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You know what I like about puzzles? They force you to think. I'm not generally one for thinking, but at least puzzles are fun. A lot of people give up on puzzles when they can't get the first piece. That's probably because they haven't started out with easy ones, and then moved up.I've been doing puzzles since I was a baby. I did those little ones where you take four pieces and put them in the right place. Now I'm doing 1000 piece ones. This one looks to be a 350 piece, but I'm not sure. I haven't really checked.See, my family has a puzzle tradition. It's not really a tradition, but there are two specific rules we have to follow in order to say that we have actually done the puzzle: first, we CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT look at the box cover. I've seen a lot of people do that. It is CHEATING! What's the fun of a puzzle if you already know what it looks like? Isn't it all together more fun to find out what the picture is yourself? Oh, and then there's the fact that everyone who looks at the box ends up using it as a guideline. You know why the box is there? It's so you know what puzzle you're getting when you buy it at the store.Second, you must assemble the edge first. I know this sounds crazy, but trust me, it makes everything a whole lot easier. I see a few people starting out by just shoving pieces together, and, sure, it works, but you don't really know what goes where. In the above picture, the outside is assembled, and the green is in place because the edge had some green in it.I remember when I was in second grade, I was doing an easy puzzle with my friends in class, and they broke both of those rules, so obviously, being the insecure kid that I was, I got mad at them and refused to do it. I don't think they understood why I was so mad.The summer before that, when I was 7, I went to the Outer Banks with my dad's side of the family. It was a reunion. At our house, we set up this lighthouse puzzle, and whenever anyone came in to visit, they'd put in a couple pieces. This ended up in the whole 1000 piece puzzle being put together in less than a week.So if you're up for a challenge, try putting a puzzle together. If you want to get good, start putting together small puzzles and then move onto big ones. My grandma bought me a 3D puzzle on eBay, and I'll get it sometime this week. Those are really hard, and I never finished the last one she gave me.
Well, this is it. Our classroom. Finally finished. Remember that picture I put up of a very messy room stuffed with bags, toys, and what-not? This is that same room. I swear. And it's clean. For the first time in two years.I was in Virginia this weekend, and my mom must've worked magic or something, cause when I got back, it was totally clean, when the day I left, it was a horrible mess. Thank you, Mom.The only problem is that now I want to sleep down here because my room is a MESS!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate it! My sisters trash it, thinking nothing whatsoever about how I'd feel. I left for Virginia, and when I came back, there was stuff EVERYWHERE!!!! I just want to throw it out the window, for goodness sake! And then Maryam goes and makes it even messier by throwing her backpack on the floor when she gets home. How annoying is that?! Sometimes I wish I could sleep anywhere but in my room. You probably would to.At least one part of the house is clean. Oh, and the library and grown-up area (legendary name). So now I do have a place to sleep once I refuse to enter my room. It's been messy ever since Africa, and neither of the doors work. Argh!!!Will I ever live in a clean house? Probably not, although it might help if maybe, just maybe I didn't have little brothers and sisters everywhere. By the time they grow out of toys, I'll be in and out of college. Mark my words.
No, it's not a washing machine. It's another freezer. A better one. Oh, except for the fact that it takes a good deal of effort to close and stay closed. But other than that, it's as good as freezers get.We've had several unfortunate incidents with it, most of them involving melting ice cream and my little brother. See, YaSeen is trying to be a big boy now, from stoking the fire, to putting cat food in the bowls, he wants to let the world know that he's not a baby anymore. Of course, he'll always be my baby brother.So awhile ago, he decided to go into the freezer, all by his 'big boy' self, and get out some ice cream or Gogurts, or whatever it was that he wanted. So he gets it, and then just slams the door shut, which, for this freezer, does no good. The door stays open and nobody knows. So the next day my mom says to go get her some ice cream, and I look in and see that all the stuff is melted. That sets my mom off, all right. She yells and finds my brother and punishes him. Need I say more?And yet it happens again, but this time, there's an even bigger mess, because the day after someone left the freezer open, my brother wants a frostie or something, so he goes and looks. Now he's not smart enough to know when stuff is melted, so I tell him to shut the freezer because he's not supposed to be in it. (After the latest incident, he was banned from even touching the freezer). So he starts slamming the freezer door shut, which is, unfortunately, where some of the melted stuff is, including a frostie without a cap. So now, along with it not closing, there's chocolate frostie on the carpet. He does it again and again because it still isn't closing, and no matter how much I tell him to stop slamming it, he still does.You can probably imagine where we are now. A big mess. When he finally gets why I told him to stop, I have to run up to my mom and tell her what a mess we're in. So she spends the rest of the day cleaning out the freezer, and now she's REALLY mad at YaSeen.So this freezer has some background history. It also overfreezes things, so whenever we want ice cream, we have to let it thaw before eating it, or scooping it for that matter. I think I kind of like the other freezer better. I mean, after all the crazy things that have happened with this one, wouldn't you?
You know how some people say that video games are bad for the mind? Maybe they are, but those same people wouldn't be saying that if they knew how addicting the games are. Especially when you can sit on a couch and play them. Now, don't get me wrong, I think video games are fun and all, but I think there is a point of restraint that you have to apply or you will end up with a bunch of boneheads. Everything is good just so long as you don't use too much of it.This is a brand new video game controller that my brother got at Radio Shack for twenty dollars. Can you believe that Playstation controllers are only ten?! We don't have a game system so, unfortunately, we have to clog up our computers with games and installations.I think that the controls are all wrong, although my brother says that he knows which way they go. I'm right handed, so it's easier for my if the controls to move around are on the right hand. They are the opposite. On the left hand. I don't like that. I suppose I'll get used to it, but seeing as most of the people in the world are right handed, don't you think it'd be switched around a bit? Apparently not.I'm not fond of controllers, mostly because I can never get the hang of them, but the urge to sit back on the couch instead of up at a computer is too large and powerful. Everything would be perfect if only we could figure out how to put the guy in a ship. There's an option for exiting the ship, but not entering. LAME!I only play two video games anyway, maybe three. All Star Wars based. I know, I'm a geek. But they games are really good.
Ahhh... what could be better than coming home from a long day wherever, running up to your room, and collapsing on your bed? That's what I'd like to know. My bed is, with all modesty, the best one I've ever been in. But, then again, don't we all say that about our beds? Mine is clean, tidy, layered, and blanketed. I like to sleep on top of blankets. Not sheets. Most people think I'm weird for that, but sheets are scratchy and uncomfortable. I only like hotel sheets because those sheets are nice. Okay, so let's throughly describe everything in the picture...The big fat snowman I got from my grandpa after my grandma died. Then there's the American Girl Doll from when I was 8, the Build-A-Bear I got from my friend's birthday party, the dog and cat in the blue box are other American Girl things, and then there's a whole pile of stuffed animals that I've collected from various people and places. I also have a dream catcher hanging. I got it about 5 years ago, and I swear, I haven't had a bad dream since.I'm supposed to have another pillow with the same pillowcase on it, but I brought it with me to a hotel on a skiing trip and I forgot it. I was 7. The blanket on the bed is the best blanket in the world. The softest and the bluest. There's also another blue blanket at the end of the bed, folded up like the maids in Senegal used to do.I really like my bed, but I didn't always have it. When I was smaller I had the top bunk, and I loved it until my sister complained: "When do I get the top bunk?" So now I'm attached to this one, and I probably wouldn't fit up top anymore, anyway. I've had two other beds besides those, and this used to be MY room until my sister grew out of the cradle by my mom's bedside and moved into a crib. Grrr...So now I'm stuck with two sisters in a room chock full of junk. Clothes and trash on the floor. My littlest sister's bed is a laundry basket. Literally. And I'm not even going to go near the subject of our closet...
Most people would think I'm crazy, but truthfully, I've never owned an actual pair of shoes in my life. Until now. I went to Concord Mills with my mom, grandpa, and brother, and my mom took me to buy some shoes so that I'll stop wearing flip-flops everytime we leave the house. These are name-brand shoes, and guess where I got them. Burlington Coat Factory.I spent two hours looking for shoes. Literally. It started at Bass, where I was going to get some clogs, but I wear a size nine, and the size nine clogs were big, thick, and clunky. I can't even name all the stores we went into after that. TJ Maxx, Rack Room Shoes, some other funky store with numbers in it's name, Liz Claiborne, and we were about to go into another store until we reached BCF. I FINALLY found my shoes there. None of the stores we'd gone into had any good shoes whatsoever. My mom likes shoes with designs and patterns. Me, I'm picky. I like shoes that are plain and simple, and one small bow isn't too bad. Not like my mom.These shoes were 40 bucks, but I'm totally satisfied. They're comfortable, soft, and slip-ons. I like shoes that I can put on without touching them, and that don't always need socks. I finally got what I wanted.When we were at the mall, my brother got a RC car with 8 wheels. The guy demonstrating was doing all sorts of tricks and such. Show-off.
Say "I" if you watch more than two hours of TV a week. I'll guess out of 10 people who read this, 9 out of 10 do watch over 2 hours a week. Now, say "I" if you use the computer over 2 hours a week, for non-educational purposes. I'd say that also, 9 out of 10 people do that too, including me. But I'm starting to cut back, so don't worry.This book I'm showing you is not a book about television. It's a book about television's effects on families, children, and pretty much everybody. It provides information about the studies, projects, and opinions of groups and certain individuals. By the way, the author's children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews don't own a TV.If you really thought about it, maybe you'd realize that TV isn't all it's cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong now, there are some good shows out there. It's just that most of the shows are junk. You know why most kids have no free time? It's not because the teacher's give a lot of homework, or because the school hours are too long, (although I agree with both of those), it's mainly because kids spend all the hours in between watching television. The reason? Because the parents have hooked them onto it since they were little teeny babies watching Sesame Street.Am I a parent? No. But I know that when I become one, I will severely limit my children's TV watching time.We don't have cable, which, I think, has played the biggest part in our television avoiding habits. I don't honestly want to sit down and watch stupid shows on ABC that I've never even heard of. Funny thing is, that's exactly what some kids do when their shows aren't on. They just watch shows that they hate or shows that they don't know anything about. WHY???I wish TV had never been invented. Computers, fine. They aren't as addicting and they are a whole lot more helpful than TV shows. Maybe one day Americans will see that television really isn't all it's cracked up to be.
This is my beautiful, treasured, collectible American Girl Doll. Okay, so maybe it isn't collectible, but I don't really play with her anymore, so what else should I say?I've owned Josefina, (Ho-se-fi-na), since I was eight, so about five years. I got her for a present after I fasted my first Ramadan, which is the Muslim holiday in which we fast from daybreak to sunset. I remember how thrilled I was when I opened the box, and I remember how my brother thought the box had his present in it. He was six at the time and our grandmother got him a Stanley tape measure, which my dad thought was the coolest present in the world: "Moby, even I don't have a Stanley tape measure!"So there the legacy of my doll was born. Getting older, I was jealous of so many people because they always had so much more than I did, but I know that this shows how wealthy we really are. My friend totally collects these dolls. I think she has one of each kind. Eventually, my two sisters got the picture and started fasting whole Ramadan's too, but only in the past two years. Maryam got her's the year we were in Senegal, Kaya, and Iman got her's just this past Ramadan, Elizabeth. Funnily, none of us even have the look alike dolls.I would say I have at least 15 different outfits for my doll. I don't use them anymore, but I sure did then. I'm thinking that when I grow up I'll pass the doll onto my daughter when she fasts her first Ramadan.The good thing about these historical dolls is that they come with a series of six books about their life between the ages of nine and ten. Each one has a facts section in the back that tells you how life went back then. My doll supposedly lived in 1824 in Mexico, before it split.These dolls are beautiful, even if they are expensive. I treasure mine still, and I know perfectly well that any girl would be happy with just one of them.
Did you ever feel like there was no way that anyone in the world could possibly know how you feel about anything? I know I have. Sometimes I have felt like locking myself up into my room and throwing away the key. Then I found these books.Chicken Soup books are about every subject imaginable. Death, relationships, suicide, drugs, growing up, learning lessons, friendship, you name it. For anyone who hasn't read even one, I suggest you hurry up and do it. The books aren't only for teenagers. There are at least thirty different kinds. Preteen's, teenager's, parent's, cat lover's, dog lover's, pet lover's, American's, and so many more. There is at least one for everybody, if not more.The books are filled with stories about things other people went through. From amazing survivals to becoming disabled, there are many varieties. Sometimes you find a story that just makes you want to start crying.I've felt depressed so many times, and I always wanted to find comfort. So sure, I'm not talking to people, but words on paper have a way of acting like a person. You can just hear what the person is saying.I absolutely love this book and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone, especially those who are struggling through life. Try to remember that there are people out there that feel the same way you do, and sometimes they feel worse. Don't give up, and try to overcome. Who knows, maybe you'll end up as the next Chicken Soup author...
Okay, so maybe our house isn't all nice and fancy, but parts of it are. Okay, maybe only two or three parts, but parts of it are, all the same. This is one of them.
So my dad picked up this hitchhiker about three and a half weeks ago. Turns out he's a builder, and my mom always wanted the carpet off of the stairs. So he rips up the carpet and pulls down the banister. Then, after measuring, my dad spends about four hours at all the hardware stores trying to find suitable wood. When he finally does, he brings it back, and while we're in Virginia for Thanksgiving, the guy watching our house nails them in.
So we come back and find the stairs nailed in, but we still can't use them because they have to be polished. For about a week, my dad didn't do anything about it. Then he finally went to the store and bought the oil. I was at the mall last weekend with my friends, and he FINALLY finished it. Even after that he still wouldn't let us use it until YESTERDAY!!!!!!! So it's all done now. Happily. Nicely.
For three whole weeks I had to go up and down the front stairs. It was really annoying. Agh! Too much exercise! Okay, it wasn't a whole lot more, but it was so hard to do it. Even now, with the stairs done, instinct just tells me to go the other way. Ouch.
Our next renovation project will be the toy area... again. We have to get rid of the octagonal table and move the couch over by the windows. I'm sitting there right now, and it feels so crowded. Just like my bedroom closet, only worse. That's saying something.
Okay, so maybe a lot of people are more interested in the teeny Lego Bricks. But I'm sure that all the fanatics started out the same way I did: MegaBlocks. I call them Big Legos. I remember when I was little, probably in about second grade, I would spend time building houses with these. We have these really great green boards that you can just build on. There were three things I had so much fun building: a house, the beach, or a jungle with a river.
When, I built the house, everything had to be perfect, because I was probably more of a perfectionist then than I am now. Oh boy, what a perfectionist I was. All the bricks had to be the exact same kind. They all had to be 2x4s. None of the mixing and switching between 2x4s and 2x2s. The bottom row of bricks had to be blue, the next row, green, then yellow, then red. After I was done I filled the house with people, animals, plants, magic carpets, beds, chairs, you name it. I even put bathrooms in there; that's how accurate I wanted it to be. The only problem was that the house wasn't very big, so it kind of got a bit crowded in there.
When I built a beach, I made half of the board blue for the sea, and the other half yellow for the sand. Then I put "Porto-potties," chairs, cars, food, and anything else you'd need at a beach. I put some people there too, but there were no characters with swimsuits.
When I made a jungle, all my needs were satisfied because we have so many unique Lego pieces. There's a cloth leaf you can hang from a tree. The leaf had a hole in it so that you can hide a person in it. The tree was hollow so it could be used for a house. We had a teapot and some wood logs that it could be put upon. On the very edge of the board, I put about three rows of blue bricks for a river. We had a Lego canoe, so I pretended that my person was riding it. We even had little cloth backpacks, the perfect size to hold a block of food, and it even fit on the figure's back! There were gigantic bumblebees and butterflies that you could ride, and so much more.
I think my dad got the set at a garage sale down the street. For an 8 year old kid, that was magic. I probably never would've gotten hooked on Legos unless my dad bought it. I brought out my creativity more than I ever had done, and probably ever will again. If you need something that will help you express yourself, or that you can just have fun with, I highly recommend any type of Lego bricks.
Argh!!! I got braces today, and this is only ONE of the things the procedure comes with!!! Half of my favorite foods are on this list! But, then again, there are some things on the list that I absolutely hate, so now I don't have to eat them. Here is the list:First, hard candy. One of my favorite foods. Even if it isn't classified as a food. No more lollipops!Second, corn chips. Fritos, and the like. Those are some really good chips, and I was the only one of my friends who actually liked them.Third, popcorn. The famous movie snack. How in the world will I survive in the movie theater without popcorn, the one food that is a complete and total tradition in the film industry?!Fourth, jerky. I honestly don't care about that. I don't eat it anyway, why should I start now?Fifth, ice. The problem with that is that I pretty much depend on ice as my source of water. Guess I'll have to fill up a water bottle and start drinking.Sixth, nuts. I never actually had a particular fondness for them, but every now and then I'll eat a candy bar with a few nuts.Seventh, pizza crust. Triumph! I hate that stuff. It has NO flavor to me whatsoever. And now I don't have to eat it!Eighth, corn on the cob. A classic dinner side. I like it so much because you can smear on butter and salt and actually taste it. When it's off the cob, you don't really taste any butter, but I can always tell when there's no salt.And now all my fruits and veggies have to be cut up like a baby's. How lame is that? And that was only the list of hard foods.The forbidden soft food list is considerably smaller, but still full of stuff I like. Gum, chewing gum, sticky candy like Laffy Taffys, and that's about it. I'm also to stay away from sodas and sugary drinks, except every now and then. No popcorn or sodas!And then there's a million rules about how to brush and floss, but I'm not even going to go there. Having braces is tough, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.
Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha! At last! A new bike!!!! Just what I've been waiting for! And honestly, it took long enough! I've been needing a new bike for AGES!!! See, since we got back from Senegal, I haven't had a bike.Before we left to go there, I had a marvelous blue, almost turquoise, bike. It was pretty, fashionable, and reliable. Then one day, I went out to ride it, and it wasn't on our porch like it should've been. Know why? Somebody stole it. That was the same day that my mom went out to the car and saw that all the spare change for toll booths was scattered in the driveway. I put two-and-two together and figured out that the night before, some boys must've sneaked into our yard, and seeing as my bike was in the best condition, stole it, and on the way out they noticed the unlocked van and looked for some change in it. My parents said they'd both heard a mild disturbance outside that night, but didn't think too much of it.So when that was over I was totally upset, and my dad took me to get a new bike. This one was purplish-pinkish and just as good as the other one. I rode that one everywhere too. Nothing happened to it, but we left for Africa, so I didn't hear much. Then we get a call from the guy who's watching our house. He was borrowing my bike to get to work, and it turns out he broke one of the gears. I guess you could say I was about fed up with bikes when I heard that, but to my surprise, the guy gave my dad 100 dollars to buy me a new bike. I am SOOO grateful to him.Unfortunately, my dad likes to take his time with these things. I didn't get a new bike until four months after we got back to our home from our trip. Luckily I had a basketball hoop to keep me busy. I got this bike at 11:00 PM two days ago at Wal-Mart. I was very surprised to see that both Target and Wal-Mart put used bikes back on the shelves with new ones, marking the price down, but not putting any tags back on whatsoever. I almost bought a used bike exactly like this one until my dad noticed it wasn't new. Luckily there was a new one on the shelves.I am EXTREMELY out of shape. Yesterday I was riding down to my friend's house, not even a block away, and my legs started hurting. NOT EVEN A BLOCK AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!!! Argh! I need to work out more!And you may notice that I have a helmet. Sure it doesn't look good, but I don't want to be in a hospital with blood spurting out of my head. It won't be a pretty sight. And our road is a little busier than I wish it was.
Well, we we're working down in the basement, and my brother opened a box, and he found a lightsaber! No, really!!! Hey, I didn't believe it either until he turned it on.Okay, I'm a lier. We don't have a basement and he didn't find a lightsaber either, cause if he had, he probably would've sliced his arm off by now 'cause he can't wield it right. But all he's really holding is a broom handle. Then I used a paint program to make it look cool.Go to www.gimp.org and download a ABSOLUTELY FREE photoshop-like paint program. Then take a picture of someone holding a straight, round thing. If it's a broom, be sure the broom bristles don't show. The only tools you need to make a lightsaber are gaussian blur, zoom, bucket fill, pen/path, color balance, and if you want the face to stand out, the brightness/contrast tool. There are several tutorials on YouTube if you can't figure it out for yourself.I'm wondering if, when they make the Star Wars movies, they have to complete this procedure for every single fighting clip in the movie. That would be a lot of work, but my dad thinks they have special tool to move the picture around so that they don't have to do all that work.Now all I need is a way to take a picture of a lightsaber handle and put it into somebody's hand. Then I will fool the world! No, not really. A lot of people know that you can make lightsabers on paint programs. All I know is that little kids fall for it easily. I made it so that my little brother is holding a lightsaber, and I think he almost believed he was a Jedi.
I think my dad has always been jealous of his brother's house. Of course, his brother is a skilled builder, so I can see why anyone would be. Anyway, my dad has made several modifications to our house in past years, including building this deck. It has been very useful, the only problem being that we, meaning my brother and I, have to sweep all the leaves off of it in the fall.In the past few months or so, we haven't actually used the deck for anything, but usually my mom has her little parties with her friends outside, as long as the day is nice. My siblings prefer to use it as a bike/scooter platform, seeing as our driveway is steep and our yard is anything but compatable for that. I use it as a place to hide from the world when I'm feeling depressed. Sham has also found it a place for chasing leaves, string, and other kittenish things.Under the deck is dark, and who knows what lives under there, but we use it to store bikes and backyard vehicles of all sorts. Once before, I think we used it as a hide-and-go-seek place.Sure, my uncle's deck is connected to the house and all, but this is a good substitute. The only problem is that I can't play basketball on it because the wood is not the best surface for dribbling. Oh well. At least I have a place to play.
Ahhh... the fuel of a hot fire. The thing which makes everyone feel wanted and comforted. Wood. Don't you love the way it just kind of flares up, sizzles, sparks, and then lowers to a gentle roar? Especially when you're feeling really cold.At our house, we have enough wood stacked along the fence to last at least three years. We've been collecting it as far back as I can remember. If a tree falls in the neighborhood, my dad will be there to make sure he gets some, if not all, of it. Then he gets his wood-splitter from whoever has it currently, parks it by the side of the house, and starts cutting the wood up. Every now and then he will hire someone to split wood, but usually he'll spend weekends outside for three hours just splitting away, split, split, split. Then he has to stack it along our fence. I guess when wood is scarce, the neighbors know who to come to.Just recently we were at Home Depot looking for wood to renovate our stairs, and my dad sees this circular metal thing that holds wood. Lots of wood. How useful would that be on our back porch for holding wood waiting to be thrown in the fire? I didn't approve of him getting it at first, but now I see it's quite useful.Isn't it amazing that there's lots of wood around everywhere, but people use GAS fires? First, that's a waste of natural resources. Second, does that honestly produce as much warmth as wood? Maybe someday people will suck it up and learn that nothing artifical replaces the natural things of the world.
Ahhh... Finally, the book we've all been waiting for. What girl doesn't want a book that boys can't look in? Ironically, there's a boys one exactly like this, except it's red and the letters are gold. You may think this book is full of leisurely, fun things, but some of the stuff is educational. There's stuff about countries of the world, princesses and queens of the world, and famous woman spies. There are lots of useful things.I think after glimpsing through the book, I have learned how to put my hair up with a pencil and how to do a proper cartwheel, which I still can't do. There are a lot of stories, and quite a few sections on classic girl activities like daisy crowns, jacks, four square, even softball. There also happens to be a section on boys. It's not long or detailed, but it's there, all the same.My brother seems to think that since I skimmed through his book, he gets to read through mine. Like all boys, he thinks his book is better than mine. So what if it is? Girls are still better than boys 'cause we don't act like jerks all the time. My brother is the biggest, most idiotic jerk of all time.Anyone who gets extremely bored very easily like me should get this book. Not only is it a boredom guide, but it's good for convincing your mom to let you read it instead of your social studies book. The Daring Book for Girls is awesome. Just look at the boys book name: The Dangerous Book for Boys. Just looking at the titles, which do you think describes the gender more?
This is a not-so-good picture of my Second Life Avatar. My dad introduced me to Second Life, and I used to think it was extremely boring, but now I think it's kind of fun. I am taking a class for making the clothes with Photoshop and GIMP, and now I am making shirts and such. I made the shirt that is in the picture, even though it isn't too impressive because it's all black. I hope to become good enough to create faces of characters from movies, but all in good time.For those of you who don't know, Second Life is a virtual reality, although everyone who plays it says it is indeed a "Second Life." Me, I like to think of it as another MMPORG. Like Runescape and other multiplayer games, there is no purpose. There's lots of things to do, but there isn't one specific thing to focus on. I have seen people build amazing things that I can only dream about. In a way, it is a Second Life, except everything goes the way YOU want it to. You can make the clothes you've always wanted, build the house you're saving up for, or you can just go shopping for all kinds of things.The outfit I'm wearing is one that I would prefer to have in my closet, but I don't. The black shirt is a typical thing, but not a lot of people wear jeans under a miniskirt. I would like to do that. My mom has a green dress with a veil, and she doesn't even get on that much. My dad is one of the owners of the CPCC island on the mature server. He has done so much stuff on it. He and my mom have their own little office, and there's a picture of me in it.Second Life is split into two servers. One is the teen server, for teenagers 13-17, and the other is the mature server for 18 and up. I think they do that to protect the younger people, and also because of some... ummm... mature content.Okay that's all for today. Maybe another time I will put up a pic of a cool outfit I make.
This is a hummingbird feeder. It doesn't look like much, but it sits right out our dining room window, so in the summer while we eat we can watch the hummingbirds come and get the nectar. Unfortunately, it's the middle of winter, 48 degrees outside here, and we don't see many of them anymore.I have a vague childhood memory of looking in the fridge for something to drink. I saw a jug of red juice, (it looked like fruit juice), and I took some and poured it into a cup. I drank it, and it tasted like the nastiest thing on Earth! You know what it was? Hummingbird nectar. I found out from my mom. Of course, I was about seven at the time, and I didn't have it clear that we kept all juices in their original containers. Except orange juice which we make out of those frozen cans with the already-made juice: JUST ADD WATER!With this feeder, I've seen a lot of cool birds. All kinds of designs, feathers, sizes, you name it. I've also seen a lot of yellow jackets come up and steal the nectar, the thieves. Oh well, birds and bees can't ignore yellow flowers, fake or not. If nectar comes out, then it's good to eat.There's a funny thing about animals I've noticed lately. We always try to change the way that God made them act. Just recently, my dad said we ought to wait for my kitten to get pregnant, have her babies, and then spay her. I think we should go ahead and spay her, cause she could get pregnant at four months. But then I realize, a long time ago when people didn't keep pets, cats and dogs weren't getting fixed. So why start now? I'm just worried that if she does end up getting pregnant at four months she'll die in birth. But the gestation period is about nine weeks, so by then she'll be six months, (I just now figured this out, by the way, that's how slow I am). You should never mess with the way God made things, but then again, thousands of animals are killed every year at shelters, so maybe fixing animals is a good thing.That's way off the subject, but anyway, the good thing about hummingbirds is that they're so fast that nobody can catch them to keep as pets. I like watching wild birds fly around. They're so free. I wish I was that free.
Ahh... the thing that decides whether you're rich or poor: the dreaded television. I mean that literally. Quite a few people will come to your house and ask why you don't have a large flatscreen TV. Umm... maybe just maybe there's the slightest chance that we don't have one, not because it's too expensive, but because it will torture the family relationship. Okay, so maybe not my family relationship, cause we don't have cable, but a lot of people spend ALL DAY watching the stupidest shows.Our TV is really old, but we don't use it for anything other than watching movies and DVDs. The television doesn't take up a lot of space, which is good, cause we have so much other stuff to clog up everything that it's not even funny. We probably use this TV about zero to one times in the week. Not as often as other people, and we have five children in the family. But notice I didn't count weekends. On weekends, we watch rented movies. So basically, we use the television more than ten times on the weekend. Still not very much.I'm so jealous of all those people who have all the up-to-date television stuff. A wide flatscreen TV, a DVD and VCR player in one, and all the other awesome high-teck stuff. But half the people who have all those don't even use them enough. Which is why I'm totally happy to have this one in the picture.
This is our brand new kitten. She didn't used to belong to us, but my parents' friend had a baby and his wife didn't want the cat around. Now I kind of see why. She can be very bad when she wants to be. She begs, hisses, growls, and bites. I think she is part Siamese and part Persian, which probably explains why she's mean. Both of those breeds are known for some aggressiveness.Her name is Sham, (so now we have Sam and Sham), she's about two months old, and she is the prettiest cat I've ever seen. The only problem is that her eyes are bright yellow, and when they get big, she scares me. She adores hanging things, but don't all kittens? She goes for hands, feet, string, anything that moves.Sam hates Sham. The first time he saw her, he went right over and let her know who's boss. He meowed a big, long, sad meow. I think it meant: "My territory. The only reason you're on it is because I'm letting you on it." He probably would've killed her if we hadn't been protecting her. The day after that, she came to close to him, and then they attacked each other. They still despise each other, but it's getting better.We can finally pick Sham up. She used to bite and hiss, but now she'll only do that if she's riled up. She didn't used to eat dry food, but now she does. All that's left is getting her to use the bathroom outside, and making sure that she doesn't hiss at unfamiliar people. We've been throwing her outside when she's bad, and even though it's the middle of fall, she likes it. Must be the open space.I really love Sham. I always wanted a kitten for myself, but having four little brothers and sisters doesn't help. I hope she takes a liking to me, because I'm the one who does everything for her. Well, we'll see in time.
This is my flute that I got off eBay for 100 dollars. It's in good condition, and I've had it for three years or so, ever since I started sixth grade. I always wanted to play a flute, and then I had a chance to join the band, so I did. Along with playing basketball, my dad wants me to regularly play an instrument. I don't play regularly, but I still play it.When we first got it, the flute wasn't in really good condition. There were a few large scratches, my mom says there were dents, and the pads were dirty and needed to be replaced. Now everything is fine with it, although it probably needs to be taken into a music store for a check-up.I cannot believe my dad wants me to practice for an hour a day, (although if he thinks that I need to write in a blog for a half hour a day, he's crazy.) I get so distracted by everything around me that I can't sit still long enough to do three scales. That's how short my attention span is. I don't have a disease though, I can pay attention, I just can't sit still.The problem with my flute is that the sound doesn't sound like it does when the professionals play it, although that may be attributed to the fact that it doesn't have holes in the keys, or it may just be that I'm inexperienced. Either way, I hope I can get better, I just need to focus and stop slacking. Those are two things I definetly DON'T want to do.
Well, that's what the company calls it, or that's how it sounds, but it's not how it's spelled. This chair is the comfiest thing in the entire house. Along with padded backing and seating, it has a footrest you can raise, and the back bends down so it ends up almost like a bed. It's utterly amazing. This, too, is in the library, I guess because we read everything in there and we have two perfectly comfortable couches downstairs. Argh!I'm pretty sure we've had this since before I was born. I have pictures of my dad sitting in it holding me. This thing is really old, yet it's as comfy as ever. My siblings think I hog it, and so what if I do? I always get there first. I mean, if you got there first, you wouldn't casually wait for another person to sit in it, would you? You'd head right on over and sit down.My parents always come in and tell me to get out of it, and then they sit in it. It's their favorite spot. Then again, it's probably everyone's favorite spot. If you had one of these in your house, if someone said it wasn't their favorite spot, I'd say they're crazy, wouldn't you?
Have you ever wanted a place to just be able to sit, and then lie down if you wanted to? This is it. For anyone who has a foutan, you'll know what I'm talking about. It can be a seat, or a bed, or just a place to stick random things for awhile. Unfortunately, ours is more cluttered than it should be. This foutan is comfier than any mattress, but that just makes it really heavy. I had to move it one time, and I know it took at least three people. It weighs more than my bed!!! I think it will be very useful this winter. If it gets cold, I'll just take five blankets and move everything off, and then I'll have a cozy bed. The only major problem is that it's nowhere near the fireplace. It's all the way up in the library!!!!
Are you one of those people who has a problem finding a place to put various small things because you know that you will lose them? Well, look no further. My dad found this at a Staples store, and it has been very useful to me. I store a lot of things that I have had trouble finding a place for. Two of the little boxes have jewelry in them. One has bracelets and the other has necklaces. There are two medium sized boxes, one that I use for receipts, which clog up my purses, and the other I use for bead cases that I will almost certainly need later. And the last, long case I use for hair accessories and makeup. There's never anywhere to put that stuff. The thing I like so much about these boxes is that they all fit in one place, and the tops are easy enough to take off. I hate those boxes that have the tight tops that you have to use fingernails to pry off. These tops have little side clasps that loop up and hold the top in place. The top has two "ledges," one at either end. They are very useful. If that sounds confusing to you, sorry, I'm not very good at explaining things like that. I was just thinking the other day, if you bought a lot of these, all your storage problems would be solved. I mean, for all the small things. Before I got this, my jewelry box was overflowing, my purses were stuffed with receipts for various things, I had nowhere to store anything I might need later, and I had nowhere to put any makeup except keeping it in my purse. This thing has practically saved my life in a way because I do not want to become like my little sister. Her bed is a laundry basket, and she has two cardboard boxes at the foot of her bed stuffed until they overflow with a whole bunch of random things. Now who wants to be like that? It'd be nice if I could go get some more of these. They'd be really helpful. There's just one thing. What if I run out of stuff to store?! That'll be a disaster!
Okay, so maybe it isn't a collection, but I do have a lot. Collected from various places, my purses aren't unique, but what's weird is that I don't even use them. The blue backpack on the far left, I can't even remember where I got it from. The brown purse I got at a religious celebration, and it came with a wallet that I use all the time. The cat purse next to that has been around for awhile, and I'm pretty sure it's the second purse I ever had. The one squeezed down at the bottom is one I got at Target for nine bucks, which is cheap. (It was on clearance.) The pink backpack is the oldest. I got it right before I was going on a road trip with my dad and I was the "navigator" because my mom was going to Africa. The shiny blue purse is one I've never used, mainly because it is very small. I got it at the dollar store. The white one with pink sequins is my favorite. I bought it on sale at a clothing store for fourteen dollars, and I wanted it because that was the style when I got it. The green and orange one I got for my twelfth birthday, and I was there when my mom bought it, and she lied and said it was for her. The blue one after that is the one I have used the longest. It's in bad shape, and I bought it at Wal-Mart for three dollars. It was already pretty dirty when I got it, but it's a lot worse now. And the last one I am waiting for the right time to use. We went to a Muslim conference and got it off of the sales tables. My parents' friend sells these really nice scarves, purses, wallets, and such and we got it from her. So these are all my purses. Quite a few, but hey, at least I'll always have one.
I am so mad that I can't go trick-or-treating. For religious reasons of course. But at least I get candy from my neighbors. These three are probably my all-time favorite candies. Skittles, 3 Musketeers, and Milky Way. Who doesn't like them? Skittles are sweet and fruity, 3 Musketeers are nice and chocolatey, and Milky Ways are chocolatey, "carameley" and a combination of things. Wouldn't it be so cool to get a whole bunch of these things? Well, I suppose I'd be sick of them after that. I also have a weak spot for Reese's cups, but if my mom finds that out she'll be on top of me in a milisecond. She thinks she likes them more than anyone. Hmmmm... what else is there? OH! I know! M&Ms. Those things are totally awesome. If you don't like those, you have a serious problem. There's so many different kinds and they all rock. (Except the peanut ones. I don't like nuts too much.) So anyway, I wish I could live on candy but I can't, sad to say. Being a little kid again would be cool because then the adults don't tell you to stop eating so much. To wrap it all up, let's just say, I WANT CANDY!!!!!
It may not look like much, but it is part of the place I call home. This is about the warmest fireplace you've ever layed eyes on. I mean it. Sure, it's old, but I love to lie down on the couch by it, put on a blanket, and listen to the roar of the fan blowing the flames. I have so many memories of sitting by the fireplace with my family watching a movie or something. This is one of the things that makes my home home. It's old, dirty, greasy, but it has a very good reputation. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that my dad forces me to make fires in it. You know, a lot of people think gas fireplaces are the way to go. They're not. Nothing beats a good ol' wood, paper and match fire.
There are a lot of great TV shows out there, but I find two of them are quite interesting. Lost, and this practically brand-new show, Heroes. Sure, it's first season is already on DVD, but I just got introduced, and frankly, it's pretty good when it comes to the thrill factor. The show is about a group of people who have found that they have certain powers, enabling them to do amazing things. One of the main characters, Mohinder Suresh, does not have a power, but has decided to track down and find all the "special" people and tell them about their powers. The main characters in Season 1 are- Nathan Petrelli, he's running for Congress and although he wants to deny it, his power is flight. Peter Petrelli, Nathan's brother who is very excited indeed that he has a power. He has the power to mimick others' abilities just by thinking about them. Niki Sanders has super strength, but can only use it through her other identity, Jessica, who is often reaking havoc. D.L. Hawkins can phase through solid objects, Micah Sanders is the super-genius child who can communicate with electric objects, Isaac Mendez can paint the future, at first only when he was high on heroin, Matt Parkman can hear people's thoughts, Hiro Nakamura is a Japanese who can bend space and time which allows him to teleport, stop time, and numerous other useful things, Claire Bennett is a cheerleader who can heal herself, and Gabriel Gray, a.k.a. Sylar, a superpowered serial killer who kills off anyone with a power by cutting their head open and taking their brain, which somehow gives him their power. He has numerous abilities, his first being the ability to see how things work. Most of these characters have no idea that the others exist, unless they are related in some way. At the end of the season, they all somehow end up in the same spot in New York. The show is, obviously, science-fiction, but it's quite a thriller, and the worst part about it is that at the end of every show, there's always a cliff-hanger.
This is my brand-new, two day old cell phone. The Fusic one. My mom got a Katana 2 and she thinks the appearance of mine is not very good. Amazingly, this phone came with a lot of accessories: four colored faceplates, a mic and earphones, a USB connecter, a memory card and chip adapter, and, of course, the charger. I like the phone a lot, and I had my first text messaging session with my friend yesterday, although I wouldn't have done that if my dad hadn't changed my plan the night before. So now we're trying to get me the unlimited texting for $10. The site is all messed up so we're trying to wait out the maintenence patiently. Very hard for me to do. The features on this phone are numerous. Mp3 player, connects to an FM radio, and all the other things any phone would have. My dad even said that he would've gotten this if he didn't get a palm pilot. I want my phone to be different though. Sure, my mom's phone is sleek and pretty, but does that really matter compared to what this phone can do?
All right, this may not look like much, but it is. The big red streak across the middle of the yard is in fact the result of getting our water line fixed. You see, for about two months when my mom got the water bill, it was amazingly high. Not like a couple of gallons high, but like thirty gallons higher than it should've been. Along with that, even in this drought, there was a spot in our front yard that was much greener than it should've been. It was the color of the greenest thing you can think of, but greener. So you put two and two together and what do you get? A broken water line. That's what we had. The water guy came over and told us that if we get it fixed within two weeks, we wouldn't have to pay for the extra water. So we turned it off for a few days, but that got annoying cause we had to keep filling buckets. So eventually we laid off that idea, and unfortunately, kept the water on. The guys came and fixed it, rupturing our neighbor's line while they did it. For a day there was a Caution sign wound around the area, but that came off after the inspector came. So everything is fine and good now. I'll always remember though the day I walked over the sidewalk and there was nothing under one part of it.
Now this... this is the coolest swing in the world! I mean it. Very few people have a swing like this, and anyone who does will know that it is better than any old playground swing. It can go really high up into the trees, and you straddle it, so it might not be very comfortable, but it makes up for that with many other things. Whenever my friends come over we like to push each-other on it, and I absolutely love to twist it so that my brother gets really dizzy. I get dizzy too when he does it, but at least I don't walk around complaining about how I am about to barf; I'm immune to the dizziness disease. We have two of these swings, one in the backyard and one in the front. I like to go out and swing on them at night when my parents are yelling and freaking out. It's really fun because I can swing myself be standing on a chair or crate and I can still go quite high. Anyone sick of the old playground swings? Go buy yourself a rope and a wheel shaped seat (whatever it's called) and go hang it up in a tree. Try it. It's quite fun.
This is my big, beautiful basketball hoop. I got it about two months ago mainly because my dad wanted me to play some kind of sport, but I just don't like soccer or baseball a whole lot. I usually practice about twice or three times a week, and I am good at shooting. Dribbling is my problem. I had to build this whole thing with my brother, and I did most of the work. Being as old as I am, I still thought that the hoop would only be four pieces. Boy, was I wrong. It took me two days to build it, and there were more than four pieces. Probably about a hundred. The rim is heavier than you might think, and the poles are what makes the hoop weigh a ton. They must weigh fifty pounds each or something. My dad said when I get good at basketball, he'll put a concrete slab over by the side of the house and we can put the hoop there. Our driveway is long, but it's steep so there's not a whole lot of space for something like this. We found a place of course, but it's not very good. The problem is that I can't play this when we have a lot of visitors because there's all these cars in the driveway. Oh well, better that then not being able to play at all.
This is our very old and annoying computer. The reason it's annoying is basically because it takes up space and we can't use it. When we attempt to use it, it's usually slow or it starts displaying stupid and sometimes nasty pop-ups. One time I tried to use it and every minute I got at least four pop-ups. I couldn't do anything on it. Another reason it's annoying is because if you leave it on, the humming and whirring gets REALLY loud. I'm serious. It's so loud that you know it's on. Other computers have a slight humming, and unless you're listening, you don't think it's on. I think the reason the computer has these problems is either because it's old or we have put too much stuff on it's hard drive. There are at least thirty games installed on it. No wonder it's messed up.
This is our classroom. If you keep up with this blog, a month ago there was a post that showed our messy "Toy Area" and then there was a post about my mom's excavation project. This is the result. As you can see, it's still messier than it needs to be. Toys on the bottom shelf, notebooks scattered everywhere, (that happen to be my brother's), and random junk. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be though. All my books and things are neatly stacked on the far left. My brother's things are scattered all over the place. We have boxes of art and school supplies, many torturous books, spare notebooks, and, not shown in the picture, a whole shelf of puzzles and board games that aren't usually touched by anyone but me, sadly. It's kinda funny that after all this, I am STILL really bored, for no particular reason.
Why play boring old regular Monopoly these days? I mean, sure, it's original and all, but don't you get tired of it after awhile? Now there are so many versions of Monopoly that you don't even know which one to play, but my mom surprised me when she got this. The only problem is that I don't have anyone to play it with. My brother says he hates board games, but I think he's just to lazy to play a whole game with me. I convinced him the day after we got it, and we played the whole game, and I won! I was losing at first, and he spent all his money on houses. But let's explain some of the changes. In place of Community Chest and Chance cards we have Jedi and Sith cards. The houses and hotels are settlements and cities, (although they look more like Jedi Temples and Naboo Palaces.) All the properties have names of places in the Star Wars universe such as Naboo, Mustafar, Tatooine, Bespin, Endor, Yavin 4, and others that are taken from every film. There are eight collectible characters in battle poses: Darth Vader, Darth Maul, General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, Princess Leia, and Yoda. The game rules don't change, except for when you roll doubles, there is a "Force move" you can do depending on what you roll. The game is really fun and puts a twist on the original Monopoly. Although my dad seems to think that the original will always be the best!
These are two of the most popular video games ever made. Based on the Star Wars films, the games present a humourous view of some of the events. The first one has levels starting with the Trade Federation "Negotiations" and ending with Mustafar "Darth Vader." The second game is one that I just got a few days ago. From what I've read, it starts with the first scene from the film, "Secret Plans," and ends with the battle above Endor. What is so fun about the games is the humour and the fact that everything is made of some type of Lego brick. When the story is told, no words are used. Instead, the players pantomime the actions, with some very funny results. There are many fun things to do besides playing the levels, like trying to get Lego studs for currency so that you can buy extra characters, or finding "minikits" in the levels to build vehicles, and in the second game, ride them. All in all, I think the second game has more fun things to do. Extra levels, extra bricks and things to find, more attacks, and enough things to do so that it will take at least twice as long to finish it as the first one. Any Star Wars or Lego fanatic should play this game. It tells the story in a whole new way.
These are only two of our six computers. Three of them are laptops and the other three are monitors. We got these flatscreens about two years ago. They take up a lot less space. There is a monitor downstairs, but we never use it because if you even attempt it, the computer either freezes or some really nasty pop-ups come up. It's really annoying. Right now I am using the computer that my grandma gave us the money for before she died. Along with this we have my dad's work laptop and my mom's Media Center one. All together I would say we have at least $2,000 worth of computers, not including the actual CPU for the monitors.
Okay, if you don't know what this is, you have BIG problems. It's only the most addicting show in the history of the world. LOST is the ABC show that has been airing since Fall 2004 and is now one of the most popular shows on ABC. It has gone through three seasons, the third just ending in May, and is now on a nine month hiatus, which is very painful for fans. The show follows the lives of the survivors of the fictional flight Oceanic 815. Up until Season 2, it only focused on the fuselage survivors, and this disk in the picture has the episode in which we see what happened to the tail-section survivors in the episode "The Other 48 Days." The shows main characters are Jack Shephard, played by Matthew Fox, a spinal surgeon who is the main leader of the survivors, Kate Austen, played by Evangeline Lilly, a fugitive who has commited a number of crimes, and James "Sawyer" Ford, played by Josh Holloway, a con-man who is disliked by many of his fellow survivors. The show has many mysteries that fans are desperately trying to figure out, along with a group known only as the "Others" who captured many characters, including Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Much knowledge about the Others has been gained, but with that comes more mysteries. LOST aires again at 10pm Eastern Standard time on Wednesdays starting in February, although I hear the producers are fighting for an earlier time. If you haven't already watched the show, try renting the first season. You may become as addicted as I am.
This is the video game "The Hobbit" and, as you might guess, it is based upon J.R.R. Tolkien's novel. The different levels in the video game have the same names as some of the chapters, ranging from "An Unexpected Party" to "The Clouds Burst." The game takes eleven of the most significant chapters and adds creatures, quests and such into them to make them challenging and playable. As you can guess, it is a one-player thing with Bilbo Baggins as the playable character. One day Gandalf the wizard comes to his hobbit-hole and offers him the chance to embark upon the greatest adventure ever. He politely declines but invites Gandalf to tea the next day, and along with the wizard come thirteen hungry dwarves. And you know the rest of it. He goes on a wonderful adventure and comes home with two chests and a few bags of gold and silver, and a magic ring. The levels in the game focus on getting a main quest done to finish them, such as rescuing the dwarves from the giant spiders. Along the way you can acquire certain objects to help you with this, one being the ring. You also have other smaller quests to complete, some required and some optional, along with courage points, little and large colored diamonds, which increase your health. But don't let me spoil it all for you. Go buy the game yourself!
These are the Tintin series of comics. I don't think that it's all of them, but it's most. The comics follow the adventures of a world-famous reporter called Tintin, his dog Snowy, and his friends Captain Haddock, an alcohol addicted sea captain, Professor Calculus, an almost deaf genius, and the two detectives, Thompson and Tomson, who are very clumsy, totally identical, and who's favorite saying is "to be precise..." These characters were created by Herge, an Austrian? author. The first comic was called "Tintin and the Soviets" to make fun of the Soviet Union. Although in this series, the first comic is "Tintin in America," in which Tintin is trying to capture Chicago's most notorious gangster, Al Capone. The comics are very lively and adventerous, anyone who likes mystery should try reading them.
This is what my mom calls a major excavation project, and truthfully it is. She has emptied out the whole toy area and moved everything here, which basically means we can't go downstairs for the next week, unless we are helping her. You can see in the corner of the picture the pile of trash bags. Well, that would be thirteen years worth of toys, stuffed animals, and books that are useless now. And the clothes are either too small for everyone, or just me. We started doing this about two days ago, and my mom thought it would only take a day or so. But with all the stuff we have, and the fact that she has to go through it all, it could take as long as two weeks. I sure hope it doesn't take that long.
These are my dad's drums, just another thing he managed to collect in Senegal. He would like to take a drumming class, but he has yet to actually do it. I would say we have about six or seven drums right now. Most of them have the Senegalese colors, green, yellow, and red somewhere on them. Here it is around the rim of the drum. Several times we have had people come over and show us their skills, and they are really good. I never really understood how you could get all those different sounds out of this thing. Oh well. Another thing to learn on the path to total knowledge.
This is my brand-new fancy CD-radio alarm clock. I got it at Target two days ago for twenty dollars, and unlike most, it's very good. Now, you might be asking yourself, why do you need an alarm clock like this? Well... let's just say that buzzer clocks are TOTALLY useless on me! To wake me up, it has to be a non-constant sound. So if something is going "beep... beep... beep..." I definitely will sleep through that. But if it's my favorite station playing realllllllly loud, or any station at all, I will wake up. The past two days I woke up to Hannah Montana songs at nine. The clock also has dual alarms so that I can set one time for the weekend and the other for the weekdays. It's set to nine for the weekdays. Maybe I'll do eight on Saturday. Anyway, this clock is really good, and although I have yet to try the disk part, I think that it will work out just fine.
This is the complete set of the "Calvin and Hobbes" comics by Bill Watterson. They were published in newspapers for about 6 years, give or take, and they were very, very popular. The comics are about a 6 year old boy in first grade named Calvin who's best friend is Hobbes, a stuffed tiger to everyone BUT him. The tiger is a love-obsessed, instinctive, and hard-to-hate thing who's main goal is to sneak up on Calvin unawares. Hobbes is the well-behaved one, wheras Calvin is always trying to skip school, misbehave, be a smart mouth, torture his parents, demented baby-sitter, and most of all, the girl down the street, Susie. Calvin hates homework, and Hobbes usually ends up doing it for him, with disasterous answers that Calvin is totally ignorant of. The whole series is hilarious because it shows that nobody is as ignorant or misbehaved as Calvin, who only manages to be good come Christmas. And yet, he still asks Santa for a flame-thrower, rocket-launcher, chainsaw, and nuclear bomb every single year, along with numerous other items resulting in a 100 page Christmas list. He never gets any of it, but still hasn't caught on to the fact that Santa doesn't exist, although he has gone within the boundaries of doubt. Calvin is a demented little kid, and if he wasn't, he probably wouldn't have risen to national fame, supported by his best friend in the world, Hobbes.
The Klutz Book of Juggling is a very helpful, slightly humourous guide on how to do something that amazes most people: juggling. Now why is it so amazing? Well, if you are like most people, you have attempted to do it, with zero success. So it's no wonder that it's so much fun to watch others juggle. This book offers step by step instructions starting with the "Dropping Exercise" and ending with 5-ball juggling. Now of course, you still need to practise. But after about 5 months, I could juggle so many times that I lost count. My dad was really impressed because he learned how to juggle while he was walking down his school hallway. Now I am a little out of practice, but I can still juggle. I am telling you, this book helps. A lot. But if you don't want to buy it, then my advice is, start tossing one around until you can make a perfect curve and it lands in your other hand that didn't move. Once you have that down, take two and get good at that, but no cheating. Then move onto three. But don't start with three, cause then you will just embarass yourself. After all, did you start learning to read, unless you're a genius, by reading big gigantic 5000 page books? I didn't think so.
This is a Superplexus, also known as a "maze in a ball." And it really is, but instead of paper and pencil, it's just you, your hands, and this ball. The maze is made up of curves, falls, and drops, and truthfully, it's much harder than it looks. I was trying for almost a month before I could finish it. Since then, I have finished it 10 times, maybe more, but I lost count after that. My dad was SO mad when I beat him, he said that I had too much free time on my hands, and he didn't have enough. But he can't talk, he bought it. He found it at the Salvation Army, and seeing as it was only five bucks, he bought it. Later we saw on eBay that someone was selling one for seventy bucks. So we got a real deal. And better yet, they don't make it anymore. We had two, but we left one in Senegal because everyone there really liked it, and some of them claimed they could finish, but I never saw one who did. Even the little kids could finish the first level. But they worked at it for a LONG time.
You know what I like about puzzles? They force you to think. I'm not generally one for thinking, but at least puzzles are fun. A lot of people give up on puzzles when they can't get the first piece. That's probably because they haven't started out with easy ones, and then moved up.
