Slower Days

I seem to recall that in other semesters, this last couple weeks was the most frantic part. But for some reason this year it is not so. It seems like half my classes are getting canceled every other day, or they're winding down extremely leisurely. To me this semester has been about two seconds long, so I'm still in the "middle of semester" mentality. I feel like I just got here, but the first step is already almost over. I guess that's what happens when you're living the fast life like me.

So I finally got my hands on some sheet music for a song I actually like (but no one else does, for some reason). I absolutely refuse to pay for sheet music, because on top of the cost of the actual music, there's the cost of printing, which is 10c per page (absolute robbery). So usually I get it for free somewhere, but lately I've been having a hard time finding music that is both free and to my liking. Anyway, the point of all that is to say that I found some music and I've been practicing it a bit and it'll probably be video-ready soonish. Even though I probably won't actually film a video until after Thanksgiving break. I'm not too good with this video thing at the moment.

Tonight I am going to an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner put on by one of the 2nd floor residents, which means that instead of turkey, potatoes, and gravy, we're having microwavable pizza rolls, cookies, and maybe a rotisserie chicken (but only if I bring it, which will depend greatly on how much it costs. I have no idea how much a rotisserie chicken is supposed to cost, do you?). But the spirit of Thanksgiving cheer will be there, so I guess the food part won't really matter.

Tomorrow I'm going to be home later than usual because I have to go to the middle school. I've had to start going on Fridays as well as Monday and Wednesday because I suddenly realized that I wasn't going often enough to get in my thirty hours of observation before the semester ends. You may not know this, but thirty hours in Middle School Time is about three hundred in Normal People (i.e. me) Time. As it is, I'm going to be there through finals week. I am obviously not very good at forethought.

Anyway, see you tomorrow. Peace.
-Amy

COLLEGE KIDS ARE LAME! LITERALLY!

Or they will be, once I'm finished with them. If there was a whiteboard somewhere for ME to write on, I would write wonderful things and draw unicorns and rainbows.

I would write awesome quotes from awesome movies, and tell those people whose whiteboard it is that THEY ROCK, even if I don't know them.

Stupid people, with their stupid words.

So, like, you're gonna be here all week and me must make many multiple songs and record. We will be famous soon enough.

So you're gonna be home this weekend and that's super duper beyond awesome. I need to make a list of things for us to do, because we're gonna have a lot of time. a loooot of time.

me madre is fixin' up Josephs old room and it looks niiiiice.

But anyway I have to do school and stuff so we can have free time next week.

I've gotta get on that list too.

Peace out brother.

People I Don't Even Know Keep Slandering Me

So hopefully this week will be a little more productive than last week. I can never get anything done when I don't feel good. All I felt like doing the whole week was lying around watching romance dramas, drinking hot chocolate, and feeling sorry for myself. Thank God those days are over! Mostly over.

So about the title of this post, you know how my roommate put up this whiteboard on our door? I'm pretty sure it's some people's goals in life to go around and write something mean/gross/stupid on all the whiteboards, because half the mornings I get up and go to class, someone I don't even know has written something mean about me or Alyssa on there. Stupid college kids. Sometimes it's funny though.

Today I have this stupid presentation to do in Library class. The assignmnts count for almost nothing (but attendance counts for basically everything), so me and my group didn't try very hard on it. It's a good presentation, only I think there are probably things we didn't care to foresee so we'll probably get mixed up when we're up there. It's okay though, because we dressed all professionally for it, so we'll look like we know what we're talking about. And that's what's important!

We just did our presentation. It wasn't too great, but it was okay. At least it's over, right? Right. I'm ready to not be wearing these slacks anymore. I hate my slacks. I think I am going to bring them home next week and narrow the legs a little, because they are as wide as 2003.

-Amy

Bundling

Now that fall is pretty much just over, I am starting to wear hats. Today I'm wearing one with earflaps, because it's windy. If it gets any colder, I will wear my fuzzy hat with earflaps.

So I pretty much have a lot to say about The Hunger Games (not least the casting choices for the film), but my hands are cold right now so I'll probably just wait until I get home tomorrow. I'm thinking the second book would be a good Christmas present to ourselves (I could buy one half, you could buy the other). Heheh.

So the other night I watched this Thai movie called Raging Phoenix. It was an action movie. I think it kind of had too much of the same kind of action. It got a little boring after a little while. I can only watch a hundred-pound girl beating up thugs with tae kwon do for so long. It was pretty fun though.

This morning my roommate said that she hears me talking in my sleep almost every night. She told me that last night I was going "hahahaha... wow." over and over again in my sleep. I don't know what it's like to hear a sleeping person laugh, but I'd guess it's a little creepy. Sorry, roommate.

Anyway, library class is over so I must away. I decided to try out NaNoWriMo this year. So far I have 4,000 words (on top of the 20,000 I already had). It's going pretty well, I guess. I killed off one of my characters, so that's good.

Keep it classy,
-Amy

I don't even know where to start

By the way, people, this going to be the most spoiler-tastic post, so if you haven't read the hunger games, go read them and then come back and read this, and if you have: enjoy my conflicted feelings.

So, over all, I loved it, it was amazing and I read it in like two days.

But here's what was weird, though out the whole book, and what made it hard to predict what was going to happen:

I couldn't tell where the author or the characters stood, as far as 'morals' go, and I'm not saying that an authors morals carry out into the book, because a lot of times, especially in a book like this, they don't, but I didn't know what kind of standpoint she was taking.

In video games and stuff, theres lots of killing, and its kind of no big deal. Kill the guards, kill the spies, kill the bad guys. Kill everybody. A lot of games are win-by-killing-everyone games, but its not like that translates into real life or anything. I don't think that most people could kill a person. I know its different when you're raised in poverty and you kind of just do what you have to do, and you're used to the horrible horrible games.

I didn't know if Katniss would kill anyone and I didn't know if Peeta would. But most of all, I couldn't tell if they were going to feel anything or regret it, if they did, and I couldn't tell if it would be looked down upon when they got home that they'd just killed a bunch of teenagers.

And there is absolutely no way you could go into something like that and come out in the least bit sane. Even without it being about winning, it would still be almost impossible to live for weeks in that kind of condition, virtually alone, especially with those creepy mutt things.

And I didn't know what could possibly happen in the games, because there could only be one winner, and when the rules were changed it did almost seem a little too perfect.

But back to the storyline.

At first, I loved Peeta. He was like awesome and cool and funny and cool and awesome and funny and nice and SUPER SWEET and cool and all around just the bees knees.

He was nice to her and she was a little standoffish about it, which really annoyed me. I mean, why can't she just accept that some people are just nice. 


I don't know, and it really annoyed me that she thought that it was all an act and that he was just trying to get her to open up to him so he could kill her when the games started. Gosh. GOSH.

And then when when he was in the interview and he said all that stuff, I stopped right at the end of that chapter to have dinner, and I was freaking out I was so happy. Like FINALLY!  ( actually thought that he was going to say he liked her sister, I don't know why I thought that, but it would also be a real problem. I mean, prim wouldn't accept him if he'd killed her sister, but if he didn't killer her sister, chances were he was going to die, yah?)

And then I read some more and I was like, "what!" So he pretty much admitted that it was all a fake, just to make her more valuable in the games, right? Well, WELL, I TOTALLY believed him when he said he had a crush on her, and then I can't really remember what I thought when he said that it was fake. I mean, I was totally crushed. (crush, crushed. GET IT?? AHHAHAHA)

And then I was devistated all the way until I read that he killed that little girl that made the fire and I was like, "uh huh, there is no way, he haass to be playing" I thought he was playin', but i wasn't sure, and I was just really sad because nothing was working out at all!

And then that whole wasp thing happened, and she was all delirious, and he saaaved her. And I was so happy I jumped around for a couple minutes (I pretty much read this entire book in my room and I can't even tell you the crazy emotional rollercoasters that happened. I did a lot of silent screaming.)

And I knew, I knew. He wasn't playin'. I didn't know that he actually liked her, but I knew that he wasn't all bad, and that he really was that totally sweet bread boy. so sweet.

And then ya-da-ya-da-ya, I didn't know he actually liked her until he was like, dead, and they were like, on the same team. And then I did a lot of this:

"OH MY GOSH KATNISS YOU ARE SO. DUMB. STOOOOOOOPPP BEFORE YOU CRUSH HIS SOUUUUL!!!!"

And I was so sure so. sure. that throughout this whole thing he knew she was totally playing because 1. he told her he was playing, and she knew, and they had this whole compromise thing. 2. he's smart, and he should have picked up on her horrible acting skills. 3. yeah. he should have just known.

So I totally didn't see the end coming and its sad sad sad, and I want the next book NOW.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Oh.....siiigh.

There's almost nothing worse than reading a book with some awesome awesome character that is totally unappreciated. That's what its like reading The Hunger Games.

And I just looked it up, and Josh Hutcherson is TOTALLY playing Peeta and I am TOTALLY excited about it.

Oh, yeah, sorry I haven't been blogging. I've been busy reading.

I read like the entire Neptunes Son yesterday. I was a little iffy about it at first, but I really liked it because percy was one of the main characters, and it wasn't in first person, and it was nice to have it be about percy from someone elses perspective. Ne was still funny and joke-y and puntastic as always.

The other characters were awesome, and I'll TRY not to give a ton away, but their "curses" or "gifts" or whatever were a LITTLE weird in the beginning. But then it all worked out. Also, I didn't really like how they introduced Nico in the beginning and deceived us into thinking that he wasn't going to be some kind of big character or something.

AND I didn't like how Percy's memory came back gradually. I wanted more anger and annoyance at not being able to remember anything, you know, like, what would actually happen. And I wanted there to be an amazing realization moment when he remembered EVERYTHING.

Also I didn't like how the whole book was pretty much leading up to him and Annabeth being reunited, but then the book ended RIGHT before it, so I KNOW they aren't going to have it in the next book. Ugh, I mean, I waited like 500 pages for that reunion.

And just because Nico wasn't a big character doesn't mean that theres not going to be a rap. You aren't going to get out of beatboxing THAT easily.

But I know what the next book is going to be about and I'm totally PSYCHED.

SO ANYWAY, I'm reading the hunger games. Wow. WOW. WOOOOOW. oh my. Gracious. The whole premise makes me want to hug our country for being so not-horrible.

I hate those fatalistic people, I know you said you're one, and thats probably true, but GOSH. I mean, people are all "Oh yeah, we're all going to get engulfed by the sun, or die via dictation from horrible ruling powers, but heres what I say:

DUDE, we're doing really FREAKING GOOD! We made the atom bomb and there wasn't even any apocalypse. And you dude, back there, bein' all "actually, the depression--" I don't want to hear it. We made it out fine and trees still cover 29 percent of the the dry land!

But I still like reading these crazy post-apocalyptic books. I think its because the thought of starting new and being able to do whatever you wanted as a people is pretty fascinating, even though I've got to say, having teenagers fight to the death for entertainment is kind of one of the last things that I would think of having a post-apocalyptic book be about.

I really like the thought of these mockingjays. When I write a book like that, instead of them breeding birds and birds for spying reasons, I'm going to have them breed birds and horses, and narwhals and horses, so I can have a pretty sweet army of unicorns and pegasi. Wouldn't that be sweet? Yeah, it would.

 Anyway, back to reading. See you friday!

Happy November

It's pretty lonely up in this blog thing! I think I might have to switch it so that it's my Facbook profile on the side.
So I know you resent all the free time I've had lately. I kind of don't like it all that much either after a while because having a lot of free time and not a lot to do in that free time makes me feel lazy and dull-witted. That's pretty much why I've been doing all this stuff like trying to learn Korean and writing and playing piano. It helps me feel industrious. But I decided to up the workload a little next semester, so I'm taking 18 hours instead of just 14. So I'll be pretty busy.

Anyway, one thing I haven't really been doing is making videos. Since I see you every weekend I'm finding it a little hard to find things to talk about. If you have any ideas feel free to toss them my way. I have a couple ideas but we'll see. Video should be out sometime this week.

Yesterday was Halloween. Never has a holiday passed with me so incredibly apathetic about it all around. However, I did wear those fake nails with the cute little ghosts on for the entire day and some people complimented me on them. I also did some laundry, which in itself isn't remarkable except I decided to wash that fuzzy red blanket and it must have been the first time it's really been washed because that thing covered the lint screen in the dryer with an inch-thick layer of red lint. Also the red fuzzies got all over the rest of my clothes. So that's going to take a little while to clean up.

I have a science test in 25 minutes. It's mostly about energy and how we've squandered the world's beauty with our greed for oil. This class is pretty fatalistic if you ask me. I'm a pretty fatalistic person myself, though, so I'm fairly confident that I'll do all right on the test. I have to try extra hard to get good test grades in this class though because the teacher doesn't take attendance and to be quite honest, usually my ticket to a certain A is good attendance (teachers love the people who are there every day).

Anyway I'll see you later.
-Amy

School Beans

I think my only real problem with learning Korean verbs is that they're simple where English is complicated (the sheer number of conjugations in English versus only four in Korean) and complicated where English is simple (English has no levels of courtesy in the verbs or anywhere else, while Korean has about a million, and they're all extremely important). So it's hard to wrap my head around it all.

Today it's cold and damp and I really want to just stay in and drink tea. Instead I am in the library, with the taste of hazelnut-flavored coffee still lingering in my mouth from breakfast. I can't believe I keep forgetting to bring a little bit of coffee from home so I can make myself the odd actually good cup of coffee when the mood strikes me. Speaking of home, I can't remember if you're coming up here tomorrow or Saturday. Either one's fine though.

The other day I picked a song to learn and I went to the music building yesterday to try it out. It's called Powerful Stuff by Sean Hayes. It's a really fun song but I don't think it's going to work. Not because I have to translate guitar to the piano; I guess me and the song just don't really vibe. I'll have to find something else. Usually I have to be really excited about a song to be able to learn it. I learned that Adele song in like three days. If you have any ideas hit me up.

The other day I watched a really fun and awesome movie called Castaway on the Moon about a guy who tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge but ends up surviving and washing up on this little abandoned island right next to a city, but he can't get back because he doesn't know how to swim and he ends up being stuck there for like five months while civilization is only like half a mile away. It was funny and a little sad too and I think you'd like it even though it's a foreign film and I know you don't like subtitles.

Now that the end is in sight for school (my Foundations of Education class ends on the 3rd... that's only a few days away!), I'm starting to think about Christmas for realzls. They already have some Christmas decorations up in the cafeteria which seems extremely premature since Halloween isn't even here yet, but since I'm planning on pretty much making everything I give, I have to start thinking about it right this minute. I have some good ideas but some of them are going to be pretty hard to carry out. We'll see. I'm excited.

À demain (je pense),
-Amy

Spoilers

I don't know about you but I can name at least four seperate occasions where I was watching a show and I was like, "Oh, this actor is cool/really familiar, I think I'll look him/her up", so I do, and I inadvertently happen upon a spoiler... usually a really huge one. It happened with Jericho, Doctor Who (multiple times), Harry Potter (okay, it's a book, but still), Dexter, 24, and many others that I won't try to think of right now because they make me sad.

Anyway, all this to say that it happened again today. With Merlin. I didn't even know there was definitely going to be a season 4, I was just looking to see if it was a possibility, and on the first google result, the spoiler just jumped out at me. I was powerless to stop it! I'm... I'm sorry.

So, yes. There's a season 4, and it's airing right now. And let's just say intense things happen. I'll be nice and not spoil it for you. But the tagline is "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." And it's supposed to be much more gritty than the other seasons. and there's going to be a 5th season, too. Excited?

My quest to understand Korean verb conjugations has come to a place of stagnation. Maybe I'm looking for answers in the wrong places. After I've exhausted the abundance of confusingly-worded and heavily accented YouTube Korean tutorials, I think my last resort is going to be one of the Korean students here, even though I don't really know any of them and they've probably never tried to explain Korean verbs to a English speaker before. Reaching dead ends like this is depressing sometimes.

Ah, first-world problems.

Later,
-Amy

Vending Machine WIN

Amy, that sounds like the BEST vending machine ever.

Actually, here are the top five things I would want in a vending machine.

1.daritoes, twix, sprite, arazona tea, and nerds
2. nachos, grapes, water, easy mac, and dippin' dots.
3. hamburgers, pizza, french fries, milk shakes, and cookie dough
4. an extra change of clothes, a brush, lip gloss, makeup remover, and kleenexes.
5. blank CDs, a kitten, a pillow pet, a cheesy romance novel, and duct tape.

Thats a pretty awesome list.

Ok so about Merlin, yeah, its not all fun and games, but its still cheesy, and its still funny, and yeah that Uther episode was frreeeakyyy! But I think it gets funnier as the season progresses. My favorite being:

"What happened to you, you look like a startled stoat." - arthur
"Well you look like a bone-idle...toad." - merlin
"You're saying I look like a toad?"
"Yeah and maybe one day you'll magically transform into a handsome prince. Just...magics outlawed so that will probably never happen."

And OH MY GOSH, AMY. Morgana isn't in some stupid trance thing and shes NEVER going to thank Merlin for real and they're NEVER going to get together, gosh!
I'll say it one more time: MERLIN AND MORGANA WILL NEVER GET TOGETHER.

OK, well, with that said, I will re-say something that I said in the message I left you that I don't know HOW you miss took it.

The costumes I was asking you about were for this graceway party. Duuuh I'm not changing my awesome cheshire cat costume for that party tomorrow. duuurh.

PEACE

-michelle

Warm Things Like A Boss

So you know know I left you a message last night and I said that I was going to go to bed? Well I had this headache that was really annoying and I was super tired, but when I tried to sleep I guess I was too aware that it was only 9:20 and I wasn't able to drift off. So I was like, I need something to distract me to sleep, and it had to be something fun, so I decided to watch some Merlin. Now I vaguely know what happened at the end of season 2 even though I didn't really watch it (the dragon got out, Merlin's dad was around for a while or something and he died maybe, something about Morgana being missing), and I was hoping there would be some kind of recap at the beginning of season 3, but there wasn't. Good thing the plot's wonderfully easy to follow. Anyway, I watched the first two episodes while I was trying to get to sleep. It wasn't as fun as I was hoping. Mostly it was scary or awesome. Those dead people that Uther kept seeing were pretty scary and since I had all the lights off it was kind of terrifying. Anyway, I'm still under the impression that Morgana (seriously, what is up with her flashy outfits? Do we really need any more hints that she's a dark temptress of sorcery?) is under some kind of delusion and eventually she'll snap out of it and be incredibly grateful to Merlin for not killing her the millions of times he had the chance to. And then they'll hook up or something. I'm still hoping for it even though I know Morgana is the villain in all the King Arthur stories.

So yesterday I finally went and bought a warm thing at Wal-Mart because I have a jacket/coat but it is very thin and flimsy and not enough for any weather below 40 degrees. So I got this boy's thermal jacket that is so soft on the inside that it gives me little shivers of happiness whenever I feel it. Angela says that I look like a lesbian in it, which is probably true, but I don't care because I'm pretty confident with my sexual orientation and if anyone thinks I'm batting for the other team (or am I?), I don't really care either way (or do I?). Anyway. So today I'm wearing this warm thing with my awesome boots and an orange scarf and no one is warmer than me. I love it when I can cheaply purchase a piece of clothing that I know I will use constantly through the entire season and probably next year too.

Every now and again a tour of high school students looking at UCM as a prospective college comes through here (the computer commons) and the tour guide tells them all the wonderful things about it. Anyway, there was a tour just now from a private school, and frankly I was kind of thrilled by their uniforms. It's not very common to see schools that still do uniforms (usually private schools just have a dress code or something), but these ones are really nice looking. They've got a white button-up shirt, a dark blue blazer, khakis, a red-and-blue striped tie for the boys, and a red-and-blue striped bowtie for the girls. I'm sure it would get really annoying after a while to have to wear the same thing every day, but it sure looks nice.

There is a venging machine in here that sells scantrons, blank CDs and DVDs, flash drives, kleenexes, Advil, and Tylenol. It is possibly the most depressing vending machine ever.

-Amy

Dance Class Dance Class DanceDanceDanceClass

Oh hey Amy hows it going. I just had some yummy dinner, and before that I was at piano lessons, and before that I was at dance class.

Aaaah well, dance class is going really fast and its really totally awesome. I love all the girls in the class and some of them think I'm funny or something, which is pretty cool, I gotta say.

And in hip hop class we listen to cool music. Our routine song isn't TOTALLY awesome. Its little drummer boy 'hip-hop-rapper' version, which, they did a good job, but they could only do so good, you know? Yeah.

We're almost done with BOTH of our dances, and they're going to be totally totally awesome in every way. You can come to our performance, were I will first be a totally g and then I will be a totally angel.

Isn't it weird how the word gangster has changed? It IS.

But anyway I've been watching Merlin and OH MY GOSH this season is soooo epic! I can't believe it! Its not all "merlin saves the day and then no one gives him credit" anymore, its more like, "merlin figures out whats wrong and everyone fights for it and then FINALLY merlin saves the day RIGHT as uther is about to die or RIGHT as aurthur is about to get married or RIGHT as SOMETHING REALLY HORRIBLE is about to happen" and its so so so so so so so awesome and so so so so so so so so so funny!

I lerrrrve it.

Anyway I'm going to mormors this weekend and I'm exciiited! I'm also going to make some videos! Probably more covers than vlogs. I like vlogs but I like singing SOOO much more. Also I will be spending the weekend with you and Mo here. Alone. It'll be a furriil party we'll stay up AS LATE AS WE WANT. and get up AS LATE AS WE WANT BOOYAAAH!


OK well I have to finish my episode. And watch that Selena Gomez thing again. I wish my gangster side was half as cool as hers. BYE

UCM Hipster Populations

I've actually spotted one or two hipsters since I got here. I think the reason I don't see them more often is because most of the people living on campus are freshmen or sophomores, and since they're just out of high school they're still fresh off the mill of conformism. Once they're at college for a while, though, a few fall off the wagon and go for something a little more extreme (or less extreme, depending on how you look at it), and usually upperclassmen move off-campus into a house or apartment, so you don't see them as often.

Today, like yesterday, is pretty cold and dreary. At breakfast this morning my roommate was talking about how it's like this every day in Colorado, and then our friend from Nepal said that this (upper 40s), was extremely cold in Nepal. I think she's a little miserable because she knows it's only going to get colder from here. Speaking of the cold, though, today I'm breaking in the boots that Mom and Dad bought for me for my birthday. So far, I love them to bits. They're warm and the toe part is all shiny, and they lace up, and they're red plaid on the inside, and even though they probably look a little funny on me, I adore them and I hope we have many happy winters together.

I usually write my blog posts in the library because I've found that I can think of more interesting things to say when I'm not in my place of residence. I think I get inspired when I'm alone in a crowd of other people who are doing their homework. The library is new and huge, probably the biggest building on campus, and from the outside it looks sort of like a grand city hall from a futuristic utopian society. There's something otherworldly about it (not sure what, though. The color? The way the wondows are?). Anyway, there's a miniature Einstein Bros. shop just inside the door, and since it's run by inexperienced college students, every time I walk in I'm met with the smell of burnt bagels. I've come to like it, actually. Maybe now whenever I smell burnt bagels I'll be reminded of the library instead of my multiple bad experiences throughout childhood of burning precious bagels beyond retrieval.

So you know my last post about not having met a single homeschooler? Well it turns out I had met one who actually lives on my floor, I just hadn't known he was homeschooled until yesterday. I should have guessed, really, since he exhibits all the signs. And guess what? Another girl acted all surprised when she heard I was homeschooled and said that she thought I was very "socially capable." VICTORY. So I can fake social skills after all! You should be pround of me.

-Amy

P.S. I remember when Iron Giant came out. I used to watch it at Elise's all the time, and we'd quote it at each other constantly. I also remember how hugely my mind was blown when I realized that Harry Connick, Jr. was the voice of Dean. And then, years later, my mind was blown again when I realized that Vin Diesel was the voice of the giant. That movie never fails to be awesome.

P.P.S. I haven't been able to film that video yet because I had two papers to write in the last two days, so I was a little busy. It will be this week though. Promises.

P.P.S. I found out today that in Korean the word "joy" (죄) means crime or guilt. So much for having a happy middle name. This is my name in Korean: 술으븐 애미 죄. Phonetically, it's "suleubun amy joi". It sounds funny without the V.

"Kent Mansley, I work for the goverment."

First things first, last night we watched Iron Giant and even though I was making a totoro shirt (dude, its TOTORO, not TOROTO. I've been saying it wrong all along and I bet Mo was laughing silently to her self for a number of hours.) I still ended up crying like a baby. That movie is really funny, but also amazingly sad. I'm still sad about it.

Second things second: The reason those people haven't gotten onto Google+ is because its not mainstream yet. Facebook is still the thing. Hipsters get on Google+, not conformists, which apparently make up your whole school. I mean, you're like the only girl with short hair which is already telling me something about your school. ITS HIPSTER FREEEEEEE. I'm not saying that all hipsters have short hair or anything. Because they don't. I'm just saying that hipsters are different, and if theres no one different at your school, then theres no one on Google+

But yeah. Thats all I have to say. Yaaay for short posts!!!!

Homeschoolers

I thought I'd meet other former homsechoolers at college, especially at a somewhat rural college like this, but so far I have not met a single one. It's a little sad but also cool because now I can feel like I have my own little minority (being a part of a minority is underrated. We get to have exclusive parties! ...I'm so alone). The more I learn about public schooling in my classes, the more amazed I am at what homeschooling actually meant for me. It meant not only that I got to have an education that was fairy tailored to my learning style, but also that, essentially, I was exempt from all standardized testing. In public schools, the MAP test is like the most important thing for a teacher to keep in mind when she's teaching. At the end of every schoolyear (sometimes multiple times throughout the schoolyear), children are given a state standard test that determines how well they as individuals, as a class, and as a school have learned the target material. It's like the ACT, only every single year. Because the government puts such importance on these sorts of tests, the fact that homeschoolers usually don't have to take part in them is really incredible. It either demonstrates that the government doesn't care about homeschoolers as long as their parents are still paying the property tax that goes to the schools, or the government has massive faith that homeschoolers don't need that yearly assessment because they're likely to succeed anyway, whether they take it or not.

It's cool that homeschooling is allowed, even though sometimes the social repercussions on individuals are a real pity. I think I'm going to make a video about it soon.

I am wearing the shirt you made me today. I had to put on a big cardigan because it's so cold, so I haven't gotten any remarks on it yet, but I'm still hopeful for the future. If I can't find the homeschoolers, I'm going to find the nerds, because we have challenged social skills in common.

I was just in Educational Psychology (I wrote a 4-page paper for it last night, and I must have been half-asleep for a lot of it, because when I went to print it this morning I had the wrong class name, teacher name, and title at the top... good thing I caught it in time), and when the teacher was talking about cultural circles he used an example from Google+, then said "who in here is actually on Google+?" and I was the only person to raise my hand. Seriously? I thought college students were the ones to pioneer trendy new social networking sites! I guess I was wrong.

-Amy

Bad Coffee Again Today

I have mixed feelings about coming home this weekend, mostly because I have two papers to write that are due on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. But I am pretty excited to see what you made for me and if it is anything like that Winnie-the-Pooh picture you made for Mo, I will love it.

I will probably call you later to get more deets on what's going on this weekend, but if I do come home, here is what we have to do:

1. Sing a song together and record it. It could be Tiger Mountain Peasant Song or anything else you think is cool that two people can sing. In a month or something we should also record the Christmas songs we've done in the past because those were fun and we got pretty good at them (also there's one that Angela and I learned in voice lessons that was really cool that I could teach you). Anyway.
2. I also need you to brainstorm with me to think of really cool Christmas present ideas that are inexpensive. I'm down with doing handmade stuff but it can't be something boring like a hat or scarf or something. I have to get started now if I want to have a present for everyone I want to have a present for.
3. You need to remind me to bring The Hunger Games and then you need to read it so we can talk about it. I don't want to play it up but I would say it's up there with Percy Jackson in my Independent Chapter Books that are Awesome category.

There was some other stuff but I can't think of it right now. I'll keep you posted.

Last night I wanted good cheer so I watched some Psych while I did my crosswords and ate the last of my birthday chocolate and went over Korean verbs (I am good at multitasking). It was funny. However much I like Gus and Shawn's banter, I still think Lassie is my favorite character, just because he's so predictably disdainful and he gets really pleased with himself when he says/does something clever.

If Sonni's getting baptized, are we going to Graceway or South Fork? Just wondering.

Later,
-Amy

This Weekend

I'm sorry to hear about all of your horrible problems with video editing programs. I've never been alone in the house so I haven't made a video yet. There's something weird about talking/singing to yourself when people can hear you. Well, actually, its weird no matter what, but I'd rather be weird with no one witnessing it.

I don't know about an XP's ability to run Windows Live Movie Maker, but I'll look into it. If it can't, I can download it on dads computer, which I'm actually using right now. I like it a lot except its huge and really light weight like it COULD be smaller, but it just isn't. Also, the keys are really loud. The reason I'm using his computer is because our laptops power cord broke, ONCE AGAIN. How many times has it broken? Like four times? I say we should just get a new computer, Its been like five years, but they don't this that. Even though sometimes when you turn it on, half the screen is black.

Anyway I made something awesome for you last night Amy, and you need to come back today to see it and take it back with you.

I know you're just dying to know what it is so here's a hint: I can't promise that it has nothing to do with something that has to do with Asian people.

Tehehehehe, you're never gonna get it (I realize that you might think that "teheheh" is another clue but its not. I will tell you outright that it is not anything that has anything to do with "TEE HEE")

You should also come back this weekend because Sydney might becoming over, but other than that we're going to be doing nothing ALL WEEKEND!!!! Beside church. And Sonni's baptism.

I might make you cookies if you come home today. Or I might make you a bagel.

"Glass of water, crust of bread." Name that movie.

"Yeah, I know," CHESTER KNOWWWS! You can name that movie too.

PEACE OUT.

Stupid Technology

So you know how you were talking about how you have no way to edit your videos because Windows Movie Maker won't open them? Well I downloaded it because I heard that you can do split screen videos in it (two videos playing side by side), and I was stopped up completely by the fact that it's not compatible with .mp4 videos. So I looked around FOREVER online for a free video file converter that actually worked, and when I finally found one, it took forever to convert the videos I wanted to use, and by the time I was able to open my videos, I was so frustrated that when I couldn't get split screen to work I gave up completely and went to watch a movie instead. I might try to make it work again today, but it was essential to the video I was planning all week to make so that may be slightly postponed.

Anyway. That said, I highly recommend for you to download Windows Live Movie Maker, because it opens any video file and it's about a billion times easier to use for simple things like trimming and adding titles and words and things. It just doesn't do split screen, which just really is not cool.

So That list of things to do before you have kids was pretty cool, but I've already done most of those things. Everything except 6, unless my own room counts, 8 because it's impossible, 11, 12, 13, and 14. My list of things to do befor eI have kids is probably a mile long, and most of it has to do with traveling, writing, and the crazy and eccentric things I'm going to do when I live alone. Stuff like that. I went to this career fair yesterday (it was lame, the only people there were corporations like Honeywell and insurance companies. I guess it was sort of like a career fair for people who are about to graduate), and the only interesting booth there was one looking for people to teach English in Japan, all expenses paid. It looked like a pretty sweet deal. It would be pretty cool to just set aside a year after I've graduated to go teach English somewhere, not to get money but just to enjoy another culture. The cool thing about speaking English is that it's a global language, and there's always somewhere in the world that's going to want someone to teach it to their kids. So there's another thing I'd probably want to do before I have kids.
So the other day I read The Hunger Games (in one day). It was awesome. It brought me back to the Percy Jackson/Alex Rider/Redwall days when I would regularly gobble up a book in one day just because I could. Anyway, Hunger Games was really, really cool and I think you'd love it. Lately I've realized that I'm a reactor. When I watch things or read things, I outwardly react in a way that my roommate probably thinks is really weird. I can't help it! I did a lot of laughing, sounds of dismay, etc while reading my book, so you know it's good. It's my dream to one day be able to write a book like that, that gets people so involved with the story and the characters that they don't want to put it down. It'll probably take me a while to get there. I think the first step will probably be to find someone who will read my writing and be willing to get down to the nitty gritty of what's wrong with it with me. Someday.
 
Anyway, I have to go to Environmental Sci now and get an A. I only got 88 on the last test which is inexcusable because it really is an easy class, so I've got to step up my game and take better notes this unit.
 
Laters,
-Amy

I'm glad to hear that your roomates and biz are calling you mom. Angela had her time being called mom, and so did Diana (except shes actually a mom so it doesn't really count), and now it is your turn.
I'm sorry to say, though, that I do not hope to follow in your footsteps. Its not really a dream of mine to be called "mom" anytime before I have kids, and so i won't be being called "mom" for another fifteen years or so.

Did I just say I'm not going to be a mom until I'm 30? I may have. Maybe I won't. There are so many things to do before settling down and being stuck at home 24/7. I must say, caring for a child is great and all that, but the thought of being tied down like that doesn't intrigue me one bit. Not one bit.

Here is a part of the wonderful list of things I want to do before I have kids.

Actually I'm going to do two lists. This first one will be:

Things to do while I'm still single

1. Go to a movie alone.
2. Try water skiing, wind surfing, jet skiing, and tubing.
3. Set up a mouse trap. (I'm picking from a list, btw. But when I saw this, I realized, yeah totally, thats like a big part of growing up)
4. Live alone.
5. Watch as much reality TV as you want.
6. Be a good wingwoman. (dude. DUUUUDE. I'm already a SWEET wingwoman)
7. Attend a wedding alone. 
8. Take advantage of the whole bed. Put your pillow in the middle and do the starfish. ( I saw this and it made me lawl. I totally need to do this! I'm totally a "my side of the bed" kind of girl, and I sleep alone! MY BED IS HUGE. Every time I turn over I'm like, "Helloooo over there, stuffed St. Bernard! Hows it goin' over there in China?")

Things to do before having kids (single or not)

1. Get ice cream in the middle of the night.
2. Eat waffles for dinner.
3. Stay at an amusement park until it closes.
4. Get so engrossed in something that it keeps you up all night (NOT homework)
5. Jump on your bed.
6. Decorate your own home JUST the way you want it.
7. Sing as loud as you can along to songs while in the car by yourself.
8. Get really good at a sport.
9. Eat cheese dip for dinner.
10. Go to a double feature.
11. Go to the mall and go absolutely crazy. (its kind of like a dream of mine to be given 500+ dollars and left in a mall....)
12. Have FOUR cats.
13. Get a little dog.
14. Have crazy girl slumber parties like once a month.
15. Watch the entire season of any show in one day.
16. Have a craft day once every week or two.


And thats my list, for now. I hope you like it. I love writing lists, its so satisfying.
You should make cookies or something at college. I know you don't want a microwave or anything, but if you got a little microwave oven, just THINK of the possibilities! You could make cookies, chicken pot pies, casseroles, pizza, corn dogs, ANYTHING.

When I go to college, I'm gonna be cool like that. Speaking of which, I think we're coming over there in two weeks or something. make sure not to have any homework. Eh haha just kidding, have all the homework you want, me and mo will walk around the sweet campus and buy ice lemonades and "UCM MULES" shirts. It'll be great. They have ice lemonades, right? RIGHT? They better, or college is totally not worth it. I'm not walking up and down four flights seven times every day if I can't have some delicious cold thing.

You should get a mini-refrigerator. Then you could have candy bars and juice and cheese balls and salsa and guacamole and the works. Yup. I've got all the best ideas.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BACONHAM LINCOLN???

Peace out sister.

It's a battlefield out there

So you know how I linked you to that song on Facebook and you thought it was totally sappy? It is totally sappy. I'm pretty sure the only reason it made me emotional at the time is that I was PMSing majorly. It's a hormonal battlefield right now. This post may or may not be coherent as I'm heavily medicated at the moment.

Now that it's the middle of the semester, things are getting harder in my classes. I'm going to have to step up my game a little. I didn't do spectacularly on the last two tests I took and it was probably because I thought they were going to be as easy as the tests I'd had before them. I'm determined to get an A in all my classes because if I don't then everything I've said about college being easy will make me look silly. And I do have a solid A in all my classes except Ed. Psych, so it shouldn't be too bad to get up to snuff.

But speaking of classes, I just went to my Library class and it was, if possible, even more ridiculous today than it has ever been. I don't understand how any self-respecting instructor could actually recommend this to the school as a required class for everyone. It makes even the goody-two-shoes students (read: me) want rebell violently.

So you'll be completely unsurprised to hear that my roommate and her friends actually call me Mom now. I'm not really sure how it started, but it almost warms my heart.

-Amy

P.S. What should I draw on my window with the window crayons you and Angela sent me? I was going to do a pumpkin but I don't have orange or brown, so that's too bad.

Hustle

Today I did a lot of stuff. Some of the stuff was even school! I had a test in Ed. Psych. I feel like I did pretty well on it, but I probably got some terms mixed up along the way. I also worked on this song thing that was inspired by your song thing for a couple more hours. Tomorrow I think I will be finished with it, and I will make a video. It's been a while since I made a video. I don't really have an excuse except that most of what happens to me that I want to talk about is only mildly interesting at best (and never funny).

The thing about college (there are a lot of things about college actually. This is just one of them) is that people here don't know how to 1) keep it in their pants, and 2) keep the resulting drama to lower than a dull roar. At least it keeps things interesting? I guess living in a co-ed hall doesn't help much like Mom says, but I'm pretty sure the drama permeates everywhere, even the all-girl halls. I am pretty immune to drama though, so I'm good. I guess there's one good thing about keeping to myself all the time.

Today I also went on a toiletries run to Wal-Mart. I don't know about you but I can survive on very little. The things I absolutely can't do without here at school are q-tips and toilet paper, both of which I was horribly low on. This is the third time I've bought toilet paper, so I think I'll make someone else do it next time. I also bought a toilet brush because I think I'm the only person who actually cares about having the bathroom clean every now and again. As you know I'm not the most bathroom-clean person, so that's saying a lot about my suitemates. Now that I'm showered and the bathroom's clean and all my homework can wait until Sunday evening, I'm ready for a relaxing weekend. Hopefully it'll turn out that way. I think there's homecoming or something like that (I had no idea that homecoming happened at college too, and I still have no idea why), so there probably will be a lot of people here.

I need to go water my sedums. They say sedums are the easiest plants to have, but I obviously am not too great a plant parent, because my sedums are getting a little brown around the edges.

Laters,
-Amy

"nerds" is blurred

I KNOW RIGHT? I love that song. Love it.

Speaking of songs, yes, I did kind of upload that Gaga thing on a whim, but there was no one in the house for like five hours and what was I supposed to do, stay home and knit? No! I have potential, I have a life! and it has always been a life long dream of mine....

You know how sometimes you watch videos and you're like, "eeeehhh that person sounds off tune!" well, heres the truth: in real life, I didn't sound off tune, though I may have in the video.

I think I might do more of that stuff if I can swallow my fear and embarrassment.

You don't have to come back this weekend, because we're going to be gone a lot. If you want to come home, thats cool. You can take me to cedar ridge and you can also take me to buy a present for Katie.

That is all.

And all your stuff about "nerds" is...

There are so many different kinds of nerds its ridiculous. Theres those really smart nerds like the Green bros. I'm not that kind of nerd....at all. I like Doctor Who. I also like ridiculous songs with ukuleles. 

Baconham Lincoln.

Peace out

Best day

I pretty much agree with everything you said in your last post, mostly the parts about talent envy. Usually I avoid that sort of thing by passively avoiding people around me who are talented and only concentrating on talented people from afar, like on YouTube, because if I don't know them I don't get as depressed.

So today has been pretty awesome as far as days go. Classes were cancelled in the morning because of this college function, so I went to get donuts with a few people in my hall, and then when we got back I went and printed out some sheet music. It cost $0.60. I feel robbed. However, it was totally worth it because I went straightaway to Utt (for a music building, it doesn't have a very musical name) and got to work! You should know that the vigor with which I set forth was entirely inspired by your awesome and unexpected video that you posted this week of you Gagaing it up. I am working on something similar but it will take a little while to put together. Anyway, I was so involved in learning this one song that before I knew it, two and a half hours had gone by. I rarely get so lost in something that I completely lose track of the time, but it happened today and it was great.

One of my main issues with nerdy shirts is that if I wore them no one would understand the nerd in-jokes. I have met a few nerds since I was here but they are all nerdy about things I don't understand. So I figure it's pretty unlikely that I'll meet someone who's nerdy about things like musicians on YouTube or British and Asian television or writing stories about all the adventures they wish they could have. If I do meet that person, though, I'll probably be so happy that I'll propose immediately.

The song you linked was beatlicious. I am putting it on my mp3 player straightaway. I have a playlist called Dance, and everything in there is phantasmagorical. I think I used that word slightly incorrectly, but I don't care one bit.

I can't help liking school. The weird thing is that most of the time it's not the actual school that I love, only the good feeling that comes when I do an undeserving amount of work and still get an A. Sometimes I think that colleges sacrifice a lot of potential smartypants in order to make sure that no one gets left behind. That's why all the lower-level classes are obscenely easy. It's sort of depressing. Another think I like about school is the fact that I'm here, but since I don't have any obligations here, I get to spend all my time engrossed in my own betterment. So far it's working out really well. That probably means I need to get a job. Also I'm thinking about joining this honor society. They don't really do anything but it will probably look good on my resume. Thoughts?

-Amy

Asian Shirt

Wait a moment while I watch a friend of a friend sing Wicked songs like a BOSS...

Ok, back to the blog.

Um, you really likes school, and its weird to me. Really weird to me.

Heres why I do't blog very much: because I can't be blogging and logged into Youtube at the same time.

Speaking of youtube, yesterday I made the "nice guy" picture on my shirt and its legit. I'm calling it my "Asian shirt" and I'm planning to cover it with all sorts of asian youtubers inside jokes, and it will be the best thing that ever happened!

I wore it last night and I esplained it to nicole and she thought it was pretty clever...but no one else got it. Thats the problem with wearing nerd shirts, you're always like, "oh maaan, I'm gonna meat some real nerds if I wear this doctor who shirt. They're just gonna come out of the woodwork!" and then nothing happens and you just feel like a weirdo.

Yeah so last night was youth group and it was pretty totally amazing.

You know how you watch really talented people play piano, or really talented people dance or sing or do whatever really good, and your initial thought is, "OH. EM. GEE. THAT IS SO AMAZING! THAT PERSON IS AMAZING." and then that kind of boils down to a slight resentment and jealousy and a feeling that I like to call, "stage longing." that happens after you watch movies like "never say never" and, even if you didn't want to be a performer before, you want to after. Well theres this kid that plays drums at youthgroup, and I think that my whole experience getting drums and learning how hard they are really made me appreciate and notice drummers even MORE, and so whenever there is a really good drummer, I think I really notice it more than other people.

And anyway, this kids birthday was yesterday and he turned fifteen. GOSH. DARN. I HATE THOSE YOUNG TALENTED PEOPLE! thank the lord Justin Bieber is older than me or I really would be having trouble ever doing anything. I dunno, theres something about talented people that are younger than you that is, at first, really cool, and then really really REALLY discouraging. So yeah, hes a totally awesome drummer, and I turn to nicole and I'm like, "that kid is totally awesome!" and shes like, "he just turned fifteen! today!" Like, what? I wasn't even talking about that! I was just saying I'm jealous of his superpowers! Gosh.

On other news, I was listening to the Peter Pan soundtrack like constantly, until about tomorrow morning, when I got a part of this cool song we danced to in Hip-Hop, but I didn't know what it was called, so I just searched the words I remembered and after about fifteen minutes of shady blogs and youtube videos, I FOUND IT! Before I give you the link, I need to tell you something about just how awesome this song is:
There are few songs that I can listen to on replay and every. single. time it makes me want to dance like a maniac. And there are very few songs that I can listen to replay. period. Ok so here it is. Bask in the awesomeness.

Oh and apparently that artist is christian! Ha! Sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETuhIHqJ0Rg

ohhhhh oh oh ohhhhhh.

Don't worry, I'm still walking down the isle to Peter Pan. Though no guarantees about my first dance.....(BTW spell check sucks. I wrote "garantees" and they didn't even have "guarantees" Ugh. Was Steve Jobs in charge of that too or has it always been that bad?)

Yeah Steve Jobs died. I've never owned anything apple...but...I'm sure..

No Steve Jobs was great I'm sure and I really like his style, and the style of his products, but gosh, I hate everything else about apple.

You know, Mo has an Iphone, (she bought in the airport, ha!) and so theres no music on it, right? WELL WE CAN'T PUT MUSIC ON IT. BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ITUNES. and we can't get itunes because we don't have ipods, and parents would have to do all the paying, and they won't do that, and ya da ya da ya its annoying. Also we can't get her a sim card without shipping it in, because you can't open iphones.

Anyway.


What do you know about Baconham Lincoln??

PEACE OUT!

Sundry Items

Usually family non-communication doesn't actually bother me that much because chances are that when there's an important piece of information going around (or rather, not going around), it doesn't directly affect me. For instance, the fact that Diana's pregnant, while totally awesome, wasn't a matter of life and death if I didn't hear it right at the moment that everyone else did. In the same way, almost every piece of Family News isn't something that requires my attention or participation right away, so I don't have to be devastated every time I hear something through the grapevine two weeks after it's happened.

That actually turned out sounding kind of heartless, but what I'm trying to say is that Family Non-Communication is just, y'know, whatever. I don't mind it all that much. However, if you get a boyfriend or decide to move to Africa to be a missionary, I'd rather hear it from your own lips than two weeks later through the grapevine, if you don't mind.

So you know how I returned here early after the wedding yesterday so I could do my laundry? It's a good thing I did, because I had so much laundry that the load was really big, which caused it to take two dry cycles to actually get dry (and even then the towels were still damp). The dryer costs a buck in quarters and the washer a buck twenty five, which means that I ended up paying $3.25 just to replenish my supply of clean underwear (which was distressingly low). The money situation in itself was a crisis of sorts as well, because I started out not having any quarters (or any cash at all), so I went to the ATM on campus, which if you know anything about ATMs, only dispenses money in increments of $20. I then took the ol' Andrew Jackson to my dorm hall's front desk to ask for some quarters, at which time they told me that they can't break twenties at the front desk. How messed up is it that the ATMs only give you twenties but the college won't break them? I just really needed quarters to do my laundry! So I went back to my floor and asked about ten people if they could give me change for a twenty, and everyone was so poor apparently that they didn't have any cash. By the time I was able to start my laundry it was 8:00, and it wasn't finished until half past ten. In hindsight I probably should have slept during those two and a half hours, but I have this rather ungrounded paranoia that someone will steal my favorite clothes between the time that a load is finished and I return to the laundry room, so I have to watch the clock and always be on time. So instead of sleeping like I should have, I sat in the hall library trying not to laugh uproariously at this show I was watching so as not to disturb the one other person who was actually studying in there.

So you know that case study paper on Isabel for my Ed Psych class I was telling you about? Well I just got it back and I got 24 out of 25 possible points on it. YEAH. I'm going to get an A in this class even if it kills me to do it. Here's what I love: when I get a good grade on a paper, the best thing is when the teacher hands it back and it's underlined, commented on or has pretty little stars by the sentences or ideas that they like the most in the paper. So later when I'm feeling morose about my academic ability I can read through it and get a self-esteem boost because my teacher thinks that I have good ideas about abstract and hypothetical thought processes in children who are going through the concrete operational stage of life.

Hooray, academia.

-Amy

Here's the dizzle Amy: I don't really like to make posts right before you come home because then I always either end up telling you everything in the post, or try not to tell you anything in the post, and it just doesn't really work out. Hopefully, though, this weekend, we'll be pretty busy, so it won't leave much time for us to lay around and me feel like I have to tell you something about whats been going on around here.

In reality, I can't really tell you what's been going on around here, because I've been gone. Here's what I love about being gone while mom and dad are also gone: when I get back, I don't feel like something crazy and huge happened while I was gone, like I feel every time I leave the house.

And this feeling of being left out of something huge isn't for no reason. This paranoia isn't irrational, it is born from a fair amount of what I like to call, "family non-communication"

One of my biggest fears is "family non-communication, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, heres a definition written by non other than yours truly:

Family Non-Communication is when something happens within a family and they never discuss it even though they all know that they're all thinking about it. You know they know. They know you know. They know you know they know. You know they know you know. Family Non-Communication also includes the failure to communicate to an absent family member that something absolutely huge and family-shaping has happened.

This has happened to me on a number of occasions.

Let us travel back to 2005 or maybe 2006. I don't remember which year and I am practicing Family Non-Communication Resentment, so I"m not going to ask anyone.

Anyway, back in the day, I went to my friends house, and when my family picked me up at the gas station in the big fifteen passenger van before going to "the Living History Festival", there was a distinct absence of noise. Not silence, just an absence of noise. Now, Family Non-Communication is something that breeds the absence of noise, and that's what I was picking up on. Even though I was like seven.

Now at the time I was looking forward to "the Living History Festival" so I passed it off as "Joseph isn't in the mood to pester me and everyone else is tired," but I knew, something was wrong.

So the whole day went past, and I was surrounded by whispers and giggles, and I thought, maybe, just maybe, I would be able to pick up on what the secret was if I just stuck close to Diana and Angela and pretended like I wasn't listening, but NO, that didn't even work.

And it wasn't until probably ten hours after I got in that van and realized something was wrong until my mother told me that Daniel was "courting" Catherine.

THAT's what all the whispering was about? Dude, its not THAT big of a deal! I thought someone had died or got pregnant or something!

And that was the first time it happened. Since then its happened may times, (once when Daniel got engaged, once when Diana broke up with one boy and started dating another, and once when Kristin got engaged.)

In my pact against Family Non-Communication I have perposefully tried not to pick up any hints or signals so that when my parents finally do decide to tell me something, it will be the first time that I've heard about it. That, or I pick up on it way before they do and then when they tell me and I don't act surprised they think I'm some selfish droid. (yes, I already knew that Diana was pregnant. or at least guessed it. When they're popping them out like popcorn its not exactly 'surprising'. Not to say that I'm any less excited or anything, I just was totally expecting it.)

So help against Family Non-Communication, and remind your parents that 'If They're Whispering About It, It Concerns You' they need to know that every time we hear a whisper out of them we instantly assume the worst. So its just better if we know.

Now if it actually is "the worst" that's a whole different story.


PEACE OUT AMY. SEE YOU IN HALF AN HOUR!!!!

-Michelle

So Much to Do, So Little Time

The thing about being in college is that you can choose what you want to do. Since the only things you're really required to do only pertain to some classes that you take a couple of times a day or a part-time job, the rest of the time is free for you to be beholden to no one but yourself.

I'm in love with this aspect of college.

In fact, this is one of the primary reasons I avoid social obligations. I don't want to let anything encroach on the time I have to pursue the things I'm interested in. There are a few problems with this (besides the obvious, potentially socially stunting problem). Firstly, the more time I have, the bigger my list of interests gets. It started out with writing, which is something I've been interested in since I was eleven or twelve. But once I got writing, a whole new vista of possibility stretched out before me. Writers can't just write - they have to write about something, and usually in order to write about it, they have to do research on it. So pretty quickly I started pursuing knowledge in international politics, corporate crime, small firearms, swordplay, desert topography, Middle Eastern culture, kudzu growing habits and state government. Soon there were so many that I couldn't really get in-depth on any of them. So I had to pick and choose, narrowing my research down to one writing project and then throwing myself into one thing at a time. The topic I've settled on to focus on at the present moment is virology (specifically smallpox). It's interesting and fun and I get to put a lot of the informtion I find into my story, so that's good.

That's just one example of how quickly things can get out of hand and how drastically I have to rein myself in (otherwise I'd just be a frazzled mess who skipped class all the time to read up on the science of gecko's feet so I can derive from it for an alien race I'm writing about). Another example would be TV. As you know I like to watch a lot of shows, and a lot of the time I'm not very picky about how critically acclaimed they are. As long as they're about something that interests me, I'm good to go. Recently my love for TV led me to start watching some Korean television. Korean film is extremely new and often extremely derivative, and a lot of the time it's hit or miss. But the thing I like most about it is that from what I've seen Korea is very proud of and relishes its culture, and its television uses that culture to set itself apart from other Western shows. I was really intrigued by what I saw so I started to read up on the culture and customs in Korea, which led me to reading about the language, which was really intriguing, which led me to learning basic phrases and sentence structure and the alphabet and whatnot.

Age of information? Yes please.

This process of exponential interest growth has happened to me countless times and begins with the simplest things, like hearing a really great song and wanting to find the sheet music, or watching a really great video and wanting to get a camera to do my own videos, or seeing an awesome hat and wanting to learn how to purl so I can make one too. The problem is finding the time and energy to actually invest in these things (and developing the ability to let some things pass by for the sake of my sanity, no matter how desperately I'm interested in them). Here's how I've had to narrow it down. Everything I research/do has to

1. Pertain to something productive (learning or practicing a relevant skill or making a useful product), and
2. Only use available resources that don't cost extra (library, internet, piano, and technology that I've already purchased like my laptop, camera, and flipcam. This also means no printing, driving, or purchasing materials of any kind).

Obviously this doesn't narrow things down all that hugely, but it's a start, and with writing, virology, French and Korean, I've pretty much got my hands full.

This post was obscenely long and not very interesting, but I was in an introspective mood (when am I ever not in an introspective mood?) and I had to get it all off my chest. Next time I promise I'll try my hardest to say something funny.

-Amy

P.S. I discovered a band called Klaypex. They're like the Glitch Mob only they're more consistent about making you want to dance every second. I listen to them in the early mornings so make myself feel good about the rest of the day.

Illegal Blog Post

I accidentally left my gmail signed in in my library class computer ALL WEEKEND. I didn't realize it until I got here and IE signed me in automatically. It was scary! Thankfully no one took the opportunity to send embarrassing emails to everyone on my contacts list (at least, I don't think they did...)

The reason this post is illegal is because I'm in library class right now. I'm acing this class while slacking off . That should tell you a thing or two about how useful a lot of college classes really are.

So I have a thing or two to say about the water here at UCM. As you know, my immune system is pretty awesomely equipped to deal with public bathrooms, door handles, and the illest handshakes. It is for this reason only that I haven't gotten sick yet on the water here. You've heard about Drexel water, and how in concentrated form it's a festering brown sludge. I'm sure all water is like that to some degree or another, but it's not often that water in the US starts smelling foul after you've left it in a cup overnight. I didn't actually notice it until one of my LIB classmates pointed it out, but now I can't stop noticing it. So I cleaned out my electric kettle the other day, and I found out that the inside was covered in a film of grayish scum. Gack! I still brush my teeth and shower in it, but I think from now on I'll only drink the filtered water from the cafeteria, or water that I've boiled (it's still gross, but at least it's more sanitary).

Otherwise, life here is pretty good. I learned the days of the week in Korean, plus other things that are more useful (they have two completely different number systems that they use interchangeably. WHY), like "what?" (bo? or uey?) and "yes" (ne) and "no" (aniyo) and the alphabet (19 consonants, 10 vowels, 11 SUPER vowels), the common honorifics (really super important), and other sundry things about sentence structure and how yes doesn't exactly mean yes and no doesn't exactly mean no. It's extremely different from anything I've tried before but at least it makes sense (the more I study other languages, the more I realize how screwed up English actually is... sometimes I'm truly sorry for the rest of the world that it's one of the global languages).

Yesterday I started my classroom observation. I got 7th grade Language Arts. Public school is pretty much exactly how I imagined it would be except about half as interesting. The teacher is good and all, but boy am I glad I was homeschooled. I think I would have withered and died in public school, just from the absolute intellectual wasteland that is a byproduct of mass education. After I started taking my Foundations of Education class, I realized that I actually have really strong views on education. The fact that I as an individual teacher probably won't be able to change the royally screwed up education system in America is probably going to drive me crazy one day, but as long as I truck along believing that I can make at least a small difference, I ought to be all right.

Anyway, I'll see you later. I'm so excited about the care package you said you sent yesterday that I almost want to skip class to go see if it's in my mailbox. But I won't, because it's biology, and I need a better grade in that class ( I know 92 is already an A, but the class is so easy that I pretty much have no excuse for getting less than a 95 at least).

Keep it classy,
Amy

P.S. Have you ever been on TV Tropes? Every once in a while I rediscover it and then can't pull myself away for a good hour or two. It came to my attention again lately when someone made a link to this page, which made me realize that I'm actually writing a character exactly like that (also, it made me lol).

HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAY

1. What the what is VLC? And I don't know about the formats, I'll just have to have someone (you) look at that when you get home. I'm usually good with the figuring-out-technological-things but I don't understand formats and whatnot. I love saying whatnot. I mean, what does it even MEAN?
2. HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAY! I was going to call you. I picked up the phone and then I realized something: I don't have my phone so I don't have your number, and I'm still iffy on the last two digits of everyones cellphone numbers in our family beside mine and dads.
3. You're right, I AM super busy, and I'm sooo sorry that I haven't been writing and I haven't been putting up videos, believe me, I've made some. I tried to upload some like three times but our internet the last week or so has been about half as fast as it usually is, and maaaan is that sayin' something.
Here's what I'm doing all the time that is keeping me from you:
A. School. I have 10 subjects and within those subjects are little sub-subjects.One of those subjects is Economics. Thats right. Ugh. I start school at about eight and I end at about two or later.
B. At about two, I start what I like to call "clean up the house because no one else will." which is, actually, pretty self explanatory. If I don't go to crazy cleaning up the bathroom or my room, I'm usually done with this at about 3.
C. By 3 I usually want to check the interwebs.
D. I try to have some crafty hands-on thing ready about a half an hour after Mo gets home from school. So I figure it out and have it going by about four, and we do that for a little while.
E. Then, two nights a week, or so, I make dinner, and that takes a while.
F. Believe it or not, in the last three weeks I have watched like a totally of five hours of movies/shows. Which sounds like a lot, but considering that every movie I watch is about 2 hours, its not that amazing. I'm usually doing something with Mo. Like being beaten at my own game.
G. If its Tuesday or Thursday, I make dinner early with Mo and then me and her and dad go to Sign Language class which lasts all evening.
H. If its Wednesday, I go to the Youth Group at Graceway. (which, by the way, is AWESOME. Theres this drummer whos on the worship team, and hes SO. GOOD. And he has inspired me to hit the electrics.)
I. And on sunday we go to church, which lasts like all day.
J. Then there is the irregular stuff. Orthodonist Appointments, Shopping sprees with the family, spending the night at someones house, getting a new phone.


Wait.

Wait wait wait.

What was that last one? WHAT WAS THAT LAST ONE? Yeah. Yup. Getting a new phone. That's gonna happen. Yup.Yup......

No more not-wanting-to-use-the-Glorified-Watch-because-I'm-slightly-ashamed. No more "I don't have texting" no more, "you can't call me at my home, we don't get service."  NO MORE.

This just means so much to me.

YAAAY I get to see you tomorrow.

Stay classy!

-Michelle

Hooraaay

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Amy, happy birthday to me.

Birthdays are pretty anticlimatic in college. I thought about skipping class and making a day of it, but I chickened out. I'm going for a perfect attendance record this semester (so that teachers will be more inclined to give me A's). Instead, I started the day by watching an episode of a Korean action drama just so I could feel like the day's different from all the others. The only problem with that is that Korean action dramas, however much I adore them, are usually not very well subtitled and they make my grammar bone twitch (yes, I have a grammar bone). Whoever did the subtitles wasn't the best at English. At least they were able to largely get their point across though, so that's something.

The other thing that happened today is that I realized that the Chinese guy who sits next to me in Library class is kind of a slacker. If it was anyone else I wouldn't be surprised, but he's the first Asian person I've ever met who wasn't more motivated than me to do well in school. It was pretty surreal, to be honest. Maybe I can get his autograph.

I got some chocolate from Mom and Dad in the mail yesterday. It was pretty fancy and awesome and I've been eating it with tea. Karl said that it made my room smell weird but I think he has super senses or something because who ever heard of chocolate smelling pungent? My room smells perfectly fine (I illegally burn a candle that smells like clean linen).

So now that I'm nineteen, what can I do? The answer is nothing that I wasn't able to do before. One of my neighbors asked me, since it's my birthday, what would I like to drink? I told him I drink at home but not at college. Turns out I'm cultivating a perfect little angel persona here as well. I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it. I'm pretty sure that the words "perfect little angel" were actually uttered by my roommate in reference to me. I guess since I've got the title here and at home, it must really by true. That's kind of depressing.

I'm probably coming home tomorrow. It'll be good.

-Amy

*crickets*

Hi Michelle. Sometimes I feel lonely, like I'm the only one making posts on this blog.

...oh wait. I am the only one making posts on this blog! And posting videos too, for that matter.

Don't mind me though. I obviously have a lot more time to kill than you do especially now you have your own personal student of American culture to teach things to.
There are a lot of things about UCM that are extremely inferier to the very same things at JCCC, namely the print system, the Writing Center and the age and functionality of the buildings, but I will say this about UCM: in the computer lab they have Windows, Apple and Linux computers for anyone to use. So that's cool.


I'm planning to film a video sometime in the next day or so, and this one's going to be more well-structured than some of my other videos have been in the past. *cough* At least, I hope it'll turn out that way. To be honest I film a lot of videos but I only actually post about half of them. The rest will never see the light of day, and for good reason.

I remember that you said that Windows Movie Maker wouldn't open your video, which is weird because the format of it is in .wmv to begin with, I think. One thing you could do is try opening it in VLC or some other program just to make sure that your camera is actually working. If it is, try downloading Windows Live Movie Maker and see if that works. Also, once you're finished editing a video, make sure to select "Save Movie" and not "Save Project", otherwise it won't upload to YT.

Anyway if you have any questions you can probably call me. And make a post.

Laters,
-Amy

Blagosphere Confessionals

I have a confession to make. Sometimes, when I'm really depressed about being in college and realizing that it's an intellectual wasteland, I go watch videos of Asian-American people playing pretty music and making clever skits about life and the human condition. It makes me feel better for some reason.

I was able to get my camera working (as long as the battery is more than half-full, it'll turn on almost without fail), but sadly I cannot say the same for my bike, which is currently inoperable due to a problem with the chain that I know is an easy fix but requires clever hands and a tool that can unscrew screws, neither of which I possess. Because of this, I did not go to Wednesday night worship last week because it's a fifteen to twenty-minute walk to get there. This week, I figured a long walk isn't a good excuse for not attending worship two weeks in a row, so I made the walk and it took even longer that I thought, and when I finally got there several people came up and introduced themselves to me, saying that we'd met before at fondue night or in a class we shared, and I pretended to know them as well. I hate that I do this, but I put people in little categories in my mind, so if I was in a small group with someone in one of my classes and I learn their name and a little bit about them, I still will not recognize them if I encounter them in a non-academic setting. In my subconscious, that person only exists in the classroom, and every time my conscious mind suggests that perhaps that's not true, I get an acute sense of how ludicrous it is that said classmate continues existing once they step out of the classroom.

Anyway. I'm coming home tomorrow, so at the moment I'm counting down the hours. I have a lot of stuff I need to remember to grab while I'm there, mostly warmer clothes since the weather got cold a lot quicker than I thought it would. I could wear hats if I wanted to! I rarely do want to, but still. Also my birthday is soon. Nineteen sounds like a horrifically transitional age. For some reason I never encounter people who are nineteen. It must be like Purgatory, a purgatory that you can never admit to being in. I'll make sure to make the most of my time as nineteen, but I can't help but think that I'll spend the entire year with a vague sense in the back of my mind that I'm in some kind of limbo.

I've been thinking a lot about writing lately, mostly because I've been doing a lot of writing lately. Anyway, I was thinking about how I'm pretty sure I'm best at writing comedy or parody, but for some reason I don't ever actually spend any time writing comedy or parody. I think it's because I really enjoy reading dramas and thrillers and things, so I end up mostly writing dramas and thrillers and things even though I can't really write them well. So my new resolution is to start writing what I'm good at and see how it goes, and have at least one comedy project on the side going while I write what I love to write (it's currently dystopian America 40 years in the future).

...or maybe I should make future dystopian America into a comedy. Wouldn't that be fun?

Anyway, off to Biology again. See you soon.

-Amy

Yes... I am in class right now

I never thought I would be one of those people who messed around on the computers in class, but my Library Research Skills class is so crushingly arbitrary that I'll go completely mad if I don't keep myself busy in a non-class-related way. Right now we are learning how to use Google. We just found out that if you're on a fact-finding mission, typing "what is the meaning of life?" into the search bar isn't going to get you any solid answers.

Shocker!

I am writing a blog post because my camera is having technical issues that involve the power button only working one out of every twenty times I push it. Hopefully one day soon I'll be able to make it work for long enough to make a video, but until then I guess this blog is a pretty good way to tell you about my life. Don't you just love how many meduims of communication we have available to us other than Facebook? Which reminds me, I have a mailbox here. And it is depressingly empty. If you think of it someday, it would be cool if you sent me something. It doesn't even have to say anything on it. It'll give me joy even if it's a postcard you didn't write anything on.

I'M SO ALONE.

My phone just rang. I had it on the loudest ring because a couple of days ago I set it that way when I was waiting for an employment acceptance call from Family Video that I absolutely didn't want to miss (it never came... tear). It's REALLY LOUD. Since I'm in class, the sound of it directed attention to me when I'd rather it didn't. I am writing a blog post in class, after all. Everyone else is just chilling on Facebook, which is excusable apparently.

So I'm all at odds with myself because I didn't see any of you home people this weekend. I like to think of myself as an independent person but the reality is that after a couple of weeks of being here, all I want to do is hang out with people who actually care about me. I'm selfish that way! It's totally silly that you would abandon me and go to the farm, of all places. I almost feel insulted, except I did get to spend the entire weekend laying around in my dorm room drinking coffee and writing. For some reason I've been finding it a lot easier to do productive things at college than I did at home. I guess there isn't really an abundance of distractions here. Also, it's inexplicably become a lot more difficult for me to keep my attention on a show or movie, which is why every time I come home, I still haven't watched that show that you recommended to me (the OC and Glee season 2 come to mind. The truth is that it's really hard for me to watch something that I'm not extremely excited about even before I start it). I've been reading, too. whenever I get my camera working I'll tell you about some of the books I've been reading and how I finished Thirteen Reasons Why. There may be tears involved.

I have a playlist on my mp3 player called "badass" that I can't get enough of right now. I got out of my library class and went to the computer commons, where noise is frowned upon, and listening to this playlist in here presents to me a conundrum which I have never encountered before, namely that I'm listening to a badass playlist but I'm unable to sing along to it, which is a dilemma I've never had to consider before. I'm pretty sure I haven't listened to Supermassive Black Hole a single time without belting it out like I'm the British popstar I've always aspired to be. I guess there's a first time for everything.

Biology test in twenty minutes. I get distracted a lot in that class because the teacher commits subject-verb disagreement in speech on a basis so regular that it's brought me this close to seizures on a few occasions. Here's hoping that my epileptic spells won't prevent me from getting an A on the exam.

Stay classy
-Amy

P.S. I created a "college" label because I'm in the mood to do things that don't make any difference in the big picture.

College is Almost Exactly How I Imagined High School Must Be Like

Everyone talks about sex.



All. The. Time.

One more reason for me to chill with my electric kettle. It's never spoken in non-subtle innuendos in my vicinity, and it never will. A true friend.

Vhere....is theh Nazi goollt!"

HEY AMY! Hows college going? I'm watching crabstickz videos, if you can't tell by the title. I heard your first day was great, which is totes cool. I haven't done anything since I saw you except me and Joseph and Angela went to Cowboys and Aliens. It was cool but I'm pretty sure I would have liked it 50% less if it hadn't had Sam Rockwell, even though he had a kind of small part. I guess Daniel Craig is awesome even when he's going for a girl that looks like she could prooobably be his daughter. And Harrison Ford is old. Thats all I have to say.

Oh and the aliens were weird. I would probably rather have seen Apes movie or the Glee movie again. But whateves.

Another thing that happened was I mentioned both Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to Joseph and he didn't say one bad thing or make on annoying noise concerning them. It was amazing. He must have been in a really good mood.

When Abduction comes out I'm hitch hiking to warrensburg to see it with you. Or I'll just hitch hike to a theater and watch it by myself.

We started school today and we're doing planning and stuff.

That is all.

Oh, hey there.

Yeah as far as blogging goes I've kind of...not been doing it.
Usually I don't blog unless Amy isn't near, so I can tell her all the happenings, but since Amy moved back for the summer I've just told her everything to her face, but that doesn't mean that I've got plenty of things to tell YOU.

Lets see, last time I blogged was the middle of may? Lots of things have happened since then.

Like, swim team started. I have mixed feelings about it, still. You'd think that by three weeks in I would have decided weather or not I hate getting up at five and freezing/working really hard for two hours, but I haven't.

Things I like about swim team:
1. swimming?
2. winning.
3. Coach Kyle
4. the people. They're all cool.
5. Getting totally ripped.
6. Getting totally tan.
7. Boasting about how I'm still alive even though I get up at five every morning.

Things I don't like about swim team:
1. Getting up at five.
The first ten minutes are like the worst thing that ever happened, literally, and then you wake up and its OK. Its really not the tiredness that I hate about it all, its the coldness, which is my second point.
2. The coldness.
Swimming in a pool that is less than 80 degrees is like swimming by an ice burg with a wet suit on. Except there are no ice burgs and there are no wet suits.
On monday the water was 76 degrees, which is like six degrees away from being the exact opposite of a volcano. Meaning if it were 70 degrees we would have frozen where we stood.
3. There are a couple other small things I don't like, such as some of the other pools that we go to, but I've told myself I wouldn't complain about those because I never want to feel the wrath of Kyle again.

In other news, I'm, like, driving. Its crazy. I'm 15 and now I'm driving. I can hardly believe it. But what is even more ridiculous is that mom is letting me drive to swim team at five thirty in the morning. I totally have it under control but I still feel like it should be illegal or something.

I'm also playing the drums again. I watched a video of like seven-year-old Justin Bieber playing the drums and it was preeettty inspiring, but not inspiring enough for me to actually do anything about it. So then I watched some Nick Jonas playing the drums and then I listened to some Muse and I've played the drums like an hour every day since then.

Beside all that I'm really doing nothing but sleeping. When I get home from swim team I eat like a boy and then I fall asleep for like three hours. Its the kind of sleep where you wake up and you feel like you've become one with the bed, and then you get up, and you sit down somewhere else, just so you can wake up the rest of the way without falling down, and you end up falling asleep there, too, and then your groggy for the rest of the day.

Stay Classy
Michelle

Binary.

This morning I got up at six thirty and drew binary for two hours.

It was for Josephs Birthday sign which is totally awesome. When you come home you will be stunned by its awesomeness.

Yeah Angela should read City of Ember but she must be warned, the first book was totally awesome, the second book was pretty alright. The third book was horrible. The fourth book was unsatisfactory and horrible.


Yeah.

Today I cleaned off my desk and it took me a really long time. Like fifteen minutes. Which is a long time to clean three square feet.

Yesterday I did four math lessons. Then today I did four more. Yeah its crazy!
I'm learning about graphs in math. Its just about the most interesting thing I've learned all year, which isn't really saying anything. Math doesn't interest me in the least.

Heres what interests me: Summer and swimming.

Today I got up at six thirty and I was like a totally zombie for five or ten minutes, then I snapped out of it, but they were still like the worst five or ten minutes of my existence. Mainly because my breath was absolutely horrible.

But as a sat there, on the floor, unable to keep my eyes open without it hurting, I thought, "welcome to your next two months, Michelle." and then I was like, "except you'll be waking up an hour earlier than this and swimming in freezing cold water for two hours." and then I was like, "No you'll be waking up an hour and a HALF earlier than this and swimming in freezing cold water for two hours."

Yeap, thats right. Instead of getting up at 5:20 every morning and stumbling around the house before we leave at 5:35, I'm going to get up at 5:00 so I can be fresh and happy and awake by the time I get to freeze to death.
It was Angela's idea.

Nothing else interesting happened except last night I was on the computer and mom said, "Michelle, are you ever going to read a real book?" And I had to sit there for a second to try and remember how many times I had talked to her about my summer reading list, and then I had to try and remember how many days it had taken me to read The Lightening Thief and the Sea of Monsters (like 9) and then I had to try and remember what happened in both of them, because I always forget when I read the books too fast.
And then I responded with, "I've read two whole books in lest than two weeks!"
And she was like, "...Only two?"
Well, I don't know about you, but two is a lot, considering all the other things that are going on in my life right now. Like school.

But as of today I only have like fifty-six days to read the last three books of Percy Jackson and all seven of the huge harry potter books if I want to get them all finished before Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out.

Peace out, homie.

To tea or not to tea?

That is the question. I'm at school, the weather's horrid, I have an hour and a half to wait for my next final (Western civ, will invariably be torture), and the temptation to purchase a hot drink in strong. I have no idea why I didn't think to just bring a car cup with me, and now I'm living with the consequences.

I'm in the computer lab as of this moment. The computer lab is a soulless place, filled with lame equipment, unnatural lighting, and sleep-deprived zombie students pressing keys aimlessly in the hopes that it will better prepare them for the inevitable Final Exam. Not only that, I sat down to this computer about a half-hour ago, only to realize that the computer next to me is evidently the only computer in the entire lab that has Windows 7 on it, with the shmancy graphics and the slick-looking desktop. While I'm over here typing away on what is probably Vista but seems more like Windows 2000, with the bad resolution and the stretched screen and the infinitesimally slow processing skills.

I'm an ungrateful hag!

Yesterday Angela and I went to see Hanna. It was interesting but I'm not completely sure how I feel about it. I certainly enjoyed all the cinematography and the details and a few of the lesser characters, but the premise was really odd and I felt like a bad person for enjoying a film about a 14-year-old murderer. Saoirse Ronan was pretty incredible though. It makes me want to see City of Ember again. Can you believe that Angela hasn't seen that movie? She hasn't even heard of the book. I think we need to make this a priority, don't you?

Today is my last final day. Since I will not return to JCCC at all in the foreseeable future, I think that I will treat myself to that tea. I am excited to be done with school. It's lasted a long time.

-Amy

You're a Superstar!

Thanks for doing that song thing. I had it on my to-do list but it kept on getting pushed down by other things (that I still haven't done).

Anyway, if I'm not made completely broke by fixing my oxygen sensor on my car, I'm thinking about buying a flip camera. As corny as this sounds, I've actually wanted to record myself doing some piano things because I'm one of those lamers who uses YouTube to watch piano-playing vids to help me learn songs, only a lot of the songs I want to learn are missing from there. So I learn them anyway (the hard way) and now I want to upload them to help other people.

That was sort of long and didn't make much sense. Sorry. In any case, I'm going to buy a flip camera eventually. It's probably going to be sort of cheap. Then we can sing covers to our hearts' content. But we can't sing any lame ones.

You're right, cars are cool. Now that I spend so much time driving around, I notice them a lot more. I still don't know anything about how any cars actually work on the inside, but they don't all look the same to me any more. Pretty much all I can do is notice that there are three brand-new Camaros I see on a regular basis at school. One of them is black (awesome), one of them is yellow with black racing stripes (pretty cool), and one is bright, bright neon green (awesome to the power of ten). I figured you'd like the last one.

There's also a black Mustang I pass every day on my way to Personal Communication that is made more awesome by the fact that it belongs to a handicapped person. If I had a handicap I, too, would compensate by 1) wearing awesome shoes, and 2) driving awesome cars.

-Amy

DID YOU KNOW:
When you're on the "Edit Html" tab on the post (it's on the top right corner), if you try to put pictures in, yes, they will come up in code. But they'll still show up as the pictures when you post it. And, this way, it's much easier to move the picture around in the post.
NOW YOU KNOW