The Great Pumpkin Shortage

So, "our" grocery store is Lowes Foods. We've watched the check-out guys grow up (Derek, you're awesome), learned to like the store brands, and know where everything is. I love Lowes Foods. But today, they deeply wounded and disappointed us.

Just kidding.

XD

They didn't have canned pumpkin! What in the world! It's September, it's practically fall, time to get out your orange-and-brown-themed napkins and apple cider and pecans and CANNED PUMPKIN. Stores break out Christmas stuff before you're finished eating the last of the Thanksgiving turkey. WHEREISTHEPUMPKIN?

*clears throat*

We opted to try our local grocery store, which is also awesome. I even wanted a job there this summer, but they were not hiring, even though multiple friends of mine mysteriously began working there... Do I count this against their awesome? Nope. They know our names and where we go to church and that I play soccer at the rec center. They were sure to have canned pumpkin.

They did not.

Has there been some pumpkin virus that's wiped out all those lovely orange gourds? Did the factory workers go on strike until someone addresses the issue of pumpkin cruelty? Did the aliens steal it all?

Reality check: None of the above.

Basically, it rained a lot in Illinois last year, which is bad for pumpkin-growing. Even worse, Illinois is where 95% of America's pumpkins come from. Although the pumpkin weather is okay now, apparently you have to wait for the pumpkins to get ready before they can be canned. We're still waiting.

Ergo, no canned pumpkin in stores. Like, at all.

It's supposed to be back soon, but I wish it would hurry up. I love pumpkin scones and gingerbread cake.

In the meantime, you can apparently use butternut squash as a substitute.

Who knew?

~Kendra

Junior Year: Week 1

~ Spanish
~ Shakespeare
~ Poetry
~ American History
~ Chemistry
~ Philosophy
~ Logic
~ Algebra

So far, Junior year is okay :) I'm hoping to bridge the Gap of the Cliques once and for all this year. You might think I've got my work cut out for me (and...well, maybe I do), but anything's possible.

I wanna try and not get behind or put off my work. So far, I'm doing pretty well, but today was pretty bad. I got a late start and couldn't seem to get motivated. Some personal stuff is giving me a lot of trouble lately. But hey, I am living and learning. (The laughing and loving are the hard parts right now.)

I made a sign in Spanish this afternoon, inviting my family to watch "Gone with the Wind" with me tonight. At least Momma and Daddy showed up :D I really do like that movie, even though it's a total downer. It's a really interesting story. Scarlet o'Hera fascinates me, Rhett Butler amuses me, Melanie Hamilton amazes me and Ashley Wilkes just disgusts me, but it's interesting, especially along with my American History class.

Other News
I missed soccer sign-ups for the first time in nine years.
At least dance starts in a couple of weeks.

I haven't felt that good today for some reason. Just generally pretty down about things and lacking the energetic motivation I had last week and through the weekend. I'm really stressed out. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

~Kendra

News of Many Varieties

Good news, medium news, sad news and terribly sad news:

Good news first: MY PHYSICAL SCIENCE TEST WENT JUST FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I got an A!! The test was much easier than I thought it was going to be. My mom says it was because I studied so hard. Maybe it was! Cool!

Medium news second: School is over. *blink* Holy crud. School is over????? I'm on.........summer break?? NOOOOOOOOOOOO! *moan* I'm bored already! I've hated school and wanted summer for the past two months, but now I'm sad! And sort of happy, too. I mean, no more science. I still have a ton of math to do. *glares* And no friends. *sniff sniff* Oh well. I'm free, right? That should feel like good news. Except for now some people aren't coming back next year, and I'll pretty much never REALLY see him again. I mean them. Okay, yeah, it's a him, but I don't like him or anything. I'm just gonna miss him being around. Okay, change this from being "medium news" to just being "sad news".

Sad news third: I don't remember what this was going to be...

Terribly sad news: Okay, have I mentioned this thing called Mock Trial to you? Well, I don't have time to go into a lot of detail, just know it's a complicated and challenging court experience thing people at my "school" do in Challenge B (eighth grade). It's a huge competition, and it's much harder than it looks. And it looks hard! My team won the championships. I loved Mock Trial. That's what made me want to be a lawyer. So, when this year's eighth graders started preparing, I was so excited!! I helped them all I could, but some of them just were not taking the whole thing seriously.

Yesterday was the first round of the competition. The team mostly surprised me! They were very good! Some of it was excellent, some of it wasn't so good. But I was still thinking we had won the first round. I mean, of course they would win the first round. Never in the whole history of the tutor has her class come in anything but second or first.

There is a first time for everything, folks.

Yeah.

They LOST.

They lost.

They lost??????????????

I'm so upset! More upset than you can realize! Mock Trial is a huge deal to me. I could hardly sleep last night at first. I just kept going over the trial in my head again and again and again and AGAIN. I couldn't stop! I kept telling myself, "KENDRA, STOP IT. This wasn't even your class; why are you so upset? And anyway, it's OVER. You can't do anything about winning now."

*moan* So, yeah. That's very sad news.

A tiny bit more not-so-good-news: On account of all the stress of three finals, a memorized speech, and Mock Trial, I have three stress pimples, and two ulcers in my throat, and I think I might have a stomach ulcer.

I know. I seriously need to switch to decaf. Lol! :) Really, I'm okay. I know I'll get over all of this eventually. Even my class breaking apart. It's all good. Sort of. I WILL be all good. You just gotta believe that. Things will work out right somehow, even if it isn't YOUR version of "right". God knows what he's doing. Carpe diem!

It's THAT Time of Year

Well, folks, it's here.

Exam week.

Actually two of them. This week and next week. It's the time of year (for me) when I really wish I'd paid more attention in class. And at home. And just generally.

This also means the end of school is in two weeks for me (or maybe it's three...not sure). I know, I know. Go ahead and scream "WHAT?!?!?! LUCKYYYYYYYYYYY!" But it's not like this year was easy for me or anything. I HAVE actually worked hard. Very hard. This has been a challenging year. Challenge I (ninth grade) is supposed to be the hardest of the highschool years, though, so maybe next year will be better. I get to take logic again next year, so it can't be all bad! Yippee! :) I'm such a nerd, lol!

Here's the bad news: in two-or-three-can't-remember-which weeks, I WON'T SEE MUCH OF ANY OF MY FRIENDS! Crap!! I love seeing people. I love hanging out. I love laughing and learning with my classmates. Sure, we'll get together over the summer, but there probably won't be one single time when EVERYONE is there. There will always be the person who couldn't make it. *sigh*

I also found out some bad stuff about a friend. Well, sort of. I sort of found out and he/she (not saying which) is sort of my friend. More like an aquaintace, and "found out" is more like heard it in gossip, but I can totally believe it. It's sad, but I think it might be true. *sigh again* Oh well.

Okay, for the heck of it, I'm going to tell you how my school system works. We call each grade level something different than most schools:

Foundations/Grammar (elementary school):
Abecedarians (infant through kindergarten)
Apprentices (1st and 2nd grade)
Journeymen (3rd and 4th grade)
Masters (5th and 6th grade)

Middle School/Dialectic (middle school):
Challenge A (7th grade)
Challenge B (eighth grade)

High school/Rhetoric (high school):
Challenge I (ninth grade/freshman)
Challenge II (tenth grade/sophmore)
Challenge III (eleventh grade/junior)
Challenge IV (twelfth grade/senior)

Haha, random. But whatever. I thought easier to understand some stuff I say if I explained that.

"Mirror" is going, to put it mildly, terribly. I haven't written much in over a week. I have no idea where this is going anymore. And I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to finish this story. I don't want it to be another Oh-well-that-was-okay-but-now-I’ve-lost-interest-and-it-doesn’t-really-matter-anymore story. I actually really LIKE this one. *moan*

Hmm. I don't mean to be so mopey. Some stuff is going okay. Dance is going well. I can ALMOST do the split I've been trying to do for THREE STINKIN' WEEKS. Today may be the day. I'm going to try really hard before dance tonight.

Studying is going as well as studying can go. I'm working hard and trying and retaining for the most part. Haven't even BEGUN to try with science though. I'm thinking next week is going to be horror on a stick.

There I go, being all depressing again. I'm not depressed, really; I'm just stating the facts and they aren't all that cheery right now.

Finished "The Boxcar Children" and "The Princess Bride." The former was pretty much what I expected. The latter wasn't. I always forget how disappointing the ending is. *shrug* Oh well. It's still good. Just don't read it for the amazing plot or anything. It's more like creative entertainment. I still love it and recommend it to anyone.

I should go. I'm actually done with school work (I even did math well today :D), but I'm rambling and I don't really have anything else to say. Bye!

Good News, Bad News

Good news: finally have "Colors of the Wind" out of my head.
Bad news: now I have a Hilary Duff song stuck in my head and she seriously irritates me.
Good news: next to no driver's ed work this week.
Bad news: still stuck-ish in Creepy.
Good news: It's supposed to snow tonight.
Bad news: I highly doubt it will.

Other than that, not much has been going on. Creepy is really bugging me though. I can't get going. I honestly feel like the last...46 pages are crap. I lost my touch, the plot isn't tight, it's boring, I hate it, AHHH! No idea what to do. I have an ending (sort of...maybe...), but that isn't even any consolation.

I really am sorry that I'm being so grumpy and gloomy lately. But I have to complain somewhere. I haven't been writing in my journal lately, so I need to say it somewhere:

1. I lost $11.99 because SOMEONE, who shall remain nameless, turned off the computer while I was downloading an album off iTunes. (If you're reading this, SOMEONE, I'm not mad. I'm just saying all the stuff that's gone wrong this week.)
2. I've been cold for over 48 hours straight. Or at least I was. I'm okay now.
3. Creepy sucks.
4. I have a stupid Hilary Duff song in my head and it WON'T GO AWAY. I liked "Colors of the Wind" better than this!!
5. Haven't started my huge philosophy project yet, and I don't want to do the idea I chose but I'm stuck with it now and if it bombs it's going to be really embarrassing because of the type of project.
6. Something that I don't feel like telling the whole world.
7. My computer is being a total piece of freaking CRAP lately. Half the time the internet won't load AT ALL, and the other half it won't load fast AT ALL.
8. Writer's block.
9. Journal block.
10. Haven't heard from Shur'tugal people and it's really starting to annoy me.

Okay, sorry. Just venting. You don't have to say you're sorry for me if you don't want to. I know I've been moping a lot lately and y'all's suggestions really helped me :) Thanks, y'all! You rock! I promise I'll get cheerier soon (ish...). Especially after we move.

OHHHHHHH!! I didn't tell you the best news I don't think! We get to move this weekend! We had thought it might be months, but we'll move this weekend! Yay!! :) :) :) :) :)

Oh! And happy March, everyone! :)