouse effect, which will result in global warming right? Well, not exactly.

Although the fear of global warming IS based on scientific reasoning, it's actually more complex than most people think. If you look at most scientific graphs, you can tell that over the past 80 years, the amount of carbon has risen, then dropped back down to extremely low, where it is today. Every once in a while, the carbon dioxide level in the air seems to rise, but it always drops back down again. Thus, global warming isn't actually a problem at all. It's almost a hoax even.

Many people who talk about global warming discuss the fact that in their area of the world, the winters have been unusually warm over the past few years. They say global warming must be happening. This neglects the fact that the entire world is often quite different from one person's corner of it. While one area of the world might be experiencing unusually warm winters, other parts of the world might be having abnormally cool summers. As a result, the *global* temperature does not change very much, despite what might be happening in one region of it.

It is also common to hear that certain large ice sheets that have been the same size for a long time are now starting to melt. This is then used to conclude that the earth ahs a whole is getting warmer. However, this is not sound scientific reasoning. The fact taht an ice sheet is melting is only evidence that *the part of the world that holds the ice sheet* is warming up. For example, a large ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula, the Larsen B ice shelf, has experienced a remarkable decline in size over the past few years. Some say that this is evidence for global warming. The problem is that the west Antarctic ice sheet has been *thickening* over the past few years. Thus, while the Antarctic Peninsula is getting warmer, the western part of the Antarctic is getting cooler. It turns out that temperature measurements of Antarctica indicate that overall, Antarctica has actually been cooling since the 1960's.

But, if you dig hard enough, you CAN find *some* evidence to show the earth is warming up as a whole. For example, land-based temperature measurements do show a slight warming trend, even over the past twenty years. The problem with these data, is that they ignore the 70% of the earth's surface, because they ignore what is happening over the oceans. When the entire globe is measured by satellites, no significant warming trend is seen.

Thus, to believe that global warming is occurring, you are forced to rely on the least reliable data and ignore the most reliable data. That's not good scientific practice.

(By the way, this information came primarily from "Exploring Creation with Physical Science" by Dr. Jay L. Wile.)
-------------------------------
Basically it was that, only better and with a better introduction :'(

And then I complained about wanting to go outside, but hating my new house's yard because it's boring and doesn't feel like home...

Then this is where I said that no one took my Challenge from yesterday, but that it's okay...

Then I said something deep and awesome...

Then I said bye and put my signature like this only probably better:

Bye.


GRR.

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!!!!!

Fighting for Freedom

Hey. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday! Ellie came over you know, so there wasn't that much time to post. But I *did* think of a challenge!! I know; amazing, right? Haha, it's not even good, but here it is anyway:

Do something you're "too old" to do.

Not like throwing a tantrum in the mall or sucking your thumb. I mean something that you stopped doing just because you're "too old". Play with something. Imagine something. You can pick *what*, just do something. :D

Lame. But not as lame as the last one? Hopefully.
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Okay, that was Friday. Now for Saturday. Carpe noctem day. Ehhh...I got nothin'.

OOOOOOOOH but I do have good news!!

Ellie and I talked about "Mirror" a lot last night and this morning, and we have some great plot ideas! I might actually be able to write today! Yes!! We'll see, though. I mean, if anyone can turn a great idea and some good words into a new case of writer's block, it's me.
-_-

I saw 17 Again today!! Oh. Em. Jee.

GREAT MOVIE!!!!!!

It was funny, had a good moral, and, okay, Zac Efron was in it, so that helps a lot, too, but it was just so good! And he *was* really cute. AWWWWWWW he cries. It was soo sweet!! *sniff sniff* I almost cried, too. And I (almost) never cry in movies unless the older brother dies or leaves or something. (I'm a totally sucker for older brothers.)

Sorry. I didn't mean to go all screamy-girly on you. But it really was a good movie.

*gasp* I just read Puddle Werld (awesome blog that I follow), and the post gave me an idea for a Carpe Noctem thing!! But it's kind of stealing the idea if I talk about it...Oh well. I'm going to use his topic as mine, but by all means go read the original. I don't want to take the credit. (Although, I *am* going to take a whole different approach to it :D) Here's the link: http://www.puddlewerld.com/2009/05/how-can-taleban-be-defated.html
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Carpe Noctem Day! :D

Topic: Terrorists: Can't we just live and let live?

To put it simply, NO.

Aren't people basically good deep down?

To put it simply, NO.

I think people are born good to some extent. I mean, we all have a sinful nature and everything, but I don't think anyone is *born* evil. However, people CAN become evil, and once they are, no, they are not "basically good deep down".

Now, some people say that we should stop fighting the terrorists. Leave them alone, they say. Live and let live.I'm fine with that. You're probably fine with that. Most people (serial killers not included) are good with that!

Except the terrorists.

THEY WANT TO KILL US. It's part of their religion. Their Bible says "KILL ALL THE NON-MUSLIMS!"

Ohhhhh but we can't fight back! That's inhumane! They believe they're doing good! LIVE AND LET LIVE!! PEACE!

Yay, peace. Peace is good. But I think for peace to work, both sides have to agree to NOT KILL EACH OTHER.

I am all for peace. Really. As much as I enjoy stirring up trouble and debating, world peace is a wonderful that I want us to have! I think it would be WONDERFUL if we could live in harmoney with the Muslims. Some of them are probably really great people.But as long as they are bombing America, it is America's job to fight back.

America is not "attacking" the terrorists. It is purely self-defense.

What kind of country would we be if we just sat here and let the terrorists kill millions of innocent people just because it's in their religion to do so?

We'd be a wussy country that no one felt safe in, that's what we'd be.

I want peace. But it's not up to us anymore. We HAVE tried to be friends with the terrorists. Didn't work. If we're going to have world peace, it's up to them now. We're fighting in self-defense. Any time they want to come over and have a nice PEACEFUL cup of coffee with us, I say go for it.

But until then, America, keep on fighting. Because we are not a country to be pushed around destroyed just to prove we're "nice guys". We have to fight to be safe. To be free. And that's what America is all about.

Gender Confused

Well, today has been interesting. I got woken up at 8:30, and the whole family went to the old house to get some more junk out of it. I went through my stuffed animals and found Bendy Wendy, Kasey Cartwheel, and Headstand Baby. I love those guys. Er, girls.

The gender mixing up thing seems to be a pattern today. I accidentally said something about a blog person being a girl, when, it turns out IT'S A GUY. And his profile absolutely screams I'M A GUY! Guess I never read his profile. *blushes in embarassment* So now I feel really stupid and bad.

And I also just realized I'm doing the confess-little-bad-things-ahead-of-time thing AGAIN. But seriously, I when he told me he wasn't a girl, I just blinked and stared at the screen for like a full minute, trying to think of a way to save face in the whole situation. It's not that he's girly-sounding or something! Not at all! I just figured he was this girl's sister. Only it turns out it's her BROTHER and...yeah. *MOAN* Why does this stuff always happen to me?

As you might have noticed, this isn't really a Carpe Noctem thing. That's because I've run out of dark thoughts for a while. But I did think of like half a dozen good challenges last night. Only when I woke up, I couldn't remember what they were -_- (That's a little guy glaring. I love that emoticon.)

In like twenty minutes, I'm going to dance for an extra practice thing. I just took a shower and my hair is still wet though, so I might have to dry it. I hate drying my hair.

Okay, so I've been following this blog (http://youve-got-something-to-say.blogspot.com/) And I really liked it. It was interesting, and the people were really cool. And then I found out something:

THEY DON'T EXIST.

Yeah, they're, like, made up. This girl created all of them and makes them post and stuff. How awesome-and-annoying-at-the-same-time is that?! The girl who created them is named Steph (at least she blogs by that name), which is funny because I loved to write and do stuff like she does, and "Stephanie" is one of my aliases. (Actually, the guy that I thought was a girl is Steph's brother.)

But anyway, I love the blog even though the characters are unfortunately just that--characters. To read all about them in Steph's book, go here: http://soshewritesstoriesandcraplikethat.blogspot.com/ You have to scroll all the way down to start at the beginning though. But I really like the blog of the characters (Something to Say). Just saying.

Well, I'm going to go read some more about Seth now. Bye! And if I think of a dark thought, I'll post it later :)

Ideas

Wow! Today is absolutely gorgeous! The leaves on the trees are almost "full grown", and the pollen isn't TOO bad. It's also about eighty degrees. Ah, finally. My kind of weather ;) I took my dog and we went for a jog down the trails! She seems about as out of shape as I am ;) I don't know how many miles we went; we just took each trail behind our house twice. It felt great aside from the fact that it was super hot, and it gave me a headache. I dunno why, but exercizing when it's really hot gives me a killer headache. I probably get dehydrated or something.

My grandma came yesterday, and she is staying until Monday. She and my mom and Lizzy (my 12 year old sister) went shopping at around eleven and got back around three. The three of them could shop in every shopping center within reach and not be sick of it. I go in a store, head straight to my department, pick out the first ten things that I like, buy five of them, and GO HOME, lol!

Now that the "burden" of school is gone, I feel two things: really free, and really lazy/bored. I don't know what to do with my time now. *sigh* This happens every summer. I spend most of the summer not doing anything, and then when school comes back, I think "Dangit, I should have enjoyed summer while it lasted." It's another one of those carpe diem things, I guess. The more I blog, the more the title of this blog seems to be perfect.

Lizzy and my dad are going out on our little sailboat now. I don't like sailboats a ton. They're okay, and it can be really nice and peacful sailing, but in general I'm more of a speed boat kind of person. I love going fast! We have some friends who have a great boat, and they used to take us out like all the time during the summer. Then, they sort of stopped and starting going with other people, and last summer, they didn't take us at all :( Hopefully this year will be different.

I want to make this the best summer ever, but I don't really know how. Getting into shape is definitely a good place to start, I think. Eating right, exercizing, blah blah blah, you know. I recently discovered that I actually LIKE salad after all, so that's cool :D Sorry. Not trying to go all healthy on you. Just saying.

I dunno if anyone has noticed, but I didn't post anything on Carpe Noctem last Saturday. I don't know why exactly. I thought about it, but I just...didn't. Not many people read it (which is okay), so if I want to post something that I really want people to read, maybe I should post it here instead. Maybe I'll make Saturdays "Carpe Noctem Day" or something. (Lol, Seize the Night Day!) I have all these ideas for blogs, but I already have two, so I probably shouldn't. Maybe I'll just have different days for stuff. Like, a super short specialty post ever day, then just a regular post. What do you think?

Ideas for Specialty Posts:
1. Quotes
2. Pictures
3. Word of the Day (Week?)
4. Challenge
5. Poem or Short Story (hmm...I dunno. I might switch this for Name of the Week or something)
6. Bible Verse of the Week (I could do this on Sunday)
7. Carpe Noctem

There, something for every day. Do y'all think this is a good idea?

Spring Hormones

I did yard work today :D Sort of. Not, like, extreme labor or anything, but I did plant flowers and stake out a spot for my vegetable garden. I'm having crazy cravings for growing things lately. I want something to take care of. So I'm going to have a vegetable garden with tomatoes, squash, zucchini, spinach, and possibly some kind of bean or something. I'm excited :D :D

There was a thunderstorm yesterday afternoon!!! :D I LOVE thunder storms. They're so awesome. They're like power and beauty incarnate. So awesome.

My dad was fixing the invisible fence for our dog today. You know, burrying the wire in the woods and stuff. And while he was doing that, his cell phone slipped off its little clip on his belt. He didn't notice until he was finished and his cell phone was missing. He was going to just walk around the woods with another cell phone, calling his phone, and listening for his ringtone, but he was afraid he might not be able to hear it ringing. So, he asked me to come help him listen for it. I grabbed my cell phone and we went to the edge of the woods. I called his phone, and heard it ringing. It was far away. He said he couldn't hear it at all. It was really kind of fun because he had to totally rely on me since he couldn't hear the ringing at all. We did find the phone after a while, and it was about seventy-five feet from where we'd started. It made me feel good that he'd needed me so much :)

I had this awesome dream last night that I was part of a HUGE family. With, like, ten kids. I could only remember two names when I woke up, though, and none of the plot. Darn. It would have made a great story, I remember that much. I might try to pull something together for a story anyway since Creepy is going so crappy (crappily??). Oh, and the two names I remember were Penelope, who was my older sister, and Evangelina, who was my oldest sister's daughter. So, my neice. Weird.

Well, that's all mostly. I helped my mom cook today. Voluntarily. Something is wrong with my hormones or something. I'm all into cooking and taking care of stuff lately. It's kind of freaking me out. 'Cause I'm so not the cooking, house-keeping, planting type. *frown* It's weird. Oh well. I'll let you know if anything really DRASTIC happens. TTYL! CARPE DIEM!

And don't forget to read Carpe Noctem. The topic for this week is...Weird vs. Normal: Does the Problem Even Exist? http://toseizethenight.blogspot.com/2009/04/weird-vs-normal-does-problem-even-exist.html

Summary

Got "Twilight" the movie yesterday, watched it today.

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait for the "New Moon" moive (November 20th, this year. Never too early to get psyched up about it :D :D)

Don't have much time, so I'll do a quick run-though of my life:

Debate is going well.
Creepy is NOT. I'm at a standstill and I don't know why.
I "just" found out I have another 3 to 5 minute speech due in about four weeks.
I need another hair cut. I feel like my hair is too long. AGAIN.
Math is okay...haven't really done much of it this week :D
Science, I'm trying not to think about.
I am really P.O.-ed at my computer right now.
No one is reading Carpe Noctem. Which is sad.
Hardly anyone is reading THIS blog anymore, also sad.
I think I have an eating problem (will expand on this in a second).
I'm afraid one of my friends might be anorexic (will NOT expand on this).
I was feeling really good inside until I started explaining my life point by point.

Okay, eating problem expansion! Every time I eat much, I feel really sick and my stomach gets all crampy. Maybe I have chrome's disease (or however you spell it). I'm significantly freaked out, but it could just be me.

*sniff sniff* I'm hungry :(

Bye! :D

P.S. I have mood swings a lot...

Check it out!

Hey! Check out Carpe Noctem for my new post! (Carpe Noctem is updated weekly)

Feminism: Celebrating the Difference
http://toseizethenight.blogspot.com/