Busy!

This has been a busy week! Monday-Wednesday, I helped with 6-8-year-old day camps at practicums. Practicums are basically three day day conferences for people who do my kind of homeschooling. The moms (or dads) can drop their kids off at the appropriate camp while they go get training and listen to speakers. Handling 50 little kids is exhausting and challenging, but I LOVE it. Kids are one of my favorite things in the world.

Yesterday, I slept in. I hadn't been able to sleep past 6 o'clock in six days! I sure made up for it yesterday. I slept about 12 hours and got woken up at 11:40 (thanks, Daddy XD). The rest of the day was pretty chill, and I went to Cavender and Matt's band concert that night. I'm really not a person to give compliments and I'm not easily impressed, but I will tell you something:

Cavender is a beast on the trumpet. Just saying.

Today, I woke up from an extremely awesome dream, but unfortunately have a cold :( Not enough sleep and not enough vitamin C, I guess. I'm taking Zicam and drinking lots of water because guess what happens tomorrow?

My first "King and I" practice! 5 hours of nonstop Siamese dancing! That will really be something! Never in my whole life have I danced alone, so this will be a very new and challenging experience. I hope I don't mess up! The play is in just over a month. Think I can master a 16-minute foreign ballet in that time? Honestly...

I think so :)

Here's to staying positive and having a great summer! Hope you all are doing great. Carpe diem!

~Kendra

Titles

The lovely Laura has awarded me! She holds a Modest Outfit of the Month contest on her blog, and the picture I submitted won. Awesome :D Thanks, Laura! You can see the post HERE.

Hang on, lemme think of something interesting to post about.

Okay, I actually have several interesting ideas, but I'm really, really tired right now and I don't feel like putting that much brain into a post. Sorry.

My inspiration has somewhat carried over to today. I haven't written any more of the Random Story, but I came up with two cool book names. I have a list of titles that I think would be awesome for books. Now I just have to write books for all of them XD

Wanna see some of them?

No?

Oh. Okay.

...

...

...

Hah, admit it, for a second you thought I'd actually let that go. Tee hee, no such luck XD

I have a freaking ton, but seven of my favorites are...

1. California Rude
2. Black Christmas
3. Pride and Arrogance
4. The [Real] Difference Between Love and Loathe
5. The Intruder Letters
6. Maps of Life
7. The Wind Reign

Think they're any good? Possibly. Absolutely no fair stealing them. I play to write books to stick on the ends of all of them XD

Anyway, I'm very tired and I think I have an ear infection, so I'm done posting for today.

But, since you all practically begged for some "fun stuff like challenges" in the poll over there (-->), here's a challenge:

Come up with a book title. I don't care if you already have a book going. I don't care if you're not a writer. I don't care if a friend usually names all your stories (*cough* Gabby named my entire series *cough*). THINK OF A TITLE.

Oh, and tell me in a comment, cest vous plait?

Thanks :D

Today. And Tomorrow.

So, hi :) I don't have any more character introductions ready just yet, so today is going to be a plain post. A not-too-long plain post :)

Today I was tired. (Four hours of sleep.)
Today I was nervous. (Ill-prepared debate.)
Today I was freaked out. (Big, black grasshopper dissection.)
Today I was pained. (Headaches suck.)

Today I giggled. (My short hair makes for cute pigtails XD)
Today I wore my coat ALL DAY. (Just a cold-natured person.)
Today I answered useless Facebook questions. (Boredom.)
Today I poked a grasshopper's stomach. (Dissection.)

Today I plan to write. (Ashlyn's story.)
Today I plan to read. ("Intertwined" by Gena Showalter.)
Today I plan to watch Alias. (Sark <3)
Today I plan to go to bed early. (Four hours of sleep.)

Today I didn't make my bed. (Shh!!)
Today I didn't doodle in math. (I'm trying to try, LOL XD)
Today I didn't remember to print two copies of my school assignment. (Fail D:)
Today I didn't straighten my hair. (Too tired. And pigtails.)

Tomorrow I will do my best in school. (Because I should.)
Tomorrow I will go to dance. (Because I love it.)
Tomorrow I will text Cavender. ('Cuz I do.)
Tomorrow I will wash my clothes. ('Cuz I need to. Rly bad.)

~Kendra

Your Daily Dose of Tpyos ;)

So yeah i'm so tiredddd and it's only like three forty five! Like, seriously, really exhausted. we did two shows for little kids today, and they went really well, yay! The make-up guy did Shang's hair differently today because he said it looked too young. I like his hair fine, but whatever. THe make-up guy slicked it all back, and Shang was so self-conscious, lol! He looked fine though.

So all the other kids got excused from school today as a field trip, but no such luck for me :( So now I've got a day of school t odo. But it's not gonna be taht bad because I knew it would be so I planned other days harder than today. I don't have that much to do today.

I'm so tired y'all. Like, wow. and it's so early in the day,too!! Ugh, so many typos...okay, i'm gonnna talk to ya later! Er, bye...wow...maybe I'll post soem pictures later!

Hello. The brain you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time. Please try again later.

*folds hands and looks calmly at you*

I am tired as crap.

Now that we have that out of the way, I'll get on with a post before I have to eat dinner in--TWENTY MINUTES?? DANG IT! I HAVE TO GET DRESSED AND GET MY NEW SHOES TOGETHER AND FIND THOSE STUPID BLACK PANTS AND FINISH THIS PAPER!!

*palmforehead*

Never mind. Bye.

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!

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

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.

CRABBINESS

I'm back! I have so much to say, but I'm too tired and crabby to type everything out. VERY short version:

1. Fun
2. Terrible crew
3. Matt in crew
4. Matt is hilarious
5. Moose
6. Not homesick
7. Horrible Red Shirt Staff
8. Overall yay
9. Lizzy not bad
10. Music
11. Emotional night
12. Lame contest
13. Rude youth group
14. Obnoxious-beyond-all-compare person
15. Retarded-beyond-all-compare person.

Crabby. Tired. Had fun. Won't type all now. Probably will forget everything. Oh well. Deal with it. Bye.

*yawn*

Tired. Very tired.

The lake does that to me. I have soooooo much that I really want to say, but I think I'm just gonna make this really short and then go read "Da Vinci Code".

Challenge Day: Pick a past challenge and complete it. Click on the little thing at the end of this post that says "challenge" and it'll take you to all the posts with challenges in them.

-Lake with Matt and his friends
-Fun
-Shower
-Look at Evolution flair on Facebook
-Here
-Mission trip tomorrow-ish.
-Bye

Wow, I have no idea why I'm *SO* sleepy!

Challenge and Update

Hi! It's sooo good to be home! And guess what? I'm here for almost a whole week before I have to leave town again! I won't be going to a practicum this time, I'll be going to this camp thing with my friend Brianna. It's kind of a mini-weekend thing. Thursday-Saturday. It sounded really fun, so I told her I would go. Yay!

This practicum was okay. I'm not nearly as tired after this one, so that's a giant plus. Also, the house we stayed at was *GORGEOUS* and the people were *AWESOME AND NICE*. The only real bad things were that I worked in Logic camp and ended up hating it, and one of the helpers IRRITATED ME TO NO END.

I thought I would LOVE logic, you know, but it turns out I hate working with 9-13 year olds. Hate it. I don't know why, but the 9 to 11 year olds are all brats, and the upper 11-13 year olds are all boring. *shrugs*

And then one of the helpers just got on my nerves. He was so weird. And VERY immature. And he was sort of mean to this other little helper. And he was just SOOOOOO immature!! GOSH! Lol :)

When we got home today, we chilled for an hour, then ate a quick supper and went to a play that this guy from our church is in. The play was "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat". I love that play! I had seen it once before when the Broadway version came through, and then we have the Donny Osmond version on DVD.

The play was so good! Joseph was good. He had super curly hair, and he was a good singer. The narrator was AMAZING though. Even better than the one that travels with the Broadway version (my mom and I saw that a year or so ago). The show was really well done. There weren't many props, but somehow everything was still elaborate...I don't know how to describe it. Some of the brothers were around my age, so it was cool to see that.

NEW THING: I want to be an actress.

Not because I saw this play or anything like that, though. It's something I've been wanting to do for a month or so now. I don't know how serious the desire is. I mean, I REALLY want to be an actress right now, but the urge came on so quickly; I'm sure it could disappear equally quickly. The funny thing is, four different people tonight told me I should act in one of the next plays. Maybe it's a God thing? I don't know.

I am going to looking into *maybe* doing "Mulan" and/or "The King and I". I would just audition and then take whatever part I got. As long as it was a girl. Some girls in "Joseph" had to play guys, and I am NOT doing that, lol!

Back to "Joseph". I love that Bible story. It is my absolute FAVORITE. There are a few reasons for that, but I want to see if anyone can guess the main one. Just curious. I know some of you will if you're reading this (*cough* EllieBandGabrielleandLizzy *cough*), but I want to see if anyone surprises me.

Since this is Friday, that will be the Challenge: Figure out why the story of Joseph is Kendra's favorite Bible story.

If you don't know the story that well, here's a condensed (REALLY, *sadly* condensed) version.

Well, even though I'm not AS tired, I'm still pretty worn-out, so I'll just say a couple more things:

WE MIGHT BE GOING TO SEE "STAR TREK" SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH DAVID AND DANIEL AND THEIR FAMILY!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT??!! I AM SO THRILLED! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

And I would like to point out the results of the "Star Trek" poll about whether or not you liked it. Well, only two options had any votes for them: the "I haven't seen it option" and the "I LOVED IT" option. Therefore (of the people who voted), if you saw it, you loved it! SO GO SEE IT!

Okay. I'm done.

Good night.

Quel du.

Carpe diem.

Over 'n' out.

Practicum Overview

I am tired.

Wow.

In order to keep up with blogging, I wrote in my journal what I would have blogged, and now I'm going to type it up.
--------------------------
DAY #1:
Time: 11:48pm

Did: drove here, dumped stuff at house we're staying at, went to set up bookstore at the church where the conference is gonna be.

Weird thought: I love practicums. They make me feel like a slave.

House we're staying at: good, smells like a granny though

Church the conference is at: huge, awesome

Good: most things

Bad: No Daniel :( It feels weird and wrong without him

Wish: I had pants that fit

Sleeping situation: air mattress 2day and 2morrow, bed on nite 3

Camp I'm working: supposed to be logic ( :( ), actually ArtGeo ( :D)

I feel: good, tired

Reading: Pendragon #2

Writing: Creepy, 173 pgs, 90k words

Overall omnia: yay!

DAY #2:

Too tired to write anything.

DAY #3:

Too exhausted to write anything.

DAY #4:

Too worn-out to write anything.
--------------------------
Okay, after the first night, things sorta went down hill.

DAY #2, WHAT I CAN REMEMBER:

The lady doing ArtGeo was odd, but okay.

The kids were more well-behaved than I've ever seen.

There were too many helpers, though, so none of us got to do much of anything.

Lunch was a sandwhich soaked in tomatoe crud and letucce-ness. I ate the turkey out of the middle and a 50 cent bag of Cheetos.

Little kid named Johnathan was an utterly amazing artist (holy crap, you'd have to see it to believe it).

Very tired at end of day.

Daddy came to see us!! Lots of stories from Jamaica to tell. I'll tell you tomorrow maybe.

Went out to eat at Chili's.

Food took forever to get there, and I was starving considering I didn't eat much for lunch.

Ordered the wrong kind of food. DANG IT.

Got the right kind of food. Ate it, but (this is gonna sound weird) was too hungry to eat much (don't ask; I'm just a freak like that).

Starving, but it was my own fault.

Watched Night at the Museum on TV.

Ate a Pop Tart.

11:07pm-ish: slept in a bed because some people didn't end up staying at the house with us after all.

Woke up FREEZING like twice.

DAY #2 WHAT I CAN REMEMBER:

Kids were louder, gained like three, lost one.

Lunch was weird pasta stuff with broccoli and possibly peanut stuff, so I couldn't eat it. (I'm very allergic to peanuts -_-)

STARVING. Ate half an apple and some Doritos.

Felt fairly defeated after lunch.

Went to eat at some lake side place.

Food was good, friends were awesome.

Ran around the restaurant in the rain with awesome friends. Scared some little kids through the window. Rocked the floating docks and were a bad influence on some kids. Got really wet. Fed the fish and the big stupid ducks. Sang the Veggie Tales theme song in the restaurant. Planned our own traveling entertainment business.

Went back to house happy :) :)

Ate a Pop Tart because I was still hungry :/

Went to bed.

Woke up freezing again.

Mom woke me up at 7:15 as usual.

Got up, stumbled into bathroom and stared at myself, wondering what to do with my hair.

Mom comes in and says Lizzy isn't feeling well. Mom thinks it's because it's "too hot" in the house.

Apparently, while I froze every night, everyone else was sweating bullets and threatening the air conditioning.

Great start to morning.

Felt dead all morning.

Kids were semi-bad.

Pizza lunch. Was so grateful for FOOD that I almost cried. Ate three pieces before I started tasting the pizza and discovered that I hated it.

Still felt pitiful, so I called Ellie and complained in her ear.

Felt much better. Went back to camp.

Teacher left to go to the beach. We had to combine classes.

Don't feel like talking about the rest. Let's just say, out of five teen helpers, I'm the only one who helps. The others just talk to each other and FLIRT. OH PUH-LEEZ!

Waiting around for late moms to pick up kids (as usual).

Felt tired in ways you probablty can't imagine.

Had to help load very heavy boxes of books onto a hand truck, cart them into the elevator, go down, get them out of the elevator, cart them down the hall, get them over this huge bump, and load them into the truck.

Repeat that step.

Repeat it again.

And again.

And again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Finally get to start home. I put my feet on the dashboard, feel my aching body and don't say a word for like forty-five minutes.
---------------------------
I used to think it was stupid and unrealistic how slaves spirits get "broken" by being over-tired and over-worked. I used to think it was stupid and impossible. Now I'm a believer. When you're that tired and worked like that and ordered around, you start getting kind of...blah. Just doing whatever, making it through the day, being hungry, hot, tired, etc. I can see how that would "break your spirit" over time.

Anyway, wow, what a trip. So tired. Must sleep. Bye, and hope I didn't complain too much. Okay, I know I did. I guess what I mean is, don't hate me for being such a sourpuss? :D

Carpe di...*zzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Making Memories

Can't talk, too tired and not much time. Will elaborate and do a Bible thing tomorrow. I'm gonna use list format to run over the day's awesome events :)

-Church was good.

-went to see Star Trek. ABSOLUTELY *AMAZING* MOVIE. WOW. I HAVEN'T BEEN THAT IMPRESSED WITH A MOVIE SINCE LIKE...I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHEN. IT WAS STINKIN' EPICCCCCCCCCC! WOW. GO SEE IT NOW. SO GOOD. SO GOOD. SOO GOOD!

-I ate a giant (GIANT) Rice Krispy treat at the movie, and those are my favorite.

-On the way home from the movie, Mrs. Martha (Matt and Katie's mom) called and asked if we wanted to go out on the boat. We said yes.

-Go home and change into bathing suits. I wash off my make up so it won't run when I do stuff in the water.

-They pick us up at the beach (in the boat).

-Beautiful weather.

-IT'S JUST US!!!!!!!! For the first time in actually-not-exaggerating YEARS (only two, but still, YEARS), it was just us. No other families, no catches, just us and them.

-Had an amazing time in the water fooling around like old times.

-The ride back, Mrs. Martha gave in when we begged her to go top speed. We flew over waves and the boat went crazy. It's times like that when I'm sure I have the best childhood of anyone in the world. I mean, being with my closest friends and the wind and the water and being perfectly happy...how can you top that?

-We all decided to order pizza and meet back at Matt and Katie's house. They dropped us off at our house, though, so we could get out of our bathing suits. I just put on, like, almost-pajamas, lol!

-Watched "Marley and Me" while eating pizza and warding off the dog, Hershey :)

-Katie fell asleep like halfway into it :)

- Matt was adorably sad at the end (if you've seen it, you know why; if you haven't, I'm not saying anything ;) ).

-We came home, and I'm typing this.

-I get to sleep in tomorrow.

What a great day, you know? Don't you just LOVE those days when you just smile and think, "I am the luckiest person in the world right now." *sighs contentedly* Carpe diem, y'all! You never know when you're making a memory!

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!!!!!

tobyMac

Sorry I haven't posted like at all lately! I don't really know what happened...I just...didn't blog, lol!

Well, I went to a Winter Jam concert on Saturday night. AWESOME!! My favorite artist (at the moment), tobyMac, was there. He gives an amazing preformance. He even jumped into the crowd at the end :D Do y'all know how old tobyMac is? FOURTY-FOUR!! Daaaang! He's almost the same age as my dad. Toby is still dancing, flipping and rapping just as much as ever. It's pretty cool. His kids are awesome, too. One of them, the oldest (he's 11), whose name is Truett, but is know as truDog, is one his CD "Portable Sounds." I'm sure he's on other CDs, but I only have "Portable." (Just in case you were wondering, the picture is of tobyMac when he was a little younger than he is now ;) ) Here's a link to a bunch of pictures (just in case you wanna know lol): http://tobymacfans.com/2008/tobymac-photo-gallery/

Well, other than going to Winter Jam, not a ton has happened. My friend Ellie slept over for her birthday (which was the 22nd. Say happy birthday :) ) right after Winter Jam. We had fun, but she has, like, a never-ending energy supply. I was exhausted at 11:00 (not typical, though. I was tired because I had to get up at 6:00 for stupid driver's ed), but she wasn't. We ended up going to bed at around 1:30, and I felt like I was dead all Sunday. Ugh. It was freaking awful, let me tell you. I don't really even know why. I'm usually not that bad with little sleep. Usually I can take it and just catch up, but not that day for some reason. Oh well. Fully rested now :D

Like everyone I know (okay, that's a slight exaggeration) is coming down with the stomach virus. AHHH! I'm so paranoid now. The stomach virus is like my worst nightmare. I hate it with a fearful passion. If someone comes up with a cure for throwing up, I'll buy it no matter what the cost. So basically, little pessimistic me is just sitting here waiting for her stomach to her, lol! Hope I don't get sick...And keep all the poor sick people in your thoughts and prayers, lol. Being sick sucks.

Well, that was my past almost-week in a nutshell. School, school, Winter Jam concert, stress, school, sleepover, sickness, school. ;) No, it hasn't been that bad. School is bad, but not as bad as sometimes, and my mom is helping me get organized and catch up with stuff. So that's cool. Thanks, Momma!

One last thing (promise...I think...): I made a website for "Creepy Story"!!!!!! Only guess what??

I HAS A NAME!!!!!!!!!

It's called "The Mirror," which is really awesome because it has a double meaning. Oooh symbolism! Lol! Here's the link:

http://sites.google.com/site/themirrorbook/

And thanks to Kyle Hendricks for telling me about how to make a website. I'm doing kind of the same stuff you are right now with the character bios and everything, but I promise I won't copy for long :)

I'm sick but I loved "The Glass Menagerie" :)

I'm sick. Stuffy nose, runny nose, lots of sneezing, I'm always cold, always tired...yeah. It sucks :( But, life goes on. :)

I'm hoping to get in a few thousand words of "Creepy" done today...Don't know how much luck I'll have when I don't feel that great. Paige will probably come down with a terrible fever or something. Hmm...not actually a bad idea. :D Anyway, I sent my story to Ellie yesterday and she read it and said she loved it. Maybe it's not as bad as I was afraid of. Ellie is extremely honest, so I know if she liked it all right, it can't be THAT bad :) We did discover some irrigularities and things that aren't quite plausible. I'll need to go back and rework those, but over all, I don't feel as bad about what I've done.

In school, we just read the book "The Glass Menagerie." I loved it! It has lots of good symbolism, and the story is also very funny and easy (for me at least) to relate to. It's a memory play. In other words, it is the way the narrator, Tom, remembers and perceives various events. The book, which is actually a play, centers around the small Wingfield family: the mother, Amanda, and young adult children Laura and Tom. They all have very different personalities, which makes for an interesting family life. Amanda is determined to make sure that Laura, who is shy to a debilitating degree, has a good future. Amanda uses Tom’s income to insure that, which makes Tom justifiably bitter. He feels obligated to take care of his family, but really wants to leave his small life and seek out adventure, or write poetry. He only sticks around because he feels his duty to his family and he doesn't want to be like his father, who ran out on the family.

The play is pretty short and it was easy to read. I love the symbolism of the glass menagerie, which is Laura's collection of little glass animal figurines. She tends to them all day, keeping them clean and arranged the way she likes them. This symbolizes the fragile little world she likes to live in instead of facing reality. There is a lot more symbolism in the glass menagerie than what I just said, but I don't want to spoil everything. The play has a very good, although highly unexpected ending. (If you find it to read it, DON'T READ THE BACK OF IT FIRST. It gives away everything. I did not read the back, and enjoyed the book. When I read the back after I was finished, I was VERY glad I hadn't read it beforehand.)

Yeah, well, that's pretty much all I can think of for now. School went well today. It was pretty fun. A guy in my class sprained his ankle after school playing basketball in the parking lot, so that's too bad :( But other than that, nothing particularly interesting happened.

Hope I can get some "Creepy" written!! Come on, creativity! I need ya! :) TTYL!

STRESSED OUT and the Whole Concept of "Love"

Happy.......Valentine's......Day.....*head falls on keyboard* ZZZZZZZZ......

Yeah. It's been one of THOSE weeks. The week has had its good moments, mostly while I was driving :) but overall, this week was...well...BLECK. I'm so tired I couldn't walk a straight line, and I'm pretty stressed out, too. :( I have so much school work, and on top of that, driver's ed work, too!! *GROAN* Sorry. Don't mean to go all depressing on y'all. Just thought I'd take a small paragraph to vent :)

So...uhm...well, in honor of Valentine's Day, I just want to go on a small rant about something that bugs me. Since Valentine's Day is usually centered around the concept of love, I guess this is as good a time as ever to point out the fact that the word "love" has become so over-used lately, that it really means nothing at all. My friend Ellie and I called this over-use "word inflation." :) When there gets to be a lot of money circulating in the economy, it doesn't seem to matter as much to people, and they spend it all the time. That's inflation (in a reeeeally small nut shell :) ). So, word inflation is, guess what? Yup. When people use a word so much that it doesn't really even mean anything anymore.

That's what's happening to "love." The word pretty much means nothing now. Nothing. Seriously. Nowadays, "love" might mean anything from, "Thanks" to "I reeeeally want part of that cookie..." In birthday cards, thank you notes, and just notes people pass each other (well, we girls at least, lol), the words "I love you" are pretty much always there.

But do they really mean it?

I'm sure some people do, but still, the whole idea of love has been just totally twisted and made to seem so insignificant. Love is a big deal, y'all! It's not a word to be squandered on Valentine's Day cards to people you met last week! It's not just something you shout at your mom as you're leaving the house. Love is a gift, and by using the word so often and so carelessly, it's completely lost its meaning :(

Of course, there are different types of love. You can obviously love someone as a friend and not want to marry them! (DUH. :) ) But still, we should be careful the way we use such a strong word as "love." Do you really? Or are you just saying that? Be honest with people. Be honest with yourself.

NO MORE WORD INFLATION!! ;)

Shur'tugalar, "Soup-er" Bowls and Darth Vador!!

Guess what? I HAVE NINE FOLLOWERS! Who woulda thought nine people care what I have to say?? Lols :)

Well, I went to my church's Super Bowl Party tonight. It was fun. Not as fun as it's been some years, but still fun. Usually I end up arguing with someone over something and it all ends up being really exciting and crazy, but this year we've all apparently matured enough to be past that stage :) Everyone brought a crock pot of soup. My mom made killlllllller baked potatoe soup. I pigged out :D Four bowls full!! Wow. Lotsa starch. I'm surprised my fingers aren't too stiff to type. Haha, okay, sorry; that wasn't even funny at all. I'm just still hyped up on caffine (I can't spell) and I'm tired.

The reason I'm tired is that I was up really late last night because I had this idea for a story that would leave me alone!! I don't know if that ever happens to other writers, but sometimes I'll get an idea that just DEMANDS to be thought through. And I have to shake off the drowsiness and think about the plot and decide whether or not it's good enough to pursue. Usually, it isn't, but I always end up getting something out of the exercise. Like last night, the plot was debatably sucky, but I like the names I came up with: Cosa (COS-uh) and Degan (DEE-gin/gan). I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who likes them...oh well. I do :) Sometimes I even semi-act out the first few chapters of the story. I know, seriously, when you thought I COULD NOT get any weirder, I blurt out something like this.

Ooooh, I have news!! Okay, I don't know how many "Inheritance Cycle" fans read this, but I sort of follow the fansite, http://www.shurtugal.com/, and yesterday I found something awesome: they're looking for staff! There was an open job position for a columnist! I totally applied. I hope they'll let me do it *bites nails* It's just the kind of thing I would LOVE to do! Writing, humor, "Eragon;" does it get any better?? I don't really know how funny I am, but to be able to write about "Eragon" in a semi-formal job position, I'll try a lot of things!

I'm pretty sure there was something else I meant to say...yeah, I'm in a talkative mood. At least this time I'm actually SAYING something instead of mindlessly blabbering about personality quizzes *rolls eyes* :) Well, talk to ya later!




OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I remembered it! (Be proud of me) I was going to say that we're watching the original "Star Wars" movies as a family, and Darth Vador is awesome. He's such an amazing villain. So cold and terrifying. You never know when he's going to strike. And he's so nearly-incincible. And thinking about Anakin's face under the mask makes it better :) Alright, Hayden Christenson can't act his way out of a wet paper bag, and his script is terrible, but he still looks pretty darn good :)

I hadn't seen "Star Wars" since I was seven and Han's getting tortured freaked me out (yes, I couldn't stand guys screaming even then). Well, I want to be able to write villains just like Darth Vador. My own villains disappoint me. If I ever met him, I would be very afraid of Darth Vador (or Durza or Sarumon ), but not MY villains. My villains don't scare me in the least. Does anyone else have that problem with their villains? Is that natural? Or am I just not very good at characterizing evil in a scary way? Hmm...