Playing Cards

But then again, what else could they be? Paper? As IF! Playing cards are awesome. There are just a few problems with them.
When we were in Africa, one of the girls was caught playing with cards, and one of the people there, you might classify him as the superintendent, ripped each one in half. Ouch.
The thing is that Senegal is a Muslim country, and gambling is forbidden in Islam. I think I've got an idea why.
When you gamble, usually you're looking for an easy way to make money. That isn't right. You need to work for your money, not hope you get lucky. Gambling is addictive too, just like cigarettes.
My favorite game to play is Speed a.k.a. Spit. There are two ways to play it, but it's really fun. I'm really good, and I usually beat whoever I'm playing. Usually.
I also like Solitare, but you know what's funny? I know people who play Solitare on the computer 24/7, but when you give them a deck of cards to play it, they have no clue how to set it up. It's hilarious. Shows just how badly people get hooked on the computer. There's no need to play something on the computer that you can play with your hands. Weirdos.
Does anyone besides me ever wonder why the ace of spades is always fancy? I'm guessing it's got something to do with gambling. And jokers? I mean, what are those about?
The cool things about cards are magic tricks. I'm so good at certain card tricks, and I love them. Except when I'm performing for my brother. He always watches everything, and won't draw a card till I shuffle the deck. Stupid. That ruins the whole trick. Usually. He's so mean sometimes.
Sooo... I can't wait till I'm done with this schoolwork. TGIF!!! Weekend, here I come! I love you!

Glasses... Ick!

Just to make my point first, I don't wear glasses, and I'm glad. Oh, and if you don't already know, only moms wear these big glasses. Yeah.
I think I was about 8 when I had to start wearing glasses. I know I said I don't wear them, but I used to. I was so devastated, mostly cause my mom got me the plain frames. I guess that made them a bit less noticeable, but I always hated glasses. And on top of it all, I had to wear an eyepatch!!! Now if that's not torture, I don't know what is. Well, luckily it wasn't a wear-it-to-school thing. That would've been pure, pure torturous torture. Sometimes I had to wear the sticker ones, but mostly I wore these cloth ones that slipped on to my glasses. The only reason I wore one was because my right eye was lazy and it was at risk of blindness if I didn't cover my left one to make it work harder. Well, once my eye got to the point where that wasn't a risk anymore, I was glad. My left eye can still see better, but oh well.
When I went to Africa, I was so sure that I'd packed my glasses, but I didn't! So I spent 10 months without them, and when I got back, I found them, put them on, and I felt dizzy. It's like that feeling you get when you put on someone else's glasses. So I went to the eye doctor, and you'll never believe this, he said I had 20:20 vision!!! I hadn't worn the glasses for a year, and I guess my eyes had adjusted. Probably because I'm still growing.
If only that worked for my dad. He despises glasses, and he's considering LASIC. But $2000 an eye, I mean c'mon, can't they make it cheaper. Although if they did that, glasses makers would probably go out of business cause nobody would need them.
Now for my Thursday conclusion. Of course, you already know what it's gonna be about. Gimme an L! Gimme an O! Gimme an S! Gimme a T! What's that spell?! LOST!!! I'll save you the torture of my long, boring talk.
Time to go! Byebye!!!

Awesome Signs!!!

Are these awesome signs, or what? Well, I guess you can only see one, but they are all so hilarious! My dad bought about 7 of them. I'll list the ones I can remember:
-God must love stupid people- he made so many!!
-Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly
-A good friend will come and bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "D***! That was fun!"
-I can only please one person a day. Today's not your day, and the rest of the week doesn't look good either
-Your ridiculous comment has been duly noted
There were probably a couple others too, but I can't remember them. You're supposed to stick these on the car window, but we stuck them from our picture window in front of the house. Unfortunately, nobody can see them from there.
Last night I went to go see Vantage Point at 10:20. That's what's good about being homeschooled. Anyway, it didn't end the way the commercial makes it seem. It was okay, but the beginning it just kept rewinding and looking at another person's point of view. It was still a good movie, and with some unexpected twists. I recommend going to see it.
And now I'm so happy because I've finally finished my math course!!! A university math course! With almost a 96! Haha yes!!! That's why I got to go see Vantage Point!
*snore* Wait! Huh? What's goin on? Oh right, I was writing my blog. Sorry, I'm just kinda tired. Okay, I was kidding about the snoring part. I'm just so bored, and I've still got 10 minutes left to write. I would discuss Vantage Point more, but seeing as anyone who is reading this might not have seen it yet, I don't want to spoil it. Actually, I kinda do, but I can't. Cause I wouldn't want it spoiled for me.
Five minutes. Sorry Daddy, I've got writer's block. And I'm bored. And hungry. And tired. Can't wait till tomorrow for Lost. Except the day after I've gotta babysit all day. Hey, at least I can sing out loud to the radio without embarrasing myself. My parents usually laugh about stuff like that. Meanies.
Time to go. Next is Language Arts, then Social Studies, then Quran, then I'm done!!! Haha!!!

Wonderful Moisturizing Lotion

I hate dry skin. Most people do. For a few good reasons.
1-It looks horrible.
2-It feels really gross
3-It's annoying
4-It's dry (obviously)
and 5-IT HURTS BADLY!!!
I mean it! It stings if it's cold, when it's warm it still stings, though not as badly, and it's so annoying! I remember one time I was in Virginia visiting my aunt and uncle, and when I woke up, my face was burning so badly!!!! Not to mention it was like 25 degrees outside, and we were in the mountains! So I had to go and find some lotion, smear it on, and you know what happened? Guess.
No! My face didn't immediately feel better! It started stinging even more! I had to put more on because as soon as I smeared it on, there was no more. I had to overapply it. So my face was all white. But anyway, my dad said that it was stinging because my skin was absorbing the lotion so fast. That's how dry my skin was! My skin is usually fine, but if it's cold in the atmosphere, then my skin gets dry everywhere. When I go out on the trampoline in 40 degree weather, my hands and feet get really dry.
Lotion is so annoying though! It's so greasy, gets everywhere, makes everything slippery, and you have to wait for your skin to absorb it before you can go touch anything. You wanna hear a weird story?
My brother went out to the shed to search for stuff, and he found an electronics kit. It was like one of those plastic bases with little copper and metal wires and stuff. On top of the box were three people, and I found out from my dad later that my grandpa had scribbled all over it because he hates those commercials that show the whole family happily playing along with everything, when everyone knows that there's always arguing about whose turn it is or who's cheating. LIARS! So anyway, at the end of that box, there was a glob of white stuff. I didn't want to touch it, cause it looked really nasty. I still don't know what it is, but it's either mayonnaise or lotion. I think it's lotion, because wouldn't mayonnaise have spoiled within the past, I don't know, eight years?
My favorite lotion place is Bath and Body Works. We got this cool lotion stuff there. And there were all these cool foamy soaps too. They all had nice smells. My favorite one is the pineapple one. Pineapple is my favorite fruit, unless you count cucumbers as a fruit, which I also like a lot.
Sham is lounging on the end of my bed right now, just sleeping. We had a thunderstorm about an hour ago, and every time it thundered, she would sit up and stare till the rumble died down. Now she's just sleeping. I truly think that she's a kitten at heart, and she only acts fierce so that people are scared of her. She's really a big ol' softie. I still love her.
So how about that movie Vantage Point? I want to see that badly. I don't know why, but I really want to. I just like thriller movies. Dadddddddy? Can we please go see it? Puhlease??? =-)

A Tape Dispenser

Yes, I know it's a tape dispenser. I don't know why I took a picture of it, but oh well, who cares?! Maybe I should use it as an example of life.
Every roll of tape is made in a factory, packed in a box, then packed in a bigger box, shipped to a store, Staples or Walmart or wherever, and then they are bought, taken home, put in a dispenser, used up, and then the roll is thrown away. How is this an example of life, you ask? Well, you'll notice that I didn't say A ROLL OF TAPE. That's because all tape ends up in the same place. The trash. Or recycling. Or wherever. But think about people. We're all born, grow up, get married, have kids, and die. That's the natural way, but in between all these stages, we have choices that we make. Whether it's about religion, or marriage, or school, or running away, we all have choices to make, which result in things. A roll of tape, it has no choice. It's guaranteed to go into a tape dispenser, unless whoever bought it doesn't have one, but you get the point, hopefully. That's why people and inanimate objects are so different. People have choices. Many choices.
Like right now, I have the choice to stop writing, but here's what I risk from doing that:
-My dad getting mad at me
-My MOM getting mad at me
-Having to write more later, when I could be writing songs or playing outside.
-And getting mad at my perfectionist self because I get mad when everything is so different from everything else.
So out of those four things, I'd prefer not to go through with any of them, so I keep writing. That's life.
Now say that someone wants to skip public school for a day because they want to go shopping at the mall. Here's what they risk:
-Getting caught and sent to school anyway
-Getting a mark on your record
-Having extra homework the next day because you didn't come
-Going to detention if you don't have a good excuse for being absent
-Your parents grounding you
So you see, isn't it better to just wait for the weekend, instead of risking all these things? I mean, there is a chance that none of them will happen, but that's very slim, unless you're an absolutely wonderful skipper.
And do you get my point now? A roll of tape doesn't have choices and consequences. That's what makes us so unique. And if we do good things, chances are we'll get good things in return. Sure life can be hard, but hey, that's the way it works. You know what my motto is?
IF YOU WANT TO LIVE LIFE, THEN IT'S WORTH LIVING

A Simple Pencil

I absolutely hate wooden pencils. I mean it. Who doesn't? I mean, you have to sharpen them, and it's hard to get them just right, and then when they break you have to go sharpen them again! Now mechanical pencils, that's a different story. If it breaks, so what? Just push the top. And the pencils last forever. All you need to do is refill the lead when it runs out. And there's all kinds of sizes, too. So if you like thin leads, go get a thin lead size. If you prefer thick ones that don't break so easily, then get a thick lead pencil. Mechanical pencils are the absolute best.
When I was in elementary school, especially when I was young, all we had were regular pencils. I despised them, especially when bad kids broke the sharpener and the teacher didn't bother to replace it. What are we supposed to do then? Just sit there and not write cause we don't have sharp pencils? I think the teachers always had those little handheld sharpeners which I REALLY hate. Those things are so annoying!!
In fourth and fifth grade when we got our school supplies list, it specifically said that we couldn't bring mechanical pencils to school. My teachers said it's cause when the lead gets on the floor, people step on it and it smears all over the floor and it's hard to clean. People brought them anyway, and we never even got in trouble. I think the teachers even approved of them more.
I do remember in 6th grade science class we got a new pencil sharpener that worked really well, and people were purposely breaking their pencils so that they could go and use it. There was a line of like 7 kids at a time.
Sooo, do you wanna hear about Lost now? Cause every show is better than the one before it. And this one was great. Especially the end. Bigggg cliffhanger. And Locke is a baddie. Ooooh.

The Time Quartet

Or at least, that's what it's called on Wikipedia. All I have to say is that these books are awesome. Truthfully, I'm not a big fan of science-fiction, but I do like the books that I call "A Wrinkle in Time books," regardless of which one it is. I first read A Wrinkle in Time in 5th grade, but I don't think that I really understood it. Then when we were in Africa, I saw it on the bookshelf and picked it up thinking, "You know, maybe I should read this again. Because last time, I didn't get it, and I can't even remember what it's about." So yeah. Then I got hooked on it. It was a very sweet book, very nice, and taught me a bit.
For me, the science fiction didn't stand out as much as the moral. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of it. I like fantasy more because it gives me more room to imagine, but I guess you could say that science fiction is just advanced fantasy. But anyway...
After reading A Wrinkle in Time, I waited till we got home, and I looked everywhere for the second book, A Wind in the Door. I mean it, I searched everywhere, practically tearing apart one of the bookshelves, I was so desperate. We've been back for about 7 months, and two days ago I finally found it, lying on the bookshelf. It was probably there the whole time, but in the picture you'll see that the books are sort of fancyish. Well the book A Wind in the Door that we own, it's kind of tattered, and yellow. Hey, at least we have it.
So I finished that in two days. I'm starting Many Waters because it is the next book chronologically, but not published next.
I also hear that there's another book that belongs with these. I forget what it's called, but hey, at least there's another. And you know what's really weird? Madeleine L'engle died on my birthday of last year. Ouch. It was natural though, cause she was kind of old. A Wrinkle in Time was published in what, the 1950s?
Guess what today is!!!!!!! T-H-U-R-S-D-A-Y!!!!! And why is this the best day of the week? No it's NOT because tomorrow is Friday! Four letters. L-O-S-T!!!! The bestest show everrrr is on tonight!!!! Yay!!!

Manicuring...

This is another blog that only girls will understand. I mean, boys aren't obsessed with looks. That includes nails. I don't know why it's so hard to comprehend. Nails are important. They protect your fingers, and if you get them just the right length, they look wonderful. I just despise people who keep their nails about a half inch long. It looks nasty. Even if you keep it clean. Ick.
Now for you people who don't know what any of these tools are, I shall describe each one's job, starting on the left.
First, the oval-shaped, grey and white thing is called a nail file. It's used to smooth down the tips of your nails after you cut them, because if you trim them, you end up with points or rough edges. Yeah.
Next, the little tweezer-like things are tweezers, obviously. They are very useful for pulling out hangnails that keep getting on your nerves. The tool next to that is a tweezer too, but the large one has a smaller tip, so it's easier to work. You know, I'm not quite sure what the small one is for. I guess they can both be used to do the same thing.
Next is a toenail clipper. Yes, toenails. I mean, the nail clipper cannot be used to cut toenails. It's just to small, and toenails are thick and strong. So you need a strong clipper.
Now we have the nail scissors. These are also used to cut nails. They're used when your nails aren't long enough to need clippers, but you still want to cut them. Honestly, I like to keep my nails short because it's very hard to keep them from getting dirty. But the only reason I use the scissors is so that I don't HAVE to use the nail file. The scissors cut smoothly, why use the file?
Next is a double-tool. The pointy end is used to pry dirt out from under your nails. Especially if it's way in there. Like there sometimes gets to be dirt under my nails that I can't get out easily. So I use that. The other end is used to push cuticles back. You know, the little piece of skin that covers the back of your nail. You can PUSH that. Especially when it starts hurting. Use a lotion first though, to soften it up.
Last but not least, we have the nail clippers. Need I say more?
Okay, so this is the basic tool kit for nails, also called a manicure kit. Very very useful. Right now my nails don't look all that good, but oh well. I had to cut them after a shower, which is the best time to do it because they're soft. I hate it when my nail splits cause I get it caught on something. So I had to cut every nail so it didn't look bad. Did you know that the more you like your nails, the longer it takes them to grow? It's just experience. My friend almost never cuts her nails, until they get about 3/4 of an inch, and they grow back really fast.
I got this kit for 16 bucks at Bath and Body Works. They were having a big sale, and every time you bought something they would give you a "10 dollars off" coupon. We kept going in and out over and over again, and they saw us doing it, and still gave us coupons. We saved about 50 bucks that day.
Time to go. No really. I'm leaving now. If I go right now, I'll hopefully be finished before 3:15. Byebye, so long, TTYL.

Two Wonderful Games...

When I was in Africa, it was really boring. Imagine the most boring day you've ever had, and multiply that by a million. That's how boring it got. Luckily for us, my mom brought back games for the girls. She brought some for the boys to, but they ended up breaking even unbreakable stuff!
Well, the girl, including me, played jacks, and towards the end, pick up sticks. Unfortunately the boys got ahold of the sticks, so as you can probably tell, they all disappeared.
Well, from about November to July, we played jacks, jacks, jacks. Every bit of free time we had we played. We started with plastic ones, but after my mom went back to America again, she brought back nice silver and gold metal ones. The African girls were actually pretty good, but that's probably because they also had a variation of jacks. Except it uses rocks, and obviously you have to catch the throwing rock before it hits the ground because, no matter how hard you try, ROCKS DON'T BOUNCE!!! That's for all you weirdos who try to get them to bounce by dropping them over and over again, hoping that they'll hop in the air. THEY WON'T!!! So anyway...
It took me awhile to get good, mostly because I'd failed playing their rock game, but eventually I got it, and I could swear I was the best, not to brag or anything. But I guess that all got to my head, cause there was a period where I couldn't throw the ball at all. Don't laugh. It's true. I know it sounds stupid, but I get these periods where I'm unable to do stuff. It's weird, but it happens. Usually something very stressful happens to me. Like there was one time when I was 9 where I couldn't eat properly for about seven months after I almost badly choked on a tomato. Yeah, a tomato that wasn't cut up properly. Or was it a banana? I can't remember. But anyway, my mom eventually helped me get over that, mostly by counting, and when she said three, I HAD to throw the ball. It didn't work at first, but I eventually got my skill back, and after that, I was better than ever before. Hehe.
So there's that story. What else should I talk about within three minutes? Oh I know, yesterday my mom got me a 2 gb memory chip for my cell phone, and even with ALL my music on it, it can hold almost 3,500 pictures. Ouch. I need more music, actually. Altogether I have about 30 songs, maybe less. I need a few more to complete my collection of artists. I like Avril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton, Hilary Duff, Kelly Clarkson, and I've just recently gotten hooked on Taylor Swift. And this Muslim singer, Kareem Salama.
Oops, there goes the timer. Time to go. Dude, the days are going by fast. Soon it'll be my half birthday, and then my birthday. And then another birthday. Maybe soon I'll get my learner's permit. I can't wait till I can drive. =)

Asterix!!!!

You remember Calvin and Hobbes? Well, that's just one of my favorite comics. This is another awesome comic. I like this one, mostly because it has absolutely hilarious characters.
First, the main character, Asterix, is a small, swift guy whose secret is that he gets his amazing strength from a magic potion that a druid makes for him every day. His best friend is Obelix.
Obelix is an obese guy with red pigtails. He always wears blue and white striped breeches. He makes and delivers menhirs, and you'll barely find him without his tiny dog who seems like a puppy, Dogmatix. Obelix is easily offended and concious about his weight. His constant strength is the result of falling in a cauldron of magic potion as a baby, which means that he can no longer have any when Asterix does. He despises this and is very jealous of Asterix. His favorite thing to do is beat up Roman soldiers who try to storm the village.
Dogmatix is a small dog who hates seeing trees cut down, is very fierce when it comes to biting, and is bad at following a scent.
Getafix is the druid who makes the magic potion. He constantly cuts his finger with a sickle that he uses to cut herbs. He was once captured by Romans, and forced to make a strength potion, which turned out to be a fast hair growth potion.
Cacofonix is a man in the village who loves to sing and play the lyre, although his singing is absolutely horribly bad. It even rains when he sings, it's so bad. At village banquets he is constantly being tied up and gagged so as to prevent him from singing.
Vitalstatistix is the village leader. He hates baths, is teased because of his big nose, and is always seen being carried on his shield whenever he's outside of his house.
Fulliautomatix is the village smith who is the main person responsible for keeping Cacofonix quiet. He gets in lots of fights with Unhygenix, the village fishmonger. The fight usually ends in a throw-the-stale-fish fight. Sometimes the rest of the village joins in.
Lastly, Unhygenix. He sells fish which Fulliautomatix claims are stale.
There are also several village wives who take a minor part in the comics. I highly suggest these for people who like historical parodies. The stories take many myths and put them into a comic. There are a lot of different ones, so you shouldn't get bored. Enjoy!

Play-Doh!!!!!

Yes yes yes!!! It's Thursday!!! You know what that means, right? LOST!! And now that the writer's strike is over, (and hopefully the actors won't go on strike now), I can actually look forward to more episodes!!! So anyway...
You know why I'm taking this picture today? Because there are times when you really want to act like a little kid. And one way to do that is to take out your Play-doh and play with it! I love Play-doh. You can make so many things with it!!! And the Make-a-Meal Bucket over on the side, that is soooo fun! It comes with all these little molds and plastic silverware, too. We lost a couple pieces, but at least we've still got the waffle/butter/berry mold. On the outside it's even got little dials and a timer like a real waffle maker.
Now you must think I'm crazy. You're probably wondering why a teenager wants to play with Play-doh. All I have to say is that sometimes you need to bring the child innocence back out. And what better way to do that then to play with stuff that is classified as "kiddy-like"?
I don't know why I want to grow up so fast, and yet I still want to be a kid again. I suppose that even adults wish that they could be kids for a day. No clue why, but then again, why wouldn't you? I mean, with all these troubles like taxes, bills, jobs, children, you'd probably wish you were still being taken care of by your mom.
I feel really bad for those adults whose parents are dead. They must miss them a lot. Nobody to go to when they need support and help. Nobody to pour your heart out too. It's really hard.
TGTF!!! That means Thank God Tomorrow's Friday! The weeks just seem to go whizzing by. I don't know what hit me. One day I'll wake up and it'll be summer, and then I'll wake up and it'll be my birthday, and then I'll wake up again, and I'll be 18 and going to college. I won't know what hit me, and my parents won't know what hit them. They'll just be like "One down, four to go."
I know it's not a lot that I'm writing today, Dad, but I'm kinda booored and I wanna go play with Shammy and do my math which will take 4ever! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Girl Scout Cookies!

It's that time of year again. The time for cookies. Girl Scout cookies, that is. These cookies are the best, and anyone who has ever tried them will tell you the same. And there's a lot of different kinds for you picky eaters.
The most popular kind of cookies are Thin Mints. Chocolate with mint inside. The next popular are probably Samoas. Coconut with chocolate. Then we have all the others. Do-si-dos, which I hate, are oatmeal cookies with peanut butter filling-ick. Then there are Trefoils, so plain, yet so delicious. They're just shortbread shaped like the Girl Scout logo. Then there's Tagalongs, basically a Reese's cup, only it's a cookie. And it's crunchy. All Abouts are vanilla cookies with a chocolate filling that have some saying following the format of: Girl Scouting is all about _____, on them. Then we have two kinds that weren't the original ones. One is a fat-free chocolate chip kind, and the other changes from year to year, but it always has lemon flavoring.
This year I bought four boxes for myself, and I sold 37, which is good, considering that the price is $3.50 a box. And Samoas only have 16 cookies anyway. So we're kind of getting ripped off, for some straaaange reason, but oh well. Cookies are good, and these are the best.
A lot of people might wonder why I'm in Girl Scouts. Well, first of all, I do need a social life, and being homeschooled, that is kind of hard to find. Second, Girl Scouts is fun. It didn't used to be, mostly because we never did anything, but now I really like it. Third, one word, SCHOLARSHIPS! Yes, I get scholarships for Girl Scouting. Something that I might desperately need. Need I say more?
We might not go camping every month like Boy Scouts do, but who gives a care? At least I have friends, and we go places, and do things, and play games, and have fun. And we sell cookies that people actually buy. Boy Scouts sell popcorn, and I don't think a lot of people buy it.
Our next trip is probably going to be whitewater rafting at the National Whitewater Rafting Center. Yes, the Olympic training one. It's really cool there. My dad took me before, and it's a huge artificial water course with rapids, ramps, rocks, and you'd almost think it was natural. The largest rock climbing wall in the country is there, and there are several things you can do. You can kayak, raft, rock climb, bike, and there's even a rope course. Pretty cool, huh? And we get a discount when we go. Hehe.
I wanna go eat my cookies now, but unfortunately I can't leave this until it's 10:16. Argh. Oh! Did you hear? The writer's strike is officially OVER!!! Hahahaha! Yes! Now I can look forward to my favorite shows! Hopefully Heroes will start again, and Lost will continue!!! They finally solved their little problems, and now, back to the regular schedule.

Frosty the Snowman...

Okay, so maybe he's not exactly Frosty. But hey, snowmans rock! Look, he's even waving. I got this guy from my grandpa after my grandma died.
He's big, but I love him cause he's so fun to try and hug all night.
You know how they make gingerbread men and houses? I wonder if I could make this snowman out of candy. Let's see, his body could be a big cookie covered in frosting, his eyes are chocolate balls, his nose is a candy corn, his mouth is black licorice, (even though I hate that stuff), his vest is blue frosting, his buttons are gumdrops, his scarf is a Twizzler, his hat is another cookie covered in chocolate frosting, (we're gonna have to improvise cause I know that black frosting doesn't taste good at all), and then you cover his hands and feet with chocolate frosting. Sounds pretty good, huh?
People might ask why I like stuffed animals and toys so much. My answer is that every single one has a story to it, and they're all so cuddly too. You could pile them all up and then use them as a pillow.
Whenever it snows, I always have such a hard time building a snowman. Either there's not enough snow, or there is enough and I can't do it myself. I remember in the big winter snow of 2003, we went over to our neighbor's house and built a snowman there. It was a big one too. We took shovels and started piling snow on there. We had to use a baby carrot for his nose, and buttons for his eyes and mouth. We sure changed the definition of a snowman.
Ugh, there's nothing else to write about, and I've still got 7 minutes left. I could gripe about how cold it is right now. I'm wearing a sweater, fuzzy socks, and there's a fire going, and I'm still cold. It probably doesn't help that I'm sitting right next to a window and it's 40 degrees outside, though. My mom has the warm couch. She's sleeping right now, which is what I wish I could do, because I'm literally falling asleep working. I can barely keep my eyes open.
When my friends came over last weekend we started acting like little kids. One thing I remember is one of my friends making up this thing. We were jumping on the trampoline and we were trying to fall down and then get back up with no hands by using our legs to propel ourselves. Everytime we did it, she'd say "One, two, threeee!" Well, Saturday morning, she changed it a bit. Now it was "Oooone, twooooo, shreeeeeee!!!" Yeah. Shree. Like a kid. Oh well. Sometimes it's nice to be little again. The problem with a lot of people these days is that they don't know how to hae fun (namely parents).

A Hair Straightener

Boys always wonder why girls care so much about their hair. I don't know why, because if they were girls, they probably would too. So let me give you a few reasons why we care so much:
1: Boys can get away with having messy hair. If a girl goes out with her hair all tangled up and messy, she gets stared at, teased, and embarrased.
2: A girl's hair is a major part of her look. It needs to be just right if she wants to look pretty.
And 3: Hair is fun to mess around with. Especially when you have a lot of it. There are so many things you can do with a bottle of hairspray and a brush.
This here, for you boys who have no idea, is a straightener. You are probably thinking, "Wow, I thought they only made hair curlers." Well you thought wrong! The thing about hair straighteners is that they can be used to straighten AND curl. You just have to know how to do it right.
My hair is naturally wavy, and sometimes that can be a big problem. Any hair that isn't straight gets tangled easily unless you pull it up, and sometimes you really don't want to do that. So instead you straighten it. By applying heat. This little gadget helps you do that. You plug it in, turn it on, let it heat up, use the digital screen to change the temperature, and then straighten. This one is specially designed for straightening wet hair. It even has little holes in the side that let steam out. I tried it on my sister's hair yesterday, but her hair is already straight, so obviously it didn't really work.
So now my hair is nice and straight, and I love it, but the only problem is that it's hard to get the back, and I'm kind of an amateur when it comes to hair care, so I have to figure out how to straighten the back properly.
I really like my hair. It's not too thick, but thick enough, right now it's kind of blonde, although it looks more like really blonde because I highlighted it and took large chunks, it's layered, and now I'm going to straighten it everyday, unless I'm feeling in more of a tangled up kind of mood.
Today I was in the bathroom and about to straighten my hair, and I look out the window and see Sham the kitten chasing a striped-tail animal. At first I think it's another cat, but it's tail kind of gave it away, and then it turned around and I saw the masked face. It was a raccoon! In the day! I had to bring Sham in while my mom called Animal Control. They said not to worry about it, and now I think it may be a baby because adult raccoons are usually really large, and this one was only about the size of Sham, maybe a little bit larger. After she came in, Sham wanted to go back out, and she literally sounded like she was crying. I thought maybe she wanted to go to the bathroom, but my mom knew that Sham wanted to go chase the baby raccoon. Poor thing. It's probably looking for it's mom.
Ahhhh... okay, now I want to get started on my other stuff so that I can go trampolining soon. I really want to go jump out there right now. Yesterday it was kind of hard because of all the wind. So I'm leaving now. Byebye!!!

An Artistic Kit...

Everything is so expensive these days. You go to any soda machine in the country and you'll never find a soda for more than 55 cents. Gum is 60 cents a pack in vending machines, and a decent meal in a decent restaurant is 20 bucks. (I'm not talking about fast food places, cause they're not decent at all!) But you know, this art kit may have been expensive, but it was worth it.
The kit comes with 3 different types of color. Oil paints, colored pencils, (not the cheap Crayola kind), and oil pastels. There's also paintbrushes, pencils, erasers, and a pencil sharpener. Great art kit, huh?
The whole thing is layered. Of course, because if it wasn't, that'd be on wide art kit. It all closes up into a wooden briefcase-shaped thing. Why do I call it a briefcase? Because it is as thick as one, and because it's got a handle, along with the clickity locks. You know, the ones that flip open and shut.
I'm not an artsy person. I can't draw much, except stick people, but then again, anyone can draw a bunch of lines and an oval. I can't draw people, animals, items, and I suck at 3-D. I can draw the shape, but once I add the shadow in, it looks horrible. Yeah, that's how bad I am.
You know, my great-aunt is a wonderful artist. She makes things look so lifelike. One time she drew a picture of me holding my American Girl doll. I think I was nine or so. She even has a studio at her daughter's house that she lives in. It's a nice place. A large table, a sink, a bed, a loft, the only thing it's missing is a bathroom. My uncle is about to build one there.
I really wish I had a talent. All I'm good at is figuring out math problems. I'm not exceptionally good at anything. I'm kind of normal at everything. I guess I'm good at juggling, but my brother is better at a lot of stuff. He can climb trees, do flips on the trampoline, and he can actually kick a ball. I suck at sports, and I'm too scared to do much. Just riding on a motercycle was scary for me. A lot of people say that as long as you're good at studies, you'll succeed. I don't think that's true, because some of the richest people today may have degrees, but they were always good at one certain thing: whatever they're involved in. I want to be a doctor when I grow up, but that is a long way away, for all I know. I guess for now I'll just have to be satisfied with whatever I'm good at.
Last night, I finished my lesson just in time to watch Lost. It was an awesome show. I really love watching it, but I wish that that I didn't have to wait a whole week more to watch the next one. They're so suspensful!

Finally!!!

Do you have any idea how long I've needed a guitar book? I can't get anywhere without it! It's so hard to watch a DVD that isn't even the whole thing, and actually expect to learn something!!! At least now I have sheet music, songs to play, and fingering charts. Okay, so I haven't played a lot yet, but that's only because I don't really have much time.
I've always wanted to play an instrument, and when I got my flute, I was really happy. I always liked the sound of the flute. What I didn't realize was that there are two different kinds of flutes. One of them has holes in the keys, the other doesn't. The one with holes in the keys is the real and true flute. The other one is just for beginners.
So I got good at the flute, the best in the class actually. Then I went to Africa where I couldn't play at all, and when I came back, my school wouldn't let me back in. So I started homeschooling. But let me tell you, it's hard to teach yourself how to play the flute well. Especially because I hadn't played in almost a year. I was also getting kind of bored. And my flute was kinda messed up and I wasn't allowed to go get it fixed, mostly because it would cost a lot of money. The flute had dents, scratches, and some of the keys were kind of messed up. And let's just say that some necessary pieces were falling off. Not pieces that couldn't be put back, but it's kind of tedious when you have to keep replacing things.
So then we went and bought the guitar. Like I said in my other post, it came with an almost useless DVD, so I couldn't learn a lot from that. And the DVD was for electric guitar, not acoustic, although most of the notes are the same. But it didn't teach me notes or songs, only chords. Ugh.
This book was given to me by my mom's German friend. It originally came with a disk, but I don't care, just so long as I have the book. It starts out, like all instrumental books, with finger placements, starter tips, and in a guitar's case, tuning. Then it moves on into first string notes. So you play a bit with those, and once you can switch between them all with ease, then you go to second string notes, and so on. After the first couple strings you get songs to play. One of them is Ode to Joy. I never realized that you can play almost every note on only the first, second, and third frets. Wow.
The thing about guitars is that they are so easy to take care of. All you need to do is wipe them down with a dry cloth every now and then, and when the strings break, get new ones. And I'm pretty sure that the strings are quite cheap. You need almost nothing to play a guitar except your hands and a place to put it when you're done, and a good guitar doesn't cost all that much. And when you're trying to play a song on hearing alone, at least you can sing the song while you play it, unlike woodwinds.
Music is a wonderful thing. There are so many variations of it, you can use simple household objects to play it, and best of all, when you learn how to play it, you can do many things with what you know. I like being able to play notes that express how I feel. I think everyone should at least know what beautiful music sounds like.

Another Board Game...

Really, I just love talking about board games. I don't know why. It's a thing I have. I'm really the only one in my family who likes to play board games. My brother only plays when I beg, my sisters want to play, but they don't know how, my little brother is only 5, and my parents are too busy to care. Why me? Why???
This is one of the classic board games. Clue is so much fun, but the problem is you can only play it with three people. Let's give an overview of the rules, shall we?
Mr. Boddy, the very very very rich man who has invited his 6 friends to his mansion, is dead. The only suspects are the 6 guests: Mr. Green, Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, Ms. Peacock, Ms. Scarlet, and Ms. White. There are only 6 weapons that could've been used to kill Mr. Boddy: the Wrench, Candlestick, Rope, Revolver, Lead Pipe, and Knife. Mr. Boddy could have been killed in any of rooms: the Study, Hall, Dining Room, Billiard Room, Kitchen, Library, Conservatory, Lounge, and Ballroom. Each of the Rooms, Weapons, and People are listed on a card. At the beginning of the game, one card from each catagory is placed in a folder secretly. Nobody knows what is in the folder.
The object of the game is to try to figure out what is in the folder, by suggesting people, weapons and rooms. Each player has cards, and they have to try and prove your statement wrong by showing you which cards you suggested. For example, if I say "Mr. Green with the Knife in the Hall" you have to look at your cards, and if you have any of the ones I just said, you show them to me, so I know that they aren't in the folder. After about 20 minutes or so, you should have a pretty good idea of what's in the folder. You may also try to mislead the other players by naming cards in your hand to make them think that nobody has them. :-D
After you are sure of what is in the folder, you make an accusation, and then look in the folder and see if you were right. If you were, you win. If you weren't, you put the cards back and take yourself out of the game, although you can still show people cards that you have.
I enjoy games like this, mostly because it's fun to trick people who can't figure out that you're tricking them. Then they get their answer wrong and lose. Heehee.
Sham says hi! Okay, she's sleeping on my chest right now, but I'm psychic. No, I'm not actually. But if she were awake, she'd be nice and meow. She's being nicer lately. Gotta go!!! Byebye!

Yet Another Monopoly...

Yeah, except this time it doesn't have any money. This Monopoly uses credit card type things. And a calculator. And that makes it a lot easier. I hate having to count out change, and then having to put the money away and get it back out, blah blah blah. So that is the major improvement in this game.
Everything fits into a neat storage case. There are slots for the dice, slots for the property cards, chance and community chest cards, credit cards and calculator, the mover pieces, and even the houses and hotels.
There are several big changes in this game. It is just the Here and Now version without money. Basically the prices have been made higher, up into the thousands and millions, but then again, you do start with 15m and you get 2m from passing Go, so it all makes sense. The cheapest property is 60k, and the most expensive one is 4m.
The properties have been upgraded too. We have Times Square, Las Vegas Blvd, the White House, Hollywood, the French Quarter of New Orleans, and even Disney World in this new version. The houses and hotels are now silver and blue instead of red and green. The dice are clearish blue, and the pieces are awesome! We have an Altoids tin, a baseball cap, a space shuttle, a widescreen TV, a dog in a purse (probably a copy of Paris Hilton), and one of those little Segways. You know, the things that you see the security guards at the mall drive. (Or at least I do).
This game is so modern, and I love the fact that I don't have to calculate the money anymore! You can just take the exact number off the card! I think the only problem is that you aren't sure how much money you can afford to spend. You know how in the original Monopoly, when you wanted to buy something, you had the general idea of whether you could afford it or not because all your money was right there in front of you. Now you have to put the card in the calculator to bring up your total money amount. Oh well, it's probably the only flaw.
My dad thought I was crazy when I bought this. My mom did too, but that's because they're older and both of them just despise remakes for some strange reason. I love them. They're a lot more exciting. Who wants to sit and play the same game for the rest of your childhood? Definetly not me. It's so boring. I like the fact that all the classic games are being remade into modern ones. I mean, I'll play the classic ones too, and I have them, but remakes are a lot more fun. But the one game that I do love is Life. At least it has a definite end, unlike Monopoly.

A 3-D Puzzle

You remember how I said how I love puzzles? Well, this is proof. Do you have any idea how long it took me to do this puzzle? A looong time. And on top of it all it's missing pieces. At least it's only two, and I'm allowed to send away to get them replaced. Heehee.
To do this puzzle I had to build each wall separately, and then I had to put them all together. Let me list out all the steps in building this one-of-a-kind puzzle.
First, I had to sort out the pieces from the junk. All the pieces were made squarish, and a lot of them aren't really supposed to be that shape. So the people who make it mark the junk with red dots, and you have to go through every piece and take out the red dot parts of it. It's hard work. And I had to do it twice because I missed some of the harder to find parts.
Next I had to sort out all the pieces according to their color. Trust me, with a puzzle this hard, that's something that you just automatically want to do. The groups I sorted out were brick pieces, textured brick pieces, brown pieces, red/pink pieces, dark blue pieces, white pieces, green/fall color pieces, weird design pieces, and then all the pieces that looked like they belonged on the top of a roof or tower. It made solving the puzzle so much easier.
After that I solved each group one by one, starting with the easiest stuff. The key thing for solving the hard group was the windows. That's how I solved it all. Windows. Each one has it's own unique shape and part that goes with it. Eventually they all end up joining together.
After I eventually got everything put together, I had to build the castle in 3-D, and that is a lot harder than it looks. First you want to build the back wall, but before you do that you have to have support for it, so you have to build the side wall too. Luckily for me I had a paper that showed me where everything goes. When my parents found out they called it cheating. Maybe next time THEY should have to build it. Lets see if they can figure it out! The hardest part about building it 3-D is that you end up having to take some stuff off. The walls are easy. Once you get to putting the roofs on, then it's tricky because you have to squeeze them into tight spaces, which isn't so good. But hey, I managed to do it. It took me about an hour though. I was watching Batman Begins when I started, and about 20 minutes after it ended, including credits, I was done. That's how long it took.
Now I just need to either send away or find those two pieces I'm missing. You can't see them in the picture because one is in the back and the other is in a tight corner on the side. Now how am I going to get those in place without dismantling the whole thing? Well, I did it before, I guess I'm gonna have to do it again.
Before I got this, I wanted the San Francisco puzzle, but it was hard to find. This puzzle is 1000 pieces, and most people would've said it was hard, but I found it way easier then I expected. 3-D puzzles are awesome, but they aren't for puzzle beginners, let me tell you.

It's a Girl!

TGIF!!! Yay!!! And Lost was spectacular last night! Suspensful and everything. The only thing wrong was that it left with a cliffhanger. I have to wait a wholenother week now! So now that I've got that out of me...
Everyone's got a history, it's just that most people don't realize it. Like, when people brought the slaves from Africa, they probably didn't realize that the Africans had families and histories to go back too. All because of the color of they're skin. I don't really understand why people think that they're better. I mean, if everyone had no skin, nobody would know who was who. But then they'd probably find some other way to persecute different people. "I've got more muscles than you do, so you can't be anywhere near me!" It's so sad.
This is a picture of my baby book. It is loaded with pictures, souvenirs, and what not, all from when I was a little tiny baby. There are even pictures of my parents' wedding, even though that was five years before I was born, but still. In the front pocket of the book is my bracelet. You know, the ones you get at the hospital if you're a patient. My birth certificate is in there too. On the back it's got my little feet. But why do you need a birth certificate? I mean, if you exist, obviously you were born. Why do you need to certify it?
My ex-uncle, (my mom's sister's ex-husband), was a major picture guy. And seeing as my cousin, (his son), was born two and a half weeks after me, there are a bunch of pictures of my cousin and I in a playpen. I think in one of them his foot was in my mouth. Oh, the days when we were a bunch of innocent babies...
I was the only one of my brothers and sisters to have a baby book. Mostly because I was the oldest, and the oldest always gets the most pictures. I feel so bad for my littlest brother. He barely has any pictures of his babyhood. He's in kindergarten though, so he probably doesn't give a care.
Now, let's go through my childhood, shall we? When I was two, my brother was born, when I was four, my sister was born, when I was five, kindergarten, six, first grade and a sister. Seven, second grade, and a brother. Eight, third grade in a new school. Nine, fourth grade, ten, fifth grade. Eleven, sixth grade, new school of course. Twelve, seventh grade. Thirteen, eighth grade, and so on. So, as you can see, my life has been the normal American life. Except for the fact that I went to Morocco when I was seven, and Senegal when I was twelve.
I have to go now. Well, almost. I'm sorta bored and I have no idea why my dad wants me to write for half an hour. It makes no sense. Writing is just so boring, and I'm so tired because I went to bed at 11, and woke up at 8:30, even though that's 9 hours of sleep. Wow, I need a lot of sleep. I want to get this schoolwork over with so I can play Monopoly, sleep, play RuneScape, sleep, and cuddle with my kitten. If only she'd like my bed better than the top bunk.
I'm going now. Too tired, must sleep. Bye!