The Topic of Great Randomness

[EricG1793]

I was wicked nervous about the puppy on Wednesday... Wednesday was a half day, and I was feeling queasy, like I was going to throw up, etc. After school my best friend came over, and we were GOING to spend time with the puppy, but I was still worried... and my queasiness was worse... and right after my friend gets acquainted with the dog, of course the headache, depression, exhaustion, etc. comes suddenly.... By the time my friend left I was on the couch, staring out the window clueless of what was going on around me.... So I went to bed quite early, and my parents automatically kept me out of school so I could sleep... and sleep I most CERTAINLY did.... From about nine at night to ten thirty in the morning, a good eleven hours, interrupted only by the puppy barking at the cats, and he was very excited when I walked out to scold them all so he peed.... I took him outside, let him let the rest of it out, cleaned up the spilled pee in the house (thank GOD we have laminate flooring... We used to have carpet in the whole house, except the kitchen and bathrooms, but when I was six or seven we got laminate in the dining room, den, and kitchen... it's a bit tough for the dog to navigate, but it's certainly great for cleaning up spills, and it doesn't lock in odors!), and went in to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This was at about ten thirty in the morning. I read for about four hours.... Oh, by the way, as of right now, I'm on page 530 out of 870 (MUCH progress when I did four hours' reading!) Finally, driven by blurred, tired vision and extreme hunger... (cue dramatic music) I emerged from my post in my bed at two thirty in the afternoon, after seventeen hours of being in there except for the fifteen minute interruption when the dog was barking at the cats. I have NEVER spent such a large amount of time in a bed and I felt thoroughly disgusted with myself for a little while, but then when I discovered I felt excellent and very well rested (well, OBVIOUSLY!!!) and I wasn't feeling queasy and weak and depressed like I was the previous day. I still had a little bit of a headache, but other than that I was great.

I went to school today again. I don't know if I've talked about this yet, but our neighbor, who has three children, the older daughter in fifth grade, the younger daughter in... um... second grade, I believe, and the boy an infant... sometimes she drives me home from the end of the road so I don't have to walk a mile and a half. Well, I didn't usually have to walk a whole mile and a half, but my dad would often forget and I'd be halfway done walking home by the time he remembered to come get me.... Anyway, usually my dad picks up my neighbor and I at the bus stop, because our neighbor's mom would have to come out first to pick up her older daughter, bring her home, stay home for a half hour, and then drive back out to pick up her younger daughter. So we relieve her of having to go out twice by driving her older daughter home whenever we can. However both of my parents were away right after school today, so our neighbor drove me home, and they came and met our puppy. He did really well... although we played Ring around the (insert older daughter's name here), because the puppy got his leash wrapped around her, and I was walking around her as well to try and get it untangled, but the dog was walking just as fast around her, and she was turning around trying not to let the leash rub her skin.... It was confusing, but eventually I was faster than the dog and got us all untangled. They were all petting him, and saying if he was this calm now he'll be excellent as an adult. Then they left, because they had errands to do, and I took the puppy inside and I unloaded the dishwasher, and then I took puppy outside again and tossed his own Frisbee a couple dozen times across the yard and he fetched it, and then when I came inside I bounced his indoor-use racquetball and he was conquering that for a few minutes.... So that's his exercise for the day. I'm more OK with the dog now, because it's tedious to care for him as I first thought . Right now he's conquering one of his bones. Such a cute little boy....

Today during school I felt very queasy again, and it was warmer again today so that made me feel strange, too. I was worrying about the dog again, but once I got home and played with him I got over it. When I'm actually around him, and giving him his exercise, I'm fine, but for some reason when I'm in school or anywhere else besides home I worry.... I'll get over that, though.

Wow. That's the longest, most descriptive post I've made in a while! I must be feeling great!

[A Traveller with Magic]

It's Friday!! It's Friday!!
...Well, Friday after school, anyway. Although today was alright, despite how I missed five minutes of my physics quiz this morning, how lunch is ridiculously short, how "snack breaks" on Fridays are even shorter (15 minutes from 11:20AM to gulp down my food and hope I last til 2PM, seeing I missed my breakfast trying not to be late...ugh).

I have a cold again. Not that that was a big surprise; it seems half of my (60) classmates are sniffling, and I share my schedule with at least...five? Six? Ten other classmates? Neh. And here I thought I wouldn't have classes over 40 large until uni.

*cuts out homework/quizzes/labs rant*

Plato the Turtle xD The reference itself escapes me at this moment, but that still makes me grin. And I don't know that particular song by Nickleback- really all I know is that they come from hereabouts and my social studies teachers recommended one of the music videos.

^Aside: Social Studies 20IB is just incredibly...intense. And...I suppose you could say unconventional- we don't take a lot of notes per se, but there is a ton of in depth discussion. The teachers love sticking the ambiguous/grey area questions on us: "What is history?" "Was reasoning dangerous to medieval society? Why or why not?" And the thing is, there are no right answers- they won't tell us the answer, but they will challenge our answers, sometimes to make us 'sacrificial lambs' to break us of certain habits. So of course, my brain hurts. In a good way. (We watched and analyzed bits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail a few days ago. How could I say otherwise? ;-] )

Gryph! Aw *huggles*
No drama here, unless you count being overly anxious over- what else? IB. (All my courses this semester are IB level.) A lot of times, I get the feeling that we're a little cut off from normal high school drama. Hmm.

I have so many books to read. Even in non fiction itself, I have:
-A Short History of Nearly Everything
-Deep Time
-Our Molecular Future
-The Universe in a Nutshell
-The World Without Us
-The Trouble with Physics
and others. Wow.

*has never been to a school dance, and doesn't plan on it anytime soon. Not that I could have if I wanted to.*

Freshman Day? Hmm. We don't have anything like that. Not that it'd help the new grade tens much, especially when they accidentally wandered into our grade 11 pure math IB class. Intimidation by sheer number and presence. Ouch.

Angel: Life has been totally insane lately. To be honest, I've been so stressed that my usually I'm-gonna-die attitude towards grades and other stuff has doubled (or even tripled) in its negativity, getting me into a bit of trouble.

I know that feeling. I bombed my first math quiz (the class average was 59%, and I got...38% xP) and my unit final (stupid head cold). The labs were...okay, and no one wants to see their social essay ever again. So I know my average is not going to look pretty (before standardization, anyway). I just wish parents weren't so uptight about it- they read the same IB orientation package/huge warning/disclaimer that I did! *sighs with frustration.*
So what I'm trying to say, in terms of my life story, is that you (all) have my solidarity here.

Still waiting for my sixteenth. 2 year tradition called for spending it in chat, but seeing the different circumstances, well...I'll find something.

Hungry: I know quite a few people that would take contention with your opinion.
...that came out weird. Let me try again.
Math. Is. Fun. (And pretty/elegant!)
Although yes, the teachers would colour that view a bit. I've had the fortune of having good to wonderful math/science teachers throughout school. (Never mind my average in pure math dropped 10% in the switch to IB.)

I think my grandma has turned 80. I keep thinking she's 76. We usually have traditional Chinese celebrations (FOOD!!!) though.

Isn't "The Scarlett Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne? Or am I confusing that with something else? xD I've always wanted to read something else of Hawthorne's, other than "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment". (And I dislike English class. A lot. At least I'm not in EnglishIB.)
My teachers are great though- although compared to each other, the SS teachers are just head and shoulders brilliant. Hope you can straighten things out at school, spy.

...INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!! I can't believe I forgot about that. It's not that popular hereabouts, sadly.

I need to be off, but I have more to say! Well, I'll be reading here on some weekends, at any rate. Dai, friends.

[EricG1793]

Tonight was a strange night for my and my friend's laptop. I went to my best friend's house for a few hours this evening. I was watching Dirty Jobs episodes online ( Discovery Channel full episode player) and my computer was REALLY hot... hotter than I've seen it in a long time. And the power supply kind of flickered in and out to my computer, so the screen was flickering occasionally.... And towards the end of the episode the video was distorted... it wasn't following the audio. I gave up on it and got my friend and I drinks, I poured his and gave it to him. I poured mine, and I was walking in to his room just in time to see Diet Pepsi spill all over the keyboard of his laptop, which shut off immediately. Good thing, too, because it could have zapped anything or anybody if it hadn't.... And of course it got on their new carpeting. We cleaned up his laptop keyboard first, then the carpet. The computer wouldn't turn on. Flip it upside down, and Diet Pepsi leaks out of the fan vents. That computer's probably ruined forever.... I feel really bad; I know I'd be devastated if it was my own computer, and plus the data he had on his hard drive.... Last I knew we had it flipped over with a paper towel under it and the Pepsi was still trickling out of the keyboard and fan holes.... And it still wouldn't turn on.... Hopefully it'll dry out overnight and the worse case scenario would be that he has a (very) sticky keyboard....

[Emi]

Um. YAY IT'S THE WEEKEND! That just makes my day. So we had picture day on Thursday, and it was pretty hectic. They decided to call the people down to the library alphabetically by grade. Oh yeah, that means every twenty minutes you heard something like "we are now taking grade 9 E-J". It kept interrupting our classes, and my teachers were pretty mad. Sadly, my grade was the last ones to be called, and my last name is towards the end of the alphabet... so I had to wait a looong time. I hope the picture came out good.

It's funny, because when you get your picture taken you think of how you want to smile. BUT it's kind of hard when the photographer is telling you to tilt your head this way, and move your head more to the left... (or nose) Yeah, they said that before. So by the time your picture is taken you think you look like a crooked person, but when you look at your picture it's like perfect. WEIRD.

In American Studies we are watching this HBO film called "Iron-jawed Angels", starring Hilary Swank. It's really good so far, I'm anxious to see how it ends. It's about Alice Paul and Emily Leighton and how they helped with Women Suffrage. Powerful.

We are reading "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway in English. It's very interesting. I don't mind.

Today I had a sub in Marketing, and we convinced her to let us make some cookies for us to eat (we sell low-fat chocolate chip cookies).

All in all the day was good.

I hung out with my older sister and her friend tonight and stuffed my face with food... NOW I'm paying for it by my stomach hurting! I don't know why I always do that. I'm really really tired... So I probably should get some sleeps.

Dai cousins.

[spyells]

My mom is in nursing school and she is about to graduate in December. Yay!! But she hasn't been able to work for four years since she's been in the program. So far we've been either lucky or blessed (depends on how you want to look at it) and we've been able to get by every month. We have some bill collectors calling but we still have water, electricity, and the works to live in our house so I think we're doing good. And we were really blessed last holiday season. My mom went all out getting me and my little brother's gifts.

My little brothers are 8yrs.old. (And yes they are twins ) Their birthday is a week before Christmas. They don't usually get many presents for their birthday because of it. My mom doesn't know if she is going to have any money for the upcoming holiday season. I'm thinking about getting a holiday job. But I have honors classes this school year and let me tell you they definitely give me my share of homework.

I just don't think it fair for my brothers not to get any gifts. I'm pretty sure we all remember being little (That's if you celebrate Christmas) and how exciting it is to think of Santa Clause and getting presents. I don't know what to do though. What do you think? Should I get a job for the holidays and then quit, or should I just wait and see what happens like my family did all of the other years and see what blessings god has in store?

*sighs* I don't know what to do. I don't want my grades to fall if I get a job.

[EricG1793]

Wow! A big congratulations to your mom! Nurses are very busy, and also extremely important people. I wouldn't like to be one; I don't think I have the... hmm... courage? Tolerance? to be around sick people and caring for them.... It's a big responsibility, but as I said before, very important. So once she gets a job she'll be making quite good money, and she'll have more time on her hands to spend with you and the rest of your family. And it's only a few months away!

One of my friend's parents are both nurses. I admire them for their jobs. They're Australians; the whole my family, including their two sons, one of which is obviously one of my friends, was born there. They watched the movie Sicko over the summer. My friend and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while they watched that. The whole car ride home they were expressing their... let's say concern, to put it mildly... for "this country's 'health system'". They've been here long enough but complain all the time about what this country's coming to, and all the faults it has....

As for a Holiday Job.... I have no idea what to say. The only job that I'd personally be wanting to do would be to mow lawns, but in a couple months it won't be very seasonal. *Envisions some maniac driving their lawnmower through the snow with the blades going and making absolutely no progress in the job* Although where you live there may not be snow and you'd be able to mow all year.... I'd love that. But you may get snow, I don't know.... It depends on your interests, really. If shoveling snow interests you, do that. If babysitting interests you, do that. You seem quite good with the computer. Maybe you can design websites.

[spyells]

I'm thinking like working at the mall. And it doesn't snow where I live. I wish it did though. We can't wait until she graduates. We are already planning what to do for her graduation. We're so excited.

[Emi]

Congrats to your mom! We need more nurses!!
For your Holiday job I think working at the mall might be your best bet. They look to hire a lot of people around the holidays because it's super busy.. and I think you'll get paid well too. So, good luck on that!!!

My mom's starting school again too. She's trying to get a certificate in Medical Coding, so when I graduate she can take something with her when she "follows" me. So, she's been a little busy lately and she was a little mad at us (the family) for not doing things around the house for her. I don't blame her, we really don't do anything... So, we've started to pick up our weight around the house. Well, I've started to.. not sure about my sister and my dad. Oh well. At least I did something. :]

I want to make a movie so bad... but i need to finish my script.. find actors.. get some money (that should be on the top of my list)... etc. It's just a shame that I'm not using my camera!! It's the only reason I wanted it for my birthday...

Finished reading The Old Man and The Sea yesterday and I got to drive my aunts Jeep! That was fun.... I guess that's all!!

Dai.

[Mel]

Hey, Congrats to your mom!! Nursings a pretty cool job. I couldn't do it myself, it takes a certain kind of person to be a great nurse. But it's a cool job nonetheless.

Emi: I'll be an actress!!! I really love acting, I think it's such a great amount of fun! Of course, there could be the problem of distance and actually not really _knowing_ who you are, hehe..

Angel: I've had that sinking feeling quite a bit recently. With Latin, mostly. Toooooo many "major test"s lately. I mean, seriously, It's at least one a week, and a quiz a week too. And the quiz is on MONDAY. Who cruel is that?

But I am really sorry you're feeling that way. There's not a whole lot I can see that you can do except try to enjoy everything anyway, and to try really hard to turn your grades around, which I know from experience takes... a lot out of you. Just hang in there!!

So yesterday (Monday) I was so insanely tired. I had spent my Friday at my friend's house, babysitting her neighbors and being excited (insane? weird? yes?) about the season premiere of Avatar (MAE? ZUKO? WOAAH! KATARA??? Aang, please yes! And Aang, oh my, poor pooor Aang...)
but then I slept over and got little sleep and pulled a muscle in my back that took all weekend to heal (I feel like an old lady!)
So Saturday I got new sheetmusic! DEBUSSY I LOVE YOU!! Jimbo's Lullaby is the most adorable song. He wrote it for his daughter. She's telling her little stuffed elephant a story, but she falls asleep before the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OKURpoa9tg
I think he should change before coming on camera, though, huh? Not a good choice before the world...:P

all right, my mom's being...well, she wants me to go to bed

now.





graaaah. Back.

All right, where was I? Oh yeah, so Sunday I had to do all my homework (finish Chromosome 6 -- a badly written book that I did not enjoy at all. Don't read it if you can help it.) Well, anyway, that was a bad idea, procrastinating like that. I didn't get to bed until like 11:45. Needless to say, I was extremely tired the next day. I was positively loopy and couldn't function at all ( for example: Math Class: MEL sits at desk, trying to find answers in key. She flips through the book, confused. MARY: Gentle, teasing smile and voice "Are you lost?" MEL: embarrassed good humor: "Yesss...")

And I know I'm ranting, so if you're not reading any of this, I don't take it personally at all.

I guess I'm a little tired, :P Sleep is nice.

But first, "The Historian"!! It's an excellent book I'm reading for Book Club. It has history (no duh, :P) and Vlad the Impaler (though it isn't fantasy) and it's rather good so far. We'll see how it goes. I think it's going to be excellent.

Well, I'm out. :: ))) Niiiight, guys!

Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!

XD

[Emi]

Mel, I'd totally cast you!! ha ha...

SO, recently (Wednesday) I found out that my mom's uncle passed away. It's not really a sad thing for me because our family wasn't really close to him, but it's still sad. Now, my grandparents are coming up from NC, and staying at my house til the funeral, or later. But my house isn't big enough to fit all of us (me, my mom, my dad, my sister, grampa, and grammie). So, I'm lending my grandparents my bedroom, and I'll be sleeping in the living room on the couch. But what makes matters worse is that I have a cold, and I'm feeling really crummy. We haven't told my grandparents I'm sick because.. well actually I don't know why... Anyway, they should be coming anytime soon, because last I've heard from them was when they were in Springfield, MA. So, we're all patiently waiting for their arrival.

I went to school today for only one and a half of a block. I just wanted to take my vocab test (I hate retaking tests/quizzes) then I'd go home. Which is what I did. Then I slept for like two hours.. I feel a little better now, but still congested.

This week went by pretty fast. I'm real excited about next weekend. There's a festival type thing going on... (a tradition in our town) and it's really fun. My dad's going to be selling stuff there this year, and I'm going to help out (making money).

Well, I think that's all.. haven't been on here in awhile, so I'm going to check out some posts!!

EDIT: Today, I just slammed the car door on my hip.. this just adds to my crumminess. I'm so accident-prone.

[Gryphon]

I really miss the chat. :/ Really really miss it.

Life = hectic.

Last weekend was homecoming. I showed up in a purple halter top dress with a crowd of friends.

Actually, I don't even feel like writing. I just need to run around.

Just wanted to say hello and I'm still alive, at least. :P *hugs all*

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

Don't forget, Gryph, there's always the irc channel.

And everyone knows there's an official Diane chat in an hour and a half, right?

[EWizard11]

Hey guys! For my english class I'm writing an essay on someone who threw me a lifeline at some point in my life...as in helped me out of a bad spot...and I was relatively uninspired until I remembered 4 years ago today, my birthday. A few of you knew how upset I was that I had just moved and couldn't celebrate my birthday with my friends, so you made me a little webpage with cards from all of you to show your sympathy and support. I started crying thinking about it. Just wanted to let any of you know who remember that or remember me (I unfortunately am busy off my head and don't come on very much anymore) how much that meant to me.

[marina salem]

Well, once again, for the second year running, I am too cool to be invited to homecoming!
Friday was kinda nice. We had a volleyball game (and won), and by the time we played [they mixed up the schedule so Varsity could play first and get to homecoming: V, fish, JV] there was hardly anyone in the stands. Excepting the JV parents and some of my teammates' dates. So I went home afterwards and relaxed. Anyway, I don't see a whole lot of point in homecoming. You spend all that money on a dress, tickets, dinner, mums/garters, and who-knows-what-else, and never wear the dress again, because that would be tacky.

Unfortunately, my parents are really ticked at me again, because my grades are "bad". In middle school, I was a straight-A student, and now I make B's, with a C in Honors AP World Hist. But they're burning me out. 11 years of school (counting kindergarten) wears a mind down, especially one that has to live up to my parents' expectations. I can't wait to move out and go to college in some far away state where I don't have to come home for the holidays. And I'm about to get a really bad grade in English for a late essay, so if you don't see me lurking within the next few days, I'm dead, and you're welcome to come to my funeral. Or maybe I'll have myself cremated, so nobody can dig up my body years later to see how the new embalming process that they tried on me worked.

I do entreat your pardon if this has sounded like a complaint fest. I didn't mean it to.

Halloween is 23 days away!

[Gryphon]

Garrett:
And everyone knows there's an official Diane chat in an hour and a half, right?

Heh heh. Except for Gryph XDDD But from what I can see of the forums, DD stood you guys up. XD (god, this child is clueless)

This year, I take AP calc BC, which is the second year of AP calculus. It's eh... well, better than last year, because I have a better teacher, but more rushed, more disordered, more bleh... and it turns out I can't remember things for eh. I just cannot remember. I came to class today, bombed a quiz, and then just gaped at my homework for the next day because I had forgotten everything that I had learned the previous week. It was a lot like a huge chunk of time had dropped out of my life. Aren't you supposed to get better at studying the more you do it? Or maybe the more you know, the more it works against you. Whatever. In the end, it's just frustrating and kinda scary.

><;

I miss writing here. It takes some of the stress out of life.

*snuggles Ella* I joined a little under four years from now. I've changed a lot since then.

Less neurotic, more extroverted, harder worker, better artist. Despite being a wreck the past few months and freaking out, I'm a happier person.

hahaha I was invited to homecoming... by my friend. XD I went with a crowd of friends, all of us girls. I asked my ex-frosh boy if he wanted to come with us, cuz he didn't look like he had a crowd to show up with, but my friend's dad flipped out and was like, "NO GUYS!" Crazy parents. XD Homecoming was fun, but kinda disappointing, and I know that sounds contradictory, but eh...

I got a C in calculus last year, and it's something that my mom will never let go of. At every possible opportunity, it comes up. It's not something that infuriates me. Well, it does, but I feel awful about it first. I know I failed, okay? I realize that not only was I imperfect, but I crashed miserably. And it's gonna haunt me.

...

*exhale*

I can't set myself up for unrealistic expectations. That's for students who didn't mess up one of their most important years of high school.

Heh, and unfortunately, getting a five out of five on the ridiculously hard AP exam doesn't alleviate anything.

><

Enough agonizing. I drew this over the weekend. It's no photoshop; it's from a facebook application



<-- pride